Now I know what I want for my birthday (already got a D1X, my wife got a D70S).
[Link]
Introducing Natasha Carter| Author | Post |
|---|---|
| GaySatyr Senior Member  Half dirty ol' man; half horny ol' goat! 1684 Posts 10/00 |  Posted - Apr 2 2006 : 3:50AM- - - Nikon D200 DSLR - - - Caveat: I do not yet own this camera (I have one on order); however, I have used one that I borrowed for several days. In short: DX2 lite. Pros: Amazing image quality; color, focusing & exposure accuracy; versatility; ergonomics, build quality Cons: Poor long expousre quality (not for astrophotography - get a used D70 & remove the IR filter); noise components begin to appear at ISO 500 and are annoying by ISO 1000+ (Noise Ninja works well at high ISO but you are stuck with post processing) Alternatives: Other considerations: Nikon's flash system is incomparable, significantly better than Canon's. All of Nikon's D2-series bodies fully support their vast catalog of older AI/AIS manual focus lenses. Special consideration because of the smaller APS-C / DX sensor format (if you are migrating from 35mm full-frame film): You will need to purchase new wide-angle glass. Nikon's 10.5mm f/2.8G fisheye and 17-55mm f/2.8G zoom are superb. The 12-24mm f/4G zoom, the 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G zoom and the new 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR zoom are very, very good. In fact, the 18-200 is probably the best high-ratio zoom ever designed by any optical company by a significant margin. It can't quite compete with the 17-55 and 70-200 f/2.8 pro zoom combination, but it comes amazingly close at one-third their combined price! All in all, unless you absolutely need the highest ISO settings (get one of the Canon models), or unless your interest is astrophotography (get the D70 or D70s and have it modified, removing the built-in hot mirror IR filter), the D200 DSLR is the single best digital SLR body on the market for anywhere near the money spent. ~ GaySatyr (ABB) [Link] |
| Joey Starr Senior Member Still wanking after all these years. 8082 Posts 10/00 | Posted - Apr 2 2006 : 4:09AM Now I know what I want for my birthday (already got a D1X, my wife got a D70S). [Link] |
| Joey Starr Senior Member Still wanking after all these years. 8082 Posts 10/00 | Posted - Apr 2 2006 : 4:14AM [Link] |
| GaySatyr Senior Member Half dirty ol' man; half horny ol' goat! 1684 Posts 10/00 | Posted - Apr 2 2006 : 12:05PM Supposedly, Zeiss is planning a series of eight lenses, all fully manual -- no auto-focus and no electronic linkage, in both ZF (for Nikon) and ZS (42mm screw-mount). The 'ZF' mount lenses are fully Nikon 'AIS' compatible. The 'ZS' variant is old-time mechanical, without even an automatic aperture. The idea is that the 'ZF' version works with every Nikon camera built since 1959, although it won't meter with the amateur film series F50, F55, F60, F65, F70, F75 F80 or with the D50, D70 and D100 digital bodies. With the proper mount adapter, either the 'ZF' or the 'ZS' versions can be used on all current Canon cameras but stop-down metering applies and aperture control is fully manual. The Zeiss 'ZF' lenses I'm particularly looking forward to are the vary wide-angles. If Zeiss releases the 15mm and 21mm Distagons in 'ZF' mounts and they are anywhere near as good as their Contax counterparts, they will be real winners. Zeiss plan to announce the entire series at Photokina this fall. The 50mm f/1.4 Planar is available now (in Japan and a few other areas); the 85mm f/1.4 Planar should become available mid-May. ~ GaySatyr (ABB) [Link] |
| GaySatyr Senior Member Half dirty ol' man; half horny ol' goat! 1684 Posts 10/00 | Posted - Apr 2 2006 : 1:07PM Nikon has just discontinued almost all of their old mechanical 'AIS' lenses. It is now almost impossible to find any of them 'new' and their 'used' prices are rising fast, especially for some of the more esoteric of the lenses in good to like-new condition. If any of you are interested, these are the real winners among them:
Among Nikon's current CPU-enabled AF lenses, these are the stand-outs:
~ GaySatyr (ABB) [Link] |
| Unicorn Member 156 Posts 4/04 | Posted - Apr 3 2006 : 1:30AM Here's a good review on the D200: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond200/ Not a lot of Canon 30D reviews up yet, it's just starting to ship in the US. Most are not calling it anything more than a 20D with a few firmware tweaks (picture styles) , a larger LCD , and a spot meter. It has a sturdier shutter and a soft touch shutter button now and the shutter sound has been muted a bit. If you have a 20D, not much reason to upgrade. The 5D is not a fair comparison at almost double to cost. Once it comes down to around $2500, IMHO it's a good buy. [Link] |
| GaySatyr Senior Member Half dirty ol' man; half horny ol' goat! 1684 Posts 10/00 | Posted - Apr 3 2006 : 4:50AM Of course, Nikon has glass problems, too -- no fast 'DX' format wide-angle primes. So, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Both systems have advantages and both have drawbacks. However, at the moment, the D200 is a serious contender (unless, as you said, you are already heavily invested in Canon glass, in which case, your choices are the 30D or the 1D Mk2). ~ GaySatyr (ABB) Edited by - GaySatyr on 4/3/2006 4:52:15 AM [Link] |
| Unicorn Member 156 Posts 4/04 | Posted - Apr 10 2006 : 8:02PM I'm already seeing heavy rebates on the 5D, you can already pick it up around $2650 at B&H with the $300 rebate. Canon may have shot themselves in the foot here crippling the camera so it doesn't take too much business from their pro 1 series. The wedding shooters love it but the sports guys are staying away as well as the bird shooters who like getting the entra length on their 200-300 mm lenses due to the crop factor on the 10/20/30D's The 24 mm 1.4 is known for vignetting wide open at 1.4 as many lenses do that wide open. I doubt the sensor on the 5D is the issue, there are no major differences between it and the other full frame CMOS types in the 1 series, only the pixel pitch is a wee bit smaller... call it a 20 D sensor blown out to full frame. For folks who are used to how their lenses look on a cropped camera, even a 1.3 x it can be a real wake up call when they move to a full frame body - the weaknesses really show up when you print the 11 x 14's. For example, I shoot a lot with the Tamron 28-75 on my Canon 20D and it holds up very well against the 24-70 2.8L that canon retails a 3x the price...until you put it on a full frame body and open the lens wide to 2.8 and then you realize how soft things are outside of dead center. If you get a full frame, you really need good glass. Or stop down to f/8 where [most] of the differences between the consumer grade and pro lenses go away. A lot of the negative stuff you hear on the boards is actually user error i.e the "focus and recompose" trick at f/1.4 and complaining they are missing their focus Even with a wide - at 1.4, your DOF is pretty thin....thin enough that complaints about soft lenses are really depth of field issues. Objects dead center where you focused on are in focus but that tree or whatever 50 degress off to the right is actually out of focus because it's 6 feet further from the lens even if it's the same distance from YOU ...like that. I daresay Nikon nailed it right out of the park with the D200 while Canon did little with the 30D other than replace an aging nameplate. I'm going to sit this round out, maybe the next. Call me when the 50D is out around 2008 ;-) Edited by - Unicorn on 4/10/2006 8:02:45 PM [Link] |
morbidthoughts  All-Star Member Big cats scare me but... 3627 Posts 1/03 | Posted - Apr 10 2006 : 8:16PM [Link] |
| skronker Notable Legendary Icon Scopophiliac 9780 Posts 9/02 | Posted - Apr 10 2006 : 8:27PM [Link] |
| skronker Notable Legendary Icon Scopophiliac 9780 Posts 9/02 | Posted - Apr 10 2006 : 8:32PM I'm not gonna spend $2k on a still camera. Not in a million years. I'd consider dropping $750 on a quality SLR set-up, which is why the Sony I listed above looks appealing. I'm in no rush. I'll probably just get a flash for the Canon which will help things. It's good to know how much quality costs, though ... [Link] |
| morbidthoughts All-Star Member Big cats scare me but... 3627 Posts 1/03 | Posted - Apr 10 2006 : 8:39PM But if you want to just get a flash, go to adorama or b&h with your camera since you're in NYC and ask them for flash options. [Link] |
| Unicorn Member 156 Posts 4/04 | Posted - Apr 11 2006 : 12:51PM DSLR's require some degree of skill to get best results. Something else to know about DSLR's - it's a fucking marketing trap people. No joke. You see this cute little camera and go "oh - it's only $799" and whip out the VISA card. An hour later after the sales guy sells you another lens,flashcards, flash strobe, a book or 2 and a bag to carry it all in, you see the numbers on the register.... $1675.00 including tax. Then if you're really lucky , the camera gear bug bites you and THEN it gets expensive. You start researching new and better lenses that will enable you to take that perfect shot. Ugh. I'm probably at around 10k in kit right now and another 5k on the wishlist. ugh. Rant over. PS on Sony - word is they are going to release a DSLR cam in the next year with Minolta mount so all the Minolta glass out there will go right on. [Link] |
| jrv Senior Member 1266 Posts 2/03 | Posted - Apr 17 2006 : 1:51AM I'm surprised you like the shorter Nikon zooms: the only Canon zoom of any length I like is the 70-200/2.8L, and I don't like even Canon's primes shorter than 50mm. My belief is that if Canon wants to continue along the path of marketing full-frame as a major advantage then they need to invest major lens R&D effort into making it true. I agree with the theoretical advantage of increased dynamic range, etc etc etc ... but at some point theory needs to translate into significant actual advantage over the small format sensors. After a couple of hours my neck begins to truly appreciate the difference between the 1Ds2 and 5D. If you aren't going to do any post-processing at all then you might as well use a point & shoot. If you're going to spend SLR money then shoot in RAW and use a RAW processor... [Link] |
| GaySatyr Senior Member Half dirty ol' man; half horny ol' goat! 1684 Posts 10/00 | Posted - Apr 17 2006 : 9:41PM ~ GaySatyr (ABB) [Link] |
| skronker Notable Legendary Icon Scopophiliac 9780 Posts 9/02 | Posted - Apr 17 2006 : 10:00PM I have no problems with manual focus, and all that .... however, I am not accustomed to handling a big, ungainly photo rig -- and never want one. The Sony is the most appealing option. I already have a fortune invested in my hi-fi system. I don't need another expensive hobby ... LOL. [Link] |
| GaySatyr Senior Member Half dirty ol' man; half horny ol' goat! 1684 Posts 10/00 | Posted - Apr 18 2006 : 12:21AM My brother-in-law has just gotten the Sony R1 on my recommendation. The camera has gotten excellent reviews (see DPReview, among others). He didn't want a DSLR, either. The 24-120mm (35mm equiv) lens on the R1 gives you a true wide-angle through moderate telephoto; and the 10.3MP sensor with 2X digital zoom gives you are very respectable 240mm longer telephoto. Sony has done a lot of things right with this camera. While it does have a few flaws, I think that, for its intended market, its assets far outweigh them (see; pros & cons). ~ GaySatyr (ABB) [Link] |
| skronker Notable Legendary Icon Scopophiliac 9780 Posts 9/02 | Posted - Apr 18 2006 : 2:06AM [Link] |
| Michael Saint Photographer Alexis Texas is always lovely 1062 Posts 2/01 | Posted - May 9 2006 : 3:07AM [Link] |
| Use the code below to link to this topic or a specific post. |
| URL of this thread |
| Link to this post with HTML |
| Link to this post with Forum Code |