Narrowing the Search...

[FastEddie]

Understand completely about the affect of cold hard currency on IQ; budget is limited, unfortunately, so spending $1200 ona lens is not an option. In fact, that is about my buget for the whole shootin' match.



~Eddie

[FastEddie]

nt

[TDN]

FastEddie wrote:

My inclination toward the D50 over the D70s is based primarily on two factors:

**Better out-of-cam JPG's (or so I've read...)
**Cleaner high-ISO images.

Eddie

Don't forget it's about 500$ cheaper!

And trust me, although the D70s is a VERY nice camera, it isn't worth the extra money. Then you'd be better off with one of the more recent high-end models

TDN

[FastEddie]

TDN

Don't forget it's about 500$ cheaper!

[/quote]

Where do you get THAT? I'm finding the difference, body for body at about $110, and body+kit difference is about $220, and that is with the D70s having the much more expensive 18-70 "kit" lens. I consider those prices to be close enough together to not really be a serious factor in the decision.

~Eddie

[TDN]

Oh, my apologies then. It is that expensive over here in Belgium. (although all camera equipment is in the classic stores...ebay is my friend )

A few months ago you could get a D50 for about 600$ new, whereas the D70s easily went up to 1100$ and more. (both in kit)

So you either have a very expensive D50 or an inexpensive D70s. lol

Or maybe prices dropped by now...I don't know.

Anyway except outer handling and the more "professional" look, there isn't that much difference between the 2. (I tried both for a short time this summer, when I was working in a team with other photographers)

The D70s is significantly bigger & heavier than the D50, but it has some more controls, including 2 command dials instead of 1, which was nice, but to say it's worth the extra money? I don't know.
All I can tell you is to try both out and see which one you like best.

I would agree with you on the lens. If you're prepared to cough up some more money, get a nice lens to begin with.

TDN