D80/70 vs. Rebel XTi

[George]

Anyone used both of these? I know it's rare since it would be pointless to buy all the glass for both cameras, but thought I'd ask.

I'm looking at getting a DSLR and finally moving away from my old T90 (king in its day, but that day is a decade+ past). Since I have to get all new lenses anyway, it's an even playing field on that score. I say D80 or D70 because the D70 is supposedly quite similar to the D80 functionally, so potentially comparable.

I'm leaning towards the Canon since the $200+ price difference in body cost leaves more money for better glass and other than a few pesky things like true spot meetering and finer ISO/exposure compensation, the cameras seem to be pretty equal.

[Rob]

i dont have both, but i do love my XTi
my ONLY complaint is that i have big hands and the camera is rather small, but this is normal for the entry level dSLR's

[macsturm]

Hi

I just bought the Nikon D 80 body and the 18-200 Nikkor Lens ,I have been looking for a camera for a while and was trying to decide between the D80, XTi and the Sony Alpha

For price the Sony has them both beat hands down, if you need a reasonably price DSLR camera it is a decent one, but I found some of the features lacking.

So I wittled it down to the xti and the D80, then I went to Henry's and held them both and without a question I bought the D80, nice weight to it and feels good in the hand.

Like Rob mentioned the XTI is a great camera but it is a little on the small side for large hands, and if you are going to be taking a lot of pictures you don't want to be getting frustrated at the size of the camera.
As well a lot of the reviews on the web put the D80 slightly ahead of the 3 in alot of the areas.

I also found the user menus easy to use which is nice of the D80, even my wife without reading the manual could work through some of the menus and figure things out

The lens 18-200 is outstanding it give you a real time 27-300mm lens 3.5-5.6 with very crisp pictures, lots of good reviews on this lens and it also has the VR(vibration resistance in it) same as IS on Canon

Don't get the Nikkor 18-135 lens I was told it is not that great quality

Strongly recommend the D80 I love it,

Just my 2 cents, either way both cameras are really good choices

macsturm

[Rob]

lol.. yeah, the nikon vs canon debate.. just like BB vs DSB...lol

i am a canon person, i have my investment in canon glass, are canons better? in some ways yes, in others no.

i think you will find each has there ups and downs.. :)

[macsturm]

I agree with you Rob, I was a Canon person and I really wanted the 30d that is the Canon I would recommend, its bigger in the hands, and supposedly the 40d is coming out in February 07.

But it was cheaper for me to go the D80 route then the 30d as I did not have any lens or digital cameras it did not matter where I started.

probably switch back to Canon in a few years

:)

[RealChange]

ive never owned a nikon but i do love my xti. from what ive read about the nikon vs. canon debate, many people choose nikon because of their user friendlyness when it comes to adjusting levels while taking pix. the guys at RITZ camera told me that dslr's performace in simplist tems is 50% lens, 50% chip and canon chips are just as good as nikons.

i got some sample pix with my canon here.
im a newb photographer so......yah /
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/general-photography/2465-good-cannon-macro-lenses.html

[Rob]

another thing for examples, head over to PBase (http://www.pbase.com)
and you can do a search for images sone with s specific type of camera.
what you will see, is the decision is not as important as you think it is. you will see amazing images and crappy images from both.

personally, i feel the camera body is only a small part of the whole setup, you need a good lens, good light, and most important, a good eye. you can buy a $10,000 camera, but if you dont have the eye for getting a good image, those images aren't going to look any better than what comes out of a $200 point and shoot.

[RealChange]

im with rob here, the camera body kinda is a small part of the whole setup. thats the whole reason why i got the xti instead of the 20d or 30d. the major difference is just the housing. the 20-30d is made of a sturdier plastic. other than that, they pretty much had little differences. so i went with the cheaper one and put the money i saved into getting different lenses.

[CarmieJo]

I'm a Nikon kind of gal. My husband and son bought me a D50 for Christmas last year and I am very happy with it. I had an N70 and I think I get just as good images with the digital.