Nikon D70S or D80 digital SLR? Which Lenses?

[WetChicken]

Well, I am going to buy either a Nikon D70S or a D80, and I am wondering what people have on comments about them.

Here's the biggest discusison. Which lenses? I would like to have the options from 18-28 to 300-400. I guess what I am asking is without taking into consideration of carrying everything around- what is the best tradeoff- one lens that does it all, or two for a cost savings?

Also, what about all the different AF AE IF S and all that shit? Is it worth the extra cost for ED?

[dodisman]

http://www.imaging-resource.com/MFR1.HTM?view=Nikon

great site for all you need to know...the D80 isn't reviewed yet but they have their first takes on it...

[jbone108]

I don’t know about the Nikons I decided to go with Pentax Ist not that you give a fuck. I’ve bought several lenses off Ebay. I like the idea of having multiple lenses not just one lenses that does it all. I don’t know about all that AF AE and all that other shit I just use the camera to take pictures.

[generoso]

For a all around lens some where from 55mm-a 200mm would do the trick. At family gatherings get a wide angle lens. And leave the telephoto at home. Sports events do the oppisite and bring a good telel zoom lens somewhere around 300 mm.
Af is auto focus to save battery life set it to single shot so when you press the shutter halfway down it will focus. Since you have a SLR use it and it it's modes. I prefer totall manual myself. In time you will to. But untill than for family events and things that don't move alot use what they Apeture prioty. This will most things in the distant more in focus but you give up shutter speed. Hence sporting events you want to use Shutter prioty to stop action and not have blur but you give up focal distance. Also invest in a good flash with bounce so when you take a face shot you bounce the flash off the ceiling and get rid of shadows and redeye.
As for mega pixels unless your blowing up pictures to 16X20 a 7-10 will do just great. This will also give you better refresh to take mulipile pictures.
A few key differnes between the 70 and 80 are in ISO and Flash . I do like with the 80 you have differnt flash syncros this can give a excellnt sports effect. And and lower iso means better picture quality. Personally go with 80 cost a few dollars more but worth it. But if all you are doing in family and regular shots the 70 is a fine camera..
I use a cannon myself as my SLR. but recenlty got a Sony-h5 not a SLR but a killer camera for everday use..

[Hoagie]

I like Canon better myself. You have a better selection of higher quality lenses with Canon. In the end, a camera is only as good as the lense on it. With SLRs there really is no one lense that fits all situations. A few things to remember with lenses are that prime lenses (lenses that only have a single range) will always be of better quality then zoom lenses. For a full frame camera a 50mm lense is a natural view lense (it gives the same perspective as your eyesight). But in the range of camera you're looking at you will have a smaller frame so everything will have a natural zoom. 30mm will give you a natural view.

The other aspect to remember is the speed of a lense. The speed is determined by aperture (how wide the lense is when it's shutter is open all the way). The lower the aperture number (or F-Stop) the wider the lense can open and the more light it can let in. A good aperture allows faster shutter speeds and can be more readily used closed down (when a lense is at it's maximum aperture it's called wide open and it decreases the quality, you want to avoid using it wide open if you can).

I have 3 lenses that I usually carry with me. A Sigma 18-55 with a maximum aperture of 2.4. A Canon 50mm or 30mm with a maximum aperture of 1.4. And a Canon L series 75mm - 200mm with a maximum aperture of 2.4. It pretty much covers any kind of shot I need.

[WetChicken]

Well, I went and bought the D80 package like the one at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=449066&is=REG&addedTroughType=search.
It is a Nikon D80, 10.2 Megapixel, SLR Digital Camera with Nikon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens. I also bought an SB-800 flash, 1a filter, and a polarizer.
Thanks for the tips, guys. I am going to go with this lens for now, and maybe buy a 70-300 in the future.
A friend has a D70s, so I wanted to go with a Nikon since I can get a lot of help from him. This will get me going, and I can buy/sell lenses later when I learn more about what I exactly where I want to focus. Fuck, I can even sell the whole thing if it doesn't work.
Sexhoagie, I can see now that the lower aperture's for your lenses might make a big difference. How much difference is there between the 3.5 in mine to the 1.4 that you have in your 30/50? Sheesh, even your zoom has a lower f-stop.

If you guys are going to the halloween party (if they ever announce it) I would like to buy beers and pick your brains even more.

[WetChicken]

I don’t know about the Nikons I decided to go with Pentax Ist not that you give a fuck. I’ve bought several lenses off Ebay. I like the idea of having multiple lenses not just one lenses that does it all. I don’t know about all that AF AE and all that other shit I just use the camera to take pictures.
Aren't you a little nervous buying lenses from ebay? I think they are a little too fragile not being able to inspect them before purchase.

[Hoagie]

Sexhoagie (http://Sexhoagie), I can see now that the lower aperture's for your lenses might make a big difference. How much difference is there between the 3.5 in mine to the 1.4 that you have in your 30/50? Sheesh, even your zoom has a lower f-stop.It's a really big difference. But a 1.4 is only available on prime around that focal range. Most high end lenses will be 2.8 ( I meant 2.8 not 2.4 earlier, that's what you get for posting specs drunk). But there is a big difference in 2.8 and 3.5. It may not effect you much depending on what you use it for, especially if you can use a flash most of the time.

[WetChicken]

Ahh, drunkenness. I hope to be able to do that again in this lifetime.
Things I want to try are shooting people both indoors and outdoors, fireworks, fire scenes, animals, landscapes, action shots at racetracks, sunrises/sunsets, and whatever else hits me at the moment. I will soon figure out what I want to focus on(meh), and what I am good at.
I bought a really good flash that will do anything, including zooming, controlling other flashes, etc so I should be all set with the higher f-stop.
Exactly how is the f-stop number determined? Is is an actual measurement of the light that is available to the sensor/film?

I got some shots of our dog and cats earlier, and I already noticed a large improvement in relation to the flash and wash out in the close ups over a point and shoot. In aperature priority I got awesome depth of field! This thing is going to be awesome, and I have just started! I will get them on the laptop soon.

[Fr. Dougal]

Wet, how does that Nikon work in low light? I'm looking to get an SLR because of the bigger image sensor. Right now, I just have a Sony T9 as my main digital camera, but no matter what manual settings I use, I get horrible blur in low light. (Lots of times, there's no way to use a tripod, so I'm screwed in that sense.) I was hoping that a decent SLR with a good ISO and relatively large image sensor would at least help the problem.