Couldn't help it - sorry Canon

"RichA" wrote in message
ups.com...

Bill wrote:
Well it happened...I'm a traitor.

I've been seriously pondering a move to a larger camera body from the
diminutive Canon XT the last few months, and today a friend pushed me
to the edge with an offer to buy my Canon gear.

So I jumped. I sold him my Canon Rebel XT body and all of my Canon
lenses including 17-40 and 70-200 f/4 models, along with my Canon
specific accessories, flash, remote, memory cards, spare bag, etc. He
now has everything he needs to go out and shoot digital, and he's a
happy camper.

So I went out after work and bought the Nikon D80 body, SB-600, memory
cards, and remote. I stopped by my friends place on the way home to
pick up his used Nikon 18-70 and 50mm f/1.8 lenses. I also borrowed
his 80-200 D to play with till the weekend. I broke about even on the
deal, give or take a night at the bar. I will have to buy a telephoto
lense, but I can live with that.

All I can say is, "wow"...the difference in handling and usability is
dramatic. Image quality is similar as I expected, but the big thing is
the viewfinder - it almost feels like going back to full frame. And
the responsiveness is surprising. I figured it wouldn't be much of an
improvement over the XT, but the D80 is a tad faster in everything it
does.

Obviously the loss of the wonderful Canon 70-200 f/4 L is the only
thing I miss so far, but hopefully I can make it up with the new
70-300 VR when it arrives, if it's good enough. I'll still have access
to my friends 70-200 f/2.8 VR and other sweet glass if needed, but the
small 70-300 VR and 18-70 will be great for travel.

I feel like a kid with a new toy...can't wait for the weekend.

:-)

Anyone thinking of the Rebel XTi should absolutely try the Nikon or the
new Pentax when it comes out. Both are miles ahead when it comes to
shooting comfort.

And of course you have so much experience with all these cameras and can
advise us because of your first hand knowledge??

Two Orange pills for you tonight, suppositories I think.

Pete D wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message
ups.com...

Bill wrote:
Well it happened...I'm a traitor.

I've been seriously pondering a move to a larger camera body from the
diminutive Canon XT the last few months, and today a friend pushed me
to the edge with an offer to buy my Canon gear.

So I jumped. I sold him my Canon Rebel XT body and all of my Canon
lenses including 17-40 and 70-200 f/4 models, along with my Canon
specific accessories, flash, remote, memory cards, spare bag, etc. He
now has everything he needs to go out and shoot digital, and he's a
happy camper.

So I went out after work and bought the Nikon D80 body, SB-600, memory
cards, and remote. I stopped by my friends place on the way home to
pick up his used Nikon 18-70 and 50mm f/1.8 lenses. I also borrowed
his 80-200 D to play with till the weekend. I broke about even on the
deal, give or take a night at the bar. I will have to buy a telephoto
lense, but I can live with that.

All I can say is, "wow"...the difference in handling and usability is
dramatic. Image quality is similar as I expected, but the big thing is
the viewfinder - it almost feels like going back to full frame. And
the responsiveness is surprising. I figured it wouldn't be much of an
improvement over the XT, but the D80 is a tad faster in everything it
does.

Obviously the loss of the wonderful Canon 70-200 f/4 L is the only
thing I miss so far, but hopefully I can make it up with the new
70-300 VR when it arrives, if it's good enough. I'll still have access
to my friends 70-200 f/2.8 VR and other sweet glass if needed, but the
small 70-300 VR and 18-70 will be great for travel.

I feel like a kid with a new toy...can't wait for the weekend.

:-)

Anyone thinking of the Rebel XTi should absolutely try the Nikon or the
new Pentax when it comes out. Both are miles ahead when it comes to
shooting comfort.

And of course you have so much experience with all these cameras and can
advise us because of your first hand knowledge??

As a matter of fact, yes. I used the Nikon 3 times, the Rebel twice
(as well as having used the older Rebels a fair bit and I've handled
the Pentax for about 15 minutes. Both cameras "feel" far better than
using the Rebel XTi.
Here's a shot I took of the Pentax. It could be the ringer in the 10
megapixel race, all things considered. The lens on the front is a very
short 70mm prime.
http://www.pbase.com/andersonrm/image/68561086

Pete D wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message
ups.com...

Anyone thinking of the Rebel XTi should absolutely try the Nikon
or the
new Pentax when it comes out. Both are miles ahead when it comes
to
shooting comfort.

And of course you have so much experience with all these cameras
and can
advise us because of your first hand knowledge??


The Nikon D80 is right at the size limit for my hands. Any smaller and
my little finger hangs off the bottom of the camera. Based on photos
I've seen of the K10D beside the D80 and Canon 30D, I'd say it's too
small for me to hold comfortably:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/Pen...debyside01.jpg

Too bad they felt the need to make it small. In fact, if you look at
the next photo, you can see part of the persons finger sticking out
the bottom:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/Pen...s/inhand01.jpg

The Pentax sounds like it will be a decent camera though, based on
features and performance.

THO wrote:
In article .com,
"RichA" wrote:

Pete D wrote:
"RichA" wrote in message
ups.com...

Bill wrote:
Well it happened...I'm a traitor.

I've been seriously pondering a move to a larger camera body from the
diminutive Canon XT the last few months, and today a friend pushed me
to the edge with an offer to buy my Canon gear.

So I jumped. I sold him my Canon Rebel XT body and all of my Canon
lenses including 17-40 and 70-200 f/4 models, along with my Canon
specific accessories, flash, remote, memory cards, spare bag, etc. He
now has everything he needs to go out and shoot digital, and he's a
happy camper.

So I went out after work and bought the Nikon D80 body, SB-600, memory
cards, and remote. I stopped by my friends place on the way home to
pick up his used Nikon 18-70 and 50mm f/1.8 lenses. I also borrowed
his 80-200 D to play with till the weekend. I broke about even on the
deal, give or take a night at the bar. I will have to buy a telephoto
lense, but I can live with that.

All I can say is, "wow"...the difference in handling and usability is
dramatic. Image quality is similar as I expected, but the big thing is
the viewfinder - it almost feels like going back to full frame. And
the responsiveness is surprising. I figured it wouldn't be much of an
improvement over the XT, but the D80 is a tad faster in everything it
does.

Obviously the loss of the wonderful Canon 70-200 f/4 L is the only
thing I miss so far, but hopefully I can make it up with the new
70-300 VR when it arrives, if it's good enough. I'll still have access
to my friends 70-200 f/2.8 VR and other sweet glass if needed, but the
small 70-300 VR and 18-70 will be great for travel.

I feel like a kid with a new toy...can't wait for the weekend.

:-)

Anyone thinking of the Rebel XTi should absolutely try the Nikon or the
new Pentax when it comes out. Both are miles ahead when it comes to
shooting comfort.

And of course you have so much experience with all these cameras and can
advise us because of your first hand knowledge??

As a matter of fact, yes. I used the Nikon 3 times, the Rebel twice
(as well as having used the older Rebels a fair bit and I've handled
the Pentax for about 15 minutes. Both cameras "feel" far better than
using the Rebel XTi.
Here's a shot I took of the Pentax. It could be the ringer in the 10
megapixel race, all things considered. The lens on the front is a very
short 70mm prime.
http://www.pbase.com/andersonrm/image/68561086

What's wrong with that picture? It looks like extreme grain.

800 ISO and about 4 stops under in the dark areas. The lighting in
that hall was awful, except where the pro fotogs were doing
demonstrations.

In article ,
says...

This is the only area where I knew I'd have a problem - replacing the
70-200 f/4 lense. Nikon doesn't have a fast focusing 80-200 for around
$700-900 CDN. They do have the $1200 80-200 f/2.8 D, but it uses the
screw drive on the camera body so it's not as quick as an AFS lense
although it's not slow, and there is more noise and torque reaction
than I'd like (the Canon USM spoiled me).

So if the new lense doesn't perform well enough, then I'll have to
look at something else.

Don't dismiss the 80-200mm f/2.8D too quickly. I used to have one of
these lenses and even with the manual coupling, it was a very quick
performer. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that on an F100 it focussed
faster than my 70-200mm VR.

--
www.nikongear.com
Share, learn, win.

"DD" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

This is the only area where I knew I'd have a problem - replacing
the
70-200 f/4 lense. Nikon doesn't have a fast focusing 80-200 for
around
$700-900 CDN. They do have the $1200 80-200 f/2.8 D, but it uses
the
screw drive on the camera body so it's not as quick as an AFS lense
although it's not slow, and there is more noise and torque reaction
than I'd like (the Canon USM spoiled me).

Don't dismiss the 80-200mm f/2.8D too quickly. I used to have one of
these lenses and even with the manual coupling, it was a very quick
performer. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that on an F100 it
focussed
faster than my 70-200mm VR.


I'm not using an F100 though. And since this is the first Nikon camera
I've owned, I only have a little practical experience of the screw
drive compared to a new D80 (I've used the D70s a fair bit).

On the D80 I feel the 80-200 isn't quite fast enough for my liking.
I've been spoiled by high speed USM/SWM drives so this is a
disappointment. And there is the issue with torque, and focus noise.
The weight I can learn to live with since the optics are good. But all
the other things are disappointing.

Welcome to the fold...you'll love using your new D80.

One recommendation is to try out (if you can find it) the excellent 18-200mm
VR. I bought one for my D200 and it almost never leaves the camera. Between
the 18-200 and my 12-24mm, I get all the coverage I used to have with five
separate prime lenses and one zoom for my old Nikon film cameras. The 18-200
vastly simplifies going out on a shoot.

Enjoy taking pictures and remember, it's not the camera that makes great
images, it's the photographer....


"Bill" wrote in message
...
Well it happened...I'm a traitor.

I've been seriously pondering a move to a larger camera body from the
diminutive Canon XT the last few months, and today a friend pushed me to
the edge with an offer to buy my Canon gear.

So I jumped. I sold him my Canon Rebel XT body and all of my Canon lenses
including 17-40 and 70-200 f/4 models, along with my Canon specific
accessories, flash, remote, memory cards, spare bag, etc. He now has
everything he needs to go out and shoot digital, and he's a happy camper.

So I went out after work and bought the Nikon D80 body, SB-600, memory
cards, and remote. I stopped by my friends place on the way home to pick
up his used Nikon 18-70 and 50mm f/1.8 lenses. I also borrowed his 80-200
D to play with till the weekend. I broke about even on the deal, give or
take a night at the bar. I will have to buy a telephoto lense, but I can
live with that.

All I can say is, "wow"...the difference in handling and usability is
dramatic. Image quality is similar as I expected, but the big thing is the
viewfinder - it almost feels like going back to full frame. And the
responsiveness is surprising. I figured it wouldn't be much of an
improvement over the XT, but the D80 is a tad faster in everything it
does.

Obviously the loss of the wonderful Canon 70-200 f/4 L is the only thing I
miss so far, but hopefully I can make it up with the new 70-300 VR when it
arrives, if it's good enough. I'll still have access to my friends 70-200
f/2.8 VR and other sweet glass if needed, but the small 70-300 VR and
18-70 will be great for travel.

I feel like a kid with a new toy...can't wait for the weekend.

:-)

"jhthurman" wrote in message
.. .

Welcome to the fold...you'll love using your new D80.

Why do people keep saying that?
I'm not a sheep, dang it, I'm not a sheep!

More like a wolf...

:-)

One recommendation is to try out (if you can find it) the excellent
18-200mm

My friend has that lense and uses it as a walk around. But I now have
the 18-70 for a walk around and will soon add a telephoto zoom to the
mix. I also have a 50mm f/1.8 and will likely add a 10.5 fisheye. I'm
also considering the 17-35 for low light work in that range.

Bill wrote:
"jhthurman" wrote in message

Welcome to the fold...you'll love using your new D80.

Why do people keep saying that?

Because they are Masadans? The Faithful? The
true-believers?

I'm not a sheep, dang it, I'm not a sheep!
More like a wolf...

A sheep in wolf's clothes, probably. :-

-Wolfgang