Low light: Nikon D70 with 18-200mm VR or Canon D30 with 28-105mm

[PD70]

So I've been shooting with a D70 for two years and have been generally very happy with my images. Two things I've wanted during this time are lower noise at high iso and a larger zoom. I have pretty limited financial resources and so now when I upgrade I have the following choices:

Keep my D70, sell my 18-70mm and add a 18-200mm VR lens which hopefully would allow me to take low-ligth pics at a lower iso with the VR - never used VR though so am not sure how good it is in low light?

Sell my D70 and 18-70mm/50mm lenses and get a D30 with the 28-105mm lens. I could then shoot with high ISO and little noise even with that slow lens.

Any advice? I basically want:

1. To be able to shoot in low light without very low noise
2. A bigger zoom

This without putting in more than around $700 - either toward the 18-200mm lens or toward the D30 and 28-105mm after I sold my Nikon gear. I'm fine with either nIkon or canon, though ultimately I prefer the ergonomics of the nikon.

Hope this is not too silly an issue....thanks.

 

[D50]

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Thanks

Randy

http://randyr.smugmug.com/

 

[PD70]

Ooops, I forgot to say that I'd prefer not to lug around such a huge lens. Isn't it also hugely expensive?

thanks though...

 

[PD70]

Of course, it doesn't even seem that it is possible to get a reasonably-priced 18-200mm VR at this time...

 

[Dave Wright]

I would get the 18-200 VR. The VR feature will let you shoot in much lower light unless the issue is subject movement. You'll get a whole lot more focal length range too.

If you are not adverse to post processing there may not be much, or any, difference between the D70 and the 30D. The Canon has better in-camera (actually on-sensor-chip) noise reduction, but I don't know if there is actually any difference in the amount of noise at the pixel sensor surface itself. Post processing the D70 images with high quality nosie reduction software, which can be batched, might effectively get you the same results, even pushing an extra stop to effectively get ISO 3200. I have shot a number of venues with my D50 at 1600 and the images intentionally underexposed by a stop, run them through Neat Image, and gotten nice 8x10s.

 

[packy]

So I've been shooting with a D70 for two years and have been
generally very happy with my images. Two things I've wanted during
this time are lower noise at high iso and a larger zoom. I have
pretty limited financial resources and so now when I upgrade I have
the following choices:

Keep my D70, sell my 18-70mm and add a 18-200mm VR lens which
hopefully would allow me to take low-ligth pics at a lower iso with
the VR - never used VR though so am not sure how good it is in low
light?

I have one and it's excellent. You have four stops under normal handholding, so if you are shooting with your 18-70 at 1/30s at ISO1600, you could shoot this on the VR at 1/8s (2 stops less) at ISO400 (2 stops less)...need I say anymore. Another alternative is to get a 1.8 or 1.4 prime lens...but if your looking for 18mm or less it could be the price of a VR!! Plus with the VR you have a handy zoom to 300mm (35mm) which can be shot with steady hands to 1/10s......well worth the wait, I think. You could sell your 18-70 to pay towards the cost of a VR.

Sell my D70 and 18-70mm/50mm lenses and get a D30 with the 28-105mm
lens. I could then shoot with high ISO and little noise even with
that slow lens.

Dream on!!.....No offence...I had a 20D for a while and there still will be noise to contend with at ISO800. The noise difference...will only be a improvement over the D70...but not as major as you may be thinking... Also you will be losing a fair bit of money changing systems and outlaying even more money for the Canon. What your really paying for in the Canon is Performance (faster AF, 5fps over the D70), Plus the 28-105 is a basic lens and any of the IS Canon lens wouldn't be too far off the 18-200VR in price. Also you have no wide angle and less reach and no VR with the 28-105. Another option is to get Neat Image for your ISO800-1600 pics. This is a incredible piece of software and will eliminate the noise in photos and still keep an incredible amount of detail.

*****************************************
Packy

http://homepage.eircom.net/~vmax ; for my pic stuff

 

[GSETM]

Get the 18-200 VR. It is awesome. I'm just back from Australia and it performed magnificantly.

 

[PD70]

In just called San Jose Camera who has priced the 18-200mm decently and was told that if I got on the waiting list today it would take at least two months to get the lens! Wow.

I have to look around some more.

 

[rgmoore]

Keep my D70, sell my 18-70mm and add a 18-200mm VR lens which
hopefully would allow me to take low-ligth pics at a lower iso with
the VR - never used VR though so am not sure how good it is in low
light?

This is a resonable choice. You'd obviously get a wider zoom range, and there's every indication that VR works for low-light shooting. It won't negate subject motion blur, but it would be useful for relatively static subjects.

Sell my D70 and 18-70mm/50mm lenses and get a D30 with the
28-105mm lens. I could then shoot with high ISO and little noise even
with that slow lens.

I think that this is a much worse idea than getting the 18-200 VR. While Canonites talk about the low light advantage of Canon's sensors, my impression is that the advantage isn't as big as they make it sound; it's probably no more than 1 stop. That means that you'd get only a marginal improvement in noise, but you'd be giving up the wide end of the zoom range. Unless you're rarely shooting any wider than 30mm with the 18-70 that's a huge loss. Meanwhile, the lens has no VR/IS, so any gains in sensor speed would be lost by the need to keep the shutter speed fast to reduce camera shake.

IMO, though, for low light work I'd recommend getting a fast prime rather than mucking around with slow zooms, even if they're image stabilized. The extra speed of a faster lens is able to negate both camera shake and subject motion blur, which makes it useful for both static and moving subjects.
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http://www.pbase.com/rgmoore