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Serious question: D70 vs D40 !!!

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odisseotm

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Hi -

I have been a SLR user for many years, although not in digital. Have owned a F80 for a long time, and still love it a lot. However, I got a child, I got a great printer, and it seems digital cameras today can do great things.

Anyways, I am not a beginner, I would consider myself a decent amateur with a preference for "reporter" type of photography, and stolen portraits.

At the moment I have a huge budget issue, as I can't afford to buy a D80, and I don't want to wait either. So, my choice would be between D70 and D40, second hand, which I can find at comparable prices (around 200 pounds or less).

Pros and cons:

Pros:

D70. I expect it to feel as a real camera, like my F80, rather than a toy for spoiled kids. I expect it to be completely versatile. I can use my old lenses with it and still have autofocus, which might enable me to buy a 18-200 which I have been wishing.

D40. It is a newer camera, i.e. improved tecnology. Very light and portable and great design. It shoots great pictures. The risk of a faulty camera is smaller cause its newer.

Cons:

D70. Relatively old technology which may affect its performance: maybe worse than the D40? It seems quite heavy, even bulkier than my F80, which is relatively small.

D40. It might give me this toyish feeling which I hate in SLR cameras, like cameras that are made to satisfy people who shouldn't have more than a P&S compact camera. Not sure that the quality of the photos is better than the D70. Have compared the samples in this site and it seems to me that the skys have this fake blue typical of digital photography. I can't use my old lenses cause it does not have an embedded autofocus motor.

Any help and comments from people that have used both cameras very much appreciated!!!
 
The D40 is a very nice camera. However, I do like AF when it is applicable and couldn't stand the thought of not having camera AF with my prime lenses so I don't use the D40 all that often. I'm not used to the viewfinders on these camera's and find AF without a tripod is tricky to nail (probably moreso my own ability). It's unfortunate because it is a very nice light small camera to lug around. I also miss the ability to have built-in wireless flash capability.

If you have older lenses that you want to have AF (don't confuse "work" with "won't AF"), the D70 is the better option.
 
The D40 feels like a small SLR with reasonable build quality unlike the Canon XTi. If you have large hands, it might be too small for you. The D40 has lower high ISO noise which is one of the 2 things that I wish were better on my D70s. This I not to say that the noise on a D70s is horrible as ISO 400 is still good and ISO 800 is OK depending on the situation. The other feature the D70s lacks is the focus mode lever found on the high end Nikons and you will not find this on the D40 either. The ability to use your existing glass is worth a bundle. Lenses last a lot longer than bodies. If you do flash photography, the D70 will offer more options including off camera control of a SB600 or SB800. The D40 might frustrate you with it’s limits and more menu driven control as you are an experienced SLR user.

Morris

--



http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~morris/POD
 
Morris makes good points. I have owned a D70 for 3 years and the only thing I will add is when I do pick up a D40 it does feel more toyish. The images are better, but I like the feel and controls more on the D70 and would choose it again.
--
Apolooza
apolooza.smugmug.com

 
They are similar. Improvements have been done, mostly to the JPEG engine, on the D40. There is less noise with the D40 when shooting JPEG. Some claim that there is a noticable difference even when shooting RAW, but I have yet to see proof of that. There might be small differences, but the D40 uses basically the same sensor so...

There is a huge difference in the approach regarding the LOOK of the images though, with the D40 colors being more saturated, images more contrasty and brighter.

It's pretty much possible to mimic that with the D70 with custom settings and/or a custom tone curve.

The D70 have a weaker AA filter, which will give slightly more detail and a little more "crisp" images, if you pixel peep, but the difference will not be huge.

So... All in all the difference is not that big, even if small enhancements have been made.

Personally I think that the extra features, better AF, more control buttons etc etc is worth more than the small difference in IQ.
odisseotm said:
But what do you think about different image quality??
Click to expand...
 
don't know what you mean by "toyish".

the d40 isn't as good for posing as a d200 but lacks nothing that a decent amateur requires to make great pictures. that is to say, every one of its supposed limitations is surmountable with technique (eg. MF) and/ or readily-available inexpensive add-ons (like split-prisms, wireless flash triggers etc.) and it further offers unique advantages in price/ size and weight/ quietness of shutter/ high-iso performance and backwards-lens compatibility (incl. pre-AI unmodified)
some toy!
odisseotm said:
Hi -

I have been a SLR user for many years, although not in digital. Have
owned a F80 for a long time, and still love it a lot. However, I got
a child, I got a great printer, and it seems digital cameras today
can do great things.

Anyways, I am not a beginner, I would consider myself a decent
amateur with a preference for "reporter" type of photography, and
stolen portraits.

At the moment I have a huge budget issue, as I can't afford to buy a
D80, and I don't want to wait either. So, my choice would be between
D70 and D40, second hand, which I can find at comparable prices
(around 200 pounds or less).

Pros and cons:

Pros:

D70. I expect it to feel as a real camera, like my F80, rather than a
toy for spoiled kids. I expect it to be completely versatile. I can
use my old lenses with it and still have autofocus, which might
enable me to buy a 18-200 which I have been wishing.

D40. It is a newer camera, i.e. improved tecnology. Very light and
portable and great design. It shoots great pictures. The risk of a
faulty camera is smaller cause its newer.

Cons:

D70. Relatively old technology which may affect its performance:
maybe worse than the D40? It seems quite heavy, even bulkier than my
F80, which is relatively small.

D40. It might give me this toyish feeling which I hate in SLR
cameras, like cameras that are made to satisfy people who shouldn't
have more than a P&S compact camera. Not sure that the quality of the
photos is better than the D70. Have compared the samples in this site
and it seems to me that the skys have this fake blue typical of
digital photography. I can't use my old lenses cause it does not have
an embedded autofocus motor.

Any help and comments from people that have used both cameras very
much appreciated!!!
Click to expand...
--
my web albums:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/theabsurdman
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74185915@N00/
 
I have owned the D70 since it first came out and the D40 for 1 year. I do not shoot raw and the jpeg's from the D40 are considerably better overall in sharpness and exposure quality and at high iso settings the gap gets so much bigger that they really don't compare. I find the D40 will have more detail in shadows without blowing highlights like my D70 was prone to doing. The viewfinder on the D40 is much better and the access to different setting parameters is much easier than the D70. But, if you have a bunch of screw drive lenses that puts a lot in favor of the D70. I only have 5 or 6 old screw drive lenses and 3 of them are primes which I don't really have much use for any more and the newer S type zooms are my best ones also. I am not a newbe with 40+ years of slr use behind me so I don't need a lot of bells and whistles therefore the D40 has all the features I ever need. I seriously doubt that any low priced nikon dslr bodies will be built again with screw drive for theses lenses, so if you have a lot of good ones, your best bet might be D50 or D70 used. Also, there are some really good bargains out there in the pro body line in the D1H and D2H. The D1H can be bought for around $500 and the D2H for less than $1000. I have a D1H and love it. It is my body of choice when action is involved in the project. It is a much better body than the D70 and the D2H would be even better for most things.
 
The question is weather D40x is better than D40.The D40seems more film like to me,D40x has a shiny look to my eyes and D40 more subtle but either better than D70.
 
I guess the issue of saturation is a big one. I have the impression that new cameras tend to oversaturate their colours. I don't think that a strong blue sky on an ordinary day necessarily means a great picture. That's why I am not so sure about the improvement in the D40, as it seems to me that much of it is just oversaturated colours.

This seems confirmed by morris when he said that the D70s delivers crispier details.
 
No OVERSATUATION but better ,deeper color.Like comparing old regular extachrome 200 to pro 64 extachrome.If you like more modest returns from your images stick with outdated d70 technology.If you want to buy my D70 in great condition let me know.
 
I do like the D70 more than the D40. To me you can do more with the D70- CLS, AF motor, bracketing features.

With a speedlight attached to the D70 felt more balance too. I can't tell a major difference right out of the camera as I shoot JPEG too. Certainly I have more keepers with the D70 than the D40 thats for sure.

--
D40/D70
17-55mm EDII
50mm D 1.8
55-200mm ED
SB-600 x2
manfrotto tri 718b, mono 681b
 
That's interesting that there could be so much difference from one body to another. I most definitely get better images and better overall quality images from my D40 vs my D70. Either I have a faulty D70 that I've had ever since they came out and a super good example of the D40 or you have the opposite combination.
 
I also got photos out of the d70s similiar to the d40. Exception is the hi iso where d40 was great. I thought that the auto WB and metering was better with the d70s.
 
I agree with your last statement.I know you have D40x also and seem to think it almost equal to D40.Do you think D40x has any thing better i.e -DR or resolution over D40?
 
No - If I had it to do over again I would not purchase the 40X. I like the D40 images better.
 
I shoot RAW and I'm very happy with my D70s. I' m sure things moved on with the D40 but a lower iso and RAW I think the differences are very small.

The only other option would be a used D50, which closes the gap on the hi iso noise whilst keepng the focus motor

Oh now for an ipinion. I really love my D70s. Shooting RAW I feel miles ahead of film. All but 2 of the images on my Flickr site are from the D70s. Skies to saturated, my choice in RAW conversion. I also love the twin command dials and near menu free operaion. The AF mode lever being the only real issue that needs the menus.

happy shooting
--
http://www.photo.net/photos/JohnClinch
http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_clinch/

The 6MP DSLR first appeared in 2002. They're still selling in 2007. Thats a good run.
 
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