I know some of you out there are pretty well versed in photography hardware. I have a friend with the D70, and I absolutely love shooting with that camera. The original 300D was nice, but it seems dated already. The 350D seems like a great deal for everything that you're getting. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the recently released Digital Rebel XT, particularly in comparison to the Nikon D70.

 

The XT looks like a better camera than the D70, especially when it comes to image quality at higher ISOs. Unless you're already invested in Nikon lenses I would get the Rebel XT.

 

They say it is comparing closely with its big brother the 20D which is a better camera than the D70. However either camera is great. I love my 300D it does everything I need it and more. The new XT is still less than the D70 and has more usable features.

 

The XT only has 7 point focus and a slower burst rate than the 20D, if you're using it for action photography such as motorsports it's not gonna keep up.. the 20D barely does.

 

ive been playing with my friend's D70 enough to know that i'd like to get my own digiSLR to play with. with these types of cameras, are you really getting what you pay for? as someone mentioned, the XT is much cheaper than the D70. what's being skimped on the XT?

i know there are a lot of great photographers here. thanks for your advice.

 

it's a good bang for the buck for the novice camera user.

 

I like the XT. I was thinking of selling my current rebel just to get the XT , but decided that if I'm going to upgrade, it better be the 20D. I definitely think the XT is better than the D70, but now there are rumors that Nikon will release another camera to compete. We'll see.

 

[QUOTE=Fast Shadow,Mar 18 2005, 04:17 PM] The XT only has 7 point focus and a slower burst rate than the 20D, if you're using it for action photography such as motorsports it's not gonna keep up.. the 20D barely does.

 

I'd like to see some proof that the 20D can barely keep up with motorsports. What a joke. This is probably why about 75% of the Canon shooters at D1GP this year had a 20D on hand, right?

Yes, the XT only has 7 focus points versus the 20D's 9. If you look at the way they are positioned, both should be decent for motorsports, albeit the 20D is going to have faster focusing. I have yet to test the XT, so I can't say much about focusing but for motorsports you're normally prefocusing then using AI SERVO (something the XT DOES have unlike the 300D), so if you know what you're doing you should be fine. The XT is a very capable camera, motorsports or not, if it's in the hands of a capable photographer.

You're right, the XT has a slower burst rate than the 20D, but in all honesty I have only used a full 5 frame 5fps burst four times in the field. At D1GP 2-3 weeks ago, I only used it twice. Why? Because photography isn't about spray and pray. Sports photography is about anticipation and timing. 9 out of 10 times, the first shot in my burst will be the best shot.

If you don't think the 20D can hang in motorsports, maybe your problem is the user and not the equipment.

 

Since I don't have a digi SLR yet (no legacy lenses) I'm really leaning towards the XT. I like the form factor and it'll be a lot better than I'm capable of actually shooting yet as a newbie to SLR photography/manual control.