Back in December my parents bought me a D70S for my 16th birthday. We got it in a package deal on Ebay from Cameta Cameras. The package had the body, the 28-80 mm lens, the 70-300 mm lens, carrying case, lens cleaning kit, camera strap and LCD covers. That was $1050, and with a few lens filters for $30 and a Mack 5 year warranty for only $90, the grand total came in at $1170 plus $15 shipping. My camera arrived right before Christmas and in less than two months I've already taken over 500 photos with it. I have the highest praise for this camera.
The Auto setting works surprisingly well in many different situations. The Sport setting has netted (quite literally, since it's basketball season) me some great sports shots. Both Night Landscape and Night Portrait work extremely well, the capabilities of these settings are stunning. The D70S is extremely capable at pretty much any photographic task you put it to, which is one reason I got it, because I started up a photography buisness in January. Having the ability to control shutter and aperture from one mode was a big reason I chose this camera over the D50.
Another thing to consider is how big your hands are. If your hands are big, like mine are, the D70S is a better choice because the D50 is to small to really get a good grip on and is uncomfortable to hold. If you have small hands, the D50 would be the better camera for you, as the D70S would be too large and clumsy to handle. Also, you can get a standard D70 and for about $100 get firmware upgrades that give you all the more advanced features of the D70S except for the larger LCD if you want to save some money.
All in all, I have been extremely pleased with my D70S, and I believe that it was worth spending the extra money to get the crucial features the D50 lacks, at least in my eyes. I would recommend this camera to anyone, and I look forward to taking awesome pics with it during Chase Season '06.
Laura Duchesne said:
My uncle has a D50 (I think but I am pretty sure), let's just say it's very heavy and bulky. I couldn't handle that thing with my small hands LOL.
He likes it... the one thing I find annoying about it is that if you use flash with red eye reduction it flashes like a lightning storm and scares his dog
Your uncle definetly has a D70 if to you it is large and bulky and you have small hands. I discussed above the hand to camera body size issue at length. As far as the flash, yes, my friends/family always complain about the extreme brightness of the flash, and I've scared my dog and my cats with it as well. Oh well, it has great coverage, gives warm colors to the subject and you never see a trace of red eye.
