On the fence..Nikon D80 vs. Canon XTI

I am in the market for a DSLR and was wondering if I could get some
input. I am interested in buying a new camera and have heard good
things about both the Canon Digital Rebel XTI 10.1 and Nikon D80. I
was hoping to stay below the $1000 if I could which makes the XTI more
favorable however, my dad has roughly 5 Nikon lenses at home and it
would be nice if I was able to use them. The lenses he has were
bought for his Nikon (1970's can't recall the model) I am told that
the picture quality will be reduced if an older lens is used on a
newer DSLR. I am aware that I can purchase an adapter so I can use my
Nikon lenses on the Canon but I wasn't sure how the adapter works and
if there was any loss of quality. I am a 4th year industrial design
student in Boston and lately I have had a high need for nice high res
photos esp in the building of my portfolio. I wouldn't consider
myself an amature but I am far from professional. I have been
shooting on my Nikon 8008s for years and I love it. Any advice you
can give would be great. I am not necessarily stuck on these two
cameras, however they seem to be reasonably priced and powerful enough
for what I'm looking for. Thanks for your help

- Jesse

On Mar 21, 8:21 am, stein.je...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am in the market for a DSLR and was wondering if I could get some
> input. I am interested in buying a new camera and have heard good
> things about both the Canon Digital Rebel XTI 10.1 and Nikon D80. I
> was hoping to stay below the $1000 if I could which makes the XTI more
> favorable however, my dad has roughly 5 Nikon lenses at home and it
> would be nice if I was able to use them. The lenses he has were
> bought for his Nikon (1970's can't recall the model) I am told that
> the picture quality will be reduced if an older lens is used on a
> newer DSLR... I have been
> shooting on my Nikon 8008s for years and I love it. Any advice you
> can give would be great.

In general, the question that you appear to be asking is:

"Is the preexisting investment in lenses that I have (or have access
to) sufficient to justify the one camera over the other?"

The short answer to that will be "it depends".

In your shoes, the first step that I would take would be to review the
specifics of each of Dad's (and your 8008's) lenses for two major
factors:

a) How much are they really worth?
b) To what degree are they compatible with the new camera?

Obviously, if these old lenses lack autofocus and other
characteristics, their general utility is reduced. Similarly, if
they're relatively mundane lenses, they might not really be worth
enough to bias a $1000 decision.

YMMV, but I would probably say that unless those 'old' lenses are
worth at least $500, it probably shouldn't be that great of a
consideration in deciding if to change platforms (ie, Nikon vs
Canon).

BTW, don't forget that with all Nikon dSLRs being 'crop bodies', all
of these old lenses will have their effective focal length increased
by 50%. As such, that nice old 35mm wide angle becomes a normal
50mm. If your interests are into wide angle, you'll probably need to
either consider the Canon 5D or accepting one of the 'dSLR only' lens
mounts, which means that you lose backwards-compatibility to your
existing 35mm equipment (regardless of vendor). Ain't no free lunch!


-hh

"-hh" <recscuba_google@huntzinger.com> wrote in message
news:1174480998.918315.75420@l77g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...

> BTW, don't forget that with all Nikon dSLRs being 'crop bodies', all
> of these old lenses will have their effective focal length increased
> by 50%. As such, that nice old 35mm wide angle becomes a normal
> 50mm. If your interests are into wide angle, you'll probably need to
> either consider the Canon 5D or accepting one of the 'dSLR only' lens
> mounts, which means that you lose backwards-compatibility to your
> existing 35mm equipment (regardless of vendor). Ain't no free lunch!

Nikon do a 14mm f2.8 lens which will work on both digital and film, which
would be about the difference in cost between a D80 and a 5D I expect.

I'd rather invest in glass which will pretty much hold it's value for years
than in an expensive digital body which will loose most of it's value in a
couple of years time.

On 21 Mar 2007 05:21:43 -0700, stein.jesse@gmail.com wrote:

> I am in the market for a DSLR and was wondering if I could get some
> input. I am interested in buying a new camera and have heard good
> things about both the Canon Digital Rebel XTI 10.1 and Nikon D80. I
> was hoping to stay below the $1000 if I could which makes the XTI more
> favorable however, my dad has roughly 5 Nikon lenses at home and it
> would be nice if I was able to use them. The lenses he has were
> bought for his Nikon (1970's can't recall the model) I am told that
> the picture quality will be reduced if an older lens is used on a
> newer DSLR. I am aware that I can purchase an adapter so I can use my
> Nikon lenses on the Canon but I wasn't sure how the adapter works and
> if there was any loss of quality. I am a 4th year industrial design
> student in Boston and lately I have had a high need for nice high res
> photos esp in the building of my portfolio. I wouldn't consider
> myself an amature but I am far from professional. I have been
> shooting on my Nikon 8008s for years and I love it. Any advice you
> can give would be great. I am not necessarily stuck on these two
> cameras, however they seem to be reasonably priced and powerful enough
> for what I'm looking for. Thanks for your help

All of your father's lenses should work on a D80, but they may
lose some metering functionality. I have Nikkor lenses several
years older than your 8008s, purchased for use with my 8008, and
they seem to have full functionality with a D50. These include
28-85mm and 75-300mm AF Ai-s Zoom-Nikkors and a 60mm Micro-Nikkor.
The 28-85mm lens hasn't yet been tested on a DSLR. From what I've
read, it's not exactly that your old lenses will show a loss in
quality. If used on a DSLR such as the D50 with its 6mp sensor, the
older lenses should provide results at least comparable to what they
provided with Nikon's film cameras. I think that I got some better
results with good P&S cameras than I did with my 8008. If the old
lenses are used on higher resolution cameras such as the D80 and
D200, the results should be better yet, but if the lenses aren't
Nikon's best, some problems such as CA might be noticed at high
magnification or when making *very* large prints. The solution then
would be to purchase one of Nikon's better lenses, which
unfortunately can approach or greatly exceed the price of a D80. If
you have a good photo store, they'll let you try some of the old
lenses on a D80, and that will allow you to be aware of lens
limitations, if any, and help you decide if a new kit lens is needed
(which probably won't provide noticeably better image quality than
many older lenses) or if you only need to purchase a D80 body. I
tested my lenses on a D50 at B&H and ended up buying the body. I
would have added an f/1.8 or f/1.4 50mm lens, but they didn't have
both in stock and it just gave me more time to research the
differences between these two lenses. Other than the obvious
aperture difference, that is. :) Surprisingly, B&H was also didn't
have any SB-600 flashes in stock, and they don't sell 4GB SD cards,
only the 4GB SDHC versions which won't work in the older D50 since
it lacks an SDHC controller. This isn't a problem with the D80.

I should add two things. First, I was surprised at how fast and
accurately the old lenses focused on the D50. Second, don't rule
out the Xti. Your dad (not you) should go to a camera shop that has
both on display to see how comfortable the Xti and D80 feel, since
some people's hands have a preference for one or the other. Also,
reading good reviews of both cameras can help you to decide whether
one camera or the other might be preferable. You can find good,
extensive reviews of cameras here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/default.asp?view=alpha

On Mar 21, 8:21 am, stein.je...@gmail.com wrote:
> I am in the market for a DSLR and was wondering if I could get some
> input. I am interested in buying a new camera and have heard good
> things about both the Canon Digital Rebel XTI 10.1 and Nikon D80. I
> was hoping to stay below the $1000 if I could which makes the XTI more
> favorable however, my dad has roughly 5 Nikon lenses at home and it
> would be nice if I was able to use them. The lenses he has were
> bought for his Nikon (1970's can't recall the model) I am told that
> the picture quality will be reduced if an older lens is used on a
> newer DSLR. I am aware that I can purchase an adapter so I can use my
> Nikon lenses on the Canon but I wasn't sure how the adapter works and
> if there was any loss of quality. I am a 4th year industrial design
> student in Boston and lately I have had a high need for nice high res
> photos esp in the building of my portfolio. I wouldn't consider
> myself an amature but I am far from professional. I have been
> shooting on my Nikon 8008s for years and I love it. Any advice you
> can give would be great. I am not necessarily stuck on these two
> cameras, however they seem to be reasonably priced and powerful enough
> for what I'm looking for. Thanks for your help
>
> - Jesse


Jesse,
1st of all the kit lens on either camera is nothing to write home
about, a slight advantage to Nikon. Nikon does make an 18-70 kit lens
that is well thought of, would be better than the 18-55 or the
18-135.
Your dad's lenses sound a little old to operate on the Nikon, you have
to determine if they are Ai or AiS lenses, if they aren't they will
not work on any Nikon digital, can be converted for $40-50 per lens.
The lenses won't meter on the D80 anyway, they would meter on a D200
the next step up. The viewfinder on a D80 is fine for manual focusing,
I have several manual focus lenses. Metering is less of a hassle with
digital than with film, use histograms, but some knowedge of the
exposure is necessary (light meter). If these are siginificant lenses,
55 f3.5 micro, any 85 or 105mm, any f2.8 or faster telephoto or
telephoto over 200mm, sub 50mm lenses again f2.8 or faster, they maybe
worth converting.
A "normal" lens on a digital Nikon is 28mm-35mm so your wides become
normals, I like a 24mm on mine, always used a 35mm for film.
If your Dad's lenses seem to be just basic lenses (say a 50 f2, 35
f3.5) there is no reason to convert the lenses. Then you have a choice
Nikon or Canon, the D80 is built better than the Rebel XTI, neither is
anything to write home about, with Canon the 20D is where their
cameras become interesting and a match or a little better than the
D80. With Nikon the D200 is a little better than the 20D or 30D. If
you want to use high ISO a lot, then right now Canon is your choice
(again look at the 20D).
The issue of 35mm sized frame, unless you are looking serious at
spending $2500 for a camera in the next 5 years, is a nonstarter. Most
good lenses in either system will cover a 35mm frame anyhow.
Hope this helps,
Tom

On Mar 21, 9:03 am, "Adrian Boliston" <adr...@boliston.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Nikon do a 14mm f2.8 lens which will work on both digital and film,
> which would be about the difference in cost between a D80 and a 5D
> I expect.

Canon has an EF-mount WA fisheye too, and while this is a (YMMV the
degree) solution to the 'crop body' factor in general terms, in
specific terms to the OP, it isn't a factor unless Dad's "old Nikon
stuff" happens to include that particular lens.

This is essentially why I was trying to articulate that a "free" lens
may or may not really be worth anything, and thus may or may not be a
significant factor in the 'N-vs-C' decision making process.


> I'd rather invest in glass which will pretty much hold it's value for years
> than in an expensive digital body which will loose most of it's value in a
> couple of years time.

Agreed. And my personal take on this is as I mentioned: I'd not
consider the prior lens investment to be significant enough to be
worth tipping the scales on the body selection unless it contributed
at least roughly $500 worth of clearly *useful* glass.


-hh

Simply check the following links for your answers:

www.steves-digicams.com
www.dcview.com

Good luck

--
I was born and brought up in Iran, a beautiful country full of history.

http://www.kombizz.photopoints.com/

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:21:43 -0700, stein.jesse wrote:

> I am in the market for a DSLR and was wondering if I could get some
> input. I am interested in buying a new camera and have heard good
> things about both the Canon Digital Rebel XTI 10.1 and Nikon D80. I
> was hoping to stay below the $1000 if I could which makes the XTI more
> favorable however, my dad has roughly 5 Nikon lenses at home and it
> would be nice if I was able to use them. The lenses he has were
> bought for his Nikon (1970's can't recall the model) I am told that
> the picture quality will be reduced if an older lens is used on a
> newer DSLR. I am aware that I can purchase an adapter so I can use my
> Nikon lenses on the Canon but I wasn't sure how the adapter works and
> if there was any loss of quality. I am a 4th year industrial design
> student in Boston and lately I have had a high need for nice high res
> photos esp in the building of my portfolio. I wouldn't consider
> myself an amature but I am far from professional. I have been
> shooting on my Nikon 8008s for years and I love it. Any advice you
> can give would be great. I am not necessarily stuck on these two
> cameras, however they seem to be reasonably priced and powerful enough
> for what I'm looking for. Thanks for your help

To satisfy your under $1000 budget, have you considered buying a used
body? For quality, you'll want at least a 6 megapixel one.

FWIW, I use my 30 year old Nikkor AI lenses on a Nikon D50. No problems.
No auto-focus/auto-exposure -- I rarely use either even when I use AF
lenses -- but the lenses mount on the body properly, and metering works
in manual mode. If your Dad's lenses are pre-AI, you might have
problems. Check Nikon's web site. They have a lens/body compatibility
chart.

Stef

Stefan Patric <tootek2@yahoo.com> writes:
> FWIW, I use my 30 year old Nikkor AI lenses on a Nikon D50. No problems.
> No auto-focus/auto-exposure -- I rarely use either even when I use AF
> lenses -- but the lenses mount on the body properly, and metering works
> in manual mode.

Whaaaaat? Are you sure about metering working in manual mode? I
thought the entire D40-50-70-80 series had no metering at all without
CPU lenses. And how do you focus accurately?

On Mar 21, 9:11 am, ASAAR <cau...@22.com> wrote:

> Your dad (not you) should go to a camera shop that has
> both on display to see how comfortable the Xti and D80 feel, since
> some people's hands have a preference for one or the other.


Very true in the case of the XTi. Many people are turned off by how
uncomfortable it is, but adding on a battery pack grip ($100 to 160,
depending) pretty much takes care of that.