Nikon D70 ...Finally giving the Digital Rebel some competition

[dartworth]

Pre-PMA 2004: Nikon today announced details of its $1000 D70 digital SLR. The D70 appears to be based around either the same or a similar CCD as the D100's (not LBCAST as some had predicted). Body design is also very similar to the D100, a few of the new design hints such as the triangular red stripe on the hand grip come from the D2H. This clearly opens up the entry level digital SLR market yet further providing real competition to the Canon EOS 300D. The D70 will cost $999 as body only and $1299 with the new 18 - 70 mm DX lens.

Nikon press release

Nikon D70 Preview @ DPReview

Pic

 

[Eli]

A bit more expensive than the Rebel..

w00t!!! For competition!!!

I hope to be able to get a sub-1000$ SLR in 2004...

 

[Eli]

LOL.. I saw this and had a chuckle...

Image sizes
? 3008 x 2000 [L] (6.01 million)
? 2240 x 1488 [M]
? 1504 x 1000
File formats
? NEF (12-bit lossless compressed RAW)

 

[dartworth]

Well of course it's going to cost a little more. It's a better camera...at least on paper it is.

The lens is also much better than Canon's kit lens that comes with the DR.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: dartworth
Well of course it's going to cost a little more. It's a better camera...at least on paper it is.

The lens is also much better than Canon's kit lens that comes with the DR.

Yeah.... I figured as much.

How long until Canon's next SLR comes out, so the Rebel becomes the current 10D?

 

[dartworth]

^

 

[Anubis]

sweet,now whan can i actually get one?

 

[Bassyhead]

wow looks pretty cool

 

[GTaudiophile]

CMOS > CCD

Edit: But the D70's body looks more solid than the 300D's. I just hope Canon takes note for the 400D. Competition is good!

 

[arcas]

Hopefully the D70's new CCD is less noisy than the D100. That's an area where the Canon 10D/300D are clearly superior to the D100.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Eli
LOL.. I saw this and had a chuckle...

Image sizes
? 3008 x 2000 [L] (6.01 million)
? 2240 x 1488 [M]
? 1504 x 1000
File formats
? NEF (12-bit lossless compressed RAW)

Hmm. What's funny about that?

Anyway, this camera looks to be a lot more than people were expecting. Not only is it more feature packed than the 300D but it's got more features than Nikons own $1499 body only D100. This should inspire a quick (September latest) response from Canon, which can only be perceived as good for the consumer. 2004 should be an exciting year for the consumer DSLR. I only hope that Nikon can really compete with Canons pricing, and not just b/c they feel they have to regardless of their profit margins. After all, I find it hard to believe that Nikon can produce this camera anywhere near as cheaply as Canon could, mainly b/c Canon fabricates their own CMOS chips while Nikon uses a Sony chip. Hopefully Nikon will be able to bring their own fabrication process (LBCAST) into the sub-1k DSLR market in order to compete more effectively.

 

[Sid59]

woooo .... Nikon D70 .. i've been waiting.

 

[Aquaman]

mmmmmmmmm D70

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[djk]

French reporters leaked word that Canon is releasing the 1Ds II, which is 8 megapixels. This should be interesting.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: djk
French reporters leaked word that Canon is releasing the 1Ds II, which is 8 megapixels. This should be interesting.

Actually, it's the 1D Mark II, not a 1Ds and it should be well over $3k for the body alone. IOW, it's clearly targeted for the professional photo-journalist and meant to compete with Nikon's newly released D2H.

 

[phantom309]

At this level of the market, noise level is much more important than resolution. There are other cameras out now that match the Digital Rebel/10d on paper, but the Canon blows them away in practice due to its extremely low noise level.

It'd be great if Nikon could pull this one off, because their build quality is much higher and I prefer Nikkor glass.