A couple of questions before I go broke

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

05/19/2005 10:57:35 AM · #1

What is the biggest difference between the Nikon D-70 and D-100. I have seen very little if any difference between the two.It looks like the price is pretty much the same so I'm lost.

Second question: If I want to shoot macros with them wich lens will I need.

Last question: I have a 7X zoom on my camera. But The lens that comes with the camera is in mm. is there some way to convert this mm over to zoom that that I can better understand what i'm looking for. I know the higher the mm the further the zoom. But how much more?

Just a few things I thought I should know before I emptied my bank account.

cpanaioti

Canon EOS-40D

05/19/2005 11:10:06 AM · #2

Look at what your DiMage manual says is the 35mm equiv for the lens on that camera. That would make it easier to compare. 7x zoom just means that the telephoto end of the range brings things 7 times closer than the wide angle end of the lens. However, when comparing the lens to an SLR lens you need to know the range rather than the zoom factor.

Also, the two SLRs you are considering have a 1.5 crop factor so when looking at lenses multiply the mm number by 1.5.

Damian

Nikon D200

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

05/19/2005 11:14:08 AM · #3

differences

shutter: d70-1/8000, d100-1/4000
continues shooting- d70 is faster
files- u can shoot in raw and tiff on d100 and just raw on d70, u dont need tiff as a shooting mode though.
lcd screen-130000 pixels on d70 and 118000 on the d100
Build: I hear the d100 is built better, but thats not to say the build of the d70 is bad.
I also think the battery life on the d70 is better (not sure though)

About the zoom, im not too sure how far a 7x zoom is, it might say in ur manual. But keep in mind, more stretched out a zoom is, lets say 17-200mm, the harder it is to have quality at all around focal lengths. Thats why people prefer fixed focals because they are sweet spot lenses.
So you do want a good zoom, but I wouldnt recommend having a wide angle and a high zoom all in one lens unless ur willing to shell out big bucks.

Message edited by author 2005-05-19 11:15:37.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

05/19/2005 11:19:41 AM · #4

The D-70 sounds like the better deal.
And Damian if I am understanding you correctly you are saying it would probably betterif I had both a 17-100 and a 100-200, instead of a 17-200?

Damian

Nikon D200

05/19/2005 11:23:45 AM · #5

Originally posted by tristalisk:

The D-70 sounds like the better deal.
And Damian if I am understanding you correctly you are saying it would probably betterif I had both a 17-100 and a 100-200, instead of a 17-200?

If your going to get the d70, get it with the "kit lens". This really is a great lens. It is a 18-70 lens. And then purchase yourself a 70-300 or if you have the money, purchase Nikons best lens, the 70-200 vr :)

What happens when you start having an "all in one lens" is it becomes harder to have a great quality shot at all focal lengths. So my suggestion is to get a wide angle and then a zoom, these individual lenses will allow good quality pictues at their intended zooms. Does that make sense?

MrAnalogy

Nikon D70

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

05/19/2005 11:24:04 AM · #6

If you go to DPReview's side-by-side comparison page you can select both cameras and when it displays the comparison, you'll see exactly which features on one compare to the same features (or lack of same) on the other.

I have a D70 and bought the Nikkor 60mm macro lens when I got it for closeup work and later added a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens with reversing ring that also does a great job on macros. You can also get an older (or newer) focusing bellows on eBay for less than $100 and use a number of lenses with that to do macros or slide copying, etc.

In a nutshell, the D100 has a magnesium body (I think) while the D70's is plastic. Most of the features and specs are very similar but the differences will show up in the side-by-side. I've not had any complaints personally but one man's opinion is just that. One man's AND an opinion.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

05/19/2005 11:29:16 AM · #7

Yep you made sense damian. I looked up my zoom - mm conversion for my camera in the manual it said 7.2mm-50.8mm does that sound right? I have never heard any of you mention single digit mm's in a lense.

singsunshine

Pentax *ist DS

05/19/2005 11:36:01 AM · #8

If you need some place to donate you old camera to as well I can give you my mailing address :)!! LOL

Canon EOS-20D

05/19/2005 11:40:05 AM · #9

Originally posted by tristalisk:

Dpreview says it's 28mm - 200mm.

05/19/2005 11:54:31 AM · #10

Ok MK your right the minolta is
has F2.8 7X optical zoom Minolta GT lens. The focal range is 7.2 - 50.8 mm, which is equivalent to 28 - 200 mm.

hmm now I'm starting to wonder. My only complaint with the minolta was the lack of zoom.. most of the lens's that I was looking at were pretty much in that range.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

05/19/2005 12:04:27 PM · #11

ok thats not too bad ebay has a 2800mm for $300. but most of the glass better than mine cosnt about as much if not way more than the camera.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

05/19/2005 12:19:31 PM · #12

Originally posted by tristalisk:

My only complaint with the minolta was the lack of zoom.. most of the lens's that I was looking at were pretty much in that range.

Bear in mind that the D70 (like most other DSLRs) has an image sensor that's smaller than a 35mm frame. Therefore, a 4x6 image is enlarged compared to a 4x6 taken with a film camera. This magnification is called the camera's "crop factor." The D70 has a 1.5x crop factor, so a 70-200mm lens would be the equivalent of a 105-300mm lens on a 35mm film camera. You'll have greater zoom with a given lens, but less wide angle.

Message edited by author 2005-05-19 13:07:06.

colda

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

05/19/2005 12:22:18 PM · #13

I borrowed a DiMAGE 7 last year and was very impressed with, to the point that I had decided to spend my money on an A2. It was only the fact that just before placing the order I saw some offers that made the consideration of a dSLR realistic that I looked into it.

I do prefer the look of the D100 and did consider it, but being realistic the D70 is a better camera on balance. I got the D70 with the kit lens and then a cheap 50mm and 70-210mm from ebay (as well as a few other bits). I have recently bought a Tamron 28-200 for convenience but I tend don't use it if I'm shooting something 'serious'.

Any questions about how the D70 compares to the Minolta7 just ask :)

doctornick

Apple iPhone 13 Pro

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

05/19/2005 12:54:23 PM · #14

Originally posted by mk:

Originally posted by tristalisk:
Yep you made sense damian. I looked up my zoom - mm conversion for my camera in the manual it said 7.2mm-50.8mm does that sound right? I have never heard any of you mention single digit mm's in a lense.

Dpreview says it's 28mm - 200mm.

That's the 35mm equivalent.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

05/19/2005 01:12:05 PM · #15

So the 7.2-50.8mm digital lens is equal to a 28-200mm lens on a 35mm? So id I buy a 28-200mm lens for the nikon I would be getting 84-760mm? yup I am getting lost.

colda

Nikon D800

05/19/2005 01:17:45 PM · #16

Originally posted by tristalisk:

So the 7.2-50.8mm digital lens is equal to a 28-200mm lens on a 35mm? So id I buy a 28-200mm lens for the nikon I would be getting 84-760mm? yup I am getting lost.

No, it's all about the sensor size, the Minolta 7 has a smaller sensor than the D70 (read this).

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

05/19/2005 01:18:17 PM · #17

The conversion factor is related to the sensor size of the camera, not the lens (see my earlier post). The DiMAGE 7 has a smaller sensor than the D70, so the "crop factor" is larger. A 28-200 lens on the D70 would be 42-300mm (28-200 x 1.5).

On a separate note... lenses with large zoom ratios like 28-200 are generally inferior to separate lenses with smaller ratios (28-70 and 70-200).

Message edited by author 2005-05-19 13:20:13.

gaurawa

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

05/19/2005 01:18:48 PM · #18

Originally posted by tristalisk:

So the 7.2-50.8mm digital lens is equal to a 28-200mm lens on a 35mm? So id I buy a 28-200mm lens for the nikon I would be getting 84-760mm? yup I am getting lost.

7.2-50.8mm on your Minolta is equivalent to you 28-200 because of your smaller sensor as compared to film 24mm x 36mm. If you are buying Nikon, the sensor size is much bigger and only gives a crop factor of 1.5. so a 28-200 zoom will be 42-300mm on 24mm x 36mm film format.

cpanaioti

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

05/19/2005 01:19:14 PM · #19

Originally posted by tristalisk:

So the 7.2-50.8mm digital lens is equal to a 28-200mm lens on a 35mm? So id I buy a 28-200mm lens for the nikon I would be getting 84-760mm? yup I am getting lost.

No. The crop factor on the Nikon is 1.5 so a 28-200 is equivalent to 42-300.

edit: too slow

Message edited by author 2005-05-19 13:19:49.

05/19/2005 01:27:59 PM · #20

Ok I got that it is best to buy multiple lenses vs one full rang lens. I now see that due to the sensor size and croping ratio in the D70 that a 200mm lens on my minolta would act like a 300mm on the D70. ok I think i'm catching on.

Prof_Fate

05/19/2005 01:29:27 PM · #21

Originally posted by tristalisk:

So the 7.2-50.8mm digital lens is equal to a 28-200mm lens on a 35mm? So id I buy a 28-200mm lens for the nikon I would be getting 84-760mm? yup I am getting lost.

All SLR/dSLR lenses are marked in mm - in 35mm famre size equivalent (so they are all compare-able)

the crop factor - very few dSLRs have full size sensors, so the actual range of the lenses need to be multiplied by the crop factor (a rebel is 1.6, the nikon D70/100 is 1.5, i think the D2x is 1.3, etc)

SOOOO...
the kits lens is 18-50mm - in reality yoy have to multiply the crop factor to get what it will behave like - so 27-75mm. If you bought a 35mm film SLR you'd need a 28-80 lens to get the same wide angle/zoom effect as you'll get with the 18-50 on a 1.5 crop factor dSLR.

SOoo....
you can get:
Prime lens - no zoom at all. it is what it is. for macro work there are a number of prime lenses around 90 to 105 (depends on brand). A 100mm one of these will be like a 150mm lens for regular use and a 1:1 macro lens in macro use.

normal zoom - the 28-80, 24-75, etc range. multiply by 1.5 and you get the useable 'real' range of these lenses.

telephoto zooms - 70-200, 70-300, 100-400 - again, \multiply by 1.5 to get teh useable range.

the dImage you have now has a 28-200 - you can compare this to the other numbers AFTER you multiply then with the crop factor.

there are also 18-200 zooms, 28-105, 28-300...if you look at the 28-80 or 70-200 these are 3X zooms (the large number is baout 3 times that of the small number). 70-300, 100-400 are 4X. 18-200 and 28-300 are 10X, and most reviews of these mention poor image quality (it is all relative of course).

Image quality is:
contrast, color reproduction, sharpness, vignetting, barrel/pin cushion distortion, ghosting, flare, (and more)

Also to be considered it the F stop, or speed of the lens. 3.5-5.6 is a normal range. as you spend more money on better lenses, then you get the 2.8-5.6 or even a straight 2.8.

It all depends on what you want to shoot - then you can decide what lens you want.

for macro work:
you can get a 1:1 lens in 60, 100 or 150 lengths. the longer the lens he farther away from the subject you will be. (could be good or bad, depends on subject)
longer zooms are often listed as macro - my 70-300 sigma is a macro lens -takes nice shots-but the enlargment is not 1:1 (life size). It is 1:3 thru 1:5 (1/3 to 1/5 life size) and macro only works at the 200-300mm settigs, so i have to be some 3 to 4 feet away from my subject in macro mode. that is an issue at times.

You can get close up filters for any lens. reduces the minimum focus distance.

you can get extension tubes - they go between any lens and the camera body. work like a macro lens. a bellows is a variable one of these.

I hope that helps some.

Peleng 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye MC In M42 Mount

05/19/2005 01:29:37 PM · #22

do I even wan't to try to figure this out when I throw in a 2X attachment on the minolta?

Matthew

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

05/19/2005 01:31:39 PM · #23

7.2 -50.8 refers to the actual lens you have in the Minolta. The millimetre measurement is calculated by reference to the size of the film or sensor. Most people are used to the millimetre references as used on a camera designed for 35mm film. The sensor in a digital camera varies in size (it is not limited to a single size film like 35mm camera are).

Small point and shoot cameras have tiny sensors, which means that they need much wider angle lenses to give the same range as a normal 35mm camera. Hence 7.2mm, which equates to about 28mm on a 35mm camera (a 4x multiplier). Big D-SLR cameras (Canon D1sMk2) have a full frame sensor - the sensor is the same size as a 35mm film frame, meaning that the lenses have exactly the same properties as in 35mm film SLR cameras. Most D-SLRs have a frame that is larger than a digital P&S camera, but smaller than the top end D-SLRs or 35mm film frames (in fact, they use other film frame sizes: the smaller APS-C size, as used in APS film cameras). Hence, the 350XT and 20D have a 1.6x multiplier on focal lengths.

So:

a lens that would be 50mm on a traditional 35mm film SLR would be:

o 50mm on a top of the range full sensor frame D-SLR
or
o the equivalent of an 80mm lens on a APS-C sized sensor D-SLR (1.6x multiplier on eg 20d)
or
o the equivalent of a 200mm lens if it could be attached to your Minolta DiMage (4x multiplier).

Your lens is 7.2mm - 50.8mm. That is the equivalent to a 28-200mm lens if used on a full frame sensor D-SLR. To have the same range on a 350XT or a 20d (APS-C sized sensor), you would need a 17-125mm lens (17 x 1.6=28mm, 125 x 1.6=200).

So if you want more zoom, one of the low to mid range D-SLRs coupled with a 75-300 lens would give you a lot more zoom: 300 x 1.6= equivalent of 480mm lens. To retain the same wide angle ability, you would need a very wide angle lens, starting at 17mm, which would give you the equivalent 28mm wide angle as you have on the Minolta.

Edit: I started typing this ages ago and got distracted - appears that Tristalisk's question has been answered several times already!

Message edited by author 2005-05-19 13:32:37.

Prof_Fate

05/19/2005 01:34:03 PM · #24

Originally posted by tristalisk:

do I even wan't to try to figure this out when I throw in a 2X attachment on the minolta?

ON a prosumer the 2X goes onthe end of the lens like a filter.

On a dSLR it goes between the lens and the body. they come in 2 varieties - a 1.4x and a 2.0x. Simple multiplication...

300mm on a 1.5 crop factor camera with a 2x TC is: 900mm.

BUT, and here is the gotcha! My 300mm zoom at 300mm has a max aperature of 5.6. It can go no wider. A 1.4 TC will cost you 1 stop of light, a 2x 2 stops. So that would be F11 (if my math is working) - and autofocus on canon's stops at 5.6 (except on the expensive ones it goes to 6.3)

So the only feasible way to use a 2x TC is on a pro lens with an aperture of 4 or 2.8. or you have to manually focus.