S2 vs D70

hi guys

i've now my S2 for a year and made about 150 dives with it

Im very globaly satisfied with this camera but 2 or 3 things are still disturbing me :

AF speed .....

Sunburst and highlights

Synchro @only 1/125

battery autonomy

now I've here the possibility of having the D70 for a very good price , and I'm asking myself if I should not upgrade (as I already also own a SB800)

What would you do in my place ?

I have the D70 and from comparison with a friend's S2 the D70 is much better regarding the points you mention.

To replace it or not, I think that no one can tell you, its all depend on how much the pointes you mentioned are disturbing you and how much you willing to spend for it.

I do not consider a switch from the S2 to the D70 to be an upgrade.

I don't think the focus is faster, as they use the same Cam900 AF system. I also think that dynamic range and image quality from the Fuji is better.

The only plus I can think of is higher sync speed and smaller size of the D70.

Cheers

James

I recently had an opportunity to switch to the D70 (I won an Aquatica A70 housing) and decided against it. I have never shot an underwater image above 1/125 so I don't see that as a compelling reason to switch. I have seen many of the sunburst images taken at high shutter speeds and although there are exceptions for the most part those images don't work for me (doning flame retardant suit.)

I tried a friends D70 and the AF didn't seem any different. Not a scientific evaluation, just my subjective opinion. The battery life on the D70 is impressive but again, as long as I change my AA's every other dive, I've yet to have my S2 run out of power on a dive.

I will be looking closely at the Fuji S3, Nikon D2X and the D100 replacement but until then I'm sticking with the S2.

I am another S2 user that has looked at the D70. I really believe the autofocus to be very similar, if not the same. if you have good contrast, the autofocus is very quick and reliable. If you do not, a strong focus light solves this.

My only real issue is the sync speed, but as Larry said, sumnburst shots seem to be the ONLY limitation to the S2 setup. When a friend and I compare shots taken side by side, the S2 still seems to win hands down in the dynamic range and saturation comparisons. The S2 sensor really is remarkable.

And I would be loath to complete lose TTL for macro.

I went from an Oly 3040 to a 5050 and got 66% more pixels, TTL, and RAW (good but slow). This was a big step and I noticed the difference in my pictures.

Then I went from the 5050 to a D70 and got 20% more pixels, no TTL (but soon), no shutter lag, through the lens composition, fast RAW, and interchangeable lenses.

I get more keepers due to better composition and fast RAW. But the picture quality is not a lot better.

Now I ask myself, what will it take to pry my fingers off of my D70?

I have no specific answer. But in general it will have to be a Nikon to amortize my investment in lenses. And the performance will have to be twice as good as I have now ... maybe with a chip with 12mp with as good or better dynamic performance. And I don't think I should have to pay more than I did for my D70 i.e. about $1000.

Until then, I intend to keep my brain focused on getting the most I can out of what I have because the fact is that on most days I'm limited as much by the water I shoot in as I am by the equipment I am using.

I too intend to stick with the S2. In fact, I intend to acquire 1 or 2 more bodies. I am hoping the eventual arrival of the S3 will cause the price to drop. After watching Ebay and Google for some time, it amazes me how the S2 has held it's value. Apparently people are still impressed with what they see and read about the S2 and they are paying premium prices, even for used models. Oh well, I will bide my time and pounce when the time is right.

As far as the batteries, I find the AA's to be quiet managable since my strobes use them as well. One of these days we will be able to download shots without removing the camera or card from the housing. Then it would be nice to have a battery that last long enough so as not to need to open the housing. Until then, I have to open it at least every other dive, anyway. I'm not really sure how long the AA's last since I have never ran them down completely during a dive.

I love my D70 but I think going from the S2 to the D70 is not an upgrade. If anything this is really a lateral move.

The D70 will give you faster flash sync, faster response, more image compression (more RAW per card) and a simpler battery solution but will give you less in other areas.

The main loss will be in TTL. Sure you can try to house the SB800 but I'd much prefer a powerful underwater strobe than a housed land flash.

Otherwise you would be spending a lot of money to get much the same camera.

If you want a real upgrade get the D2X when it comes out. Since it uses the same iTTL as the D70 it won't be too long before Ike comes out with a TTL housing for this (once he gets the D70 done). I'd save my money and wait until you can get one of these with TTL.

But even then it won't be a HUGE improvement. As for me I don't plan an upgrade for at least 5 years.

you don't see canon people trying to justify their cameras like this ...

you don't see canon people trying to justify their cameras like this ...

Oh I think there have been plenty of discussions along this line from the Canon folks.

Can - Non .......... on a serious note, i cant seen any sane person using a D2x underwater..... i think the list price now is $10,000. (?) .

sorry for a stupid question, but the S2 and S3 , is the image resolution the same as i.e. a D70. I was looking at the S3, but was worried about it as I though the resolution was less. Which of the 2 have better resolution / detail ?

It is 12.1 MP. Here are the specs http://www.dpreview.com/articles/fujifilms...s3pro/page2.asp

They both have the same amount of recorded pixels, that hasn't changed. What's changed is that the S3 claims 400% more dynamic range. Check out some of the samples S3 users are posting on DPreview.com - I tend to believe the DR claim.

Cheers

James

on a serious note, i cant seen any sane person using a D2x underwater..... i think the list price now is $10,000. (?) .  

I think the list price will be around $4000 when its released. Still too expensive for me to be sure. But there are lots of members here who are eager to get one underwater. Alex Mustard sold his only digital rig to get one when they come out. Given the fact that the body is nearly identical to the D2H I think there will be pleanty of housings available and photographers using them at the high end.

BTW: Eric (and others) are already using the Canon 1Ds that had a list price of more than twice the D2X. So there are pleanty of people willing to spend a lot to get the capabilities of a high end system out there.

Although I am not sure I can be described as entirely sane!

Alex

Seriously though, I am confident that the Nikon D2X will prove a good UW camera. The autofocus will be a massive advantage over the D100/D70/S2/S3/SLRn. Plus it is a pro spec'ed camera that can take the workload and abuse. Plus I want to stay with Nikon and I don't care about high ISO.

On DPreview (I know that the forums there are packed with opinion and sparse on facts) today there are photos from a Japanese mag with images from the D2X.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp...essage=11511902

The other cost factor on the D2X is the housing - which is considerably more expensive than the housings for the smaller DSLRs.

Alex

Hi Alex,

Yes, I saw those this morning too. Hard to judge quality from someone's snap of a magazine spread though. I mean when you think about it, someone with good studio lighting could have taken those photos with a Oly 5050.

Still cool to see something, ANYTHING come out of the Nikon pr machine - or should I say stone pillar...lol

Cheers

James