Selecting DSLR Canon D20 vs Nikon D70 vs Olympus e1

Hello All.... I have been shooting with point and shoot for a couple years. Have had great sucsess with my Olympus C4040. But it got droped at x-mas. So I am on the hunt for a new camera befor a trip to Cozumel in January.

I am looking at steping up to a PRO level SLR. I am interested in the Canon 20D and Nikon D70 and Olympus e1.

Looking for others comments. ie... why the E20 vs the Rebel.

What lens is a good lens that will let me on a dive take both close up (macro) and sea-scape shots. Looking at the 17-85 lens on the E20

If I go with the standard 18-55 lens will i be disapointed?

Can I use a dome for a longer lens so that i dont have to purchase 2 or 3 ports?

Rookie to SLR

Graham

www.tropicaldivers-omaha.com

Hi Graham,

Your first stop here should be the Features Section. Click on Wiseman Beginner Column and read the articles about upgrading to a DSLR. I think that will answer a lot of your questions

Cheers

James

And the winner is .... the Canon 20D. At least for now that's what folks on this and other forums seem to be buying.

First is was the Rebel which was a bit dumbed down, but a good start. Then the D70 came out with a faster sync speed and better controls and that's what folks got, including me. And now the Canon 20D is out with a few more mega pixels and the better controls the Rebel was missing. So now the 20D is the favorite. Canon, Nikon, Canon ... think lenses ... who makes good lenses?

As for Olympus DSLRs, very few if any are going that route. I don't know why. But, to me it doesn't matter because a lot of people smarter than me have voted their wallets and to me wallets trump posts.

And by all means, get the Ikelite housing with eTTL support if you have Ikelite strobes. Otherwise get the Ikelite vanilla housing.

Bottom line: Get the 20D and the kit lens and the Ikelite housing and do it now if you really plan to take it on a January trip ... assuming you mean January 2005. Or save about $500 and get the D70 which is still a good choice but Ikelite will not have iTTL support for the housing in time for your trip which only matters if you have Ikelite strobes.

Spelling.

Peter,

I've noticed your affection toward Ikelite products and subsequent promotion of them. Are you an Ikelite dealer? Maybe getting Industry tagged under your name would be helpful in identifying you as a dealer? :wink:

Well, at the risk of being branded an Ikelite dealer (), I'd also second Peter's recommendation for a 20D in an Ikelite housing. Great camera, very functional and reliable housing, and eTTL flash until you are ready to learn to shoot manual flash.

No I am NOT an Ikelite dealer.

I had a C4040 that when i purchased the only housing available was an Ikelite. I then purchased an Ikelite strobe. When filling out my profile it asked for equpment. The only equipment I currently have is the Strobe as my camera was droped at x-mas.

I like the other housings but find the Ikelites to be the most affordable.

Graham

meister, no I'm not an Ikelite dealer. In fact I'm fully retired and loving it.

But I am an Ikelite fan. Why? Because I have owned Ikelite housings for my 3040 and 5050 and now my D70 and they are bullet proof dry as compared to a PT-015 housing that owned that fogged and then flooded down the multifunction shaft. And the TTL on my 5050 was fantastic as I expect the iTTL to be for my D70 when it becomes available.

My bottom line on Ikelite housings and strobes is that they are both functional and affordable. That's why I continue to use them and recommend them.

Spelling

IF the 20d is the camera, it is hard to recomend anything but Ikelite, as it is all that is shipping. Matt Segal chose this camera, and seemed to be happy with it:

http://www.carbonos.com/reports/provo20dtripgear.htm

Disclosure: I am an Ikelite Dealer. I am also a Subal, Nexus, Sea & Sea, and Aquatica Dealer. Yes, I'm biased, but I'm equally biased if that helps

are people really ignoring the new Oly E1 that much ... i have heard some really great things about their square sensor.

Lens selection, or a lack of it, is currently the biggest downfall with the E1. That being said, it is compatible with Ikelite's TTL conversion circuitry, and digitaldiver.net kingpin Richard Perry has captured some beautiful stuff underwater with it.

http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...;threadid=10243

I'm in the camp that more smaller pixels aren't a good thing, and I'm curious about the longevity of this format, or the DX format for that matter.

To be fair, a ~$1600 7-14mm superwide zoom should be out very soon, and a telephoto macro and full frame fisheye are on the drawing board.

Ryan: Sea&Sea, Ikelite Light and Motion I see. Where and what Subal and Nexus are you selling, they no appear on your website.

Bill

Ryan - I thought you were a believer in the DX sensor!

To be fair, a ~$1600 7-14mm superwide zoom should be out very soon, and a telephoto macro and full frame fisheye are on the drawing board.

Lordy! That's twice the RRP of the Canon 10-22mm! I can see no real benefit of going for a new lens format when the coverage on Nikon and Canon formats is so good.

Olympus did well out of the OM format, but they didn't keep up with the other two as the SLR world moved to autofocus then digital. As a result of concentrating on the IS range of fixed lens 35mm SLRs they went on to make some really fine fixed lens digicams. However I can't help feeling its too late for them to lever themselves back into the interchangable lens market now.

But hey, I could be wrong. It's always interesting to see what happens in the format tussle.

Regards,

Martyn

Ryan: Sea&Sea, Ikelite Light and Motion I see. Where and what Subal and Nexus are you selling, they no appear on your website.  

Our site is undergoing a major revision right now (for the first time in 18 months), and the new housings will be published then.

Ryan - I thought you were a believer in the DX sensor!

Well, I'm a user of the DX format, and probably will be for the next several years. I think its results are good enough for me (as 6mp is enough resolution for me), but don't want to see twenty-something megapixel aps chip.

I have issues with full frame cameras, too, mostly with sharpness and artifacting in the corners. I'm also confident that you reach a point of diminishing returns in terms of resolution v. photosite size. I think this is evident on the 8mp consumer cameras- and possibly could be a problem with the d2x, but I have a blind confidence in Nikon to do the right thing

Ditto with what Peter said.

If you have no SLR lenses get the 20D and Ikelite TTL housing. The 20D has a lot of new features the justify the $500 more and the TTL is a great thing to have. The new Canon 10-22 lens is a big swinger too.

The Nikon system still has better lenses for underwater IMHO though. Canon still has no 180 degree fishey like the 10.5 and the macro lenses won't do 1:1 like the 60 and 105. I also like the faster flash sync and better flash system.

Get either the Nikon or the Canon and don't look back. Invest in lenses and stick with the system. With either camera you have access to a whole world of lenses dating back several decades. It is likely that the lenses you buy will be compatable several more decades and they will hold their value.

With the Oly you are betting on a new system with limited lens/housing options. I wouldn't go there.