canon 20d or next nikon d200???

hello,

at the moment I own a old but very nice nikon F4 with the nikon lenses 16mm, 17-35, 60, and 105mm in subal housing with the great Fisheye port and the macroports.

I am waiting now for 1/2 a year for the next d100 (will it be the d200?), the d70 is what imagequality concerns out of the leage comparing with my slides, but I hope the d200 will be getting close. But I am sick of waiting for the next nikon model ( the d2x is out of my leage)

So I am thinking of making the switch to the canon 20D in a subalhousing. but want to keep my nikon F4 with the lenses.

my question is are the canon lenses, especialy the fisheye as good as the nikon?

Do you think that I should wait for the next Nikon model?

I have 3 trips planned, in Oktober 2005 Guadelupe for the whitesharks, January 2006 The tigershark trip on the bahamas and april 2006 North Sulawesi.

Has any one already tested the Subal 20D housing and what about the famous * switch on the Subalhousing?

Rob

I'm not sure how long before the Nikon D200 arrives. There is a site that has rumours of the Nikon D80, D90 and D200 plus rumours of the Canon 30D?

www.infodigitalcamera.com

Anyhow, have a nice trip.

Image quality is not significantly different between the D70 and 20D. Both have similar image advantages and disadvantages when compared to 35mm.

THe 20D does not have a fisheye option right now - using a full frame fisheye on the camera gives a field of view more like your 17-35 at 17mm.

If you are fully satisfied with your F4, the only thing you will miss with a D70 in Subal housing is about 4 lbs :-) And TTL if you use it.

If you add a 20D ($1500?), plus lenses equivalent to the ones you already have ($2500) plus focus/zoom rings and extensions to match ($1000) - well you've damn near paid for a D2x. Just do it!

Has any one already tested the Subal 20D housing and what about the famous * switch on the Subalhousing?

 

Rob

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Here are my first impressions + photos of my Subal 20D rig.

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7354&hl=

I am using a Canon 15 mm fisheye lens. It provides aprox 107 degrees FOV, which roughly equivalent to a 10 mm rectilinear on this cropped-sensor camera and (as stated above) close to 17 mm on a 35 mm full-frame film camera.

I've found the * switch a very convenient way to lock focus. The lever is easy to reach with my thumb on Subal C20 housing.

-Brad

I'd stay in the Nikon system. The differences between a 20D, which I own, and the D100, which I also own, are not enough to justify the cost of a total changeover. I got into the D100 and a few lenses exclusively for underwater shooting because, at the time, the housing, port and lens choices for my Canon system were very limited. In my perfect world, I'd be all Canon for reasons of simplicity and the convenience of traveleing with just one system. I owned a Canon 10D and switched to a 20D primarily because of the near-instant startup time. The 10D took 4-5 seconds. The D100 (and other Nikon DSLRs) never had this problem. Keep in mind that you may be able to use your existing Subal ports on a new Subal housing for a D70 or D100. Your only costs in sticking with Nikon would then be for a new body and a new housing, versus starting over from scratch with any Canon system.

I personally found Nikon's latest announcements for the D70s and the D50 underwhelming. I was surprised, too, that Nikon chose to upgrade the D70 before the D100. The D100 is much older. So perhaps Nikon is simply abandoning the middle ground. That may be a good business decision, but it means there may never be a true replacement for the D100. Meanwhile, you can get some very good deals on new and used D100s, and I've found it to be an excellent DSLR, as have many others. The D100 is certainly not the limiting factor in my own photography, above or below!

October is still a long way off, Rob, but I think waiting for the D200 is a risky bet. Considering Nikon have introduced 4 DSLRs or updates this year I think that the D200 might be a way off.

As Kasey says the D70 is not completely inferior to the 20D. I'd put the 20D ahead, but not enough to warrant a switch.

Its a big expense in terms of glass to switch to Canon. And you still won't have a decent fisheye. If you use the 16mm regularly with your F4 then you will be very disappointed with the 20D.

Also if you have an actionfinder on the F4 then get a GS viewfinder. The standard D70 or 20D viewfinder would be a big shock.

I had pretty much the same lenses as you when I bought my D100 - and have only added a 10.5mm to my film collection.

Alex

My impression of the D70 compared to the 20D is that the biggest differences for UW are the viewfinder, and the autofocus speed.

Seems like the 20D smokes the D70 in autofocus and shutter lag, by review tests. Is it true in practice?

I too have been waiting and waiting for nikon's 20D killer, and also have considered giving up the nikon stuff I have, and switching now.

But I keep deciding not too, and to stick with film and a housed digicam.

Don

Nikon will be releasing the D50 and the D70s this summer, and it will be a LOONG time before a D100 replacement hits the shelves. Then add 6 months to get an underwater housing.

I'd echo what others have said - get a D70s - which should be out in May.

Cheers

James

So you disagree, that the 20D seriously smokes the d70 in AF capability and viewfinder size?

Maybe the d70s will have some improvement via firmware, but same AF sensor.

20D does have better auto focus and slightly bigger viewfinder but D70 is not exactly bad in that respect either especially if you use Subal housing with GS Viewfinder then smallish view finder on D70 is not a big issue. Autofocus ability will improve somewhat on the D70 once the new firmware is realease next month. I would give an edge to Nikon for now for lens choice ie 10.5mm and 70-180mm macro. So in my mind, 20D is a nice camera with some advantages over D70 but certainly not overwhelming that I would sell D70 to upgrade to D20 (not considering all the new major investments in lenses). Stepping up from D70 to D2X or 1D mkII/1Ds mkII would be a true significant upgrade, I would think.

I'd just add the point that AF performance on land is not always the same as in the blue/green low light, low contrast world UW.

While I was in Cayman I had a play with Giles's D60 - and the AF on that was clearly better than the D100/D70. On land that is. The D60 is surprisingly fast an accurate in good light, with Giles saying that even his friend who photographs Formula 1 with a 1D Mk2 was impressed with it. But Giles was not so impressed with it at dusk UW. And certainly he was struggling to get images (when we were working in low light) that I had never really had a problem with when using a D100.

So when evaluating the 20D and D70 in the camera shop make sure you try them inside and on low contrast subject matter to get a better representation of UW performance.

I'd expect them to perform 20D best, then D70, then F4.

Alex

With the speed of development in digital cameras its important to take a step back and reflect. Its only been a year since the D70 ws released and already everyone is chomping at the bit for a replacement. At the time the D70 seemed 6 months ahead of the Canon offering. Now the Canon 8mp pro bodied 20D seems 6 months ahead of the Nikon. Who knows what will be the top camera 6 months later? Nikon so far has been slower with their updates than Canon but both are competitive in the long run with various advantages/disadvantages to each system.

Both the D70 and 20D are competitive in terms of image quality. Either one will give you excellent quality. You have to step up to the D2X-1DsMark II realm to see a significant difference in any of the performance specs that have been mentioned.

I don't think it makes sense to change systems--esp. if you plan to keep your F4. Buying, maintaining and carrying 2 seperate lens kits to accomplish the same thing? No way.

On another point, everyone is so hung up on a D200. Do you think that 4 levels of DSLRs is really necessary? Canon has 4 now: The lofty $8K 1DsMk II, the pro $4K 1D Mk II, the $1.5k proAm 20D, The ametur/entry level <$1k Rebel XT. Nikon now has 3 levels. The $5K pro D2X, the proAm/ametur $1k D70s and the entry level <1k D50. Is there really room enough in the DSLR market for so many gradations? Housing all these options seems a bit nuts to me. I think we are entering an era where the housing manufacturers will have to pick and choose which cameras to house and which ones to let go by.

The DSLR market is predicted to be fastest growing digital market in the world (apart from phones) over the next 12 mo. I do think there is definately room in the market for a D200/D80/D90.

There is a considerable gap between 1K and 5K and there are a number of features which could make a camera set in this price range highly competitive. From both a topside and UW photography perspective, features such as viewfinder size, AF performance and to a lesser extent, resolution would provide the photographer with the capacity to make improved pictures without the significant expense of the D2X. Certainly the D2X provides the ultimate in Nikon picture taking capacity, but a number of features provided on this camera are probably not necessary for all photographers.