Nikon: d70 or d1

i'm going to get a DSLR. its gonna be used mainly for sports so it needs a decent continuous mode, which rules out canon 300d and 10d. should i get d70 body and lens(cheap lens) kit or buy a used d1 with a fast lens (80-200mm f2.8 or 80-400mm f4.5-5.6 vr)?

Jerome, Try this site...It's been a big help to Me. http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1007

Out of those two I would get the D70 unless you ment to say 1D. Can you get the D70 without the lens? Then you could use that money for a nicer lens.

The prices on used Canon 1D's have come down a little and this body offers more shooting speed and res. than the Nikon D1. The 1D image quality compares well with even the new Nikon D2h. Here a is a shot of Chris (pre broken femur) actual frame size and then a 100% actual pixel size crop. Taken with the 1D.

i would also second the Canon 1D. The frame rates are much faster and is an overal better build than the D70. Metal compared to plastic and it also has the weather seal. The 1D can be found for aroun 1800 on ebay or less. The focus speed and frames will be much better. It is also about your lense so make sure u get a good one.

the 1d is way out of my price range. there's no way you'd find a 1d for 1800 let alone under it unless it had some issues. i've been looking for the last few weeks at dslrs and the cheapest i've seen is $1995. if you find one <1800 let me know.
anyway i've decided to get a d1h and an 80-200mm f2.8 for the same price as a cheap 1d. i don't need really good res, this is only for personal use. i think i'll just use this until the 1d's come down to my price range or wait till i see what's released at photokina (10d mkii perhaps?).

(Message edited by jerrysk8 on August 10, 2004)

You're right about the 1D, the few that have sold for under 2K on ebay have been pretty worked over. I'm going to move up to a 1D MKII in a few weeks so I'll be putting my 1D on ebay but I expect I'll get between 2300-2400 for it as it's in perfect condition with less than 5K actuations. Going with Nikon now is fine but probably not smart if you plan on moving to Canon equipment later. You'll have to buy all your lenses over again.

What about the new 20D from Canon? It looks very impressive for the price.

you can also try http://www.sportsshooter.com/ you could maybe get a lens/camera combo for a good deal in the classified section.

I just sold my 1D and ordered a d20. It's not going to be quite as fast as the 1D but I'm convinced the AF and speed is good enough for most things. The 1 series cams do get tough to lug around plus I decided it would be a good time to unload the 1D before the prices drop too much further.

Rich, say it ain't so!!! What are you going to buy with the extra $$$$ ?

Another lens! :-)

I was going to get a MkII but after hauling the 1D around on vacation and just in general I would really like something smaller/lighter (Isler told me I'd get tired of lugging that "brick" around). I talked to one of the beta testers of the 20D and he told me the AF is plenty fast with f2.8 lenses which was my main concern. Evidently that joystick control works superbly is selecting focus points, a feature I seldom used on the 1D because I found it awkward, but that I wanted to start using. and last but not least, there's just no room to crop with a 4 mp camera so I'm ready for more resolution. I may have to sell my 17-40 and go for a sigma 12-24 because of the 1.6 crop.

All that aside I may look through the viewfinder and sell it immediately (there is nothing like a FF viewfinder!)

I'll post my thoughts as soon as I've got the cam and have given it a workout.

BTW my 1D sold for $2265.00 so the prices are coming down a bit.

Same here, except getting rid of my digi-reb and 70-200 F4 L on Ebay right now.

I debated long and hard over whether or not to get the MKII or the 20D, but after many sleepless nights (jk) I have decided to get the 20D and spend the extra $$ on top notch L glass (70-200 2.8 L IS)as I think this will suit my needs and budget constraints better. I hope the 20D lives up to expectations. I'll post my thoughts as well as soon as I get to squeeze off a few on the 20D.

Well be sure to report your likings when you two get your new cameras. I think the joy stick idea is really cool and wish I had that on my Mark II. That 12-24 really tempted me in the store but I ended up with the 17-40. I would like to see what you think about that too if you decide to get it.

Shelby, the 70-200 2.8L IS is a great lens but IS is useless for wakeboarding photos. It's great for wildlife and anything else where you might try to hand-hold a shot at lower shutter speeds (such as 1/125 or lower at 200mm). Since you're trying to stop the action with wakeboarding you'll generally want to shoot 1/1000 or higher and that means IS isn't a factor. And the depth of field at 2.8 is too shallow so you'll probably shoot at f4 anyway.

The 20D does look like a really nice camera for the price. I'm not sure the auto-focus and AI focus will be adequate for shooting wakeboarding from a chase boat. The 1D Mark II has a huge advantage there with the 45-point AF system and dual DIGIC II processors.

I was on the island shooting Josh Smith off a tripod with 1.4 and 2X extenders on my 70-200 and many of the shots where bad because of camera shake. At the time I bought the 70-200 I didn't get the IS for the same reasons you mentioned but if I had it to do over again I'd get the f2.8 IS. The Canon extenders work exceptionally well on the 70-200 BTW.

I'm hoping the 20D is adequate in the focus dept., if not I'll just sell it and get the mkII. I'm starting to do a lot of other shooting besides WB'ing so the smaller body is appealing.

Something else to consider is that the 70-200 f/2.8L IS weighs more than twice as much as the 70-200 f/4L. I recently picked up a 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS and it gets really heavy holding it after a while, and it's 1/2 pound lighter than the 70-200 f/2.8L IS.

Also, I think that Canon recommends NOT using IS when shooting from a tripod.

No one is sure why Canon is saying that as all the big names are leaving it on and switching between modes 1 & 2. In fact Chuck Westphal, Canon's main guy in the US says it should be left on too.

You think that 100-400 is heavy, try a 300 f2.8L IS!

Rich, is that yours??????? Man I am droooooling!!!

I got bored with video and am now wasting all my $ on camera gear!

Current stuff: 17-40 f4L, Tamron 28-75 f2.8 XR DI, 70-200 f2.8L, 70-300 f4-5.6 DO IS, 300 f2.8L, Canon 1.4 & 2X Extenders, Metz 54, Gitzo 1228, Acratech Ballhead & Wimberly Sidekick. BTW I'd highly recommend the 17-40 with your mkII as it's plenty wide on 1.3X crop cams.

Since I live in Santa Cruz I thought I'd start shooting some Kiteboarding as well as surfing. Bryan Barton's been videoing kites for a while now and will hook me up when I find the time. I figure the 300mm with extenders on a 1.6X crop body should give me the range. The 1D in the pic above is gone (hope I don't regret it!)

Rich, I recently picked up a Sigma 15mm 2.8 fisheye and next on my list is the Canon 17-40 f/4L and maybe the next 580EX flash.

I like that fisheye from sigma too! It will be interesting to see how you like the 580ex. I tried a 420ex and wasn't very happy with it. I got the Metz 54 and it works great in auto mode. The 580 is supposed to be dialed in with Ettl II however so it should work good with your mkII. The 17-40L is nice on a 1.3X. Here's a shot at 17mm f8 1/250th. (sorry it's not WBing, haven't been shooting that much this summer). I think it gives a good idea of the perspective of the lens.