Rebel XT or D50 for low light?

A

adaml

Well-known member
I'm about to buy my first DSLR after 20+ years with only my trusty Olympus OM-1. With the OM-1 I only ever used the 50 1.4 it came with when my dad bought it in 1970, and a 2x teleconverter. I mostly do portraits in available light, so I'm thinking of just getting a 50mm 1.4, which translates to a nice portrait lens, and maybe a fast 28mm. So my question is, for my purposes is there any good reason to choose one of these cameras over the other? I like the smaller size of the Canon, but I like the lower price of the Nikon, plus my sister has a D70 so with a Nikon I could borrow lenses and/or have a second body when needed (assuming she isn't using it herself).

Thanks,
Adam
 
adaml said:
I'm about to buy my first DSLR after 20+ years with only my trusty Olympus OM-1. With the OM-1 I only ever used the 50 1.4 it came with when my dad bought it in 1970, and a 2x teleconverter. I mostly do portraits in available light, so I'm thinking of just getting a 50mm 1.4, which translates to a nice portrait lens, and maybe a fast 28mm. So my question is, for my purposes is there any good reason to choose one of these cameras over the other? I like the smaller size of the Canon, but I like the lower price of the Nikon, plus my sister has a D70 so with a Nikon I could borrow lenses and/or have a second body when needed (assuming she isn't using it herself).

Thanks,
Adam
Click to expand...
I have D50 and it is a solid camera and I recommend it. I handheld a XT and it felt like a toy compared to the Nikon. Both will take good images in the hands of a good photographer, but personally I would pay more for the D50. In your case since your sister has a D70, I would definately get a Nikon body so you could share lenses!

If your sister had D20 I would recommend the XT for you...
 
Neither camera is much more sensitive than the other for low light...however, I've been very impressed with Nikon's noise reduction feature (I think it's on the D50, but I know it comes with the D70s, D200, and D2X). Not sure if Canon has a comparable feature...
 
I've had a d50 since christmas and with low light it has slightly less noise than the d70 (i believe the d70s and the d50 use the exact same sensor, which are better at high ISOs than the d70). Optically it is almost identical to the D70s, with the main differences being a lack of DOF preview, no second command dial, and you must have a SB-800 to have flash master/slave capabilities.

Compared to the Rebel XT, both go up to ISO 1600 and I haven't seen a direct comparison so I can't say for sure. At ISO 1600 on the D50, the lack of noise is impressive (even with the noise reduction filter turned off, which it does have).

With the D50 you have the advantages of spot metering and the nikkor prime lenses (I have the 50mm 1.4 and it is exceptional for low light). In addtion you can steal lenses from your sister, so thats always a bonus.

IMO for the price point, build, features and performance the d50 is hard to beat. However I was using a Nikon SLR before I got the d50 so I'm biased. However, I'm always impressed by what I've seen from Canon users :)
 
Last edited:
Well, I guess I am going to be going the other way here. At work I have used everything from a D2X to the D100, including the D50, and I still maintian that as far as noise goes, my Rebel XT beats them all hands down. First of all, at ISO100 and 200 The XT has a picture very close, if not slightly cleaner than the D70 at iso 200. When you start getting up to iso400 and 800, side by side, there is no comparison, the XT has a much cleaner image. But that is my own experience with the cameras, but even my big time boss was like "WTF, how come your little "toy" camera takes better photos than my bigtime nikons"?
But again, like others have mentioned, you have access to nikon glass, then go for the nikon, there really isn't a big enough difference between the image quality to make your full decision. glass is everything, and good glass beats out 2MP of resolution any day, unless you happen to discover a heap of L lenses hidden in your bedroom.
 
Thanks all. After much deliberation and trying out cameras I decided to get the Canon 20d. Then after a little more deliberation I decided to just buy a Nikon 50mm 1.4 and borrow my sister's camera for now. :D Still want that 20d though (or 30d) :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top