So here we go. After reading your requests, we were compelled to review the following equipment: the Sony f828, the f717 (we already reviewed this line, but will be using it as a comparison here – a shootout of sorts, as per your many requests), the Cannon Digital Rebel, the Nikon D70s/D70, and the Nikon D50. These seem to be the hot lines everyone is debating about. First, there seem to be debates going on specially relating to fixed lenses as found in the Sony lines, versus interchangeable ones on DSLR's. The debate focuses on whether digital photography benefits from replaceable lenses. You see if you are designing a digital camera and you, as an engineer, are going to put a very nice fixed lense on it, with a focal length that makes sense, you immediately have certain advantages. You can perfectly match the lense to the camera. Interchangeable lenses are designed to work on a broad spectrum of bodies. Hence, they are always a little off. That is, you don't exactly see what you are going to get. It is estimated that when you look through the viewfinder of a body with an interchangeable lense, you get an approximately 95% accurate view. With a fixed lense, especially like the Carl Zeis lenses on the Sony's reviewed, with electronic TTL viewfinders, you get exactly what will result when you depress the trigger. Actually, for food photography, we prefer these cameras. Macro photography goes much faster with these lenses, especially in scenarios, where when you're a little off, it really matters. Of course, there is always a way to correct for this in post production, but that adds another element, and an additional layer to the shoot.

The bottom line, as far as we're concerned; however, is what will your prints look like. When you show your work, ultimately you will be judged on the print and the quality of the shot, not the camera that took it. We're really, really sorry to disappoint a big lot of you, but nevertheless, our findings reveal, that there is very little difference between a print shot with the f828/717, the D70s (the D70 and D70s are identical. The display is different), and the D50. There is no definitive "winner". Even the D50 and the F717, although slightly cheaper, performed right on par with the rest (the street price of the F717 is around $900, and the D50 is around $600 without the lense). The differences are extremely minute. The Sony's reviewed had fixed lenses and are stock cameras. Hence there nothing to specify aside from the cameras themselves. The Nikon's, were fitted with a 18-70 mm lense. The stock lense is the 18-55 mm, but this lense falls short of what one would expect from Nikkor. We recommend you spend a little more and get the 18-70 mm.
 

You may also wish to get screen protectors/pop-up shades from Delkin, and also battery grips which house either two Nikon batteries for longer shoots, or AA Nicads that fit into a magazine, provided. Very handy. Looks like a motor on film cameras and makes the package mean looking. A lot of you will be attracted to these grips just because it looks like a motor. You may not realize it, but this is where the urge comes from to just order this item. $50 or $80 later, you own the look.

The D70 is an excellent SLR for the photographer who will want to utilize several lenses. The new D70 takes fantastic pictures with several fully automated program exposure modes, or you can use this camera in manual mode much like a conventional 35mm. 5 auto focus zones offer a good variety of focus options, including single area, dynamic area, and closest object focus. The only drawback for consumers may be the D70’s weight. The D70 is an excellent camera with high quality images that produces excellent white balance in auto mode, which should make it a good choice for indoor photography, including food photography.

All cameras are built well. The bodies and lenses of all the cameras reviewed here are plastic. The Sony's are built very well. These cameras are very solid, feel great, are light, and although it may not seem that way from looking at their respective pictures, the Sony's are small relative to the rest. The D50 is supposed to be one of the lightest and smallest DSLR's. Relative to the Sony's, it's big. And heavy. The D70 is bigger. And heavier. Actually all of the DSLR's reviewed are kind of bloated. They look like conventional SLR's, but they are like sponges, bloated or inflated. They are big. If you've never held, or seen one, but own a film SLR, even the almost digital Minolta Maxxum, you will be somewhat surprised. You may not realize this, until you get your film camera out and put them side by side.

You put a battery grip on the Cannon or the Nikon's, and you've got one big and heavy package. Incidentally, Mercury Innovations, make the battery grips for the Canon and the Nikon's. The grips are a perfect fit and look and fell like they are a part of the camera. The materials and texture are well blended and are identical to the camera bodies. Very nice. Don't worry about the camera battery door. It just slides out and is stored within the grip which slides right into the camera where the single battery normally goes.

The Sony's consistently produce a very nice sharp image. The results from the Nikon D70 and the Cannon are almost indistinguishable. The D50 shoots soft. That is the only way to describe it. The shots look great, with a soft feel to them. The difference between the D50 and the D70 shots is minute. The D70 and the Cannon use CF. The D50 uses SD cards. Big plus. Here's what you can do. Get a 1 Gig Transcend 80X MiniSD. This is an even smaller media that slides into an SD adapter. Stick it into the D50. Go to a show in Vegas, and shoot a bunch. Pick your shots, resize them if you must, right there in the D50, while keeping the original shot in tact. Take the MiniSD card out, and stick it into your Motorolla MPX220 cell phone (previously reviewed), and email the pics to your editor. You're on the web or in print, in minutes. That is amazing! Now, it's no secret that you used to do just that with CF cards and your DX1. That is how sports photographers communicate with their magazines and get their pics in on-time for print runs. But you have to spend thousands upon thousands, use a laptop, or worse yet, a public phone and a modem. Anyhow, someone will definitely come up with a gizmo to attach a cell phone to these cameras, or build one in, but until then, and for that reason alone, the D50 rocks. You can take out the SD card and stick it into your Palm or Axim (previously reviewed) or other PDA, and comfortably review the shots on their large displays. Very handy. You carry your phone already, so all you have to do is now carry your PDA. And, bam, you have a mini portable studio with you in your pocket or on your belt. Very, very, very cool.

So what's the bottom line? Well, first there's very little difference between all of these superb digital cameras. They all have similar functions and pre-programmed shooting modes, as well as, manual modes.The Sony's feel great and have that body tilt feature, which actually is very useful. Also, you get to see and can frame the shot on the back-plane LCD screen before taking the shot. The viewfinder is a high res electronic TTL. Since it's digital, you see exactly what you will capture. There are adapters for tele and macro. These cameras are lighter and smaller. They also have superb battery lives. They shoot video, but really, you don't buy these cameras for that. The lenses are superb, and the focal lengths make sense. They are more expensive than some of the others in this running, especially the D50 which is the best of all, for the buck, by far. The Cannon Digital Rebel is big and heavy. It shoots superb. Get the 18-70 mm lense, for the Cannon, as well as, the Nikon's. The Nikon's are built better and feel better than the Cannon. Between the D70 and D50, we prefer the D50. The D70 is much bigger and heavier. It shoots crisp. The D50 is a little softer and consistently so, but also shoots superbly. So in the final analysis, you simply cannot go wrong acquiring any one of these fine digital cameras.