On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 14:26:03 -0800, Bruce Dayton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A friend of mine asked for help in picking a DSLR. She has been using > a Nikon N75 with 28-80 zoom to date. Prior to that she was using an > old Canon FD mount body. > > When she talked to me, she was just about ready to buy the D70 based > on internet hype and the local store being a strong Nikon seller. > > We discussed what she wanted to do with the camera now and in the not > too distant future. Her indication was that, besides family/kid > memories, she had started into portraiture and wanted to continue that > direction. > > So with that in mind, I discussed and worked with her on the angle of > manually focusing and composing. She is a convert away from AF for > this type of work now. So suddenly the quality of the viewfinder > became very important. The ability to clearly compose and focus on > the matte screen became among her most important features of the > camera. > > I sent her around to look at the D70, RebelXT, Evolt and DS bodies > with this in mind. She came back and reported the order of usability > of the viewfinder for the stated purpose as > Pentax *istDS > Canon RebelXT > Olympus Evolt > Nikon D70 > > Yesterday I stopped at the local store and tried the D70 and *istDS > side by side with 50mm lenses on each. The D70 was barely usable (I > would hate it) and the *istDS was clearly better for this. > > So today she picked up her brand new *istDS. I was very pleased that > someone would get past the hype and really pick something that would > work best for what they wanted to do. > > --
Great story, Bruce. I've recently had the opportunity to talk DSLR's to a few people who want to make the jump from digital p&s, and they inevitabley mention the Canon DigiRebel or the Nikon N70. I've told them to at least consider the *istDs. I've told each of them that the viewfinder is one of the things that separates them, and suggested going to a store to look through each of those cameras before buying. I've mentioned the availability of relatively cheap high-quality manual-focus Pentax glass. As yet, I don't know if anyone took my advice. I've been trying. You've been succeeding! <vbg> What's good for Pentax is good for this list, I say. Great work. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
