EOS Rebel 2000 or Nikon N65

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I am beginning serious photography...and am considering bying an SLR. I have zeroed down to the following: Nikon N65 Canon EOS Rebel 2000 and i am going to buy a 50/1.8 lens...

i want as much manual control as possible, the automatica features are welcome though, so long as they dont become frustrating when i want to play with the camera.

i know the nikon N80 is a better choice, but it is out of my budget, being more than 150$ costlier than the N65 (and me being a poor graduate student, living on a stipend).

i want to use the camera for travel photography, for photographing the people in my life, and also for the things that i have found beautiful in life in general...these include landscapes, flowers, mud pools, brick walls, what not...

i would be grateful if some experienced people could resolve this dilemma with their comments..

regards ak

-- Akramanya Kkhajput (akkahagar@yahoo.com), February 03, 2002

Answers

Easy answer you say you want as much manual control: The Rebel 2000 allows manual ISO/ASA override, the N65 does not.

-- Jake F (JakeF@nowhere.net), February 03, 2002.

Since you are asking this on a Canon forum you will get mostly pro- Canon advice, but...

Jake's right the N65 won't allow you to override the ISO setting. That and the fact that you can't use older Nikon lenses with it makes it a poor choice for anyone. One of Nikon's best features is the use of cheaper/older glass but if you use them, the meter won't work on either the N65 or N80, so why bother.

Of your two choices the Canon is much better, but another option is the Minolta 5 that just came out. Feature & performance wise, in this class, it's king of the hill. I know that's blaspheme here, but it's still true.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), February 03, 2002.


My answer is - if you're serious about getting into photography, forget about the actual camera for a moment. Think about what camera system you want to buy. Unless you buy one camera and one lens and that's it, it's the system that's more important. Longer essay on topic:

http:// teladesign.com/photo/why-canon.html

-- NK Guy (tela@tela.bc.ca), February 03, 2002.


As said above. Choose your lenses. Are IS and USM important to you? Or is some limited (if any, in fact) backwards compatibilty useful? Once you've chosen your lenses, choose a body with appropriate features. Since you're on a budget, the Rebel 2000 is there, but look also for a second-hand Elan II(e), as this is a much more satisfactory body in the long run. Or if you decide on nikon, look for a second hand body there (although the older bodies don't have compatibility with AFS or VR, and so there's little point in this whole "compatibility" thing that nikon have pushed because it's the complete opposite....)

-- Isaac Sibson (isibson@hotmail.com), February 03, 2002.

Another big weakness of the Nikon N65 is the lack of partial metering. In Av and TV mode, the N65 uses evaluative metering only. In Manual mode, the N65 uses simple center-weighted metering only. With the Rebel 2000 it's the same (Av/Tv = evaluative, Manual = center-weighted) with the exception that you can activate 9.5% partial metering at any time by pressing the (*) button in any of the modes. If you want as much control as possible, having the capability to partial meter is very important and gives the Rebel 2000 the additional edge.

-- Peter Phan (pphan01@hotmail.com), February 03, 2002.


I agree that of the two choices presented, the Rebel 2000 has more features. If you are looking for the most features, however, the Minolta Maxxum 5 has even more with more flexibility than either the Rebel or the N65. I agree also that you should look at the system first before jumping in to a camera body. If you like what you see in the Nikon system better, the N65 is what you should buy. Same with Canon, Minolta or Pentax. All of these companies make good cameras at the entry level.

I guess some of us Canonites ARE heretics.

-- Lee (Leemarthakiri@sport.rr.com), February 04, 2002.


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