D40X or D70s ??

Question

Im just really confused like whats the difference and what to buy. why is D70 still so expensive when D40x is giving out 10.2 Megs ?

Answer 1

Boy this is a tough question. I have a D70s and my wife has the D50. The D40 is newer, but "similar" to the D50. The D70s does a few things that the D50 can't do or can't do quite as easily, but this would not be a factor in your choice.

The D70s has 5 autofocus zones (center, 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock) while the D40 only has the three on the horizontal. Nikon claims that this would not make any difference to most users, but I have found the top and bottom zones quite helpful and would not like to do without them.

Storage on the D70s is on a CF (compact flash) card and the D40 uses an SD (secure digital) card, so this might matter if you already have some cards on hand. If not, I still kind of feel more secure handling the larger CF cards.

The D40 has a programable FUNC button, which my D200 has and I like that idea. The D70s does not have this.

The D40 only has one command dial, which means you will have to go into the menus more often on the D40 than you do on the D70s.

The D40 has a lot of in-camera retouching, but I would never use that feature. The D70 does not have this.

The D70s has an LCD on top of the camera for status, which the D40 does not, but the D40 uses the 2.5" rear LCD for camera status between shots. This is certainly easier to read, but I don't know how it is to live with day-to-day, as I have never done this. Since you are not using the LCD before you take the shot, maybe it even makes sense to have a larger, illuminated information display.

There is no depth-of-field preview on the D40, but there is on the D70s.

There is no exposure bracketing and no white balance bracketing on the D40, but there is on the D70s.

The D40 will not autofocus with some older Nikon lenses and the D70s will. If you do not have some lenses from a Nikon film camera already, though, this would not be a problem for you.

This will come down to a matter of what features you find important and how the camera feels in your hands. The D40 is noticeably smaller. You have to go to a photo shop or camera department in a big box store and see what you think. Personally, I like the larger size of the D70s and I would miss the 5 autofocus zones.

The D40 sells for $600 WITH a (decent) lens and the D70s BODY alone sells for over $600. You can add the same lens to the D70s for an additional $170, bringing the total purchase to $800. Of course, you will need to buy a memory card for either camera, so allow for that.

Now that I have you spending $800 instead of $600, as I would prefer the D70s, maybe I can talk you into going "just" another $200 and you can consider the D80 with the 18-55 lens... The D80 is a world of difference ahead of EITHER the D40 or the D70s.

Answer 2

You're right, the D40x seems like a lot more for the money. In a side-by-side view: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_post.asp?method=sidebyside&cameras=nikon_d40x%2Cnikon_d70&show=all the 40 seems have more (but not all) the advantages. One notable exception is if you have a lot of older Nikon lenses already.