Canon EOS Rebel 300D

[Michele Rushworth]

While I'm not a Photoshop whiz, I'm pretty good at it. No amount of Photoshop tweaking will give me color anywhere near as accurate as having a correct exposure to begin with.

It is important to me to be able to meter on a particular part of the face while my tripod and camera are in the position they will be for the shot. During a client photo shoot I have to work very fast and don't want to be taking the camera on and off the tripod to go up and meter the light on the face. (I don't have a separate light meter to do that.)

It's possible the Digital Rebel has something close enough to true spot metering to do the job, but in the list of specs the Nikon D70 did actually list "spot metering" while the Digital Rebel didn't. That was the deciding factor for me.

[Marvin Mattelson]

Michele, I think that the Nikon D70 with Nikon Capture software will give you the ability to really fine tune the color and exposure. Using the histogram insures that you have the tonal info you need. The highlight warning option alerts you immediately if you are overexposing any critical areas. There are many metering options.

[Laura B. Shelley]

I apologize if I've given any impression that I think this camera and some digital tweaking is the best possible way to go! Far from it; I probably would have bought something entirely different from the consumer Digital Rebel if I'd been able, such as the full-featured professional version or the Nikon.

I would certainly prefer to take my shots right the first time, and I hope with more practice that will become easier. However, at this point I don't have anything like the great technical knowledge of portrait photography that I see on this forum, and my experience is limited. Until I learn more, I have to make up for my deficiencies some other way.

Laura

[Jimmie Arroyo]

Marvin, do you by chance know if the Nikon Capture software is sold separately? I have a Nikon 4300, but have never been able to get perfect color without ruining contrast or whatever on Photoshop. I have a HP printer that gives out very nice prints, sometimes as good as a photo. Thanks.

[Marvin Mattelson]

Yes Jimmy, Nikon Capture is sold individually for about $100. You can probably find it for less. The D70 comes with a one month trial version.

The Capture software gives you the ability to adjust images shot in raw mode. Raw images, Nikon calls them NEF's, retain more data. Any alterations to images performed in Nikon Capture can be reversed or adjusted, with no data loss, as long as the images are saved as NEF files. The images can be converted to tiffs or jpegs for use in other software programs.

I have a digital gray card that I place in either a scene or in front of a painting. You can use the software to adjust the white balance by pinpointing a spot on the gray card. The white balance setting can be saved and then used to correct other pictures shot in the same lighting. The really cool thing is that I can upload this same white balance to my D70. I can also upload adjustment curves.

[Michele Rushworth]

Marvin, would you say that RAW files are a quantum leap in quality over files saved by the camera in Tiff or Jpeg formats?

[Marvin Mattelson]

The camera doesn't save in TIFF format. It only records JPEG and NEF formats, either individually or both together. I can shoot both a NEF and a JPEG at the same time. When I compare the two, the NEF is sharper if both are blown up on my monitor. Also the NEF has greater shadow detail.

[Michele Rushworth]

Thanks!