Plan on getting a new camera this week, not sure what to get.

I'm a noob...sorry.

This question has been debated to death on almost every single forum out there, Canonians and Nikonians comes out saying why you should by their brand versus the other.

You can't go wrong with either cameras in my opinion. Look at your budget, determine how much you're able to spend, accounting for other things such as lens, memory cards, and other accessories.

Go to dpreview.com and read Phil's review of the D70 and Rebel XT, both are great cameras and with the proper skills, you can get excellent photos out of either camera. Try and stay away from the forums in my opinion as the D70 vs XT debates are a waste of time. Go to your nearest camera store and get a good feel for both he camera and actually try it in store then decide.

what's your level of experience?

it might cost you $100, but when you're spending $1000 for a camera kit, consider the $100 an investment.

but I honestly don't care for the photos their new high end cameras produce. They're undersharp and undersaturated in almost every shot. The saturation isn't bad, as it's a very easy fix in photoshop but the soft focus can be much more frustrating. My old G2 had the same soft focus problem and it drove me up the wall. It's very angering to come back from a month long trip abroad with hundreds of pictures only to find 1/3 of them have an unusably blurry focus.

the thoughts of trading in the Elan 7e for a Rebel XT or d20 are starting to creep into my head again

it's not terrible, but it's soft enough to bug the hell out of me, especially on a $1,000 camera.

Ummm, I mean Canon! :-P

:-P
One of the factors for me was the fact that Nikon is pretty strict about warranty work, and I planned on buying and selling used lenses until I landed on whatever made me happy. With canon, I just get the original receipt from the owner, and canon will still cover the lens under the original 1 year warranty. I can buy and sell glass pretty easily (the Canon population is huge compared to Nikon imho), and with little $ penalty. Aside from that, the feedback on Canon's post service support is very good.

The upside to Nikon is they give you an addt'l 4 years of warranty.

As far as glass, Nikon seems to offer better glass on the wide end of the spectrum, and canon owns the telephoto end. There are a few exceptions, but that's the general trend.

Another note...hold the XT for a while. I get irritated holding that little camera, and putting good glass on it (L's) leaves the camera horribly unbalanced. The D70 fits into my hand like a glove.

Try to manually focus through viewfinder. The canon 1.6 crop cameras are typically very difficult in this regard. I haven't tried the Nikon...might be the same.

Reason is because of the antialias filter. People who shoot RAW or JPG with no sharpening are expecting razar sharp photos. Many have commented that the 16.7 MP 1Ds Mark II is softer than images from the 20D.

The problem here is that people look at the images at the native resolution expecting things to be razar sharp. Unfortunately you can't do that in my opinion. The antialias filter is needed otherwise one gets massive moire depending on what you shoot (ie.: bricks far away at an angle will contribute to moire).

Do the recommended: resize the image to what you need (or don't if you need the full resolutino for large prints) followed by some unsharp mask in Photoshop or in your favourite image editor.

Then there are other things that could contribute to soft images - such as a lens and/or body that needs calibration, and that is with Canon, Nikon, etc.

But going back to your G2, I never had problems with photos a bit out of focus. When there's enough light it'll get a proper focus lock but in low light, it was just horrible.

not sure dpreview allows hotlinking so I'll put links in for copy and paste, too.

Nikon D70:
<img src="http://img2.dpreview.com/gallery/nikond70_samples/dsc_0063.jpg">
http://img2.dpreview.com/gallery/nikond70_samples/dsc_0063.jpg

Canon Rebel XT:
<img src="http://img2.dpreview.com/gallery/canoneos350d_samples1/img_3949.jpg">
http://img2.dpreview.com/gallery/canoneos350d_samples1/img_3949.jpg

These should both come up at the same scaled down resolution. The Canon is much softer, and the colors are less vivid. I understand that a lot of this comes from consumer desires. It's impossible to come back from an oversharp or overcontrasted image, but I think Canon goes too far in the direction of softness.

I can't remember if Nikon's sharpening algorithm is more aggressive than Canon when the sharpening level is set to the middle on both cameras. Plus Phil shoots in JPG and doesn't do any further processing of the image, only lets the camera do the default from what I know.

If the 350D was using the kit lens (17-85 EFS) it's a fairly low cost lens but for the performance considering the cost, it's not too bad, but it's not the sharpest lens out there.

I should try and find some photos I took using the Canon 17-40L lens. Use any high end lens, whether a Nikon or Canon, and you get some pretty amazing shots out of the camera.

I really like Canon stuff, but the samples I see on dpreview are not what I want out of a camera in that range.

I'm assuming Phil knows how to use the camera (or did enough reading prior to the test...) and knows how to take a picture. As tanner stated, the 17-85 is an okay lens. Some come from Canon pretty sharp, but overall, most of the photos I've seen from that lens are mediocre. You're buying a $300 lens, and paying $300 for IS. I've had varying experiences with different lenses on my Canon 1D. Some lenses are better than others. I can easily pick out pictures taken at f4 with my 17-40 and my 16-35.

Also, bear in mind, these cameras perform in camera sharpening and color tweaking, depending on the settings chosen. You didn't make mention of that when you posted the images. Did you take note of that when reading the article and looking at those pics? If no sharpening was applied, it needs to be applied.

I think he should read up on the camera's he's comparing and look at user feedback...Possibly try and test each out with someone locally.
My main reason for Nikon now is the warranty differences (body) and also I like the aftermarket lenses (nikor) for price and capabilities.<ul><li><a href="http://dpreview.com/">DPREVIEW</a></li></ul>

I know alot of guys on your local forum or in that area at have both of these cameras. Try and get some people together for a demo of the cameras.

When I bought my first SLR, I was trying to choose between cameras of the same level that you're looking at (film, not digital, but same thing really). I was leaning Nikon based on internet research, but I went Canon after some time with a good salesman who showed me how to use each of them. Especially since you're new to powerful cameras, choose the one that seems easier to use and feels better in your hands. They'll both give you great photos.