The author of the blog post visited a Costco store in Mountain View, California to look at cameras. They were interested in purchasing a Nikon D70 with a Nikkor 18-200mm lens, and tested the camera using various software including DxO, Adobe Camera RAW, nik Color Efex, and Aperture. They took a photo with the camera set at 1/45 sec, f/4.8, ISO 200, and 48mm (72mm) focal length, and then later added a digital silver reflector to enhance the shot’s brightness.
However, when the author returned to the store for a third time, the Nikon D50 kit was out of stock. This kit included two lenses (28-80mm and 70-300mm) and a 256MB SD card. The author found the large, cheap zoom lens particularly attractive. The Canon Rebel XT was also out of stock, but had a $100 mail-in rebate and was attractive to buyers due to its 8 megapixels.
The author notes that, upon comparing viewfinder sizes and lenses side-by-side, the D50 looked more impressive to the consumer than the Rebel XT. Additionally, the author used a digital silver reflector to enhance the brightness of their Nikon D70 photo, despite it being the worst framed photo of the set.