Nikon D70

This camera's cool!

Bald Eagle image taken with D70 © B. Moose Peterson My first shooting experience with the D70 was just a few weeks ago during the Nikon Safari at Photoshop World. While shooting in some of San Francisco 's more scenic and exciting locales, I got to know the D70. It's a great camera for just this type of application. Since I didn't have the instruction book I had to set up the camera based on my knowledge of the D2H. Other than one small surprise, it was a snap to have the D70 running with my preferences, making photography easy and fun. That's probably the one thing about the D70 I like best, it's just a simple fun little camera.

Many are comparing the D70 with the D100, that's only natural. They both have the same size 3008x2000 6.1MP CCD. I've found the D70 produces a slightly better file than the D100 but you'll still find noise in a D70 image. It's more noise than you'll find in a D1X or D2H image of the same subject. But it's really not a problem that can't easily be taken care of using Dfine. I've made a couple of 20x prints from the D70 that look very nice. The file is not the same as that from the D2H so it took a little extra time and TLC to get the pretty print, but it was possible. Anchor © B. Moose Peterson

You've might have heard that the D70 can keep on shooting until the CF card is full. This is true. While there is a buffer in the D70, as fast as it can move images out it does so you can keep on firing. Before you get all excited, keep in mind you're shooting 3fps tops. Also, when the buffer is filled, the camera does slow down, I mean s . l . o . w down. Again, the D70 costs less than the Coolpix5700 when it was first introduced, there has to be some performance cutbacks somewhere.

Snow © B. Moose Peterson The set up of the D70 compliments its body construction well. Having both the D100 and D70 in hand, I have to say that for my taste, I like the D70 better. There are a number of reasons for this. First, if I want a small camera, I want a small camera. The D70, while by specs is only slightly smaller, in my hand it feels much smaller. Next, the D70 has a very solid feel to it. That might be because Nikon crammed so much stuff into a smaller body. The D70 incorporates a number of D2H features such as the large Lens Release Button and Larger Focus lever. While these are simply a result of coming after the D2H rather than before, I still find them an advantage. Finally, the D70 while smaller fits comfortably in my hand making shooting with it easier and more productive.

Float © B. Moose Peterson The menu system on the D70 is a little garish for my taste, but it does the job. There is one thing in the menus that might mess you up unless you're really careful. Features such as Tone, Sharpening, Color Mode and the like are somewhat hidden under Optimize Image > Custom. The one thing that might mess you up, it sure did me, is once you've made your selections in Optimize Image > Custom, you must then go back up the menu to Done and select Done or your settings won't be set.

You might find this a brief and simple user report. That kind of reflects the camera IMHO. It's a simple digital camera that's meant for folks to have fun with photography. It's most definitely a killer buy because you get a lot for your buck. Is it a back up for the D2H? I don't think so. If for no other reason then its 3fps and 96% viewfinder. Is it better than the D100? For what it's designed to do, yeah, I think so. As it stands right now I'm recommending the D70 to folks just getting into digital or photography. As a matter of fact, I no longer have any Coolpix cameras, I'm using the D70 for that role and a whole lot more.

All the specs for the D70 can be found at http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25214.

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Nikon D-70 User Report