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Nikon D70 Digital SLR By Clint Thayer ____________________________
Nikon creates a compelling package. At first glance, it looks very similar to a Nikon D100. But it is trimmed a bit in both bulk and weight- and refined in aesthetics. Namely, the D70 feels more pleasant in your hands and the controls are better positioned for handling. Controls, such as white balance, are no longer on the top deck mode dial. In fact, almost every parameter can now be changed by a button press while spinning thumbwheel or pad controls. Nikon trimmed some metal to reduce weight and in so doing, beefed up the plastic. However, the camera is still weighty and firm. Surprisingly, I felt that the build quality was on a par with the D100 in both balance and weight. You never get a sense of compromise here. It still feels like a $1500 camera. But it actually improves on the D100 in major areas such as handling, placement of controls and speed of use.
The top mode dial is now used only for dialing in your shooting modes, such as fully automatic program mode, aperture and shutter priority. As a nod to the Canon 300D, there are built-in scene modes which set up parameters such as sports modes, landscapes, portraits and such. Simply put, these modes are typically what you would set-up anyway during these kinds of shots to make the process simpler. Below the mode dial are push and spin buttons for drive control and bracketing.
As you can see on the rear of the camera, we still have a curved row of settings buttons. The white balance control is a simple press and spin of the front command ring (where your right hand thumb is at- not shown here). This is a great improvement from the D100- which placed this feature on the top deck mode dial instead. To the right you can see the 4-way menu pad, the pad lock switch and the compact flash compartment door. The plastic LCD display overlay is now clear and allows you to view your results more effectively. Depending on the setting of the camera (playback or record), these buttons serve double duty. There has been an improvement in the operation control software too. One of these refinements is the "trash" button just on the right side of the LCD display. During playback or preview, a tap on this button will ask for delete confirmation-- and a second tap of this same button will delete the image. You no longer press "trash" then follow up with "OK" on the enter button which on the D100 seemed a bit navigation heavy.
Field use with the D70 This review is based on the D70 body only, and not the kit package. First time Nikon buyers will likely go with the kit because of the included DX lens at a very attractive price. However, even the body only version at $999 will appeal to photographers who want to choose the best lens for their needs. In this case, I selected (2) very different lenses. The 50mm Nikon f1.4 prime is a superb instrument for testing the overall clarity and sharpness of an image. It balances perfectly on the camera and is indispensable for portrait work and medium close range photography. Personally, I've always enjoyed taking pictures with a 50mm lens because it forces you to frame your shot physically and the lens is reference quality sharp.
The second lens used in the evaluation is the Quantaray 70-300 f4.0-5.6 APO Macro. I enjoyed this lens with the Canon EOS mount so the Nikon mount version for this review was also used. Although much heavier than the 50mm, of course, it still mounts the Nikon D70 body without the need for an additional tripod support ring.
When I travel in my photographic work, the last thing I need to carry with me is a bulky and monolithic tripod. But I do require it to be well constructed with a digital ball head and collapsible. The Sprint Pro by Slik corporation is just that. It is a carbon fibre tripod that weighs less than 890 g and folds to less than 480mm. That's light and small!
Outfit Price as Tested Nikon D70 Digital SLR Camera Body: $999 Nikkor 50mm f1.4 Prime: $299 Quantaray 70-300mm f4.0-5.6 Macro: $169 Slik Sprint Pro Carbon Fibre Tripod: $99 Photographic Quality and Post Production To examine a variety of different parameters, the entire 50mm photo shoot was done in JPEG format fine. What would the "out of box" images look like without fussy post production? Those images were simply resized and sharpened using the included Nikon Picture Project software. Below is a sample of the 50mm prime lens with this simple workflow.
The Quantaray 70-300mm photos were entirely shot in RAW format and processed through Nikon Capture 4.1. This is the preferred method for any Nikon DSLR, but it is time consuming and does require some patience. Depending on how you prepare and plan your photo shoot- and your ultimate final purpose, this process may be essential. Below is a sample of the 70-300mm zoom lens with this advanced workflow.
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