Nikon D70

I worked my way thru the ranks of digital cameras. I started with a tiny Fuji MX1300 1.2MP with NO features. I soon tired of that and upgraded to an Olympus C40z which was great, it did so much more and I even did my sons wedding photos with it. Then I got the MegaPixel bug and upgraded to a Fuji s602Pro...... This nearly satisfied my cravings as a photographer, but there were things as an astronomer I still couldn’t do, like long exposures. So, a penny saving exercise and several eBay sales of junk later and I now own not only the Nikon D70 with the superb 18-70mm DX lens, but also the 70-300mm G lens for an extra £100 !

* FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Its big and a lot heavier than the Fuji, but fits nicely into my hands. All the controls are very well placed ergonomically and I can adjust most essential settings now (after 2 weeks use) without taking my eye off the viewfinder. With my 256MB 40x Lexar CF card, I can take 74 JPG fine large (second best overall, next to NEF) images, and although it took me a few days to decide on the best settings for my type of photography, it was worth the effort as I am now producing photos like I have never done before. Battery use is amazing, I have been out for 2 whole days shooting on ONE single battery charge ! The DX lens is truly amazing, and due to the way the D70 is made, it effectively multiplies the focal length of the lens by 1.5, so my 18-70mm lens, *effectively* becomes what would be a 27-105mm lens on a standard SLR camera (for digicam users only, this works out at 3.8 x optical zoom). Finally, in first impressions, this camera has the fastest switch on time and autofocus I have ever seen ! It is ready to use even before my finger has moved from the on-off button to the shutter button.

* CONTROLS

All of the controls are settable either via the very comprehensive and easy to read menu, or by using dedicated buttons mainly placed down the left hand side of the LCD screen, with a few others dotted about in other strategic places. I can change the following settings without resorting to the menu : ISO, White Balance, Bracketing, Flash, Metering, single or multishot, exposure compensation, auto/man focus and AE/AF lock. Other functions, which are less needed to change regularly are in the menu, and boy, what a menu....

Menu functions are divided into four areas, Playback, Image settings, General settings and Special functions. I don’t see anything missing from these that I wanted, and the manual talks you through each setting nicely, so it is relatively easy to setup.

There are 2 control wheels, one at the back of the body and one at the front. The rear wheel is the main control adjuster, so by holding down, say, the ISO button, I can scroll from 200 ISO up to 1600 ISO just by rotating the rear control wheel. The front really comes into its own when I use full manual exposure setting, where the rear adjusts the aperture, and the front adjusts the speed.

The final body control is the up/down/left/right button which most modern digital camera s now have in one form or another. The uses of this one are many fold : it moves the autofocus area setting, it pans up/down/left/right on the playback and also scrolls thru 4 playback information screens including histogram, highlights, and 2 screens of data relating to camera settings for the image being viewed.

* IMAGE QUALITY

Amazing.......eventually ! At first I had the wrong settings, soft focus, normal image processing etc, but after a while of viewing images on my PC, I found the right image settings for my particular taste. This will vary for everyone, and Nikon have given us plenty of choice in this matter. I settled on Large Image setting (6MP), Fine, Optimise Image to Vivid, ISO 200, and auto white balance. My sample images below were taken using these settings and no other processing has been used, except cropping to smaller sizes.
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(boring bit for non astronomers follows, sorry !)

As I am an astronomer, the long exposure settings were one of the main reasons I chose this camera. Up to 30 seconds on auto, and up to 30 minutes on BULB, with or without auto noise reduction - yes, it even takes a dark frame and removes the noise caused by any hot pixels ! My first test astro images were untracked so show star trails, but even with these trails I can see that I caught the Ring Nebula, M57 (yes, I know that most of you reading this don’t know what on earth Im on about - just trust me when I say that getting M57 is not easy, even with a decent telescope) using the 300mm at maximum zoom, 30 seconds exposure at F6.3 and ISO1600. My astronomer friends are quite impressed, and they are a tough audience !

(sorry, that's the astronomy bit finished. It had to be done !)
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Yes, you do get some substantial noise at 1600ISO settings but that is to be expected. What I wasn’t expecting though, was the rather less then comfortable noise levels at 400ISO ! It is minor and my noise reduction software can edit it out easily enough, but even my Fuji had lower noise at 400ISO than the Nikon. Still, it’s the only thing I can fault it on so far.

Wild birds and aircraft make up a lot of my targets at the moment while I’m still testing the Nikon, and to take these shots, you need to be quick. As the Nikon is ready to shoot before I am, I have not missed any birds or aircraft since acquiring the camera. Another great advantage is that the shutter speed now goes down to 1/8000th of a second (yes, one eight thousandsth of a second!) so I can even stop a humming birds wings in mid flap, and helicopter rotor blades appear frozen in mid air....

Colour balance is good, focus is always very sharp, Im very impressed by this autofocus system !

* OTHER FEATURES OF NOTE :

Battery life - as stated is amazing, some friends who are occasional shooters can go a whole week before a recharge is needed, and, as the battery is only 1400mAH, this makes it all the more clever. I looked at a mains power supply, but at nearly £80 for a 9VDC 500mA supply, I was not tempted. Nikon have also stopped us using cheap and cheerful car boot sale power plugs by using an unknown power connector on the camera. Clever idea Nikon, but not appreciated !!

Infra Red remote - Great idea, much easier than the cable release system on the Coolpix models and also on the Nikons main opponent, the Canon 300D. Essential for long exposure shots for my astronomy to avoid body vibration.

Carry Strap - sadly not the most brilliant design. The strap attaches to the body by looping thru two small slots on the side. This means that the strap is under a bending stress when carrying the camera, and this leads me to believe that the strap will suffer from wear before too long. I have got around this by using a couple of heavy duty key rings between the body loops and the strap. This has taken the side stresses out and I recommend any other user to investigate alternative fixings for this.

Autofocus - has several setting for focus areas, including a dynamic setting which can track moving objects. You can also select a moveable single focus point upon half pressing the shutter button, or full time autofocus for moving subjects. Tried it with birds, very good !

Metering - excellent. Very versatile spot, centre weighted or matrix settings. Not had any shots with poor exposure yet.

Multi Shot settings - very fast. Even at 6MP fine I can take 9 shots before the buffer has to stop to write to the CF card. and with rapid fire at about 3 FPS (approx) I can catch all sorts of activity with my wild birds.... Bracketing is just as good as the rest of the system, with adjustments in the menu for +/- settings.

* CONCLUSION

OK its only a quick review, but in the 2 weeks I have owned this NikonD70, I can honestly say it has allowed me to take some of my best photographs, ever ! And that is not an exaggeration. What a star. I did a lot of comparisons some weeks ago between ths D70 and the Canon 300d, and the Nikon won (but that was a lot to do with astronomy !)

I bought mine from S W Optics, Bristol for £939 inc the 18-70mmDX lens & next day delivery (Thanks Steve). 70-300mm G lens from London Camera Repair (brand new) for £97 total, again with next day delivery.

HOWEVER - you may find these a bit thin on the ground right now (18 June) as Nikon appear to be limiting the quantity coming into the UK. If you are looking for one, I wish you luck !

I’m happy.