I'm in love... the D70 - DPChallenge Forums

03/01/2004 07:28:34 AM · #1

D70 Preview Fair - Sendai, Japan, Feb. 29

Nikon Japan held a two-day fair over the weekend. I managed to get up yesterday. I was not disappointed,: the D70 is a fantastic camera. I'd like to share a few thoughts about it here.

Firstly, using it is so easy. The control buttons fit under the hand wonderfully. Most important changes can be effected effortlessly, without recourse to the menu. (Ken Rockwell guages the functionality of cameras on the basis of whether we need to access changes via a menu or specialised buttons on the camera body.) It's not heavy, but feels weightier than the Kiss Digital. Some commentators have criticised the Kiss as feeling like a toy. The D70 feels comfortably heavy without being so weighty that prolonged use will be a drag on your strength. My hands are small, yet I had no problem turning either the front or the back dials. For a bigger hand, the grip will feel perfect.

Coming from the Minolta Dimage 7hi, I found the viewfinder a dream. (To be fair, all dslrs' viewfinders knock spots off the Minolta.) And not having histogram preview support will require a learning curve, I suppose. However, no dslr has that feature.

It does have a spot metering function, which is changeable from a 12mm centre cirlce to 6mm. This, I found, unhelpful. What exactly is 6mm? I know that I could work it out mathematically, but that's a drag. The brochure states that the middle focus area (of 5) also acts as the spot meter range, which can't be exactly true if the spot meter range is alterable.

There is a bulb mode, but this isn't available in Shutter priority mode, only in Manual, which feels counter-intuitive to me. The Minolta also has this, so maybe this is common to most.

There are two problems with White Balance, I found. The first is that it needs to be accessed through the menus, needing a lot of key presses, reducing its functionality. This is not a major problem, though it could be if time is an issue. The second problem is severe. I took along with me my 18% grey card. I got the Nikon guy to demonstrate the WB function using my card. He was very willing to do this. However, even after 3 attempts, the colour was way off. The preset WB settings did a better job than the manual could. He blamed difficult lighting, but I find that an unendearing answer as the lighting situation was a pretty common one. A more lenient answer might be that he hadn't learned how to set it properly. Goodness forbid lesser-informed users from getting it right.

A further problem was the use of the term 'preset'. (I only used the Japanese menus. The English might be different. I hope it is.) 'Preset', to me, means factory-installed settings. Its opposite is 'manually-/user- controls'. The WB, for example, was alterable when the 'preset' menu was activated.

I enjoyed the facility of being able to zoom in on images to check the focussing, but that required at least 3 separate key strokes to isolate the function and further dial rotation to get into the image. During the trial shoot (with real models), I found this to be slow. (The Kiss has a similar function - much easier and (if my memory serves me rightly) can zoom further in.)

The photo shoot demo gave us the chance to try out the camera in real-life, even allowing us to print out a shot of our choice later. I'd like to be able to show you my shot, but they kept them saying that they'd have no control over how the photo might be used. The colour rendition was marvellous, much, much better than the Minolta would offer.

Even though I've concentrated on a few negatives here, on the whole, I really enjoyed holding and handling the D70. I haven't mentioned the user-controls it offers - that's a whole new ball game, but it seems to offer great flexibility as well as support for those who will use its more automatic functions. I'll be buying this when it comes out on March the 19th. With very litle difference between this and the D100 (indeed an improvement in some areas), I can see this doing very, very well.

Canon EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM

03/01/2004 08:05:15 PM · #2

bump - 80-odd views and not a single reply comment...

orussell

Canon EOS Rebel T6s

03/01/2004 08:11:44 PM · #3

Thanks for the review. Always interested in anything to compete with the 300D.

ellamay

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

03/01/2004 08:22:04 PM · #4

sounds like a great camera, too bad the 3000. worth of canon lenses wont fit on it : (

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

03/01/2004 08:28:24 PM · #5

For what it's worth, I think this is the next logical step for anyone who is upgrading to DSLR and not already invested in another manufacturer's lenses. For those who do not want to go to the D100, this looks like a great camera. I would prefer the D70 over the 300D without question.

03/01/2004 08:50:32 PM · #6

Originally posted by orussell:

Thanks for the review. Always interested in anything to compete with the 300D.

Logic suggests that, as the D70 is better than the D100 in many aspects, the D70 competes not with the 300D/ Kiss, but with the extinct EOS-D60 (now replaced with the EOS-10D). The difference in body material will, of course, top the balance towards the 10D, but having compared both the D70 and the 300D/ Kiss, I wouldn't say that it's a fair contest. Let's compare the D70 with the EOS-10D.

bruin

Nikon Coolpix 5700

03/01/2004 08:51:06 PM · #7

We also have a Nikon N80 SLR. Are the lenses interchangeable with the D70 DSLR?

Message edited by author 2004-03-01 20:51:24.

AFViper

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

03/01/2004 08:53:55 PM · #8

I also believe that the D70 is closer to the 10D than the 300D. If this is true it means the next cannon DSLR might be cheaper, to compete with the D70.

The prices are strating to come down.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

03/01/2004 08:54:28 PM · #9

Originally posted by bruin:

We also have a Nikon N80 SLR. Are the lenses interchangeable with the D70 DSLR?

Yes.

All slr lenses can be used on Nikon dslrs, but the specially-designed dslr lenses cannot be used on film cameras.

Jacko

Canon EOS-20D

03/01/2004 09:15:14 PM · #10

I have a Nikon N80 with 28-80 and 70-300. Gotta get rid of it and get an Elan 7.