Nikon’s D70

Nikon’s new D70s boasts
faster, more accurate AF,
faster image processing
and buffering and a bigger LCD
than the old D70. It’s joined by the
new, budget D50 model, designed
to compete with bargain-basement
models from Canon (the EOS
350D) and Pentax (the *ist Ds).
Let’s take a closer look at the
improvements that have gone
into the D70s. The increased
processing speed means that the
camera’s capable (technically)
of shooting up to 144 shots
consecutively. This is under very
specifi c conditions, however
– namely JPEGs shot at Normal
quality, with specifi c high-speed
memory cards. The quoted
capacity when shooting RAW fi les
or Fine quality JPEGs is far lower,
at four frames and nine frames,
respectively. You may fi nd, then,
that the D70’s as quick in all but
very specifi c circumstances.
The same applies to the
new, speedier, improved AF
system. Some users may fi nd the
improvement obvious; we don’t.
That just leaves the 2-inch LCD
display, up in size from the 1.8-inch
screen on the old camera. Hardly a
big difference, but the larger menu
text may prove more legible for
some users

In use

The D70s is so similar to the D70
that, apart from the badge on the
front, it feels identical. That’s no
bad thing: plastic it may be, but the
D70’s a million miles from the EOS
300D it once competed against,
and it’s still better than the EOS
350D which replaced it. No other
camera in this price range has this
feeling of solidity and quality.
The D70s is a comfortable size.
The *ist Ds and EOS 350D are a
little too short in the shoulder to
offer a really secure grip, leaving
your little fi nger waving about
ineffectively under the base plate.
The grip on the D70s, though, is tall
enough for all your fi ngers to curl
around fi rmly.
This camera uses two control
wheels instead of one. The rear
control wheel handles most shotto-
shot adjustments as well as
shutter speed in Shutter Priority and
Manual modes. The front control
wheel handles a smaller number of
secondary functions, and controls
lens aperture in Aperture Priority
and Manual modes. It’s easy to
remember: rear wheel – shutter
speed, front wheel – aperture.
You’ve got to remember which
wheel does what though, as the
D70s doesn’t drop out of Quick
Review mode when you attempt
to adjust the controls. You’ve got
to half-press the shutter release to
return to Shooting mode before you
can make white balance, ISO and
other adjustments for the next shot.
This is a camera you’ve got to
learn how to use. There’s a full
Auto mode and a small selection of
Scene modes for novices, but it’s
not really aimed at them. It’s aimed
instead at photographers who
know what they want to do and
who’re prepared to make the effort
needed to explore this camera’s
considerable depths.

The results

The old D70 is good but not
perfect. The exposure system is
the biggest issue. In fl at lighting
there are no problems. In bright,
contrasty lighting, however, you
never quite know what the 3D
Color Matrix metering is going to
do. It might produce a perfectly
judged exposure. Or it might – as
often as not – go over-protective
towards the highlights and
underexpose the midtones so that
a super-saturated vibrant subject
comes out distinctly muddy. The
D70s is just the same.
Now if you shoot in RAW mode,
this isn’t going to bother you. It’s
a simple matter to tweak the tonal
distribution to restore the colours
and midtone brightness, and you
have the advantage of nicelypreserved
highlights.
But while the RAW fi les
produced by the D70s are compact
(5-6MB), you don’t get proper
RAW conversion software with
the camera. All that the bundled
Picture Project software can do is
carry out a basic no-frills conversion
that leaves you little better off than
shooting JPEGs in the fi rst place.
And you’ll want to shoot RAW
fi les with this camera. Its JPEG
images aren’t bad, but they lack
the dynamic range and sharpness
of well-converted RAW fi les.
Using only what’s in the box, the
D70s’s performance is distinctly
unremarkable, even against £700
budget DSLRs. It’s only its RAW
fi les that do this camera justice.
This won’t be an issue for those
people who use Photoshop CS and
its Camera RAW plug-in. Provided
you don’t mind waiting for an
update, which includes support for
the D70s, that is.
This remains a very good camera.
Its superiority to the original D70 is
so marginal that you realise all over
again just how good that camera is.
Until the dealers have cleared their
shelves, the D70s’s biggest rival
could be the D70..