Nikon D70

Opinion: took piles of pictures with this machine. it never let me down.

Opinion: For me, the D70 had a very steep learning curve, even though I'd been shooting film SLRs since I was a teenager. You've read all about the great ergonomics and so on elsewhere, so I will concentrate on how I got the very best images I could out of this excellent camera.

When I first did some comparison testing against a 5MP Canon A95 I was really disappointed with the sharpness and resolution of the D70. Then I started shooting RAW and converting in Cature 4.4 (latterly NX) and never looked back; the difference was like night and day. Much later, when I owned a D300 that came with a copy of Capture NX, I decided to go back and reprocess some of my old D70 NEFs with NX and was shocked at how much they looked like the images from the D300. Apart from the image size they were virtually indistinguishable (the D300 definitely has more RAW headroom)

The other thing that made a *huge* difference was adding a B+W 486 IR filter - with no more infrared contamination, the colors were transformed. You have to watch out for cyan drift in the corners beyond 24mm, but this is often only visible in specific types of images, for example scenes that include overcast skies, lots of snow, or pale sand.

This camera has a very light AA filter and (importantly) processing with the same software revelas it is every bit as sharp as my D300 on a pixel level - it is *bitingly* sharp with the right lens. This can result in unsightly moire and other weird (and usually unremovable) artefacts with some subjects but this is a small price to pay for the resolution.

Maybe I just got lucky but my D70 has no hot or dead pixels - zero, nada (unlike the D300), but the usual terrible amp glow during long exposures. Battery life is just stunning, which matters a lot to me as I like to go on camping/hiking trips.

AF seems very accurate, if not all that fast (and it is noisy when using non-AF-S lenses). The AF accuracy is a good thing considering how small the VF is (see below)

There are a (very) few negatives, mostly things that bug me about it compared to the D300: no support for non-CPU lenses (a real bummer as I would like to try the 28/2.8 AI-S and ZF lenses on this camera); coming from film, the tiny viewfinder has always been a source of despair and leaves a lot to be desired compared to newer models (more an issue when manual focusing); the LCD is pitifully small by today's standards, and the RAW buffer is woeful (an action camera this is not). But at least it still has an AF motor so that puts it ahead of a lot of newer models in my opinion. I think that the need to shoot RAW and use a 486 filter to get the best out of the D70 makes it much more of an "enthusiasts" camera than Nikon probably intended (in other words, be willing to fool around a lot or be underwhelmed by the output). But I sure learned a lot from it!

I gave 4.5 for value since mine came with the excellent 18-70 lens (you will however notice the limitations of this lens on higher-resolution cameras). 5.0 for IQ is dependent on shooting RAW and to a lesser extent using the 486 filter; OOC jpgs would earn a 3 (at best).

Opinion: Sold most of my canon/pentax/olympus cameras since moving to digital and keeping just Sony/Minolta equipment and a few Nikon pieces. So to keep the Nikon F4s company I got a D70s.

Excellent image quality for a camera of this vintage and fits the hands well, but the controls are not as easy as the Sony or Minolta 7D (or even the F4). Overall though a very nice camera for my little Nikon collection (should keep my Nikon friends happy).

Opinion: The camera handles well. It is great in the hand, easy to carry, ready when you need it.

Opinion: this was my second dslr after a too slow canon eos 300d , in the beginning (first weeks) i found it terrible way too much functions but now over 3800 images later i still think it is one of the best nikon ever build. it is heavy feels solid , looks like a pro model it deos the trick, weorks still great looks like new.. a very happy d70 user (with d70s firmware on it)

Opinion: I used this camera to move into digital from film; I was the third owner of a D70 in Vancouver...... I love it as much today as did when I first purchased it.

I am lucky enough to own a D700 now, but I will always have a love affair with the first digi I owned.

Thank you Nikon!

Opinion: Its hard to make a user review of this camera since so many superior cams have past by in this time? Including my new D90.
But what a great cam it was, i bought it in April 2005 bundled with the kit lens and i'm still using the kit lens today on my newly acquired D90.
Reciting from memory my first impressions where that the lcd screen was a touch small and the same size as my 2003 p&s (1.8") which was a bit of a bummer.
But apart from that, the ergonomics where superb and the image quality was unbelieveably clean upto iso 800. The flash sync of 1/500 was brilliant and no other '08 model cam can beat that yet...
Fast foward 3 years later and i found the image quality and AF fairly limiting with my 80-400VR, i was always unable to crop heavily or push the iso over 800 and the images always had a slightly coldish tone to them. So an upgrade was necessary.
I've had 3+ years, >20k photos and a great deal of fun with this cam. A true classic.

Opinion: I bought mine new when it came out and still use it quite a bit. I've been using mine mounted with a 28mm lens on Mountain Biking trips. It's light enough to fit in my pack. When people see my photo's they ask me what brand point and shoot I'm using

Opinion: Great camera for both amateurs and professionals. Easy to use and rugged. My only wish is that the LCD display would have been 2 " when initally made. Asside from that it has been a great camera.