JoeXposed
Well-known member
Spent the day at PMA on Friday. Here's what I learned:
Summary:
D70:
Price: $999 (Kit with 18-70mm lens is $1299)
Availability: End of March for stand-alones and kit - firm
The D70s shown in the booth are production models and as such they let me shoot as many images as I wanted with the CF card I brought with me. They also let me put the 18-70mm lens on my D100 and take a few shots.
I held this camera in one hand with a D100 in the other. The D100 is more solid than the D70 and honestly feels better in my hand but Nikon has incorporated many usability issues with the D100 in the D70 which make it easier to use. One button ISO and WB switching was sweet. Deleting images is also much faster now. Also, in JPG Large mode, you can hold the shutter down and the buffer will never fill up (I tried this and it's true).
If I had to recommend one over the other right now, today, I'd recommend the D70. This is not a Rebel competitor, it is a D100 competitor. It competes with the Rebel in price only. Also, if you didn't know, the Rebel lenses are proprietary to the Rebel whereas the D70 can use any Nikon lens the other DSLR's use.
Will I switch from the D100 to the D70? No, there's not enough there to make me switch.
D2H:
Wow! First time I ever held that camera. Wow, Wow, Wow.
As requested, I asked about firmware updates but these are marketing people. They had no idea.
17-55mm lens:
They did not have a single lens in the booth. They stated that ship date is now end of April (we'll see...).
18-70mm lens:
Price: $399 stand-alone
Availability: End of March
It's light and plastic. It reminds me of the 28-100mm as far as feel goes.
D2X:
Quote: "We're working on it"
Capture 4.1:
Availability: No idea
It has some nice improvements such as more Tones and more Color Space selections (Type IIa for instance). Don't ask me much more than that as there wasn't anyone demo'ing the software, we just sat down and played with it for a while. I didn't find out if memory management had improved (seemed to me that it had not).
Coolwalker:
Price: No idea
Ship date: No idea
Zoom NEF's as well as JPGs: No idea
Versions higher than 30GB: No idea
The Coolwalkers in the booth (there were 4) had arrived the day before PMA started and were incomplete (the Zoom feature didn't work). They are the size of a small paperback book. The folks there were not trained on the device and could only state the published facts. If this thing is over $199, then in my opinion, it's not worth it (unless you really need something like this and even then, check out third party products first). Includes AC plug, USB plug and Video Out plug.
200-400mm VR lens:
Availability: Shipping now in limited quantities
This lens is HUGE! It's got the titanium looking hood and it's sweet. Didn't get to shoot with this lens (too many people ahead of me).
D100 Replacement:
No idea
Other Booths:
Canon:
Played with the Mark II: This is the heaviest camera I've ever held. Tons of neat features and it's fast as hell. When I asked if I could shoot some images on the CF card I brought they got nasty with me and said the lighting conditions were not appropriate (to which I responded "Welcome to the real world buddy"). The camera is very impressive and they will do well with it. The Digital Elph's continue to impress and make wonderful compact "travel" cameras.
Kodak:
Got to play with the SLR/n. This is a wonderful camera! The ergonomics were terrific, the speed was incredible and everyone demo'ing the units in the Kodak booth were ecstatic to be showing it off. If the images off this camera are as good as people say, than Kodak's got themselves a winner. They are shipping now with a price tag of $4995.
Any Questions?
http://www.joexposed.com/dpreview/D70_ISO200.NEF
http://www.joexposed.com/dpreview/D70_ISO400.NEF
http://www.joexposed.com/dpreview/D70_ISO800.NEF
http://www.joexposed.com/dpreview/D70_ISO1600.NEF
Images taken from the show are as follows:
D100 & D70 both with 24-120mm VR lens attached:
D70 Samples using 24-120mm VR lens:
ISO 200, 1/15 at f/5.6
ISO 200, 1/3 at f/5.6
Some fun images from the show:
PMA Entrance:
Nikon Booth:
One big umbrella:
Olympus Model:
Troy Aikman at the Nikon booth:
Summary:
- D70's being show are production models!
- D70 NEF files can NOT be read by Nikon View 6.1 or Nikon Capture 4.0
- D70 available end of March
- D70 NEF Uncompressed size: 6MB compared to D100 9MB
- 17-55mm lens to ship end of April - none at PMA
- 18-70mm lens feels light and plastic
- 18-70mm lens available end of March for $399 ($299 in D70 kit)
- Coolwalker's shown were not complete (arrived day before PMA started)
- 200-400mm VR lens is a MONSTER but WOW!!
- Capture 4.1 offers some nice improvements
- D100 has 100,000 cycles between meantime failure
D70:
Price: $999 (Kit with 18-70mm lens is $1299)
Availability: End of March for stand-alones and kit - firm
The D70s shown in the booth are production models and as such they let me shoot as many images as I wanted with the CF card I brought with me. They also let me put the 18-70mm lens on my D100 and take a few shots.
I held this camera in one hand with a D100 in the other. The D100 is more solid than the D70 and honestly feels better in my hand but Nikon has incorporated many usability issues with the D100 in the D70 which make it easier to use. One button ISO and WB switching was sweet. Deleting images is also much faster now. Also, in JPG Large mode, you can hold the shutter down and the buffer will never fill up (I tried this and it's true).
If I had to recommend one over the other right now, today, I'd recommend the D70. This is not a Rebel competitor, it is a D100 competitor. It competes with the Rebel in price only. Also, if you didn't know, the Rebel lenses are proprietary to the Rebel whereas the D70 can use any Nikon lens the other DSLR's use.
Will I switch from the D100 to the D70? No, there's not enough there to make me switch.
D2H:
Wow! First time I ever held that camera. Wow, Wow, Wow.
As requested, I asked about firmware updates but these are marketing people. They had no idea.
17-55mm lens:
They did not have a single lens in the booth. They stated that ship date is now end of April (we'll see...).
18-70mm lens:
Price: $399 stand-alone
Availability: End of March
It's light and plastic. It reminds me of the 28-100mm as far as feel goes.
D2X:
Quote: "We're working on it"
Capture 4.1:
Availability: No idea
It has some nice improvements such as more Tones and more Color Space selections (Type IIa for instance). Don't ask me much more than that as there wasn't anyone demo'ing the software, we just sat down and played with it for a while. I didn't find out if memory management had improved (seemed to me that it had not).
Coolwalker:
Price: No idea
Ship date: No idea
Zoom NEF's as well as JPGs: No idea
Versions higher than 30GB: No idea
The Coolwalkers in the booth (there were 4) had arrived the day before PMA started and were incomplete (the Zoom feature didn't work). They are the size of a small paperback book. The folks there were not trained on the device and could only state the published facts. If this thing is over $199, then in my opinion, it's not worth it (unless you really need something like this and even then, check out third party products first). Includes AC plug, USB plug and Video Out plug.
200-400mm VR lens:
Availability: Shipping now in limited quantities
This lens is HUGE! It's got the titanium looking hood and it's sweet. Didn't get to shoot with this lens (too many people ahead of me).
D100 Replacement:
No idea
Other Booths:
Canon:
Played with the Mark II: This is the heaviest camera I've ever held. Tons of neat features and it's fast as hell. When I asked if I could shoot some images on the CF card I brought they got nasty with me and said the lighting conditions were not appropriate (to which I responded "Welcome to the real world buddy"). The camera is very impressive and they will do well with it. The Digital Elph's continue to impress and make wonderful compact "travel" cameras.
Kodak:
Got to play with the SLR/n. This is a wonderful camera! The ergonomics were terrific, the speed was incredible and everyone demo'ing the units in the Kodak booth were ecstatic to be showing it off. If the images off this camera are as good as people say, than Kodak's got themselves a winner. They are shipping now with a price tag of $4995.
Any Questions?
- joeX
http://www.joexposed.com/dpreview/D70_ISO200.NEF
http://www.joexposed.com/dpreview/D70_ISO400.NEF
http://www.joexposed.com/dpreview/D70_ISO800.NEF
http://www.joexposed.com/dpreview/D70_ISO1600.NEF
Images taken from the show are as follows:
D100 & D70 both with 24-120mm VR lens attached:
D70 Samples using 24-120mm VR lens:
ISO 200, 1/15 at f/5.6
ISO 200, 1/3 at f/5.6
Some fun images from the show:
PMA Entrance:
Nikon Booth:
One big umbrella:
Olympus Model:
Troy Aikman at the Nikon booth:
