Adam Gardner
Veteran Member
This is my first SLR camera and my first real digital camera. I bought the Nikon D70 after reading all the reviews on this page and I am really happy with it.
As a newcomer to photography this camera has quite a steep learning curve, however it is pretty intuitive. On automatic mode, the images almost always come out well. Even in very poor light, the camera has an amazing ability to capture the colours perfectly. The battery seems to last forever. I have only had to charge it once after its initial charge (2 weeks ago), and I have taken hundreds of photos, most using the flash. The continuous auto focus is very accurate; however I have found that it has trouble on boring backgrounds like my bedroom wall.
The camera comes with a cable to plug directly into a TV. This is really useful. The camera plugged into my computer with minimal fuss (although my card reader doesn’t recognise the CF card, but I can transfer using the USB cable so no great loss).
There are a lot of shortcuts to the menu buttons. It really pays to read the manual as you quickly discover that things that would take you 15 seconds to navigate take about 3 seconds to set using the shortcuts. My only real complaint about the buttons is that pressing the delete button twice deletes an image. It is too easy to accidentally delete an image without thinking about it, Delete then enter would have been a better combination in my view. On other minor complaint I suppose is that the AF / M switch is hard to get your fingers to.
I like how the viewfinder can compensate for those who need glasses. My father used to constantly take blurred shots on his manual SLR camera because he couldn’t wear his glasses. If my eyes go, at least others can still look at the photos I take without feeling giddy.
Although the D70 is a “cheap” DSLR, it certainly doesn’t feel like one. There are no creaks, the unit feels balanced and easy to hold.
To any beginner considering buying a DSLR, I can not recommend this highly enough. I have taken some wonderful shots (well the camera chose everything from the ISO, White Balance, Flash, Focus, and Depth, but I pointed it at the garden and pressed the button). You have to zoom in a long way on the PC before you can notice any jpeg compression or jaggies.
Adam
Problems:
None with the camera, the software is quite ordinary (but Im not the first to complain). It is a bit confusing how it separates the file from the collections. If you delete an image, then you have to remember to delete it all the collections you put it in. My biggest issue with it was a nice photo I took of a flower in my garden. I did some cropping to make it a panoramic so I could email it to a friend. To my dismay, it saved over the original image. I use PictureProject to download the images from my camera (yes I could use the mapped drive, but I like my images to be renamed to the date time of the photo.) Any editing I now do in gimp or MS Photo Editor.
As a newcomer to photography this camera has quite a steep learning curve, however it is pretty intuitive. On automatic mode, the images almost always come out well. Even in very poor light, the camera has an amazing ability to capture the colours perfectly. The battery seems to last forever. I have only had to charge it once after its initial charge (2 weeks ago), and I have taken hundreds of photos, most using the flash. The continuous auto focus is very accurate; however I have found that it has trouble on boring backgrounds like my bedroom wall.
The camera comes with a cable to plug directly into a TV. This is really useful. The camera plugged into my computer with minimal fuss (although my card reader doesn’t recognise the CF card, but I can transfer using the USB cable so no great loss).
There are a lot of shortcuts to the menu buttons. It really pays to read the manual as you quickly discover that things that would take you 15 seconds to navigate take about 3 seconds to set using the shortcuts. My only real complaint about the buttons is that pressing the delete button twice deletes an image. It is too easy to accidentally delete an image without thinking about it, Delete then enter would have been a better combination in my view. On other minor complaint I suppose is that the AF / M switch is hard to get your fingers to.
I like how the viewfinder can compensate for those who need glasses. My father used to constantly take blurred shots on his manual SLR camera because he couldn’t wear his glasses. If my eyes go, at least others can still look at the photos I take without feeling giddy.
Although the D70 is a “cheap” DSLR, it certainly doesn’t feel like one. There are no creaks, the unit feels balanced and easy to hold.
To any beginner considering buying a DSLR, I can not recommend this highly enough. I have taken some wonderful shots (well the camera chose everything from the ISO, White Balance, Flash, Focus, and Depth, but I pointed it at the garden and pressed the button). You have to zoom in a long way on the PC before you can notice any jpeg compression or jaggies.
Adam
Problems:
None with the camera, the software is quite ordinary (but Im not the first to complain). It is a bit confusing how it separates the file from the collections. If you delete an image, then you have to remember to delete it all the collections you put it in. My biggest issue with it was a nice photo I took of a flower in my garden. I did some cropping to make it a panoramic so I could email it to a friend. To my dismay, it saved over the original image. I use PictureProject to download the images from my camera (yes I could use the mapped drive, but I like my images to be renamed to the date time of the photo.) Any editing I now do in gimp or MS Photo Editor.