You can find much better reviews on this camera on the internet (see the sites I mention in the forums section)
A top view of the camera with the excellent 18-70 kit lens mounted.
but here is my personal opinion.
General impression:
I decided to buy a Nikon DSLR beginning of 2005. I already had some experience with Nikon with an F65 (called N65 in North America) and two basic kit lenses (28-80G and 70-300G). Those lenses were cheap consumer glass but the combo has been working very well for me. I could take very nice pictures and I liked the compactness, weight and simple capabilities I needed at that moment. One of the things I liked about the F65 was the user interface. I also had a Canon Powershot at that time, and discovered the advantages of digital photography over film. I naturally decided to have a digital version of the F65 with an improved functionality and the same logical user interface: the choice has been easy: there was only one option in the consumer range: the D70. I checked all possible sites to collect information (dpreview, Fred Miranda, photosig) and discussed with a few fellow amateur photographers before making my final decision.
The pros
- excellent value for money,
very decent camera, ideal for hobbyists and amateurs, even for some professional
users
- excellent user interface (consistency)
- most functions easily available under a button, thumbwheel...
- 2 thumbwheels, well positioned
- excellent CLS (Creative
lighting system by Nikon) with remote flashes (D70 can be used as a commander
with limited functionality)
- reasonably well built, reasonably light for a DSLR, not too
small in the hands
- grid lines in viewfinder
- 3 fps for action shooting, excellent buffer for amateur use
- a lot of functions, probably more than any amateur will ever use
- excellent overall picture
quality
- very good autonomy with the standard battery (600+ pics)
- very good "basic" software included (Picture Project)
The cons
- the LCD screen cannot be used to zoom in to pixel level to check picture quality
- no ISO value display (easy to forget to change back to ISO200 in the morning after an evening @ISO1600
- AF limited possibilities for action shooting
- no mirror lock-up (MLU)
- no possibility to add a grip
- exposure not perfect (the D200 gives better results, mainly to avoid burnt highlights)
- high ISO performance could be better, however I have very nice pictures taken at ISO1600
- ISO range limited (200 to 1600)
- relatively dark and small viewfinder
The lenses (a starter kit I would recommend - see other reviews as well)
- 18-70 (the so called kit lens) or the 18-200VR
excellent price/performance ratio, the most logical choices
as universal lenses
- 50 1.8
cheap and should be in all photographers' bag
- macro: add a 500D close-up lens on top of the 18-200VR or 70-300 for instance
- longer lens: 70-300ED or the newly announced VR version if it proves to be
good enough
- wide angle: Tokina 12-24 f4
excellent value for the money - comparable to the Nikkor at a
third of the price
The accessories
- SB-600 wireless flash - can be used on camera or as a remote
flash
- the Infrared remote control - cheap, one button, works pretty well
- don't forget to have an extra battery
- Compact flash cards - 1GB cards are cheap enough and give you a reasonable
capacity on the D70.
choose fast cards to have reasonable performance for action
shots at 3 fps
A few pictures...
#1 Sharp eyes
#2 Airshow
#3 Concert shot (ISO 1600)
