Nikon D70s reviewed

Last fall I purchased the Nikon D70. To my surprise Nikon soon after my purchase the Nikon D70s was announced (check out the Fotolia article). Now I wouldn’t call my feeling as buyers’ remorse but I wish I had known about the new camera.

Having some time to use my camera, the “old” D70 and then compare it to the “new” D70s, I am still happy with my purchase. However, if you are looking to buy a new camera, get the latest version. Here’s why.

At first look the D70s looks almost identical to the D70. It features the same polycarbonate body with a large hand grip. The buttons are all located in same convenient location as the D70. The on off switch offers instant power to the camera and is ready to work when you are. Similar to all Nikon cameras today the D70s supports the popular F mount lenses (AF, Manual, and DX lenses).

One minor outside change is the larger 2” LCD on the back of the camera to review the images. The menu interface has changed to a gray color with yellow highlighted items. Additional help menus provide detailed information when needed.

The same high quality 6 megapixel DX formatted chip is used in the D70s. I have enjoyed the vivid, sharp, wide dynamic range images captured with the D70 and the image quality has not changed with the new camera. The only difference is the processing speed of the image compression and the memory buffering. The auto focus systems still features a cross type sensor with broad coverage. But the speed and accuracy of auto focus has been improved.

The camera offers many exposure modes from fully automatic modes for perfect scene control to a complete manual mode. In the fully automatic modes you do not control the aperture or shutter speed. These controls are set by the camera to optimize the image based on the category selected. For example if you choose the sports mode the camera will select a high speed shutter setting to capture the action. However, if you choose the portrait mode the camera will open up the aperture to draw attention to the subject and even enhance skin tones for a more pleasing look. The D70s offers three metering modes from 3D color matrix, spot, and center weighted. The 3D color matrix reads the entire scene, detects the subject distance, and compares this information to over 30,000 sample scenes in the camera for the best results.

For the most part I am not a big fan of pop up flash units on cameras. They typically are low powered and inaccurate. The popup flash on this camera is outstanding. It offers a TTL connection a guide number 14 at ISO 200. The flash is fully controllable with ½ stop increments. The sync speed is up to 1/500 of a sec. It even covers the full picture angle of 18 mm unlike the D70 which only covered 20 mm. Other flash systems may be used with the D70s like the SB600 or SB-800 for additional functionality.

The D70s is only sold as a kit so you will get the camera body and the 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G lens. Also provided in the kit is a large detailed manual in multiple languages, a more powerful Li-ion rechargeable battery (up to 2500 pictures per charge) and charger, a comfortable viewfinder cushion, and trial version of Nikon Capture 4.2 for RAW data support.

If you are considering to replace your current D70 with the new D70s don’t do it. Just use the software upgrade to the camera and get many of the new features offered in the D70s. But if you are looking for a great affordable digital SLR the Nikon D70s is a great choice.