Nikon D70
The Nikon D70 is a consumer digital SLR camera model. In Spring 2004, Nikon introduced it at the 2004 PMA Annual Convention and Trade Show, as a direct competitor to the Canon EOS Digital Rebel (EOS 300D in Europe) (Digital Photography Review, 2003).
The D70 features
- Nikon DX-format sensor (1.5x Field of View crop)
- 6.0 megapixel sensor
- Nikon F lens mount.
- File formats include JPEG, NEF (Nikon's RAW format), and JPEG+NEF
- Single Servo and Continuous Servo focus modes
- ISO 200-1600
Digital Photography Review (2004), regards it very highly and rates it superior in many ways to the older D100, even though the D100 is more highly priced. Both the Nikon D70 and Canon EOS-300D/Digital Rebel are ground breaking with respect to their price/performance ratio. Feelings often run high between advocates of the D70 and those of the 300D; advocates of the 300D point to a lower price point, and supposedly better sensor technology yielding less noisy images, while advocates of the D70 point to greater control over the operation of the camera, and defend the quality of the sensor. The D70 is backward compatible with most of the older Nikkor lenses. Sigma, Tokina and Tamron are other popular lens suppliers of Nikon F-mount lenses.
MSRP as of 2004 was $999 (and $1299 with an 18-70 mm f/3.5-4.5 kit lens) in the United States.
Nikon's NEF format is not an open format, which is controversial because it locks photographers out, preventing them from using their own photographs without first paying for Nikon's conversion program, or some other proprietary program. Luckily a free converter has been created which can read the D70's NEF format and that of many other cameras. It is the open-source program dcraw. This program is also available as a plug-in for The GIMP, which is a free alternative to the expensive Adobe Photoshop.
See also
References
- Digital Photography Review. (2004) Nikon D70 Full Review. Retrieved April, 2004 from [1]
- Nikon USA. (2003). Nikon® announces development of D70™ digital SLR camera. Retrieved January 11, 2004 from [2]