Nikon D70 owners...any tips? | FerrariChat

Nikon D70 owners...any tips?

Discussion in 'Creative Arts' started by Titanboy_24, Mar 6, 2005.

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  1. Titanboy_24

    Titanboy_24 Formula 3

    Dec 28, 2003
    1,938
    Ontario, Canada
    Full Name:
    Lucas Scarfone
    Hey guys,

    Well I finally made a dream come true and orderd a Nikon D70 Digital SLR today! I will be on vacation in Lake Tahoe for march break, so i got it shipped to the people's house that we are staying at so I can use it out there.

    I was just wondering if there are any tips or tricks that you could offer on this camera? I have read many reviews, but I would love to get some feedback from actual owners.

    Here is the link to the package I got off E-bay
    http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...3879413033&rd=1

    Thanks alot!

    Lucas
     
  2. skyhigh

    skyhigh Formula 3

    Jun 28, 2004
    1,027
    SoCal
    I can not view the eBay listing as it is for Canada. What did you get?

    The D70 is a great camera. I have had mine since November and love it. It is a very capable camera and there are many great lenses for it. Read the manual and take a lot of pictures. The camera can do so much it can get to be overwelming. What kind of photography will you be doing?

    I would suggest visiting the photo forums. Two that I visit are http://www.dpreview.com and http://www.nikonians.org. Also this is another good site with reviews: http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm. If you visit http://www.pbase.com you can do a search and see pictures taken with the D70 to get an idea of what it can do.

    Hopefully 'fastautos' will respond as he shots with a D70, takes great photos and gave me some help before I bought mine.

    If you like bird shots take a look at the thread that I started about a nest in our yard, all the shots were done with a D70: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46936
     
  3. LetsJet

    LetsJet F1 Veteran
    Owner

    May 24, 2004
    9,334
    DC/LA/Paris/Haleiwa
    Full Name:
    Mr.
  4. TF142

    TF142 Karting

    Jul 7, 2004
    87
    Universal City, TX
    Full Name:
    Tyler F
    Although I personally do not own the D70 I do, however, have a lot of experience with Nikon DSLR cameras. The best tip of all would definitely be to read the manual. Yes, I know that manuals are a pain in the butt most of the time but they are a big help in learning all of the terminology, and are very helpfully getting to know the basic understanding of how the camera functions. After you read the manual it’s basically trial and error and lots of practice.

    A good Website to look into for helpful information would be www.fredmiranda.com . I too, wouldn’t mind at all answering any questions that you might have.
    Tyler
     
  5. tbakowsky

    tbakowsky F1 World Champ
    Consultant Professional Ferrari Technician

    Sep 18, 2002
    19,350
    The Cold North
    Full Name:
    Tom
    Congrats Lucas!! Nice camera..I know you will put it to good use. Probbaly the best money you will spend..think of it as an investment for your future!
     
  6. lionsfan54

    lionsfan54 Karting

    Nov 7, 2003
    113
    Here are my tips in reverse order of importance:

    1. Ditch the "AUTO" mode. 2 of my current favorites are the night scenic mode and the night protrait mode.

    2. White balance on the manual modes is good to mess with. Really can affect colors

    3. Most important IMO... take tons of pictures. It's a digital camera so go nuts. Just when you think you've taken enough, take more. I've had my camera for about 3 months and I get better every week I use it.
     
  7. cab7104

    cab7104 Karting

    Mar 25, 2004
    237
    Rochester, NY
    Full Name:
    Craig
    I would reccommend P mode, it allows you to change settings, but limits you slightly to keep the pictures looking good in the eye of the camera. Nikoians is an excellent site for asking questions, and is like FChat for Nikons! I would reccommend getting a second battery,Bruce sells them and has a pretty good price, and a second Flash card. 1gb will give you about 189 pictures in the RAW format which is the best for post editing, or about 263 I think in the large JPEG format, but it is nice to have a backup incase one breaks, or if you are taking pictures and can't dump onto a computer. Feel free to ask me any questions, I have had mine since December and love it. Congrats

    Craig
     
  8. brendon0

    brendon0 Formula Junior

    Dec 13, 2003
    611
    Tampa FL
    Full Name:
    Brendon
    I DONT recommend either the battery or the card. The camera comes with
    an adapter so you can purchase some off regular brand batteries to
    use in the camera (LR2 or something). Ive seen these at walmart. Ive run
    several hours in a single charge with the factory battery. Keep in mind the
    CCD and the LCD are not active when your not taking the pictures, the
    only thing thats running when your "on" is the lightmeter, which doesnt
    consume that much power. Two batteries is an overkill.

    The bigger card is a waste as well. You can shoot 2-300 pictures with
    a 512 meg card in a mixed large HQ / mid HQ modes. I WOULD recommend
    a FAST card, like the lexar 20x cards (anything with fast writes). This is
    one of the few cameras that can shoot about 15 shots in a row which makes
    for GREAT action shots, but the memory card is the bottleneck and will quit
    shooting after 6 or 7 if the card cant keep up.

    Invest in a good tripod.

    Overall Im super happy with my camera. I have cheapo sigma lenses
    on mine, and Im still blown away by the quality. More then enough for
    my personal needs.

     
  9. cab7104

    cab7104 Karting

    Mar 25, 2004
    237
    Rochester, NY
    Full Name:
    Craig
    Ok,
    Here is my take on the previous comments-
    As for the battery, I have killed mine more than once on a full day of shooting. At the North American International Autoshow I killed my first battery and went halfway through the second one. In a day of shooting at the autoshow my friend and I shot roughly 2100 pictures in RAW format and this took us 11 full 1 gig cards(I believe, it may have been 10, I don't remember). In a weekend, I could definatly drain two batteries and shoot two gigs of pictures no problem. As for the multiple shot thing, an 80x lexar pro card I have shot 189 RAW's in a row.. just to test the camera and see what it would do. I stopped because my finger was tired, not because of the camera. I guess to each his own, but for me, when I go out for a day I always have the potential of stumbling on something that is worth taking pictures of, and would like to be able to do so. If I go for a weekend trip camping or biking or boating, the laptop doesn't come with me so there is no place to offload pictures, also usually not a place to recharge batteries either.

    If you are using the camera in a studio, or close to home where you can offload pictures and charge on a daily basis, then I guess you can just stick with one battery and card, I usually shoot out of my house and often far away from power or computers so I want enough power and memory to get me through.

    Why you would ever shoot in medium is beyond me, I shoot in fullsize, and resize afterwords if necessary. If you spend $1100 on a camera, you can drop $60 on a 1 gig Lexar 80x Professional card and maybe $30 on a battery so that you can shoot for a weekend if you want to.

    Lucas, I assume that you have a tripod judging from some of the other shots of yours that I have seen. I am not sure. One other item you will want is an external USB2 compact flash card reader if you don't have one. Unloading the pictures from the camera is damn slow and will kill your battery. Hope this helps.

    Craig
     
  10. Lee Ashley

    Lee Ashley Rookie

    Dec 9, 2003
    15
    Augusta Georgia
    Full Name:
    Lee Ashley
    I just purchased this camera a few weeks ago and agree with the additional battery and memory cards. If you have a failure on a memeory card and do not have a backup you are out of luck for the shoot. I bought these and the card reader for my computer on Amazon. They had the best prices I could find.

    There is also a very nice soft case specifically made for this camera if you are so inclined again get it off Amazon.
     
  11. brendon0

    brendon0 Formula Junior

    Dec 13, 2003
    611
    Tampa FL
    Full Name:
    Brendon
    My Lexar media card came with a short USB adapter and some software that
    let me do memory card restores/formats/recovers.

    Shooting RAW is an overkill for me. I cant tell the difference between
    a huge JPG and a RAW to be honest with you.

    I have never spent an entire day shooting with the camera, Ive spent several
    2-3 hour sessions in a row shooting, with never going to half on the battery
    meter. I also dont shoot with the flash. Im guessing if you fill up two 1 gig
    memory cards full of raw photos with full flash, your going to have battery
    problems.

    I would go with the basics first, if you run out of juice or space, then upgrade,
    dont be blowing money on extras if your not sure you need them yet.

    Just my input. Have fun!
     
  12. Titanboy_24

    Titanboy_24 Formula 3

    Dec 28, 2003
    1,938
    Ontario, Canada
    Full Name:
    Lucas Scarfone
    Well, yesterday was one of the better days of my life. I got home from school to see a huge box with a whole bunch of goodies in it, including my D70! This camera is AMAZING! The shutter is instant and powerup is the same is the same as a normal SLR. I took a few pics outside today (sorry, no Ferrari's running around in -10 weather!). I was really surprised on how well they came out. Thanks again for all your help, and enjoy the pictures!

    Lucas

    http://givemealook.com/ipw-web/gallery/album345
     
  13. SefacHotRodder

    SefacHotRodder F1 World Champ

    Dec 20, 2003
    11,148
    NJ
    Full Name:
    Chris
    CONGRATS MAN! I got mine this week too! (Wednesday). Amazing camera. You'll love it.

    GET THIS:
    http://www.bythom.com/d70guide.htm

    It will teach you everything about the camera and is well worth it. Its 500 pages long and i'm going to print my copy off at the weekend and get it bound as a paperback at Kinkos.

    I'm a member of Nikonians and go on the dpreview forums too (have to be 18 to register though). They are great places and there are TONS of knowledgeable people there to help you out

    PM Me if you want to talk/share tips/tricks


    Best


    Chris
     

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