Product Reviews

Nikon has released the D70, its first digital SLR with inter-changeable lens for less than £1000. This appears to be a direct challenge to the EOS-300D, Canon's groundbreaking digital SLR. The Nikon D70 has been attracting a lot of interest since it was announced, as much for its close similarity to the well-respected Nikon D100 as for its price.

We looked at the Nikon D70 Kit, which comprises the D70 camera body packaged with a new AF-S DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 lens for just £999.99. If you're used to compact digital cameras, or even film-based 35mm models, then this, like all digital SLR cameras, will feel fairly bulky in the hand. It isn't particularly heavy, however, which is largely due to the matte-black plastic body, which we felt was an extremely rugged construction. The D70 harbours a plethora of buttons and dials, and all the important controls fell beneath or beside the thumb and first two fingers while shooting.

The focal length of the supplied lens makes it a useful all-rounder. The 1.5x multiplier factor imposed by the size of the CCD inside the camera means the 18-70mm length equates to a 27-105mm in more traditional terms. An aperture range of f/3.5-4.5 means there are certainly faster, brighter lenses around, but not for the difference in cost between the D70 body and this D70 Kit (£200). The autofocus on this lens is fairly swift, finding the focus point and beeping a quiet confirmation very efficiently. The camera also includes a white light autofocus assist for dim light conditions, and its autofocus modes offer continuous-servo tracking and predictive focus tracking (locking only when subject movement stops), as well as the regular single-servo autofocus option.

The D70 compares very well with its bigger D100 brother, with many features being essentially identical - a 6 megapixel CCD, the same autofocus features, white balance settings that can be fine-tuned, flexible exposure compensation settings, and more. In some respects, it's actually better on paper than the D100. In its 3fps continuous shooting mode it can record more shots in a single burst, and can even shoot effectively non-stop with medium or low-resolution Jpeg settings. It connects via USB 2, so data can be transferred at high speed (with a USB 2-equipped Mac) straight from the camera without removing the Compact Flash card. While USB 2 on the Mac isn't as

Control for flash settings, from red-eye-reduction to slow sync and front or rear-curtain sync, is extensive. The standard flash hotshoe is complemented by a built-in Speedlight pop-up flash. This stands fairly high above the camera, and in some modes will pop up automatically when needed.

As is normal with digital SLR cameras, the LCD panel at the back isn't used as a preview screen, it's just for viewing stored shots and going through the menu-based settings controls. The optical viewfinder is clear and bright, although if you're used to traditional 35mm SLRs, you'll notice there's no dioptre adjustment. There's an option to add a partial grid to the viewfinder display to aid composition and alignment.

The monochrome LCD panel in the top of the camera shows details of current capture-related settings, from autofocus and white balance to shutter, aperture and capture quality. It can seem a little cryptic at first, but the elements are fairly logically presented. A subset of this is shown with LEDs within the viewfinder, so you're never without essential information about the settings. Even with the camera switched off, the panel at the top shows how many shots can be stored on the memory card with the current settings.

The battery is a Lithium-ion unit that slides into the base of the camera. A charger is included, and a DC power connector is built into the side of the camera as well. If you're caught out without power, there's also a battery holder that takes standard disposable Lithium-ion CR2 batteries and fits into the camera's battery compartment. This is a useful extra, but the battery life we experienced during testing seemed more than long enough to cope with a normal day's shooting without any trouble.

Of course, the real test lies in putting the D70 to use, and we soon found it was pretty much exactly what we wanted from a serious digital camera. The automatic bracketing worked well, and colour balance proved to be very good, possibly slightly stronger than with the Canon EOS-300D. On close examination there's slightly more noise at slower ISO levels than with the Canon's output, but this doesn't increase as much with higher sensitivity levels. The clarity of the D70's results, particularly at the higher JPEG settings and with the RAW format option, was superb. Tones and hues were handled admirably with the default white balance settings, and its efficient low light noise suppression meant we could use it with high ISO equivalent settings and longer exposures without running into problems.

The instant wake means it's ready to take a shot the moment it's switched on. Controlling vital camera settings while working in semi-automatic and manual modes became second nature. Our only quibble is with its size, and that's an issue we have with all digital SLRs.