PC Mag reviews Nikon D70s
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 8th 2005 3:18AM
posted June 8th 2005 3:18AM
PC Magazine has a review of the new Nikon D70s digital SLR, which is basically the same as the Nikon D70 but with a bigger LCD — a whole 0.2 inches bigger, to be exact. Nikon also claims to have improved the autofocus with this revision but PC Mag didn't notice a difference. But even though there's not much new here, they say it's an excellent camera, although they still prefer the less expensive Canon Rebel XT.
And let round 762 of the Rebel XT vs Nikon D70 users fight begin.
OK then!
Canons = PCs // Nikons = Macs.
The same goes for the users!
;-)
The autofocus problem that the new D70's have is TERRIBLE.
I say that because folks who RELY on the quality of the autofocus (wedding photographers, event photographers, etc.) are NOT HAPPY.
How unhappy? They are switching. They don't want to. But they HAVE to. They are switching to CANON. Because staying in business is WAY more important than camera brand.
Their attitude is, "I will use this Canon camera as long as I have to UNTIL NIKON STOPS SELLING US CAMERAS THAT DON'T FRIKKIN' WORK!"
Of course, if your career DOESN'T hang on most every photo being in excellent focus, then this is a moot point. ;)
Nikon users are ALL LOSERS! PSP rulez!
poster #3, any prove?
or you're shooting blanks
"The autofocus problem that the new D70's have is TERRIBLE."
FWIW, a lot of people are complaining about front focus problems with the Rebel XT too.
My take is that most of these people are just newbies who a) do not understand how to use AF, and b) do not understand that AF generally is not even intended to have 100% precision. There are reasons why SLR's still have manual controls, and that is for those difficult situations (like those focus charts!) where AF doesn't always give you the precision you want. These people are taking photos of these focus charts often without enough light, often with the chart too far away from the camera, and obviously with the lens wide open, and they're expecting the camera to focus precisely down to the millimeter. This is not a real-world situation.
Higher-end cameras usually have better AF, which is one reason why they cost like $8,000. There's only so much you can expect from a $1,000 camera (I know, even $1,000 is a lot, but not when you consider how much you save over a few years on film and processing), and really there's only so much you can expect from any AF system to begin with.
I did a test of my AF last night and it seems fine, but a lot of other people have been complaining in the DPReview forums for the 350D. So it's not just the D70. I really think it's just the type of users these cameras are attracting; they don't know how to use them, they don't understand how they work, and they don't understand the automatic systems on these cameras are not foolproof and were never intended to be.
That's why there are such things as DOF and distance charts on many AF lenses...
i totally agree with #5. i think the problem is with the users. unfortunately, i'm sure a lot of people buying DSLR's don't even know what DOF is. i've shot wedding with my film Nikon SLR, and any time i couldn't get a good focus using AF, i switched this button to a setting called "manual". works every time.
5 and 6. I love my D70 as much as the next D70 lover but lets not blame the users 100% here. When one advertises "AutoFocus" one has to expect the person its being advertised to expect focus to be automatic unless specifically told otherwise.
Let's change topics for a sec here and suggest we blame Windows insecurities on the users. Clearly if all the users knew what firewalls and patches were, the world would be a better place. But to say MS isn't to blame a bit would just be ludacris.
But yea, back to the topic at hand. D70=yay, AF=should work more, MF = is often necessary but gets the job done. :)
The Rebel XT is not cheaper than the D70.
take the body of the D70s plus the new 18-55 from the D50 and Nikon will be able to undercut Canon
Plus Nikon have;
tougher construction
better ergonomics
faster flash sync
easier menu
better screen
tougher body
5 times better battery life
I think you also forgot that the s model adds a hard wired shutter trigger as well as the ML-L3 IR remote. The plain D70 only does IR.
Those that own a D70 can get the software updates they made in the new firmware update, "better AF" is supposidly included.
I don't disagree with #5, that many users don't understand how to work with these autofocus sensors. However, at least early in the production run, many D70 cameras had legitimate back-focusing problems, myself included. I shipped it off to Nikon for adjustment and it came back perfect, nailing the focus almost every time (rather than the one in ten that I'd been nailing beforehand). It's unfortunate that many cameras made it out of the factory without, apparently, having their focus tested, but Nikon appears to have addressed this problem in newer bodies.
I completely agree with #5 in saying that, if you want a much better AF system, that's one of the reasons you buy a pro body. It's really unfortunate that many reviewers (like PC Magazine) are obsessed with megapixels or even high-ISO noise rather than looking at autofocus and metering performance, which really make a world of difference.
"When one advertises "AutoFocus" one has to expect the person its being advertised to expect focus to be automatic unless specifically told otherwise."
Why? When one advertises an "automatic braking system" (otherwise known as ABS), should a person expect to be able to simply coast into the car ahead of them without crashing?
You're exactly the type of person I and tr were talking about. If you expect auto-focus to work 100% of the time, you clearly need to learn more about AF in general. No camera manufacturer has *ever* claimed auto-focus worked perfectly in all situations. It is simply an impossible goal. All AF is supposed to do is focus within the depth of field within a certain tolerance level, and that tolerance varies within the camera line of a given manufacturer. AF also requires a certain amount of light to even work at all, much less work well.
If you're suggesting that the words "automatic focus" by themselves imply any sort of precision, I don't know where you're getting that. "Focus" does not mean "sharpness" (or terms like "soft focus" couldn't even exist). It's not called "automatic sharp focus" or "automatic sharpness". It is simply a feature whereby the camera will attempt to focus the best it can based on a set of algorithms that are trying to predict what you want to see most clearly. That does not mean you could not do better yourself using the manual controls that are one of the main reasons for buying an SLR in the first place.
Note that I'm not saying you should never use AF. I use it 99% of the time. But manual controls exist for that other 1% of the time when AF just doesn't work - some people are expecting the full 100% and sorry, it just ain't gonna happen.
I tossed in the MF thing at the end to let you know that I did make use of the MF and am aware that AF isn't full proof. I've used other cameras before and am aware of the short comings of the AF. Next time I'll be more explicit. And you are preaching to the choir on what these things mean. I agree with you on what the realities/limitations are. I didn't scream in outrage when my AF didn't work that one time, i switched to MF, took the picture, and moved along. All I'm saying is the D70 and it seems the Rebel are trying to broaden their horizons(with the tv commercials and whatnot)and tossing around certain words to a large group is going to be taken a certain way.
Look way back when the auto industry started advertising cruise control. They got sued cause the people actually expected the cars to drive themselves. Anyone who knows about cars at that time should have known that probably wouldn't have been the case. More recently look at blockbuster's "no more late fees" and they got sued. I knew before it became a big scandal what was up because it just couldn't have been that simple. But to the majority who didnt return the movies soon, they were outraged and felt lied to when indeed there was a catch(a nice fee to be paid) and they couldn't hold the movie indefinitely.
So to conclude this and reiterate, when you're preaching to the "pro" or the "hardcore" you can use words like auto,free, and easy, or possibly even infinity because they are already aware of what they already mean in context. But when you start targeting the "common folk" you have to watch it because they are looking to hold you to the literal meaning of the word more often than not.
Jeff, Tr, and I = same page on the camera expectancies.
I just know enough "common folk" to understand what they are going through.
Both cameras have thier pros/cons. No one should expect auto focus to be perfect every time. The more advanced auto focus on even entry level SLRs is an improvement over the contrast based auto focus on the lower end digicams.
By the way, ABS stand for Antilock Braking System, NOT Automatic Braking System!!!
Just in case you didn't notice it, I was kidding. You guys are all cool even if you love Nikon. Let us all spoon in a circle and cuddle.
I use my D70 for weddings, though all of my colleagues switched to canon, i still prefer nikon. 1)i cant afford the 20D, 2) nikon seems to be more photoshop friendly 3) even the 20D has AF problems...unless you buy canon mark II or D2x of nikon. All in all, when it comes to performance, features & affordability!! i would go for nikon, 1 feature i really love with the d70, is the wireless slave flash, it works really great. Does the 20D have that feature?...noohh!! One thing though, i have problems with the white balance, it doesnt seem to be white at all, i have gone thru all of the WB features, and still it is a bit yellowish, i still have to fix it w/ photoshop.
My D70 misses autofocus quite often. It almost always focuses behind the subject. My 8008 never missed. Nikon is fouling up.
We also have a D2X. We were shooting a high pressure event where we had to crank through about 115 people and take their pictures in front of a Christmas tree. All, and I mean all, of the D2X pictures were soft, with the focus behind on the tree, not the subject. Didn't matter if there were one person dead center, two people or a group.
The D2X and the D70 simply have unreliable autofocus.