A Quick Look at the Nikon D70

Digital cameras are getting more and more affordable by the day. This is true for both point-and-shoot models, which I think a majority of people use for family and vacation snapshots, and for SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras, which most people use for more serious photographic endeavors. If you don't own a digital camera, or are thinking about getting a new one, here are some points to consider about the Nikon D70. Please bear in mind that I am not a professional photographer. These are simply opinions based on my personal experience as a D70 owner. Your results may vary.

Unless you are pretty well-off, most people would first set a price range before looking at specific camera models. With a camera like the D70, there are two distinct ways of making the purchase. First, you can buy the body alone; that is, without a lens. This will set you back about $900. What are you going to do with a camera body and no lens? Well, Nikon cameras are made to accept all Nikon lenses. So if you have a couple of Nikon lenses left over from your film days, you're in luck!

The second route you can take is to purchase the so-called D70 kit. When you purchase a kit, you get a lens along with the camera body. I think there are a couple of different kits with different lenses out there. I happened to buy the kit that contained the Nikor 18-70mm zoom lens. The cost of this kit was about $1400 nearly a year ago, but I've seen the same kit offered for less than $1200 these days. Again, prices are going down.

Most photographers who plan on using the D70 for professional purposes will buy additional lenses that cost thousands of dollars. But amateur photographers don't have to worry about that. You can get great, high-quality pictures from your D70 with the kit lens. The kit lens I mentioned above will suit most of your picture-taking needs with very little post-processing involved. The performance of the camera is unmatched for the relatively low price that you pay. You can adjust the D70 settings to ensure that you get well-lit pictures with crisp colors and sharp focusing right out of the box.

Speaking of the D70 settings, there are so many things you can adjust that there's no way I can cover them all here. The best thing for you to do would be to read the extensive owner's manual for advice on things like how to set your white balance and how to use the exposure metering system for the specific shooting conditions you expect to encounter. Knowing what the different settings mean and when to switch them up will allow you to take even better pictures than if you just kept all the settings on "automatic."

All in all, if you are ready to make the leap to a digital SLR camera, you won't be disappointed with the great performance, low price, and versatility of the Nikon D70.