Gear Review

Nikon D70 Digital SLR

SierraDescents.com would not be possible without digital-capture photography, and the Nikon D70 does the lion's share of the work.

The 6.1 megapixel D70 falls into the "Prosumer" category of digital cameras, meaning it serves the needs of both the professional and the casual consumer end-user.

The film versus digital debate rages on, perhaps, in the chat rooms, but in the field, digital has long since won the war—not because of image quality, but because of cost.

With the D70, I can shoot 150 or more images while in the backcountry, and I pay nothing in film or processing expenses. Film, alas, never had a chance.

Aside from its considerable weight, the D70 is a fine choice for backcountry photography. The camera tends to underexpose images, which protects the highlights—a crucial aspect of digital photography.

This results in flat, underexposed images, which won't make snapshooters happy, but is perfectly suited for post production/editing in Photoshop.

The D70's battery life is extraordinary. I've never been able to run the battery down. Photo magazine tests generally quit trying around several thousand images. Such lengthy battery life assures you'll still get the shot, even in cold temperatures.

Coming from manual focus photography, the D70's auto focus system makes action photography seem like cheating. You can set a continuous focus mode so that the camera will actually track a moving object—skiers—keeping them continuously in focus.

The Nikon D70's plastic body seems rugged enough for the trials and travails of backcountry/mountaineering use. I keep mine in a silnylon stuff sack, and thus far it's survived all my mountain adventures.

Compared to the Canon digital SLR's, the D70 (and its current edition, the D70s) scores better in color accuracy and sharpness. The Canons do seem to outperform the Nikon when it comes to latitude—the ability to record both shadow and highlight detail. Of course, no digital SLR compares to the latitude of transparency film, and even less so color negative.

Protecting the highlights and managing contrast are the keys to digital photography, and there is certainly a learning curve involved in mastering both.

However, the sheer joy of bypassing the film lab and directly viewing your results more than makes up for digital's shortcomings.