Nikon D70/D70s User's Guide © 2006 KenRockwell.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide INTRODUCTION This is how I use and set up my D70. I have a D70; the D70s is exactly the same. I start off explaining things so my mom can understand, and get on to deciphering every menu item for advanced users at the bottom.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide BASICS: CAMERA Many of these adjustments require you to be in be in the P, S, A or M exposure modes. You set that on the top dial. The cute preset modes often lock out some adjustments. I leave most settings at their defaults and use the Program exposure mode. I never use the cute little preset icon modes because I prefer to set anything special myself. ISO: I use 200.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide For photos of people I either set the colors back to normal, or cheat and use the Portrait preset mode on the top dial. FOCUS: AF. METERING: Matrix. LENS Many lenses have no switches or settings. If so, don't worry. More advanced lenses have focus mode settings, which will be either "M/A - A," or "A - M" on older lenses. On older lenses I leave it at "A," which is Autofocus. "M" is manual focus. Sometimes you also have to move the switch on the camera, which is a pain.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide CONTROLS (I explain every button and knob) CONTROLS: FRONT of CAMERA Focus Mode (the little lever at the bottom of the lens marked AF and M [hidden above]): I set it to AF. This means Auto Focus. M means manual focus. In manual focus you have to twist the focus ring yourself and look for a sharp image in the viewfinder. In manual you also can look for the green dot at the bottom left in the viewfinder. The green dot lights up when you're in focus.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide SLOW is the same as NORMAL, since exposure times are short. SLOW unlocks the camera in P and A exposure modes to make exposures as long as it wants to in dim light. Have a look at most issues of National Geographic and you'll see many indoor shots made in this mode. The background exposes correctly, people may be blurred, and a burst of flash freezes them along with the blurry ghost images.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide Power Switch (right side around shutter release): ON, unless the camera is put away in a case. The D70s only wakes up when you tap the shutter, so it's off even when the switch is set to ON. There is no battery drain unless the shutter is tapped and the camera wakes up.The only thing the OFF position does is act as a lock against unintended operation. +/- Exposure Compensation. This makes the picture lighter or darker.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide ISO: I use 200 as explained of the first page. If you just took a picture be sure to tap the shutter button to return the camera to the taking mode. If you don't and are viewing a photo you just made the button will swap among the various multi-image playback modes! WB (White Balance): I use AUTO -3 (A -3) and use an 81A glass warming filter as explained on the first page. See my White Balance page for more details about what this adjustment does and why you care.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide MENUS: PLAYBACK MENU ("[ > ]" icon) Press MENU and then select the "[ > ] " (play) icon to get into the play menu. Delete: This is helpful if you want to delete all images while saving those for which you pressed the "? / Key" button to lock. I don't use this. I do all my editing and selection in my computer and I do my in-camera deletions one-by-one with the trash can key, so I don't use this. Playback Folder: The camera can record and play back from different folders.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide I prefer my custom settings below because I prefer to leave the chroma cranked all the way up and let the camera automatically control contrast and sharpening as conditions change. Your style of photography will differ. You can look at the images made with each of the canned settings directly to see how you like them.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide saw no difference when printed either on Inkjets or on the $250,000 Lightjet 5000 on Fuji Supergloss. Oh well! Using Adobe RGB is asking for trouble unless you really know what you're doing and have complete control over your process. If you have to ask, don't use Adobe RGB. Mode IIIa is secret code for a standard sRGB mode which gives bolder color. I use this all the time. No, I have no idea how Nikon cooked up these numeric designations. Saturation is the vividness of colors.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide First select the "Detailed" mode under Menu > Setup (wrench) Menu > CSM menu, otherwise you'll only to get the first few items! [R] Menu Reset: This returns everything below to factory default. Play with everything below to your heart's content, since if you do screw anything up this reset will fix it. 01: Beep. For God's sake, turn this to OFF. Beeping cameras annoy everyone and scream "RUDE AMATEUR!" If you insist, set this to ON only in private.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide meter, or make it smaller to be more like a spot. This setting doesn't have any effect on the spot meter. The spot meter is independent of the center weighted meter. 12: BKT Set: This controls what's changed when the camera brackets. You can change it to alter the white balance, or the exposure, or just the flash or ambient light exposure. I don't use bracketing, so I don't use this. 13: BKT Order: This controls the order of the shots made with bracketing.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide 21: Slowest Shutter Speed: This sets the slowest shutter speed the camera will use in low light in the P and A modes, in normal flash sync. I set this to 1/8 indoors if people hold still. Default is 1/30. I usually leave it at 1/15. Set this slower to let the ambient light have more effect indoors with flash, and set it faster to stop your kids from leaving weird blurry ghosts behind them. Use a higher ISO to get faster speeds and have the backgrounds fill in with ambient light.
Nikon D70/D70s User’s Guide LCD Brightness isn't. LCD Brightness sets the viewing angle for the LCD, not the brightness of the backlight. I leave it on 0. Only play with it if you look at the LCD from odd angles or work in very hot or cold temperatures Mirror Lock-Up isn't. This setting is used to lock up the mirror to clean the CCD. I never use this, since I find it easier to set the camera to Bulb and hold open the shutter. It's not a lock up for telephoto lenses on tripods.
