"Nikon D70/D70s User's Guide
© 2006 KenRockwell.com
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.
© Ken Rockwell
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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. If the light gets dim and my images would get blurry from slower shutter speeds I increase the ISO to 400, 800 or 1,600. I never bother with in-between settings like 250 or 640. The D70 looks fine at ISO 1,600 if you need it. I'd much rather have a slightly grainy but sharp image than a less grainy but blurry one. Unlike film, the D70 looks great at high ISOs, so I use them anytime I need them. I would love to use ISO AUTO, but usually don't because it also remains active in Manual exposure mode. This firmware defect defeats the purpose of the manual exposure mode. Using menus to deactivate AUTO ISO for manual exposure mode takes more time than AUTO ISO saves. Rats. White Balance: I use AUTO -3 and use an 81A glass warming filter on the lens. I prefer warmer (oranger) images. See more details about how to set these on my D70 Back Panel Controls page and details on why you care at my general White Balance page. QUAL: I shoot JPG NORMAL. This is called NORM and L on the top LCD, which stands for NORMal JPG compression and Large (3,008 x 2,000) image size. I've made 12 x 18" prints of the same shot made in BASIC, NORMAL, FINE and raw. I saw NO difference! Seriously, if you saw these prints you wouldn't be able to sort them out either. I can see only the slightest differences on my monitor enlarged to 100%, which is similar to a 20 x 30" print, and my digital LCD monitor has 100% MTF pixel-to-pixel, which prints don't. Don't worry: if you need space, shoot BASIC and no one will see the difference. The only way to tell is by looking at the file size. I'll use BASIC for parties and sports when I'm shooting many hundreds and hundreds of images at once. In these cases I'm more concerned with time wasted for the files to transfer, copy and archive. Basic looks 99% the same as FINE, even blown up big. I'll use FINE on rare occasions where I'm shooting just a few images and expect to peer at them very closely. In these cases the extra size isn't significant if I expect to be spending a lot of time analyzing each image. I don't use raw, as you can read on my Raw vs. JPG page. I avoid FINE JPG because NORM gives me the same results, with half the file size. If I shot FINE I might run out of room on a card and miss a shot. Missing a shot is a very visible defect, and I see no defects in NORM. Nikon knows what they're doing. That's why they call it Normal and that's why I normally use Normal JPG. OPTIMIZE IMAGE: I prefer the vivid color I get from Fuji's Velvia 50 film, so I tweak my D70 to give color as vivid as I can get. To do this go to MENU > Shooting Menu (camera icon) > Optimize Image > Custom > (set Saturation to + and Color Mode to IIIa) > - - Done > OK. If you forget to select "- Done" and hit OK it won't remember these settings! Details are on the Shooting Menu page.
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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. If the switch says "M/A - A" then I use M/A. This gives autofocus, and if I grab the focus ring it instantly lets me make manual corrections. As soon as I tap the shutter button again I get autofocus. This M/A setting, if the lens has it, provides both kinds of focus without ever having to move any switches . It's the best. Non-G lenses will have an aperture ring where the lens is attached to the camera. Set this this ring to the largest number, usually 22, if not 32 or 16. This number will be in orange on autofocus lenses. There usually is a lock to keep this ring set there, since if it comes off that setting you'll get an error message from the D70s/D70/D50. MORE These are the basics. Keep reading for far more explicit details at the end.
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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. Depth-of-Field Preview (the little button below the lens in the photo above): Tap this to stop the diaphragm down to the taking aperture. The viewfinder probably gets darker, but look carefully and you can see what's in focus or not. This analog feature is a remnant from film days. Today most people look at the LCD playback. Flash Bolt Button (left side of flash hump, as seen from the rear): This does several things depending on how and when you press it. 1.) If the flash is down, press the flash button and the flash pops up. 2a.) If the flash is up, press and hold the flash button and turn the front dial to change the flash exposure compensation. This sets the brightness of the flash. + makes the flash brighter, - makes it dimmer. This setting only changes the brightness of the flash. It leaves the background ambient exposure alone. Set it to - if your subjects are getting washed out. If you run out of flash power beyond 10 to 20 feet then setting it to + can't make the flash any brighter. If you set flash exposure compensation to anything other than zero you'll see a little "+/- bolt" icon in the finder and on the top LCD. 2b.) If the flash is up, press and hold the flash button and turn the rear dial to change the flash sync mode. You'll see it on the top LCD in the box with the bolt. FLASH SYNC MODES Select these by holding down the flash button on the left side of the flash hump and spinning the rear dial. Your selection is shown on the top LCD in the box with the bolt. Normal (blank, which is the default): In Program and A exposure modes, the shutter won't stay open longer than about 1/60 second. You can change this minimum speed in custom function 21, which defaults at about 1/60 second. I forget the exact default because I have mine set to 1/15. In this mode you won't get blur indoors, but you may not get more than a very black background either. Choose a longer speed, like 1/8, in CSM 21 to lighten the backgrounds indoors, but watch for motion. I usually use Normal mode, since if I don't I can get some scary long exposures if I'm not expecting them in the dark. Red-Eye (eyeball icon): I never use this. It shines an obnoxious light in your subject's eyes for a couple of seconds and then releases the shutter. If I set this mode by accident it bugs the heck out of me, because the camera doesn't go off until several seconds after I've pressed the shutter, but I've set no self timer! It doesn't do much to reduce redeye anyway. Skip this mode. SLOW (called SLOW on the top LCD): This mode is very useful. It lets the shutter stay open as long as it needs to so dim ambient light can expose properly with flash. Of course if it's dark these exposure times can get long. You can get blur from subject motion and camera shake. In daylight
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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. Normal and SLOW do the same thing in S and M exposure modes, since you or the camera may select any shutter speed in these modes regardless of flash sync. Red-Eye SLOW (eye and SLOW icon): This is the SLOW mode and redeye. I don't use it for the same reason I don't use Redeye. REAR (called REAR on the top LCD): Normally the flash goes off the instant the shutter opens. With long exposures and blurred ghost images you ordinarily get the ghost streaming out in front of the subject. Think about it: if a car is driving, the flash goers off and freezes it, then the car moves forward. You'll have a ghost image ahead of the car, which usually looks stupid. Select REAR mode to have the flash go off as the shutter closes. Now you'll have motion blurring behind the frozen flash image. Another reason to select REAR is because the flash goes off at the end of the exposure. People presume photos are made the instant a flash fires, then leave. This wreaks havoc with long exposures. If you use REAR mode with long exposures they'll stay put and not move until the end. Of course you'll also want to select flash lock to eliminate the preflash. Read about flash lock later on my Custom Menus pages. REAR doesn't do anything with short exposures. REAR also engages SLOW, but SLOW doesn't light up on the LCD. This lack of the SLOW indication is a flaw in the firmware. No big deal. In REAR the D70's exposure setting in Program mode chooses slower shutter speeds and small apertures if you're in daylight. Trick FV Lock Mode: You set this in the Custom Menus. Check it out; it prevents people from blinking with flash!. CONTROLS AND SETTINGS: TOP PANEL From left to right: Exposure Mode Dial (Left side): I use "P" for program auto exposure. In this mode the camera chooses the f/stop and shutter speed for you. If I want to use different apertures or shutter speeds I rotate the rear command dial, which selects alternate combinations of f/stops and shutter speeds which give the same exposure. Nikon calls this "Program Shift." A "*" is added next to the P on the top LCD to let you know you've chosen a different combination for exposure. If you want to use only one aperture or one shutter speed then use S or A mode. If you want to set it the hard way, use M, manual, mode. Metering Mode: Its little icon shows four corners and a central dot. It looks a little like a [ * ]. I use the default of Matrix, which is shown by the four corners. Spin the control knob while holding this button and you can select center weighted (a circle) and spot (a dot). I never use these other modes. * Green Dot (combined with metering button). This resets many of the camera's controls to their defaults when held in along with the other green dot button on the top left of the back of the camera. This is handy at the beginning of each day, since it will reset everything from whatever whacky ISO, white balance, file format and other settings you were using the night before.
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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. Hold it and spin the rear dial to change the brightness of your pictures. Remember to set it back to zero when you're done. If you don't you'll see a "+/-" in the viewfinder and the top LCD. You can read the value of this setting on the top LCD and through the viewfinder, which is great!. See more at How to Set Exposure. Ignore Nikon when they suggest you don't use this with Matrix Metering; I do it all the time. Backlight (button on right with a sun on it): press this to light the top LCD at night. Format (combined with backlight button): Hold this along with its brother on the back left rear of the camera (combined with the rectangle button). You'll get a blinking "For" on the top LCD. Hold both of these again and you'll completely reformat your memory card. Professionals reformat a card each and every time we put a card in the camera. This is because files and structures are sometimes picked up or changed when read with a card reader or used in any other camera. Professionals prefer to be safe than sorry. We don't use cards to archive previous photos. One time I kept saving my winner shots on a card by simply erasing the rest each time. After a few months I started to get errors. These went away as soon as I reformatted the card. Reformatting completely renovates the card. Erasing does not, and may leave the potential for errors. CONTROLS and SETTINGS: BACK of CAMERA From left to right: BKT: I don't use bracketing. This control sets bracketing. Hold it and spin the two control rings on the right of the camera while looking at the top LCD. Rectangles (also doubles as one of the two FORMAT buttons): This controls the frame advance mode. You hold this and spin the rear control dial. When you see [S] on the top LCD you have the normal mode I use, which gives one shot each time you press the shutter. Hold and spin to show rectangles on the top LCD and you're in Continuous mode. In Continuous mode the camera keeps taking pictures for as long as you hold down the shutter button. Pro cameras label the rectangles as C, for Continuous. Spin it some more and you'll see a clock. This is the self timer, in which mode the camera goes off a few seconds after you press the shutter. The mode that shows a narrow black rectangle sets the D70s to respond to the EN-L3 remote control. AE-L AF-L (Top center): Hold this to lock settings while shooting. You can alter what this button does in the custom menus. I get into more details under custom settings for this button. Play [>] Button: Press it to see your pictures. ISO/Checkerboard, WB/?, and QUAL/ENTER/Magnifying Glass Buttons: these do different things depending on whether the camera is taking a picture or showing one. If the camera is idle, or you tap the shutter, the camera is in the taking mode and the buttons do what the silver letters say: ISO, WB and QUAL. If the camera is displaying an image the buttons do what they say in yellow: checkerboard, ? and ENTER. I'll explain each of these as if they are seven different buttons below. Often the camera is in playback mode from the last shot. I need to tap the shutter to put the camera back into taking mode for the ISO, WB and QUAL functions to work. I make it a habit to tap the shutter button first before using those buttons just in case.
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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. To choose different settings, press and hold the WB button and turn the rear knob. Look at the top LCD and you'll see the little sun and cloud etc. icons cycle as you turn the knob. To set the D70 to give accurate color under any arbitrary weird combination of lighting you can use a manual white balance mode called PRE(set). It's shown as the PRE icon on the far right of the top LCD, just past the Shade icon. Spin the knob while holding WB until you get to PRE. Release the button. Press and hold the WB button again for several seconds until it makes PRE blink. Point the camera at something white or gray that's in the same light as the subject and press the shutter. If "Gd" flashes you're good. If "nG" (no good) flashes, try again. You can cheat (I do) and point the camera at a broad light source, like a fluorescent fixture, and get great results without having to carry or find a gray or white card. The PREset mode is used to tell the camera what's supposed to be neutral. Once you've set this the camera corrects all the colors to keep neutral grays and whites as neutral grays and whites. This usually gives great colors for everything else in the same light. QUAL: I use NORM - L, or NORMal compression, Large (3,008 x 2,000) JPEG, as explained of the first page. Checkerboard: this lets you see one, four or nine images on the screen during playback. Press the button to switch among these modes. ? / Key: In playback it protects (locks) the image from erasure. Warning 1.): it marks the file so well that it won't empty out of my trash on my computer unless I go in and remark the file on my computer first. Warning 2.): these images are erased from your memory card when you format anyway. I don't use this lock feature. When setting menus the "?" will give more information about your settings. Magnifying Glass: Press to zoom in on image. When you do this you can zoom in more by pressing the checkerboard button and spinning the rear dial. You can use the thumb switch to scroll around the image. ENTER: Used while playing with the menus. Lock Switch: This is the L - dot (lock - unlock) switch below the four-way thumb switch. The dot (unlocked) position lets you move the AF area with the rocker button. The L (locked) position prevents moving the selected AF area. It doesn't lock your ability to navigate the menus, which is a huge advantage over the older professional D1X! I usually leave it in dot to allow me to select different AF areas. Trash Can: Press once, then press again to confirm and delete an image during playback.
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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. I leave this set to ALL. CURRENT ignores photos in different folders. You'd only have different folders on your card if you shot them in a different camera without reformatting ( a bad idea) or played with your camera deliberately to create new folders. This is difficult with the D70 and I cover it later. Rotate Tall: I set this to NO. If you set this to ON and if you have vertical images and set autorotate to ON, vertical shots will rotate themselves on playback. I prefer to rotate the camera physically on playback. When the camera does this electronically the resulting image is very tiny, since the screen is much less tall than it is wide. Slide Show: Lets you amaze your friends with an exciting slide show on the tiny screen. I don't bother with this. Hide Image: This lets you mark images not to play back on the camera, even though they remain on the card. Use this if you get an embarrassing shot of a friend and want to make them believe you deleted it! Move the cursor left and right to select images, tap it up or down to mark as Hide or Unhide, and press enter to save. Now the camera..."
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