Not full yet but very interesting:
Nikon D70 Preview, January 2004, Phil Askey

Wow, that is a sweet looking camera!!!! Some super-cool things I noticed:

Lion rechargable battery can be replaced by 3 x CR2 (Lithium, 3V) battery carrier! So if you fry your recharger, you can use store bought batteries.

Look where the MSC switch is - interesting!

USB2.0

VERY similar size to the D100!!!! Try Phil Askey's photo comparison rollover shot on this page (move the mouse over it):

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/nikond70/page3.asp

The controls are in ALMOST the exact same locations. I bet this camera could be fit into a D100 housing and a lot of the controls would already fit.

Faster frame rate and buffer. According to Phil:


This is looking VERY good for a <$1,000 DSLR! (Can you tell I'm excited???)

Cheers
James

Gee James, are you getting excited or something???

This does look pretty sweet. More capable in some ways than the 300D or the 10D for that matter. As always, be nice to see some sample images.

The battery setup is nice, especially if you wanted to go on a long backcountry trip. Buy a ton of CR2s and skip the charger. It would be interesting to see how long the CR2s last versus the rechargeable.

Definitely a good alternative to the rebel. Let's see how long before a housing is available, or if you can indeed stuff it in a D100 housing.

Ah hell, just when I was getting ready to buy a D300 along comes Nikon.

One big minus is that it only goes to 200 asa instead of 100 asa. It is a bit more expensive as it comes without a lens. But a lot of pluses including access to wider Nikon lenses and flash ev compensation.

I'm wondering about the "TTL-breakthrough" that Aquatica has for strobes and how/if it's going to be possible with this camera.

And I'd have to wait a while to get into this rig. I've a trip to Baja in July that I'd like to have a new system with some experience under my belt for.

Jack

The ASA comparison reminds me of the scene in Spinal Tap when they're talking about guitar amps: "These amps are the loudest made...they go up to 11." "Well, why not make the amps justs as loud and have it go to 10?" "Yeah, but these go to 11!" Let's see how the D70 does in the noise tests when Phil gets the final production camera. Its iso 200 may be comparable with another camera's 100 (hopefully).

As far as lenses goes, you can purchase just the body ($999) or the kit that comes with a new nikkor 18-70 lens ($1200). The Rebel is still cheaper but as far as specs go right now, I'm leaning towards the Nikon...just waiting for the final reviews to come in.

Btw, Ritz camera is apparently taking pre-orders as of today. Supposed to ship early March.

I'd still be looking hard at the Rebel. It's already out for one, and access to TTL via the Aquatica housing would be a big plus to me.

I wonder about the little eyepiece. Doesn't look too easy to screw in an Ike super-eye, or equivalent.

In many ways, I'd rather have an all in one digicam, that allows you to compose on the LCD.

It used to be, everyone wanted a sport finder, for "serious" underwater SLR work.

To me, the relatively large LCD is potentially better - if they'd only put in really good AF!

Don

I believe it isn't real USB 2.0, just the marketing "USB 2.0." That is, the version of USB 2.0 used in the D70 is no faster than USB 1.1.

Edit: google says: http://www.digitalreview.ca/cams/NikonD70_page5.shtml

I don't see why this would be true. It isn't as though USB2 is hard these days. In any event, I don't see why anyone would care. Why would anyone transfer their images this way, especially when the camera is housed?

These interfaces might be interesting for tethering in the studio but I don't think that's the D70's intended market. I'd be perfectly happy with no USB or firewire at all.

I've got to agree with Craig. I have absolutely no desire to connect from my camera to my computer to download, that's what card readers are for.

Especially after I heard about someone that is camera was damaged from some electricity outbreak from the computer true the USB.

It's nice that Nikon didn't just cripple the D100 ala Canon and the 10D/Digital Rebel. BTW, are any housing manufacturers working on DTTL and iTTL, or are Nikon shooters going to have to get used to shooting manual flash?

I reckon being able to see the focus throught the lens and then review compostion / exposure on the LCD is the big advantage of dSLR!! The best of both worlds IMHO when taking macro shots with a digicam trying to see the difference betwwen a corker of a crisp photo and one that's generally in focus on the LCD is impossible.


You're not the only one

From one fellow Wise Man to another, "Right on!'

Cheers
James "Wise Man" Wiseman