Re: OT: Nikon D-70 for dig negs

The 70 series are Nikons advanced amateur digital SLR line. That means
they aren't built quite as "tough" as the D2 line and have a smaller
pixel count. A great resource for info on digital camera gear is
dPreivew:

http://www.dpreview.com/

The reviews are very good, and the forums are also. There will,
however, be very few alt folks there.

Here is "my" take on digital gear for alt and digital negs: The
availability of Raw is more important than the pixel count. When we
make a digital neg with our current media we have to apply a very
drastic tone curve. If we apply that to a normal 8bit Jpg or Tiff file
we run a very real chance of getting .....arg brain freeze, I've
forgotten the word..... ?posterization? ....... noticeable "lines" or
"steps" between similar tones. Banding in a sky area for example.

If the camera (and the computer) can work in Raw and/or 16bit, this
problem is drastically reduced.

I would "assume" the D70 has this function.

On Dec 12, 2005, at 2:05 AM, Dan Burkholder wrote:

> Hey Stuart,
>
> The D70 and its "S" sister have a cleaned-up version of the D100 chip,
> which I have used (actually, Nikon lent me a D100 about three years ago
> and never asked to get it back ;^).
>
> And of course, if you have a good capture from the D70 you can make a
> good digital negative, just as you would from any other digital camera
> capture. As to how large you can go with your negs and prints, it
> depends on a number of factors like image sharpness, nature of image
> (organic or architectural), expected viewing distance (don't even
> bother
> trying to control this one; photographers will always have their face
> against the glass looking for grain, noise, evidence of the afterlife,
> etc.). Having said that, I've made some nice 12x18 inch pt/pd prints
> from 6MP files. You'll have to discover through testing (make a print
> and look at it) just how big you can go with your images and still have
> them look "good."
>
> One thing they dropped on the D70 was the threaded cable release, which
> is a shame. I hate futzing with those electronic wires and fittings
> when
> a simple, cheap 30 year-old cable release would do the job. Just
> nitpicking here.
>
> You may already know all the generic digital camera stuff like watching
> for blown highlights (turn on the "blinking highlight warning when
> reviewing images), avoiding dumped shadows (get intimate with the
> histogram), and shooting in Raw mode so you grab the most information.
> Just as there is no substitute for a good "real" negative, a good
> digital capture makes your printing life a lot easier.
>
> Have fun with your camera and let us see some pictures (please)!
>
> Dan
>
>
> STUART GOLDSTEIN wrote on 12/11/05, 7:38 PM:
>
>> Sorry this is off topic -- but I was wondering if
>> anybody had any experience with either the Nikon 70 or
>> the D70s for making digital negs or just plain old
>> experience using the camera for making non-alt images.
>>
>> All information is appreciated about your (or your
>> friend's) experience with the camera. Compliments and
>> complaints.
>
>
> --
> www.DanBurkholder.com
> www.TinyTutorials.com
>
Received on Tue Dec 13 01:32:14 2005