1. Introduction

The lower end of the market, keen on competively-priced products, gives a hefty sales volume and boosts profits. No wonder Nikon wishes to delve into this segment, and with the new baby, the Nikon D70 camera, they may have exactly the means to achieve this end.

Nikon D70 is a small, neat, and affordable entry into the new world of digital SLR photography. It sells for less than 1/3 of the price of a D2H professional camera and obviously, some corners have been cut in order to lower the price to a competitive level. I will not spend too much time on describing all the features on the D70, because plenty of this information is floating around on the better web sites already. Or, you may get a brochure from a dealer or download a PDF file from one of the official Nikon sites. Relevant points and issues are covered during this review article. For a 'pro' user of the D1/D1X/D1H models, the interface of the D70 will perhaps be slightly confusing, but the targeted end users probably will see the situation in a different light. However, I think most people will take an instant liking to the sheer charm and neatness of this little camera.

For each new series of a digital camera, I as an end user sincerely hope they finally have come of age. I simply wish to go on shooting like I always have done, not needing to pay much attention to the actual media within the camera itself, be it film or digital. So far into the digital epoch, my hopes have been unfulfilled as a whole although the digital image quality all along has endeared the technology for me.

I received a review sample of the D70 within the first batch arriving in Norway early March, 2004, and got my personal sample a few weeks later. The review is based on shooting with both cameras. Neither camera was a "cherry-picked" unit for testing, and both were acquired literally unseen out-of-the-box as it were. Thus, I think my review points will address the product most people receive.

Nikon D70 Reviewed