First use of D70

Well, I finally did a shoot with the new D70. Overall, I'm pretty

happy with it, though I did notice a couple of things that I hadn't

seen mentioned anywhere when I was still doing research on a camera

choice, and thought I would mention them here. First, I noticed that

when using the camera in portrait orientation (which was most of the

time I was using it) there were a few times when my thumb was turning

the rear dial, changing the shutter speed, without my noticing it.

Maybe it's just how I hold the camera, but it happened more than once.

Something to watch for. When priting pictures, I noticed that the

aspect ratio is much different than my previous camera. I print onto

8.5X11 paper and if you print to the full width of the image, the

length ends up being close to 2 inches longer than the paper (8.5 X

12.7ish). If you print to length, you end up with margins on the

sides. This means that from now on, I have to always be conscious of

leaving a larger margin on top and bottom when framing pictures.

Anyway, minor complaints. The camera worked well, the battery

never broke a sweat, and it functioned well with my Alien Bees AB800.

The attached picture was done during this first shoot. Hope you like it.

What camera were you using before? because the aspect ratio of the DX chip is essentially identical to 35mm, i.e. 2 by 3.

My previous camera was an Olympus E-10. It didn't fit right on 8.5 X 11 either, but the difference wasn't as large.

look at it this way: tha fact that you engaged the rear dial whitout noticing means that is situated in the most ergonomic spot. Right where you will need it when you'll be on the run, shooting sports or wildlife. just mind your thumb for the first shots. you will find very easy to work with it at a later stage.

about printing, many software packages allow you to resize,zoom in, zoom out with no loss (within certain limits) or compromise whatsoever . I don't see the problem.

I didn't say it was a problem, just something for people looking for a new camera to be aware of. I didn't realize it until after my first shoot when I was printing photos, it would have been nice to have been made aware of it beforehand. I use photo software for a living, I know what can be done with it. Just trying to help...

Hey I own a D70 and use it in studio, are there any tricks you could teach me about getting skin tones right on??? Just wondering because your photo looks great!

> Hey I own a D70 and use it in studio, are there any tricks you could teach me about getting skin tones right on???

 

RAW is generally a good idea!!!

Thanks for the compliment. I had to do that shoot in jpg fine instead of RAW, because I have not upgraded my memory cards yet, and I wanted to get as many shots as possible while stilling using the highest resolution. I had white balance set to flash and then adjusted it to -1 (or maybe it's +1, I don't have it in front of me) to add a little yellow/red and bring the color temp to around 5600. The rest is entirely in Medusa's (yes, that's her name) skin. She's a very beautiful woman =)

Yes she is, and it's a beautiful shot. :) I must say the different aspect ratio on the D70 also took me a bit by surprise.

Joe, good skin tones. Regarding the aspect ratio, 35mm film is 2:3 and (afaik all common) digital SLRs are 2:3 as well. Most digicams are 3:4, the same aspect ratio as most monitors (800x600, 1024x768, etc.) You'll find those who are proponents of each. I prefer the 2:3 aspect ratio for landscape shots (print 8x12) but prefer closer to 3:4 for portrait shots (8x10 prints -- 8x12 generally seems too tall). I just crop my vertical shots to get them there. A nice benefit of 2:3 is that 4x6" prints print without any cropping, whereas 3:4 is quite rare for photo finishing services (5x7 is close at a .71 ratio)

I don't really have an issue with the aspect ratio, it just surprised me. I never seemed to have the issue with the Olympus. I did 300 shots with Medusa, and there are a few that, if printed, will have to be cropped in a way I'm not happy with, but from now on, I'll just have to take that into account when framing the shots to begin with. Otherwise I'm very happy with the camera. Now if I could just afford a faster lens... Ah well, it never ends...

A quick check shows that my D70 delivers almost exactly 2:3 (2000 by 3009 pixels)

whereas my old 35mm shots were slightly off with 2:2.94. That's not much of a

difference. I guess my perception of difference must be down to the variation in standard

frame sizes in Europe and North America. I moved to Canada shortly before buying my

D70 so that must account for it - the standard 8"x10" format over here means more

cropping than the European A5 standard which is 2:2.85. I had a bit of a nasty surprise

when I first tried framing some prints here, and I assumed it was a difference in aspect

ratio between the D70 and 35mm...

I had never thought much about this before, but if this is a more or less standard aspect ratio, you would think that Epson, etc, would make a photo paper sized to match it for thier photo printers.