D70 for wildlife phtography?

[a_g5]

Hi,

Is anyone using the D70 for fast moving objects (e.g. birds) with a

fixed telephoto lens (e.g. Nikkors 300 or 400mm). If so, have you

encountered any problems with focusing (AF or manual) and with the

viewfinder/ focusing screen? I am about to buy this camera and use

it for this kind of shooting. Would appreciate advise (other than

buying a D2H for 3 grand).

Thanks,

AG

[bryan_lardizabal]

I have the D70 and use an older Nikon 400mm f3.5 lens with the TC301

teleconverter. I have not really tried to shoot moving subjects because the

lens is manual focus, but a panning technique could always be applied to

obtain a good shot. Yes, the viewfinder is a bit small, as compared to my

N90s but you get used to it. Overall, I think it is a great digital camera for the

money and gets you into digital inexpensively --- 7 years ago I paid $800 for

the N90s body alone.<div></div>

[douglas_greenberg]

I use a D100, so my answer may or may not be useful (I don't know how similar the two cameras are in terms of focusing characteristics). But for me, there has been no real problem using wither AF or MF long telephoto lenses. The viewfinder is a bit dimmer than the better 35mm. SLR's, but the difference isn't that great. As for photos of moving birds, this is something that takes patience and practice even with the best equipment. To achieve this via AF the trick is to lock in on the bird (using the focusing sensor indicator in the viewfinder) and then follow it, panning until you see the shot you want. This is easiest, of course, using the high-speed AF-S type lenses, but most of us can't afford those.

[ShunCheung]

The key point is whether you are shooting moving wildlife. Like Douglas, I have a D100. In situations when my F5 or F100 with long AF-S lenses could easily lock focus with flying birds, the D100 really struggles. I shoot RAW exclusively and the D100's buffer is only 3 frames, which is a serious problem too.

 

The D70 uses the same AF module but has compressed RAW. While I only have limited experience with the D70, it is not a DSLR I would use for wildlife photography. Faster AF from, e.g., the D2H will win hands down, but of course, at much higher cost.

[jemini_joseph]

If the question is if you can use D70 for wild life photography, then the answer is yes. Sure, you will lose some shots because of AF compared to D2H or D1X. Otherwise why people are paying for those cameras. But I've tested the AF speed with D70 and F5 side by side on my Sigma 500/4.5 HSM lens. I could not find any problem with the AF speed. I'm sure this is because of the lens. If you use AF-S or sigma HSM lens you won't see any noticeable difference in speed. But there are times D70 hunts little bit. That depends on the subjects color and stuff. Anyway after using D70 for almost 2 months and 2000 shots, I never regreted buying this camera. One advantage of D70 over D2H is the higher ISO performance. Extra 2 Mega pixel also is an advantage that will let you crop little bit. So far the biggest disadvantage I've noticed is the weight and build of the camera. Since I have to move around fast to respond to birds's movements there are times I feel that I'm putting pressure on the body that it cannot take. But I cannot afford D2H anyway. So I have no complaint. <br><br>

Here's a shot at ISO 560 <br>

<a href="http://www.color-pictures.com/" target="w-2"><img src="http://www.color-pictures.com/images/birds/bluebirds/1000_1334_BlueBirdPairAtNest_m.jpg"></a><br>

Good luck

[walterh]

the D70 is worlds apart from say an F5 if it comes to AF - both precision and speed. But I can not say if the slower AF will be sufficient to your use or not. If you take many large CF cards with you and if you can repeat many shots you may get a lower percentage of a larger number of shots than with an F5 at low cost. Does this compute? :-)