Jeremy Pinwhistle wrote:
> Hi,
> Would someone be able to give me some advice please?
> I have been using a Nikon D70 for a few years now, mainly to take
> archeaological photographs for web and publi****ng. These include pics
> on-site as well as close-up work (Nikkor 105mm) of various artefacts.
> I am quite satisfied with the quality and the features of the camera. We
use
> CS3 to process the Raw images for print.
> What I was wondering was, how much better the newer Nikon cameras now
are?
> Would I notice much of an improvement in quality, by upgrading to a
newer
> camera, or is the quality I currently get from the D70 such, that an
upgrade
> would not noticably improve the output.
> Thanks for anly advice,
> Steve.
>
>
If you are satisfied with the D70, then perhaps you've answered your
question.
Advantages of later and greater models for what you are doing might be:
Liveview: - Liveview tripod mode is an exceptionally good way to get
critical manual focus accuracy for macro shooting. You can zoom in to
10x view, and get a real depth of field preview rather than the
compromised depth of field preview through the camera viewfinder.
For non tripod work, IMO it's mainly a waste of time.
High ISO: - D300 and D3 offer significantly better high ISO performance,
perhaps 4 "stops" improvement (D3) or two stops improvement (D300).
There's a small improvement over the D70 with other later Nikon dslrs
with raw files, a larger apparent improvement with ex-camera jpegs.
Resolution: - increased resolution might help, but only really starting
to become visible as print sizes become greater than about 10 inches on
the long side, or cropped to give a relative magnification ratio in
print of that order. For screen, the D70 is already much higher
resolution (>50% more linear resolution) than 1080 HD screens, so any
benefit at all from more megapixels is dubious.
Better viewfinder, mirror lock up and/or shutter delay mode. Better
(larger) viewfinder is nice to have for macro manual focusing. MLU or
shutter delay mode is good for tripod work where mirror-slap might
degrade sharpness - typically in 1/4 - 1/60th second exposure range.
D80 has shutter delay mode, higher resolution, and a better viewfinder.
D300/D3 add mirror lock-up, liveview and better high ISO performance,
and other features, many of which relate to speed of focusing etc,
possibly not an advantage for your needs.
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