If you measure the power of a digital camera by how closely it simulates the capabilities of a 35mm film camera, you'll appreciate the Nikon D70s digital camera's close resemblance to a film camera -- both in looks and in features. The D70s definitely is not a model that will fit in a pocket, but it has a sturdy, comfortable camera body.

With its 6.1-megapixel resolution, the D70s can make prints up to 16x20 inches with high-end quality.

The D70s shutter can operate at speeds between 30 seconds and 1/8000 second, which is a very impressive range of options. Another impressive feature: The D70s can synch its flash to a shutter speed up to 1/500 second.

The overall response times for the camera are outstanding. You can shoot your first photo almost immediately after you push the power button, and shutter lag is not noticeable. When using the flash over long distances, you might have a shot-to-shot delay of a few seconds, but the D70s more than makes up for that hiccup by offering a continuous-shot mode of three frames per second--for a span of more than 45 seconds (with a large enough memory card). That's an impressive feature.

The D70s has a 2.0-inch LCD that's extremely sharp and easy to see. The camera's built-in flash works pretty well in all shooting conditions, too, but an external flash will provide better results.

Despite all of its high-end features, the D70s remains pretty easy to use. It has a good set of menus, and users can customize the menus to gain easy access to the features they most commonly use. The D70s also has the ability to work as a point-and-shoot model, athough we're not sure you'd want to ignore this camera's powerful features and use it this way. It has a lot of manual-setting controls, such as allowing you to set the area of auto focus or the exposure, giving advanced photographers the features they'll need.

The D70s does carry a price tag of around $1,200, so it's definitely a model that won't appeal to everyone. Include some of the add-on accessories you may want to purchase to give the camera more power, and the overall cost can climb in a hurry. The D70s's list of features, though, is impressive enough that the price tag may not matter.


Pros: Extremely quick response times, high-end photo quality, surprisingly easy to use, good collection of manual-control features
Cons: High price, add-ons can be pricey

Warranty
1 year