Gadgetory

this long overdue update to the Nikon d7000 doesn't stand out from the crowd as much as it probably should for the money don't get me wrong the d70 100 is an excellent camera but with missing capabilities and an excellent but not class-leading image quality it's not a no-brainer buy especially over the cheaper d50 200 while there are a few control layout changes overall the d70 100 has the same look and feel as the d7000 including the nice grip and a solid build quality the new model is of sturdier construction it's composed of magnesium alloy and it's weather sealed much like the d300s overall it remains a well-designed camera with a fluid shooting design general highlights include dual SD card slots stereo mic a lockable mode dial and increased access to settings without having to jump into the menus but there's one facepalm worthy low-light no aperture control in video mode while the viewfinder is effectively the same as the d7000 the readout now uses an OLED display for higher contrast text there's also an overlay on the bottom inside which depicts off level tilts to the left or to the right unfortunately because it's overlaid on the scene rather than in the display area it's hard to see against a dark subject or in dim light nikon has also added a useful spot white balance feature which is available only in Live View mode it operates by letting you select a white point in the scene to set the white balance with one click other tweaked features include a two-shot tripod free automatic HDR feature which works well for bringing out mid-tones and shadows in low-light exposures the cameras fast with zippy phase detection autofocus and faster contrast AF than the d7000 and it delivers a class-leading tested frame rate of 6.3 frames per second for an unlimited number of JPEGs I do wish the raw buffer were deeper than 6 shots though the image quality is still good with some extra sharpness thanks to the lack of an anti-aliasing filter on the sensor but it's not gee-whiz Wow better than the cheaper d50 200 which uses a different sensor the d70 100 s advantage over its lower-cost sibling isn't about photo quality it's speed and build quality but for her a lot of folks the G 5200 is fast enough and you're better off putting the money you save towards a really good lens if you don't need the extra speed or whether sealing the d70 100 is a great camera for still photography but doesn't feel like a must-have upgrade unless you've got a significant investment in good nikon mount lenses and need speed and durability on a budget right now I'm Laurie Brennan and this is the Nikon d70 100