ISO numbers are inversely proportional to the amount of light. A low ISO number is for taking pictures in a lot of light, so you would use ISO 100 (which this camera doesn't have) on a bright sunny day.

The higher numbers, like ISO 1600, are for low light. This camera does a much better job focusing in low light (thanks to an extra little light it fires to help the camera find edges to focus on) than my old digital Minolta did.

The resulting image gets grainy with lower light on the subject, however, just like on film cameras.

Light is my concern
 

Thanks, Michelle -

What I want to be able to do is use as low an ISO as I can in a low light situation to get the best image I can, without a lot of artifacts or graininess. With my old 2 megapixel camera, I can shoot pictures in my north light living room that has less light because of trees outside at 100 or 200 ISO with reasonable results. Is this possible with the D70? And does anyone have any examples?
(If I am inappropriately starting a new topic on an existing thread, feel free to move this)

Thanks!

I can't imagine the newer cameras, especially the 6 megapixel ones like the D70, would give you worse results in low light than an older two megapixel camera, and I would expect the results would indeed be much better.

I don't know, technically speaking, which features on the D70 would be responsible for addressing this issue (whether it's the increased number of megapixels, the larger pixels, the greater ISO range or all of them combined).

I do know there are forums that specifically address the capabilities of the D70 camera and others where you might be able to ask this question. Try www.dpreview.com for starters.

Julie,

In my opinion the Nikon D70 is a low light machine.

The following is the best example I can offer in this regard. This image was shot at 500 ISO.

My doubts are resolved
 

Thanks Mike -

It appears that even though the ISO doesn't go to 100, the quality is not compromised at all. That clinches it for me.

Julie,

The above was excerpted from the following site:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d70.htm

One important reason why digital SLRs like the D70 are able to take better pictures goes beyond just the number of megapixels. Each pixel in the D70 is considerably larger than those in a typical digicam, even digicams that have 8 megapixels. This manifests itself in less noise and color artifacts at higher ISOs and in shadow areas. Also the lenses available for SLRs are far superior.

Can I extend this thread to ask what format most of you use with your D70 when shooting your clients? TIFF, RAW, JPEG?

John

John,

The image posted just above was shot at JPEG, FINE, LARGE, this produces an 3008 x 2000 pixel image. This setting is just below the largest RAW file setting which produces a much larger file.

The difference in file size is substantial. For my purposes the large JPEG file is sufficient. I rarely work from anything larger than an 8x10 sized print.

I think if I knew that I was going to shoot a limited number of poses, in a studio type setting, which might tend to reduce the number of exposures, I would consider shooting the larger RAW file. I just don't like to have to trudge through 150+ images that are so large. I often times create 2,3,4 auxiliary images from each one I'm considering.

Opinions vary.

I'm guessing that at that format you can expect to get about 70 exposures on one card. Does that sound right?