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D70 - Initial Setup

D70, kit lens @18mm, 1/60s, f/8

Killiney Post Office

Newcomers to the D70 are often dismayed with their first pictures out of the Nikon D70. "Why are the pictures so dark... And the colors so dull and drab?"

It need not be so.

D70, kit lens @18mm, 1/160s@f/8,ISO800

Bakery that is popular with the growing expat community in the area

In digital photography, white balance -- and an understanding of it -- is critical to getting good colors. Since the quality and quantity of light ie color temperature varies from location to location, you need to change and finetune the WB setting appropriate to your shoot.

For an introduction to white balance, click here.

For a more in-depth treatment, see Moose Petersen's excellent article on WB at nikondigital.org. He recommends you don't use auto WB, but experiment and set your own appropriate to the location. He has found for instance that Cloudy -3 comes closest to his everyday shooting color temperature / WB needs.

A WB setting more appropriate for our tropical sun is provided below. I use the following as my general everyday D70 setting, and has been pleased with the results so far:

White Balance: AWB -3
Hue: -3
Saturation: Normal
Sharpening: None
Compensation: +0.3EV
Color Mode: Ia (sRGB)

Sharpening is set to none because the in-camera sharpening -- owing to a small buffer -- is weak compared to NC or PS. For this series, Quality was set to jpg - fine, large and color mode to Ia.

Below are some photos taken at Killiney Road under the 4 pm sun with the above settings:

D70, kit lens @18mm, 1/60s, f/8

Killiney & Somerset Road junction

D70, kit lens @18mm, 1/60 sec, f/8

A family clinic at Killiney Road

D70, kit lens @18mm, 1/125 sec, f/8

Killiney Road view of Comcentre

D70, kit lens @22mm, 1/200s, f/8

Killiney Boutique & Spa

D70, kit lens @70mm, 1/320s, f/8

More businesses springing up in the area

D70, kit lens @18mm, 1/60s, f/8, ISO640

Pho Vietnamese Restaurant, Pho is a condiment for soups that is most popular in Vietnam

D70, kit lens @48mm, 1/250s, f/8, ISO200

Perfect kaya toast and egg breakfast at the popular Killiney Kopitiam

D70, kit lens @18mm, 1/30s, f/8, ISO1600

Orange Lantern -- afternoon lull

D70, kit lens @18mm, 1/250s, f/8

Pre-war Mitre Hotel being refurbished -- will it be retained as a charming motel?

D70, kit lens @70mm, 1/100s@f/8, ISO200

Devonshire & Killiney Road junction
 

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