My Nikon D70 takes horrrible pictures. The color is SO bad. WHY?

Question

It is the stock D70 w Nikkor ED lens w/UV filter. This is supposed to be the best stuff, but my compact Cannon takes better pictures. I do not like th color the Nikon produces. It is not vibrant, not warm, and not realistic. It is most notable on indoor/people shots. The color is very dull and blue. I set up a table with random items and tried as many options as I could to make the photos better. It is a little better now that I have tweaked it on the "p" mode, but still unacceptable!! IS ANYONE PLEASED WITH THIS CAMERA, AND IF SO, WHAT SETTINGS DO YOU HAVE? thanks!!

I am looking for answers associated with the camera settings, NOT post processing like ADOBE or PHOTOSHOP. I don't have time to edit that many pix. I want my camera to take it right the 1st time!! THANKS!

Answer 1

I have to agree with fhotoace here and I think you set your white balance to either "sunlight" or "tungsten" or something within that range. Check the white balance setting in your camera.

When you're indoor, press the WB button (it's located on the left of your LCD, second button from the bottom) and rotate your thumb/rear dial. Select "Shade." Be sure to reset it back when you're outside.

White balance works on different condition and there's no one setting for all situation so you have to adjust them accordingly.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

I've shot with a pair of D70 cameras for years and have found them to take great pictures. The one thing I learned early on was that Nikon set the camera to underexpose, so all the color information was there. However, since I shoot in jpeg, and not in RAW, I had to post-process to reveal the colors there.

The next generation of Nikon consumer DSLR's (D50, D40, D40x, etc) have their color levels and exposures "tweaked" for more satisfying pictures, straight out of the camera. Nikon realized that many users weren't happy with images that needed processing to be satisfactory. I was pleasantly surprised by this when I got a D50 for my daughter last year.

Here's a link to a great Nikon D70 guide that I downloaded, printed, and keep in a folder. The D70 is a great camera, once you learn it.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d70/d70-settings.htm

And here's some photos I took with my D70. Because I was taking these at ISO's up to 1600, I denoised them and had to lighten some from later in the evening. The images were then cropped and resized before uploading to the website.
http://www.spmsportspage.com/images/college/football/2007/California-42-Louisiana-Tech-12-09-15-2007/index.html

Answer 3

I don't know what changes were made from the D70 to the D70s, but I am totally satisfied with the color from my D70s.

Maybe you need to get your camera checked out. It's at least 3 years old, right? Things change over time.

Here are some D70s examples for no reason... As I said, I don't know what may have changed from D70 to D70s, so looking at these might not be valid for you.

These are in my "NoPhotoshop" series, so they have not had any saturation alteration. It would not be valid to show you the ones that were tweaked, but my on-line examples were pretty much only goosed up to compensate for the overcast day when the photos were taken.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1305139426/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/487790706/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/515054905/

Answer 4

Are you aware that you can adjust the white balance, contrast and colour saturation on your camera?

If you spend a few minutes with the user manual you may be able to obtain the results you want.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

When all else fails, READ & STUDY the Owner's Manual for your camera.

I learned long ago that its best to change one variable at a time. This allows you to see the effect and learn what it does. It also reduces confusion since changing two variables seldom allows you to really know which one had which effect.

Answer 6

well,
perhaps your ISO is set way too high.
one of the greatest problems with the D70 is the high noise when the ISO climbs.
try reducing the ISO to about 100 or 200 and try ajusting the white balance. from my experience, the D70 could actually take nice and silky pictures.

Answer 7

try take out the filter, make sure is not dirty in your filter or lens. did u change the setting? try auto or reset setting. Also try a different lens. Did you shoot with manual instead of auto focus?

Answer 8

Would you upload some of them to show us? Post them on photobucket.com, etc. that we can click on a link and see (and please, not on myspace.com as most of us here are not members.)