Battery charge for first time

[stephen]

Hi guys well i have just got my new D70s and am happily playing with all the new bits and pieces.Can someone tell me if i should charge the battery longer on the first time as you do with a mobile phone or is it ready as soon as it stops flashing.Also i didnt recieve my eyepiece cover to stop scratching does anyone else have these and use them,it says i should have recieved one i am just wondering if its an australia wide thing . Thanks Stephen

[MHD]

once the light has stopped flashing there is no charging so go shoot-shoot-shoot!

The eye cover is not to stop scratching... it is for metering on long exposures... and yes you should have got it...

[johndec]

Stephen, it's a litium battery and as such has no charge memory, so when it stops flashing, go for it As far as the eyepiece cover goes, if it is on the list, it should be there. If it's not,contact the retailer...

[stephen]

Thanks guys how long does a charge take.Any tips to get me started on shooting or should i just play around in Norm(jpeg), auto, for a while before i play with the settings at all .One other thing i have got Nikon Picture project 1.5 included with the camera is this what you guys use for your pp or do you use a better program?.Thanks Stephen

[fozzie]

Stephen,

Approximately 2 hours to charge. This will give you plenty of time to start reading the manual before you can get underway. Enjoy


Cheers,

[MHD]

Thanks guys how long does a charge take.Any tips to get me started on shooting or should i just play around in Norm(jpeg), auto, for a while before i play with the settings at all .One other thing i have got Nikon Picture project 1.5 included with the camera is this what you guys use for your pp or do you use a better program?.Thanks Stephen

picture project is not the best subject..

Most people use the GIMP or Photoshop

[stephen]

I think i will need more than two hours to master this fozzie,Im still reading the how to put the memory card in page

[Killakoala]

A normal charge (until the green light shows) should take a couple of hours. A full charge should take about 12 hours. When the green light shows, the battery can be used but it will only be charged to 80-90%, If left on the charger it will then be trickle charged for 10 hours or so until ~100%. But you will not have any problems if you use it as soon as the green light glows.

If you have no or little experience with digital SLRs then have a good go at taking photos on auto. Once you start to get a feel for the camera, switch over to A or S and when you are feeling rerally confident, go M. Shoot in JPEG until you start doing post processing seriously. Set your in camera sharpening to normal or higher.

For post processing (PP) most of us use Adobe Photoshop.

Nikon Capture can be used for basic PP.

'The Gimp' is a excellent FREE PP software.

Picture Project is crap.

[MHD]

you know I didnt know that one Steve!

I've got over 9K shutter actions and I am still learning things!

I love this place!!

oh... and the GIMP rocks!

[pippin88]

My charger flashes when charging then goes solid after about two hours. Both are orange lights.

The battery life on the D70 is fantastic, I only have to charge every couple of weeks really.

[gstark]

Steve,

Picture Project is crap.

I didn't think it was up to that standard.

Stephen,

The eyepiece cover should have been somewhere in the box, probably in a pl;astic bag with some of the other miscellaneous accessories. As others have pointed out, it's actually an eyepiece blind, which you should use when making long exposures with the camera mounted on a tripod.

Download an early version of Nikon Capture - say 4.0.- and then go through the upgrade process to bring it up the current version. Also download Nikon View. They will get you started down the PP road.

[stephen]

Thanks guys will do that to get started.Where do you get adobe photoshop from?.

[fozzie]

stephen,

You may be interested in going to a free CS2 seminar before purchase:

http://www.d70users.com/viewtopic.php?t=6104


Cheers,