Is The New Nikon D1X The World’s Best Digital Camera?
Written: Aug 13 '01 (Updated Jan 15 '02)
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Pros: Six Megapixel Professional Digital SLR
Cons: Cost
The Bottom Line: Nikon’s new D1X takes digital photography to a completely new level. Is it the World's best? YES
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| Howard_Creech's Full Review: Nikon D1X SET Digital Camera |
There have been rumors for almost a year now that Nikon was planning to introduce an updated version of the groundbreaking D1 digital SLR. Professional photographers loved the D1, but everyone had a couple of suggestions for how Nikon could make it even better. Nikon listened and it soon became obvious that all the requested features and improvements could not be incorporated in one digital SLR. Nikon’s nifty solution to this seeming quandary was to offer TWO updated versions, the D1H (high speed) for photojournalists and the D1X (extra resolution) for fine art photographers.
The first weekend in August ended up being very very busy for me. For almost two months I had been nagging a friend who sells and distributes cameras and photographic equipment to loan me one of the new Nikon D1X digital cameras to review. He kept stalling me with stories of how he couldn’t keep them in stock, that he was selling every D1X he could get from Nikon, and still not meeting the demand. I figured the D1X was going to be one digital camera I would have to wait a long time to get my hands on.
My friend started out to be a professional photographer but drifted into selling new and used photographic equipment as a more dependable way to pay his bills. His professional ambitions are still with him, even though he has made his living (for the past 16 years) selling cameras. He still shoots five or six weddings every summer, mostly for friends, and relatives. On a bright sunny Wednesday morning my friend stopped by to visit and casually asked me if I would like to have the use of a Nikon D1X and a Nikkor 80-200/2.8 Zoom for the up-coming weekend? I jumped at the chance and didn’t bother to ask any questions at all, which was my first mistake. He handed me the camera (with the 80-200/2.8 Zoom Nikkor mounted) and asked me “What do you think? Doesn’t it feel like a serious professional camera?”
After a few minutes he interrupted my imaging fantasies and erotic caressing of the D1X and asked if I could do him a favor and help him shoot a wedding. He wanted me to shoot some Black & White “Photo-Journalism” style shots of the bride, groom, and wedding party. I regard myself as a Street/Nature/Travel photographer, I would much rather take a sharp stick in the eye than shoot a wedding, however since my friend has loaned me several cameras to review, I couldn’t think of any way to say no graciously. He made the deal a little sweeter by telling me that the wedding was Sunday afternoon and that we could spend the day Saturday shooting with the D1X, anywhere I wanted, and use the 80-200/2.8 Zoom Nikkor, which he knew I wanted to review.
I suggested we drive out to **Bernheim Forest, a combined nature preserve, 14,000 acre Biological/Ecological/Environmental research forest, and Kentucky’s official arboretum, since I know that my friend dislikes the woods and hates insects violently. Bernheim Forest was a gift to the people of Kentucky from the late Isaac W. Bernheim, a German immigrant who came to Kentucky just after the civil war, a poor young man with few prospects. He worked hard (as an itinerant peddler selling small items door to door) until he had saved enough money to start his own business. He founded the firm that makes I. W. Harper Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey and became very wealthy. In 1929 he purchased 14,000 acres of logged over land in Bullitt County and gave it to the people of Kentucky as a place to enjoy nature. Mr. Bernheim and his wife are buried on the grounds.
When Europeans first arrived in North America almost half the continent (the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains, extending from the Gulf Coast to the Laurentian Shield in Northern Canada) was covered by the prairies, the most extensive grasslands anywhere on earth. Cattle ranching, farming, logging, erosion, and poor environmental stewardship have destroyed almost all of these prairielands. Less than one tenth of one per cent of the original expanse remains.
Bernheim Forest has some small prairie/grassland/meadow areas and I wanted to see how the fall wildflowers were developing. We’ve had a long dry summer and drought can adversely affect how well the fall wildflowers will bloom. Kentucky is one of the best places in the country to photograph wildflowers, in the spring we have forest flowers like Trillium, Trout Lilly, Bloodroot and many species of flowering trees (Dogwood, Redbud, and Magnolia). We also have alpine species such as Mountain Laurel, and Flame Azalea, and in the summer we have prairie flowers like Purple Coneflowers, flowering milkweed (Butterfly Weed) and Black-Eyed Susans. The fall flowers are our most colorful and prolific; Purple Ironweed, Aster, Goldenrod, and many other fall blooming species fill every little patch of prairie and open field with amazing displays of color.
In The Field/Handling & Operation 1
Saturday we loaded up everything and headed out for the wilds of Bullitt County. It was a very hot day and the small meadow/prairie/grassland areas at Bernheim Forest were filled with beautiful black and yellow Goldfinches, thousands of flowers, and millions of insects. The Black-Eyed Susans were everywhere along with Purple Coneflowers, and several other striking summer blooming prairie flowers. The Purple Ironweed and Goldenrod that make Kentucky prairies shine in the fall were just getting started.
My friend and I spent a couple of hours shooting flowers and prairie scenes, taking turns using the D1X and a Nikon N90S loaded with Kodak Ektachrome Elite (ISO 100) for comparison shots. We spent much of the “golden time” (mid to late afternoon light is very good for outdoor photography) shooting close-ups and back-lit prairie scenes. The shady woods nearby were a great place to take a break, have a cold drink, and get out of the stifling heat and oppressive humidity. The D1X's color fidelity is absolutely stunning. The new 3D white balance system is hard to fool, and you have the option to choose one of the pre-programmed white balances, fine tune that, or take a manual preset. Colors are bright, vivid, and accurate, the best I have ever seen from a digital camera
The Nikon D1X is a solidly built, professional quality digital camera that looks and handles very much like its analog cousin the Nikon F5. The camera is a complex and feature rich imaging device and even the most experienced photographers are going to need a period of familiarization and some intensive study of their owners manual. The D1X (along with its sister model the D1H) is an updated version of the ground breaking D1, Nikon’s first professional digital SLR camera. The D1X doubles the D1’s resolution, has the same 3 fps advance and 9 image buffer, makes some improvements to the user interface, and adds selectable color profiles (sRGB / Adobe RGB) a feature that D1 users had asked for.
The D1X is fast, and unlike most digital cameras there is no measurable start up delay. Many digital photographers will choose to opt for the massive storage capabilities (up to 1 gigabyte) available with the IBM microdrives. Compared to CF memory devices, the IBM microdrive will add 1.0 to 1.5 seconds to start-up time. Shutter lag (from the time the shutter button is pressed until the exposure is actually made) is the shortest I have seen with any digital camera, about 60ms, which is comparable to the shutter lag in 35mm SLR cameras.
The top deck LCD provides camera exposure details and settings, storage card, battery and connectivity information. Both the top deck LCD panel and the rear panel have green back-lights, which come on when the power switch is turned to the lamp icon.
The viewfinder (same as in the D1) is almost identical to the viewfinder on the F5, eyeglass wearers can set a diopter adjustment with a small a dial on the right side, on the back there’s a lever for the eyepiece blind, a cover for use in long exposures (to stop stray light from entering through the viewfinder). the metering system selector is on the side of the viewfinder
CCD & Resolution The most significant difference between the Nikon D1 and new Nikon D1X is the D1X’s new CCD. Vertically the CCD has exactly the same resolution as the D1 (1324 rows). The D1X’s pixel grid layout is rectangular (as opposed to square) and horizontal resolution is 4028 rows (4028X1324) Nikon uses a proprietary “in camera” program to (through interpolation) expand the vertical resolution to 1960 rows and compress the horizontal resolution to 3008 rows (3008X1960) for a 5.9 megapixel image (5.47 megapixel effective). Nikon claims that since the input and output resolution are almost identical there is no visible image degradation.
Ergonomics & Design
The D1X is a large heavy camera, the hand grip is solid and well shaped, the front of the camera is covered in rubber (as is the rear compact flash compartment door which doubles as a thumb grip). The D1X has a second (vertical) shutter release and command wheel on the base of the camera. The D1X balances perfectly (especially with a heavy lens) Build quality is exceptional, moisture/dust seals are first rate, all controls are well placed and logical, and operation (after a short familiarization period) is intuitive.
LCD
The newly designed LCD displays 100% of the image, like all of Nikon’s 35mm professional models. There is a small black bar across the bottom where image information is displayed. The D1X menus have been updated and their design and navigation is similar to the Coolpix 990, split logically into several different groupings: Playback, Shooting, Custom Settings and Setup.
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ISO settings
ISO (equivalents) on the D1X can be set in either 1/3, ½, or full stop increments. Settings higher than ISO 800 ( like the D1) are done via a Custom Setting. The upper sensitivity limit is ISO 3200.
Technical Specifications
Resolution: 5.47 megapixel (4028X1324) 3008X1960 Effective
Shutter Speeds: 30 seconds to 1/16,000th of a second
Flash Synch: Up to 1/500th of a second
Sensitivity: ISO equivalent 125-800
Storage Media: CompactFlash Card (Type I/II) and IBM Microdrive
Continuous shooting: 3 frames per sec. (up to 9 consecutive shots)
Focal Length Magnification Factor: 1.5 (this means that a 50mm lens mounted on the D1X
becomes a 75mm lens)
3D White Balance with hue compensation for color shift produced by fluorescent lighting
Metering: 3D Digital Matrix Image Control
Power: The D1X uses the same EN-4 battery as the D1. Battery duration is quite good
Features
Highlight (there is also a Histogram option but I didn’t get to try it) the LCD shows blinking black animation in areas that are over-exposed, allowing the photographer to fine tune the exposure. I used this option on some of the close-up flower shots in bright sunlight at Bernheim Forest and it was a super tool for getting the exposure right, without losing detail. This option is one of those special features that serious amateurs/professional photographers love.
Enhanced transfer speed with firewire IEEE1394 interface
When the D1X automatically powers off, it doesn’t cut power to the CF card slot like the D1.
Faster ASIC processor (image processor)
35 custom functions
Photoshop plugin for RAW files (RAW file optional lossless compression mode 2:1)
One-button playback with magnification capability
In The Field/Handling & Operation 2
The wedding was Sunday afternoon, my friend and I arrived at the church about ninety minutes before the ceremony so that we could check out the lighting and choose some shooting points. I had decided that my best lens choice was the Nikkor 85/1.4D ED-IF, one of the world's finest 35mm portrait lenses, I also used the AF 80-200/2.8D ED-IF AF-s Nikkor Zoom to shoot some group scenes. The last wedding I shot was with a Nikon F4S and a Sigma 90/2.8 Macro lens on Kodak T-Max 400Cn (a chromogenic Black & White film developed in C41 Color Chemistry) so I knew exactly the look I wanted, sharp, virtually grainless sepia toned prints on Black & White paper like those from the earlier wedding. My friend decided that he wanted to shoot at the front, directly to the right of the pulpit. I put my camera bag in the aisle seat, third row, right side so that I could shoot the ceremony and be lined up for the kiss etc. Once the church filled up and the ceremony got under way everything went pretty fast.
I was all set up when the ring girl (the 3-year-old daughter of the bride) started up the aisle with the rings on a small maroon pillow. She was a serious young lady, dressed in a very pretty white dress and brand new patent leather shoes and carefully carrying her pillow. Just as she got to the steps before the pulpit she tripped and went flying headlong, with both her mother and her soon to be stepfather reaching to catch her. It was one of those once in a lifetime shots and the Nikon D1X managed to get off three shots while she was in mid air. I quickly reviewed the images and sighed with relief when I saw that I had gotten her in mid air, arms and legs (and ring pillow) flying, with mom and her soon to be step dad looking very concerned.
The wedding was the second marriage for both bride and groom and the small crowd were all friends and family, so when the child tripped there was a moment of absolute silence (until her new step dad caught her) and then the whole church broke into laughter. After the ceremony all my friend said was “Please tell me you got that shot” We went back to his shop and ran the ring girl image through photoshop, did a little sharpening, and a tiny amount of cropping and ended up with an image that looked like it came out of “Life Smiles Back”
Results/Comparison
My friend had the shot of the ring girl custom printed at 11X14 (an enlargement size that is beyond most digital cameras) and the results were absolutely striking. The print was beautiful with subtle B&W shadings, beautiful tonality, sharp resolution, and no visible grain when viewed at eye level/arms length. Close inspection with a 6X Schneider loupe showed digital effects, but on the surface the print was as good as a 35mm prints of the same size from Kodak T-Max 400Cn.
The slides shot with the Nikon N90S (and 80-200/2.8 Zoom Nikkor) were crisp and well exposed, with superb color. The comparable digital color images shot at Bernheim Forest with Nikon D1X were almost as good, unquestionably the very best quality digital images I have seen to date. 6 megapixel (16mb file) images from the D1X are very close to slow speed slide film in terms of color, resolution, and presence. My friend and I (combined we have almost fifty years of photographic experience) agreed that the theoretical rough parity point between silver based (slow speed transparency or fine grain B&W) film and digital images is going to be at about 10-12 megapixels, probably no more than three to five years in the future.
Conclusion
The Nikon D1X has the ability to use virtually every Nikon F mount lens ever made, however only the latest auto-focus lenses will provide maximum utilization of all the features Nikon has packed into the D1X. This camera takes digital imaging to its highest quality level and closest comparison to analog film and traditional 35mm cameras so far. For the demanding amateur or professional photographer who insists on the very best image making tools the Nikon D1X is a camera without any serious competition. Street prices for the D1X are currently running between $5300-$5500 (body only) Recommended without reservation.
This review marks two years (I actually joined in July 1999, but epinions didn't list me until I wrote my first review August 16, 1999) that I have been a member of epinions. It has been great fun.
For information on How to Choose a Digital Camera please see my review:
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For information about specific Digital Camera models, please see my Digital Camera Reviews:
Nikon Digital Cameras
Nikon Coolpix 5000
http://www.epinions.com/content_52720406148
Nikon Coolpix 885
http://www.epinions.com/content_46290931332
Nikon Coolpix 995
http://www.epinions.com/content_40256769668
Nikon D1X
http://www.epinions.com/content_36023996036
Nikon D1
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-4868-E2433E5-38737CF8-prod2/tk_~CB003.1.78
Nikon Coolpix 880
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2DA8-DF21E52-39E118CA-prod5
Nikon Coolpix 990
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-3B78-3C431D90-3A345313-prod3
Canon Digital Cameras
Canon Powershot G2
http://www.epinions.com/content_47646084740
Canon Powershot S10
http://www.epinions.com/content_7563808388/tk_~CB003.1.74
Canon EOS D30
http://www.epinions.com/content_11625991812/tk_~CB003.1.58
Canon Powershot PRO 90IS
http://www.epinions.com/content_30440001156/tk_~CB005.1.9
Canon Powershot G1
http://www.epinions.com/content_8768294532/tk_~CB003.1.70
Canon Powershot PRO 70
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-6496-25768DA-38C3E01A-prod9/tk_~CB003.1.70
Sony Digital Cameras
Sony DSC S85
http://www.epinions.com/content_51957567108
Sony MVC-CD 300
http://www.epinions.com/content_45591793284
Sony DSC-S50
http:http://www.epinions.com/content_15885897348
Sony Mavica MVC-CD1000
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-5F01-365BA12-3980602C-prod3/tk_~CB003.1.14
Olympus Digital Cameras
Olympus Camedia C3040
http://www.epinions.com/content_42675179140
Olympus Camedia C3000
http://www.epinions.com/content_26106105476/tk_~CB003.1.30
Olympus Camedia E10
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-59FB-183DFC73-3A17388F-prod2/tk_~CB003.1.42
Fuji Digital Cameras
Fuji Finepix S1 “PRO”
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-5591-16816C34-39047A87-prod5/tk_~CB003.1.18
Minolta Digital Cameras
Minolta Dimage 5
http://www.epinions.com/content_49104522884
Just “cut’n’paste” the URL into your browser’s address window.
**Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest is located 26 miles south of Louisville, KY, on Highway 245 in Clermont, KY (which is also the home of the Jim Beam Distillery) From Louisville take I-65 South to exit 112 and go east (left) for about one mile. Bernheim is open daily, (except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day), from 7 a.m. until sunset. Visitor Center hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (6 p.m. during the summer) daily. Admission is free on weekdays, but there is a $5 per vehicle charge on weekends and holidays. Call (502) 543-2451 for information. For Nature photographers there is a fenced wildlife enclosure, which contains four deer, a couple of wild turkeys, a black vulture, a turkey vulture, a barn own and barred owl. Ongoing research projects are designed to identify, preserve, and propagate native Kentucky woodland and grassland plant, reptile, fish, amphibian, avian, and animals species. Current research includes a Paddlefish project, a Timber Rattlesnake study, and a survey and census of native frog and amphibian species.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 5300.00
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Epinions.com ID:
Howard_Creech
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Member: Howard Creech
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 334
Trusted by: 1275 members
About Me:
Photographer/Writer fascinated by Movies, Music, Books, American Diner Food, History, "Popular Culture", and Travel.
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