True Professional SLR Digital Camera
Written: Apr 23 '00 (Updated May 14 '00)
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Pros: Takes sharp, crisp digital photographs unmatched by any other digital camera
Cons: It's heavy, and the software that ships with the camera sucks.
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| MediaLabGuy's Full Review: Nikon D1X SET Digital Camera |
Nikon's D1 Professional Digital Camera is Nikon's first professional digital camera, and takes sharp, clear 2.74 megapixel digital photos. Its biggest selling point is that it is one of the few SLR digital cameras on the market, that is, you can use virtually any Nikor F-mount lens on the camera and take start taking awesome photographs with very little effort.
Cool Features
The D1 takes its inspiration from the Nikon N80, a professional 35mm
camera, and feels very much like using it. Unlike the N80, however, it has a clear LCD display on the back which allows you to preview the photograph you have just taken, so that you can make any adjustments in aperture, focus, or lighting if possible. For most photographers, this is a huge plus.
Perhaps the coolest feature of the camera is that you can take up to 4.5 photos per second in "Continuous Mode." There is a rather sizable buffer on the camera so that it will hold up to 20 photos while it writes each photo to the card (Afterwards, it takes pictures at 1.5 frames/sec) when you are taking a series of photographs in continuous mode. This translates to a little under 5 seconds of photographs, but it's enough if you need to capture a whole lot of action pictures in a short time. (For example, I was fortunate enough to have the camera with me when they imploded up the Kingdome Stadium in Seattle, and the continuous mode gave me a ton of awesome photographs: http://photos.mit.edu).
Some Gripes
On the minus side, the D1 is a heavy camera, though, and if after a while, if used without a tripod, you'll get tired holding it. Furthermore, unless you're familiar with how to use other Nikon cameras, reading the manual a couple of times is necessary because the interface is rather unintuitive. Finally, the software really sucks--the default Nikon View application doesn't do much, and if you want to access the 12-channel color feature that the camera supports, you'll have to fork over another $500 to buy the Nikon Capture software package. Nevertheless, if you have a copy of Photoshop on your computer, the lack of good software that ships with the camera is bearable.
Bottom Line
The D1 is a great camera, takes the best and sharpest digital photographs I have ever seen, and the ability to use different Nikon lenses sold me. However, the interface is unintuitive and hard to use, so be prepared to spend lots of time trying to figure how to use the D1
Nevertheless, the photo quality is awesome, and you won't get such sharp or clear photographs with any other consumer digital camera. If you can afford it, I would definately recommend purchasing one. If you're thinking on going all digital, the D1 is the way to go.
Samples of photos I've taken with the D1 can be found on my Digital Photo Archive at http://photos.mit.edu.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 4200
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Epinions.com ID:
MediaLabGuy
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Member: Wesley Chan
Location: Cambridge, MA
Reviews written: 48
Trusted by: 29 members
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