Camera first, Digital second
Written: Jul 19 '00
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Pros: Excellent camera system, acts like a film camera
Cons: Expensive, heavy
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| austinrc's Full Review: Nikon D1X SET Digital Camera |
The Nikon D1 is the first even remotely affordable digital camera that places the emphasis on "camera" rather than "digital." Making use of the largest camera system available in the world, the Nikon D1 is finding its way into an ever-growing number of pros' camera bags.
Nikon designed the D1 with the same meticulous attention to detail that has characterized their professional "F" series of traditional film-based cameras. The material covering body of D1 is textured and leather-like, providing a very good, secure-feeling grip, in addition to wearing well. The top of the camera is made of black anodized, textured metal, which hides finger prints well but is not particularly resistant to scratches or "brassing" (exposing the bare metal under the finish). The controls all provide pleasant resistance and have different shapes and textures, making them easy to identify by touch. The control layout is almost identical to Nikon's current top-of-the-line professional film-based body, the F5, and its younger brother, the F100, making it easy for a user to switch between the two. The LCD screen on the top of the camera is easy to read and understand, and nearly all the information displayed there is duplicated in the finder, making it easy to change modes, exposure, meters, or focus points without taking the camera away from your eye.
To change most settings on the camera requires pressing a button and rotating one or both of two control dials, one set below the shutter release button and the other set where your thumb naturally falls on the back of the top of the camera. This method can take a little getting used to, especially if you are switching from an older, manual camera. It rapidly becomes second nature, however. The only part that continually felt awkward to me was changing the aperture via the front control dial, rather than with the aperture ring on the lens itself. Nikon kindly duplicates the main control dial on the bottom of the camera for use with the vertical shutter release. Unfortunately, most of the buttons used in conjunction with the dial are not duplicated, making it much easier to do most changes, such as switching from aperture priority to shutter priority, with the camera held in a horizontal position, or at least using the main, horizontal shutter release.
In addition to the functions readily available on the D1 are 21 custom functions which give you far greater control over how the camera operates. Some of the changeable options are: if the LCD displays the image for a set amount of time after a picture is taken; the amount of the frame considered the "center" in "center-weighted averaging" mode; or if the camera focuses when the shutter release button is pressed halfway, or only when the autofocus button is pressed. The camera can store two complete sets of choices, allowing you to quickly switch between two frequently used profiles. Changing custom functions is not user-friendly, because each function is identified by a number, and each option for each function is another number. This requires some sort of cheat sheet, a phenomenal memory for numbers, or not changing the custom functions. Nikon has, however, done a good job deciding what functions to relegate to this area - they are almost all "environmental" in nature and you probably won't want to change them very often.
The Nikon D1 has three different metering modes: user-controlled variable center-weighted averaging, spot metering with five spot options (corresponding to the five focus points), and 3D color matrix metering (identical to the Nikon F5). My use alternates between the Matrix meter and the spot meter, depending on the subject and if I trust the reading the matrix meter is giving me. Although it is possible to fool the 3D matrix meter, it is the most accurate meter available on the market today. For low light situations, the Nikon SB-28DX Speedlight provides TTL flash compatibility. Unfortunately, from what I can discover, the SB-28DX is the only Speedlight to provide TTL flash exposure. The D1 has a flash-sync speed of 1/500, which is great for action shots.
The D1 uses a 2.74 megapixel CCD, which sounds small compared to the current round of 3.34 megapixel consumer-oriented cameras, including Nikon's highly acclaimed CoolPix 990. However, the actual elements of the CCD used in the D1 are larger than those used in consumer-oriented cameras, resulting in a CCD measuring X by Y, or roughly half the size of a 35mm negative, compared to a CCD measuring A by B. This results in much clearer images with a lot of shadow detail, and provides a picture taking experience that is very, very similar to using conventional film, with the very enjoyable added benefit of being able to see the results instantly. The D1 has variable light sensitivity, which is calibrated to correspond with the standard ASA film speeds of 200, 400, 800, and 1600, with 3200 and 6400 available as custom options. Much like conventional film, the amount of "noise" (grain, in film terms) increases as the speed is increased. Using the camera set at 200 or 400 results in virtually noise-free images, while 800 produces useable images with some noise. At 1600 and above, however, the noise level increases to the point of rendering the images almost unusable.
The D1 supports user-controlled white balance, as well as an automatic mode. Choosing the appropriate light type yourself makes a dramatic difference in the captured images, but the camera does an inadequate job of selecting the correct option itself. In my experience, images captured indoors with automatic white balance come out muddy, miscolored, and generally unusable.
One of the interesting side effects of using a CCD that's half the size of a 35mm frame is that the effective focal length of lens is multiplied by 1.5. While this makes it difficult to get wide-angle lenses (hence Nikon's recent focus on really short lenses, like 14mm), telephotos and long zooms become even longer, without getting slower. A 80-200 f2.8 turns into a 120-300 f2.8, while a 300 f2.8 turns into a 450 f2.8.
The D1 stores its images on compact flash cards, which are a relatively slow medium. Because it can take 3 to 5 seconds to write each image on the card, depending on the speed of the card, I am happiest shooting in continuous mode, which can fire 4.5 frames per second and store up to 21 images in a buffer to be written to the disk later. This allows you to take two pictures in close succession, although I do have difficulty keeping the camera down to one a time. I have had great luck with three 128mb cards, which can each hold 178 images in Fine/JPEG mode. Nikon has not certified the IBM MicroDrive for use with the D1, although there are a number of photojournalists who do use it, mostly for its 340mb size. There are some issues with it, however; check out <http://www.robgalbraith.com/reports/microdrive_feedback.html> for more information.
The D1 ships with Nikon View, a piece of software designed to let you view images from the camera directly when it's connected to a computer via the camera's Firewire (IEEE1394) interface. Although this will allow you to retrieve images from the camera if you have a Firewire equipped Mac or PC, I've found it faster and easier to use a USB compact flash reader. If you are willing to spend an additional $500, you can purchase Nikon Capture, which will enable to you control the camera via the Firewire interface, as well as interpreting the raw NEF file format the camera supports. There are shareware packages that will interpret raw NEF files as well, however, so without a specific need for computer-based camera control, I'd steer clear of Nikon Capture.
In order to get a complete outfit, you are going to need to spend more than the $5000 price for the camera itself. The additional hardware (excluding lenses) that I consider indispensable is: SB-28DX Speedlight, three 128mb compact flash cards, a USB compact flash card reader, and an extra battery. This will provide you with enough power and storage for a moderate day's shooting, although carrying a laptop to download the images to will greatly increase the time you can be out. I get 300-500 images per battery. If you've been shooting with Nikon equipment for a while, most of your lenses should work with the D1, which is compatible with AI'd, AI, AI-S, AI-P, and nearly all autofocus lenses. Unfortunately, the matrix meter is only available with lenses with a CPU, and the 3D meter is only available with the newer AF-D lenses that transmit distance information to the camera.
My only complaints with this camera have nothing to do with its picture taking ability, and instead deal with ergonomics. This camera is heavy. Really, really heavy. It weighs more than my son did when he was born, and although he was a preemie, he was a monster preemie. It weighs around five pounds without a lens attached, and although most people find the grip to be comfortable, I find that it aggravates my repetitive stress problems in my right arm. I think the grip is too small for people with large hands.
The Nikon D1 is an amazing piece of machinery, and although it can take stunning pictures right out of the box, the true power of this camera is something you discover with time. It isn't designed for the casual photographer, because it takes a fair amount of effort to make using this camera second nature. However, it is worth the effort. There is no other digital camera available with this combination of features and with access to the range of lenses and accessories that Nikon provides. Probably the most appealing aspect of this camera is the combination of serious photographic tool and instant results. Nikon has raised the bar again.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 5000
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Epinions.com ID:
austinrc
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Member: Austin Robinson-Coolidge
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 5 members
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