Cons: user interface can be hard to learn. Heavy. USB interface. SLOW compressed NEF
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended for those willing to learn. Excellent color depth, sharp details and instant picture taking make it a pleasure to use.
Introduction:
I recently received a D100 so this review represents a "first look".
As a digital imaging professional, I held off purchasing a digital SLR until the price-performance hit a satisfactory level. The introduction of the Nikon D100 finally brought a camera to the market that met my criteria.
Impressions:
Having used several point-and-shoot digital cameras as well as conventional Nikon SLRs, I was initially surprised by the considerable “heft” of the D100. The D100 definitely feels solid - like a ‘real’ camera.
Those used to using professional film SLRs will feel comfortable with the D100, though the extensive use of plastic gives the camera a somewhat cheap feel when compared to some of the older Nikon mainstays. I’ve yet to decide for myself whether the plastic construction is a positive or negative feature.
All the controls on the camera, and there are MANY, appear intelligently positioned. One thumbwheel is positioned nicely for the right thumb, while a second wheel is accessible using the right index finger. Using these two while the camera is in manual mode sets the f-stop and exposure respectively. A thumb-pad, also accessed using the right thumb, is used for scrolling through menus and selecting items.
A series of buttons along the left side of the back perform functions such as enabling the menu, selecting items, etc. A final primary control knob is on the top left of the camera. This knob selects the camera operating mode or parameter (i.e. image quality) to change. There are several other controls and buttons. Overall a daunting array of controls. However, I don’t think that there are too many controls. On the contrary, I prefer to have separate buttons rather than having to scroll through menus and do things “digitally”. Not to say that Nikon has designed the camera perfectly…
My initial impression of the camera is that it’s easy to get up and running with the basics, but a confusing menu structure makes it unintuitive to configure oft-used parameters. This is not a camera for the casual user looking to take an occasional photo. It is clear that the designers created the camera for real photographers – initially difficult but once learned, pretty efficient.
For example, using the mode knob, one select the “qual” mode. This activates the LCD display on the top of the camera so that the selector thumbwheel scrolls through image storage modes. I.e. RAW, TIFF, JPEG. However, there’s submodes for the image resolution for some of these. These are set using the front control wheel. Once I figured this out (and yes, I did read the manual), it was easy and I won’t forget it. However one can also set these modes using the menus, and at times the settings are locked out of the menu which is quite confusing.
Another confusing part of the camera is that it appears to “go dead” if you don’t have the mode knob set to one of the shooting modes. For example, I had set it to “ISO” to change the effective “film speed” and had forgotten to turn the dial back to one of the four shooting modes. When I looked through the viewfinder, it was dead. I checked the power switch, and it was on. The menu was active. But I couldn’t get any reaction out of the viewfinder displays. It took me some time to remember to look at the shooting mode. While this was stupid on my part, I am by no means a naïve user. I can see someone getting totally frustrated and thinking that the camera is out of order in such a situation. It would have been simple for the designers to warn the user by providing a status light in the viewfinder that comes on when the camera is not in a shooting mode.
Picture quality:
I was initially quite disappointed by the quality of the shots from the camera. Shocked in fact because they were far less sharp than a 3mp Sony camera! I took a series of images of objects with fine details (i.e. animals with hair, trees in the distances, etc. Everything came out looking fairly blurry when examined carefully. Initially I was crestfallen, thinking that perhaps the camera was a ‘dud’ as some others have stated. But this ran contrary to everything I “know” about digital imaging. I knew Nikon couldn’t get it THAT wrong.
Fortunately, I have several other Nikon compatible lenses. I had run my initial tests with a wide range zoom. I then tried the other lenses and was pleasantly surprised by the results. With my other lenses (zoom and prime) the hairs came out sharp, grass looked snappy, every fine detail looked great from corner to corner. So I give others a major warning – don’t be so quick to blame the camera. Your lenses probably just aren’t up to the task.*
Jpeg vs. NEF (raw) mode:
Others have stated that the JPEG mode is less than adequate with this camera. My results strongly disagree with this. I ran a tough test, photographing the phosphor pattern on my CRT with a macro lens, such that the color dots were barely resolved. Comparing the JPEG version of the image with the NEF version gave results that made it very difficult to tell which was which. I’ve subsequently taken many “snapshot” type photos of animals and landscapes and am very pleased with the results.
That is not to say that there is NO difference. For critical work I will always use NEF mode because of the 12-bit data. The 12-bit data gives an added richness and extra edge in sharpness to the images. In addition, the extra bits provide a huge advantage as far as exposure latitude goes which is critical when photographing scenes with a broad dynamic range. It also provides much better results for subsequent image processing, such as unsharp masking in Photoshop. Processing an 8-bit image can often yield an artificial looking result while processing a 12-bit image retains the richness and liveliness of the original. Just remember to buy BIG memory cards!
Overall summary:
The Nikon D100 is proving to be a beautiful replacement for my conventional SLR’s. The resolution and color depth makes for truly beautiful results. While not a camera for the beginner, advanced amateurs and pros alike should be able to take good advantage of this versatile camera once they get past the user interface which can present somewhat of a steep learning curve. I would definitely purchase this camera again if given the choice.
Follow-up:
After using the D100 for a week in a variety of settings, I have a few additional comments.
First, as others have noted, the compressed NEF mode is intolerably slow. In my opinion, it is so slow as to make this mode totally worthless. Several times I thought the camera had "locked up" only to have it come back to life after a minute or two. Additionally, it makes reviewing images in the camera so slow as to be unusable. If I were Nikon, I would remove this mode from the firmware because it diminishes the use experience of the camera to such an extent.
I also purchased a 1GB IBM microdrive to use with the camera and am pleased with its performance. With a SimpleTech 256MB memory, it takes 24 seconds for the "busy" light to go out after snapping three NEF images (which fills up the internal buffer). With the IBM drive, it takes about 14 seconds - a considerable speedup.
When shooting in RAW mode, be prepared to wait. I find with digital cameras, I tend to shoot a lot more pictures. Once you fill up the internal buffer of three shots, it has to flush to the storage device. I found this delay to be the most annoying aspect of the camera. Note however that this isn't unique to this camera. All digicams will have such limitations.
On the positive side, when you shoot in one of the non-RAW modes, the camera exhibits no lag, which is a complete joy. You can shoot all you want and the camera keeps snapping away. As an extreme test, I set the camera to manual focus and continuous shooting mode and just held the shutter down. This allowed a qick burst of pictures as fast as the shutter would allow, then slowed down to about 1.5-2s / shot once the buffer filled.
Overall, I continue to be very happy with the D100 and would definitely recommend it to friends.
*footnote: not to say that there's no possible way for the camera to be defective. My point is that it's just more likely to be user error than manufacturing defect with CCD cameras.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1699 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Solid Enough for a Professional
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