Any in-depth reviews of the Nikon D1 floating around ?

-- john macdougall (delhipix@afp.com), July 04, 2000

Answers

I haven't seen very many reviews of the D1's, but I'll give you my quick and dirty opinions :)

This is a nice camera overall. I opted for the 300mb flash memory cards which are Type II and don't have PC Card adapters which causes me some problems. I had to get a firewire PC Card for my laptop, or use my 128mb card that does come with an adapter card. But, when shooting a game I find that the 300mb cards are friendlier. I tried one of the mini-hard drives and I didn't like it. Too much battery drain for me.

The focus/menu selection disc on the back has fallen off of several of our D1's and the Star has run into the same thing with several of theirs from what I hear.

The camera will comfortably shoot up to about ISO 800 without noticeable noise. I wouldn't go above 400 if it can be avoided. At 1600 (which is available only through custom settings) their is obvious noise in our pictures.

The image resolution is fine for newspapers at 85 lpi, but won't handle a full page or spread for a magazine.

The speedlight doesn't work well with the camera in auto mode. Our pictures always turn out slightly blue and over exposed. Using a spot meter we can get good results.

These are just a few of my opinions based on using the D1's for about nine months. Overall, I really enjoy them and have no regrets for newspaper or digital portrait work.

Scott...

-- Scott Valler (svaller@kansan.com), December 23, 2000.