Nikon D2H - First Look

As time rolls on, more shooters whose opinion I value are sharing with the public what they're finding with the D2H as they learn more about its magic!!!!!!

Hear what David Black, one the best sport shooters in the business has to say on the D2H.  

Here's what the digital master Vincent Versace thinks about the D2H. (PDF file)

It's an amazing tool!

In the hands of a photographer who knows photography, this puppy rips! I'm referring to not only the 8fps, but the whole design and quality the D2H delivers. I shot 7GB with it last week, using only it and it delivered big time, big results that amazingly are already in print. Ah.the power of digital, the power of the D2H. I love it!

To save many of the web readers about to delve into my brief review of the D2H, let me save you a little time. I've only got positive things to say about it. You don't have to read any further, you can go to some forum and say you read that Moose Peterson couldn't find fault with the D2H. Now for all the others, photographers who know photography and understand what tools are all about and are into making images, read on.

Color

You should know I'm writing a book on the D2H which should be out in a few months. So I'm diving into this camera big time. In the meantime to hold you over, here's what I've learned in the first weeks of shooting with the D2H. First and foremost, I love the images. No, they are not perfect, whatever that is in the digital world (let alone technically possible at this time). I have found the color is a vast improvement over the D1 Family. The only way I still have of describing the color is a combination of Kodachrome and Agfachrome.

The great color comes from a combination of the new LBCAST sensor, Ambient light sensor and software. I've been shooting everything so far in Auto White Balance and I can say so far it's working great. This is because the LBCAST sensor takes the information its pixels sees, compares and combines that with the information from the Ambient light sensor (white dome on the viewfinder) and then runs that info through the D2H's computer to come up with beautiful results.

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White Balance

You can select the normal set of White Balance settings we've become accustomed to. With the D2H, you now have the addition of K (K=Kelvin?). With K, you can manually select a Kelvin temp of 2500-10000. I've shot a little with all the white balance settings including K and so far, my preference runs to Auto. It's cool that so far, it seems to be working like it's always supposed to have worked.

click to view larger images

Noise

What about noise? The one thing everyone seems to always make noise about. I've shot images working from ISO 200 - 1600, in no light, low light to bright light situations and this is what I've found so far. The noise has been remarkably reduced from the D1 Family; in some cases by as much as an 80% reduction (in a 3 stop range of light). In the ISO 1600 images, the photos were of an American flag blowing in the wind at night. In the pitch darkness surrounding the flag, you can see noise but it's nothing compared to that in the image taken by a D1X of the same flag. It was easily cleaned up with Dfine. When it comes though to normal shooting in normal conditions, the noise in the shadow area is nearly transparent.

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Image Quality

Image quality, what the image looks like after you've put it through the digital darkroom, that's what most really sweat over. Personally, I don't think at the editorial level, magazines, books and the like, you're going to see any vast improvement in a D2H image over a D1X image. But if you take the image all the way, to a 30x print, I see a real nice improvement in the D2H image over the D1X image.

With the option of now being able to shoot RAW + JPEG, that's the capture mode I prefer and all I'm shooting now. Starting with a compressed RAW file and opening it in NC4 and then finishing it in PS CS, I've found the D2H makes beautiful prints with very little effort.

One real nice thing about the D2H is the ability to make use of compressed RAW. With previous digital cameras, compressed RAW was a slow, deathly slow process. This is not the case with the D2H where compressed RAW is a tad faster in writing to the CF card then uncompressed. Now while the buffer goes down from 40 captures (JPEGs) to only 24 with compressed RAW, the 9MB RAW + JPEG is reduced to a 6MB file combo. This is all I've been shooting so far and the results are stunning!

Part of the image quality story in the D2H is the autofocus system. The new Multi-CAM 2000 is a whole new sensor supporting the 11 AF sensor array. While that in itself doesn't seem all the hot, it's what Nikon has done with it that is. You still have the traditional Single and Continuous, Focus Tracking and Dynamic Focus, Single AF sensor operation, but you now have additional options. The D2H has the option of grouping AF sensors in 3 to 4 AF sensor groups which then act as one AF sensor. You have two group options. These groups can be switched about just like a single AF sensor can be changed by depressing the thumb control pad. Additionally, you can switch a horizontal AF array group to a vertical AF array group with a simple push to the center of the thumb control pad. I've yet to determine which AF combo works best for me, but I can tell you that the AF works in lower light and lower contrast (even though not indicated by the specs) then the D1 Family! That's sweet since digital itself can function in lower light levels.

Metering

What about metering? I love it, it works for me!

Viewfinder

Now the viewfinder, is it ever dreamy! We've got back our virtual 100% viewfinder and gotten rid of the "tunnel" feel when looking in the viewfinder of the D1 Family. We've got even more info in the viewfinder which is cool as well. The monitor on the back is larger as well which is nice. While you still can't use the monitor as accurate judge for exposure or color, it's larger size and information is welcomed.

Digital Media - Batteries

I've not finished testing all the write speed of the various files and cards, but the D2H is fast. I have done quite a bit of testing on battery life and I'm impressed! Shooting compressed RAW + JPEG using a Lexar 4GB CF card, I was able to make 1300 captures with only 45% of the battery! Dang, did you read that.1300 captures with only 45% of the battery power!

The D2H has a new screen in the menu system, Battery Meter. The battery meter tells you the remaining percentage of charge, how many captures you've made on that charge, if you need to recalibrate (recalibrate replacing our familiar word refresh) and how many more times you can charge the battery before replacing it. It's way to early to go to the bank with this good news but I'm here to tell you, I'm impressed. Oh yeah, when the battery is brand new, you don't have to "recalibrate/refresh" the battery 3 times before starting. You can also charge the battery whenever you want.

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Function Button

The D2H makes Nikon history! While some might think this no biggie, in actuality it's the largest ever. The button you depress to remove a lens is giant now, the first time ever the size of the button has been enlarged. You can be wearing the largest gloves and still easily depress the lens button and remove the lens. There's a new button under DOF preview button, it's called the Function Button (not to be confused with previous FUNC buttons). You can program this button to do many things, from activating one of the metering modes, AE-F/AE-L or features on the new SB-800. One cool thing I like is the ability if the SB-800 is attached to the D2H and is turned on, you can "turn it off" by simply depressing the Function Button. The D2H is just chuck full of little new options like this.

Summary

The D2H is way cool and I really like what it does and how it does it. But to be honest with you, I'm really burnt out writing long winded equipment reviews. It was real easy to write a 200pg book on the D2H and its features. I have no problem finding nothing but great features and results shooting with the D2H. And more importantly and to the point, the D2H delivers for me the image results I need to make large enlargements all the way down to editorial placements. It's 8fps, RAW + JPEG mode and long battery performance are in themselves reason enough I think to own a couple of these cameras. So with that, I'm out of here and back out shooting, shooting with the D2H!

NOTE: A longer D2H review will appear in the upcoming BT Journal. A totally different review written by myself and Vincent Versace will appear in the January issue of Petersen's Photographic. And finally my book on the D2H should be out late winter.

All photos here are RAW + JPEG, the RAW image being used. They were processed in Nikon Capture 4 with no work being done in the digital darkroom. And for those wanting full file images taken by the D2H to download and "check out," go buy your own D2H and do your own tests which are the only ones that are truly valid for your photography!

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Text & Images Copyright © 2007 Moose Peterson/WRP, All Rights Reserved.
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