Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/05/10

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Subject: [Leica] Nikon D2X review
From: scott at adrenaline.com (Scott McLoughlin)
Date: Tue May 10 00:45:36 2005
References: <20050510033145.77255.qmail@web52604.mail.yahoo.com>

Folks,

Um, not at my price limit for a DSLR body, but maybe the D2X
gets a good number of favorable reviews because it happens to be
a great camera.   After all, before the megapixel wars, Nikon is the
company that delivered legendary and beloved camera bodies like
the FM2n, F3, F5, F100 and so on. 

In the film world, Nikon has won my admiration with moves like
continuing the FM/FE line with the FM3a (love mine), cranking out
the new F6 for the true film faithful and last but not least, producing
the amazingly capable and popular F/N80 body at a fantastic price
(my g'friend shoots one now).

Personally, I really don't give a crap if Nikon has a 20D competitor 1
week after Canon releases their camera. I snagged a D70 last summer,
and I want to put some wear and tear on that shutter before I upgrade.

What I'm looking for in a D200 are 1) Big bright VF, 2) metering with
nicely damped, loverly AI lenses, 3) Optional vertical grip/shutter release
and 4) I guess a few more megapixels.  

Canon's D20 does nothing for me on items #1 and #2, so I could not
care less.  I enjoy shooting my DSLR, but I don't *personally* think that
chasing megapixels in tiny 2k increments is going to do squat for *my*
own personal shooting/printing habits or results.

There was a link to an interview with a Nikon exec someone posted
over on PN, and oddly enough, he actually did comment that Nikon
was willing to "compete with itself" (e.g., D2X) when it releases their
D100 successor.

As for full frame, I'll be interested when such cameras descend below
$3-4K in price. So again, Canon's offering holds little attraction. I'd
love for my 35mm lenses to have the "right" FOV, but right now APS
is going to have to do for the majority of DSLR shooters, and likely for
quite some time. I actually bought my first DX (gasp) zoom (gasp gasp)
lens just recently. 12-24 DX, and so far it does quite a nice job at the
wide end for my purposes. Still finding the whole zoom thing a bit odd,
though :-)

Anyway, I've got absolutely nothing against Canon. A Canonet 28 was
my first camera love in the late 70's. I'm happy Canon users got their
20D class camera available to them.  But the D70 is making Nikon
money right now, and I hope they take their time and do the D200
"right."  If they do, and I suspect they will from what I read in that
article, the Nikon faithful will jump all over this ~$2K body like flies
on the proverbial poo :-)

In the meantime, I've got to find time to shoot more to get damn money's
worth out of my D70 so I can justify an upgrade when the D200 does
eventually come out :-)

Scott

Patrick (Washington, DC) wrote:

>incidently, Digital Journalist just released their D2X review tonight.
>
>http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0505/harrity.html
>
>"...maybe even the best out there at the moment."
>
>Not really a review IMO, rather a(nother) love letter that doesn't address 
>the key concerns.
>
>My real question is that with no differentiation between pro/full-frame 
>sensor and APS-C sized
>sensor, and "only" 12MP, how will Nikon be able to introduce a D100 
>replacement that will steal
>the thunder of Canon's 20D without eating into sales of the D2X? Launching 
>a 8MP "D200" 1 1/2
>years after Canon's 20D launch isn't very competitive, even if they put a 
>2-2.5" LCD on it.
>
>I'm confused about Nikon's strategy to stay competitive in this area. 
>Needless to say, we would
>all benefit by some strong competion.
>
>cheers,
>
>p.
>
>--- Richard <richard-lists@imagecraft.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>2X in the super-fast lower res mode, the same as the E-1.
>>
>>At 05:59 PM 5/9/2005, you wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>So, riddle me this:
>>>
>>>If the D2X's standard crop (from full-frame 35mm) is 1.5X at 12mp, does 
>>>the crop factor, relative to angle of view, change when the 
>>>busting-my-hump speed/buffer selection is made and images are cropped by 
>>>50% to 6MP?
>>>
>>>If so, am I now working with a 3X crop factor? Does my 100mm lens now 
>>>cover the real estate of a 200mm? Somehow, that doesn't very DSLR 
>>>pro-ish.  I'm sure there's some arcane, mathematical explanation. And 
>>>anything much beyond 2+2=whatever is arcane for me.
>>>...
>>>      
>>>
>>// richard (This email is for mailing lists. To reach me directly, please 
>>use richard at imagecraft.com) 
>>
>> 
>>_______________________________________________
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>>
>>    
>>
> 
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
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>  
>



Replies: Reply from henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff) ([Leica] Nikon D2X review)
Reply from patrick at photo.net (Patrick (Washington, DC)) ([Leica] Nikon D2X review)
In reply to: Message from patrick at photo.net (Patrick (Washington, DC)) ([Leica] Nikon D2X review)