HELP!!!!! Digital Nikon Cameras

[Unregistered]

Hello,


I currently shoot 35 mm and want to jump into the digital age.

I would like to buy a Nikon D series body so I can use my lenses.

What body would be suggested for aviation and other other sporting events.

Thanks for all your help and hope to see you all soon out on the pylons.

Jack

[Kilo Hotel]

Nike digital SLRs

What you WANT and what you can GET between now and Reno may be two different things.

What you WANT is a D2H, designed from the ground up for sports photographers and photojournalists. 8 frames per second up to 5 seconds (40 frames!) burst mode, 4 megapixels, and all the bells and whistles. I don't think you can beg, borrow or steal one yet, though: it was announced in July but dpreview.com hasn't even got one for testing, yet.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/nikond2h/page2.asp

What you can GET right now leaves you with a choice: D1H or D100.

D1H - the first sports/photojournalist Nikon digital SLR in the under-5K range, it's been around for 2 years. Only 2.72 megapixels, though, and pretty pricey at about 3 grand. And it's about to be obsoleted by the D2H, with a list price of $3500.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond1h/page2.asp

D100 - all-around superb digital SLR, with 6 megapixels, and widely available for around 1700 samoleans online. But for sports you're limited by its top speed: 3 frames per second for 5 or six frames.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond100/page2.asp

I guess I'd go with the D100 unless you absolutely have to have that big burst mode capability.

[T. Adams]

Nikon???

What is a Nikon??

I always thought you needed a big "Canon" to take pictures. Like the 1D.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Jack,

As KiloHotel said, you really do want the D2H, though, they are only set to start arriving at dealers either late Sept or early Oct. not going to do a lot of good for Reno this time.

The D1H has recently had a price drop, as has the D1X.

There are also some very good deals available on used D1's as well as D1H's, there will likely be a lot more H's available soon due to the D2 coming out.

On the D100, I've only had one in my hands once (Jeff Lo's) very nice "little" camera

They do not have as much buffer nor as fast of "burst mode" shooting but I think the bigger limitation that they have is the focus system. It is just not as fast as the larger (much heavier) full size D models.

They are a great camera, however...

Bill Pearce has, I believe, the Sigma, or the Fuji.. has the Nikon mount for lenses and seems to shoot quite well also.

Again, it depends on how much you want to/can spend. The "pro" models are a lot more money but they do work very well..

I'd love to lay my hands on a D2H!

Although my D1 is in perfect (babied) condition, it's one of the fairly early models and is "first generation" white balance was never very good on the original D1. It shares the same 2.7 mp chip as the D1H, though I've not really found that to be limiting, bigger is always better.

If you can wait, the D2H should be a very good choice for you.

Wayne

[FlyinLo]

One of the great things about the D100 compared to what I've heard about the D1 series is the battery. The standard battery is said to last ~1500 exposures without flash, and I can believe it. When I first got my D100 I took over 700 photos, about 1/4-1/3 of them with the internal flash and a lot of reviewing on the LCD and I still had some battery left, but it was time for bed so I plugged it in. The additional grip allows you to keep 2 batteries in the camera.

That said, the autofocus does tend to hunt a bit with an airplane or two against a blue sky, so I tend to switch to manual and pre-focus on the distance I expect the subject to be at when shooting airshows / races.

[Mluvara]

The D100 is a great piece of equipment, just having added one to our camera lineup... I don't see the burst and focus being a big deal personally as I tend to use manual focus most of the time. The quality and colors are amazing for the price of the camera. As can be seen below, the results are superb (taken with auto focus). While these were taken of models, the subjects are much like taking shots at Reno and were taken using a 400mm Sigma lens.

I can attest to the D100's battery life too. It's like the battery indicator is stuck and doesn't move!

So, I think the D100 is a great bang for the buck. If you choose to go with another nikon body later, your lens choice will still be useable.

Regards,
Michael

[W J Pearce]

The Fuji S1 and S2 both have the Nikon F mount. I have the S2 and have been quite pleased. It runs about $1900. It is built on the Nikon N80 body, so is the D100. S2 is 6 megapixels that can be interpolated quite nicely to 12 mega pixels. Realistically 2 fps up to 8 frames.

The Fuji and the D100 both have the cam 900 auto focus system which is fairly fast. The D1, D1X and D1H have the Cam 1300 which is faster. The D2H, and possible the D2X (supposedly in the works) have the Cam 2000 which is faster still.

The cutting edge lenses have a focus motor in them which also helps a lot, Sigma HSM, Nikon SWM or AF-S, and Canon USM. The Fuji is really particular about the lens that is attached. It will really let you know is the lens is so-so quality. Good lenses are expensive.

The bottom line is to compare the cameras and decide which will work best for you. All can take amazing pictures, all can take crappy pictures.

Kilo Hotel posted links to dpreveiw.com which I feel is the best resource for digital photography. Check it out and compare.

Bill Pearce

edit: duh, why don't I post a link so you can see some "reno" style pics. These were taken at PRS, my first time out with the camera. View the "full" image (900x600).

Bill's lame photo site

[lowpasskid]

Digital cameras

Hey Wayne,you mean if i junk my 35mm cameras and lenses
and plunk down $two to five grand i can finally get those
great pylon shots and the outstanding shots like the one of
the head on corsair by MLUVARA or air to air with the bear?

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Digital cameras

Originally posted by lowpasskid
Hey Wayne,you mean if i junk my 35mm cameras and lenses
and plunk down $two to five grand i can finally get those
great pylon shots and the outstanding shots like the one of
the head on corsair by MLUVARA or air to air with the bear?

Oh yes, no doubt about it LowPass..

That's all I had to do...

Wayne
PS <by edit> I just re-read my reply and I did not mean it to sound "snotty" but in looking at it.. it could be taken that way... Shooting with a really good combo of good glass and a good body really does help anyone get good shots, of this, there is no question.. Getting all the opportunities might seem like just being in the right place at the right time... and to a certain extent, that is true. There also is a certain amount of paying one's dues.

That "being there" to be in that right place and time involves a fair amount of personal sacrifice.. oh sure, you might say.. "sign me up!"

An example.. For the Rare Bear air to air. I had just been on an assignment for a client at Sun-n-Fun in Florida, OK you say.. great fun... right, it was, for a while. Four days of standing up holding a very heavy camera lens combo, wearing a vest that gets up to about 15lbs at times with everything needed for a day's shooting in really humid conditions in the lovely state of Florida does tend to wear one down after a while.. then there's the weight of all that crap on one's back..

By the time I got to Reno for the Rare Bear shoot and stood around for one day, my admitedly aging back decided to go completey out.. Meaning, it hurt to sit, stand, lay down and walking was nearly impossible.. but.. The show goes on.

The next morning, we had the shoot scheduled and away we went into sub zero conditions in an open airplane to get the shots..

Again, I'm NOT complaining but I do feel the need to respond to posts that make it seem that *all* that is necessary is a good camera. Yep, it helps and double yep.. any reasonably good shooter, given the same chances, will produce pretty good results.

Does that make myself and the others who get these shots really lucky.. You bet your life it does! But then, luck is when opportunity and preparation come together, isn't it<?>

In order to be granted a pylon pass, one must devote a pretty fair amount of their time to covering the sport, manage to submit enough stuff to enough publications to get published on a fairly regular basis, or, spend an inordinate amount of time playing on the net to produce enough to qualify, or both.

Personally, I cut back on my travel this year, simply because the outlay in expenses was not nearly matched by the return on the investment... in other words... Unless you have a paid assignment in advance, it's pretty hard to get marketable shots at a place like Oshkosh, or Sun-n-Fun, the "bigs" all have their stock shooters there..

Anyway... I hope initially, this did not come off as a snotty response.. A good friend once told me "99% of air to air is being there"... she was right. I think I could put a good camera in just about anyone's hands and in good air, they'd pull off a good set of results.. Throw in less than ideal conditions, it begins to become challenging. Make it so rough that your head is banging the overhead in the airplane you are in and you begin to see my point. I've been there, I don't think I've shot in clear (calm) air more than once... and that was just dumb luck.

Which, I suppose, all of it could be chalked up to..

[AAFO_WSagar]

Howdy Tyson,

Wish we could see you at Reno!

Vegas for sure.. I read your emails that you were sending on the trip and after, man.. driving all that way.. you got some serious ambition!

Bad enough flying, but that is what it takes!

Glad to hear you're getting out there, but I know what you mean about breaking even. For the first year that I tried to get in magazines, I too had to "give" the shots up.. I think everyone will have to do at least one "gimme" to get in.

One of the reasons I'm so going to miss Jim Wright was because his generosity was very helpful in getting me my start in actually getting a buck or two for getting published. He got me the first and for some time, the only air to air with the airplane that was, quite simply, the "buzz" last year... His wonderful Hughes Racer.

For that, he would not take a dime for even the fuel to run the airplane he owned that we used to do the session, never mind the fuel he burned in the Hughes.. !

And trust me, that man knew EXACTLY what he was doing.. he knew he was giving a guy a break and that's the way he was..

Anyway, took this off topic I guess, with all of this.. But to anyone wanting to break in, I'd offer similar advice as what Tyson gives.. It's not the arrow that hits the target.. Likely, anyone could become fairly well known as an aviation photographer. You might just spend a lifetime doing it!

Fun? Yes, indeed.. riches? Nope. I doubt that there are any "rich" aviation shooters, unless they were so to begin with. It just flat does not pay that well, no matter whom you sell to.

I'll also add some sage advice given me by another photographer.. don't "give" your images away.. If you do, you are just taking the bread from someone else's mouth. Maybe once, just to get there but then draw the line. The people you are giving them to are not giving them away, they are selling a product and even a few bucks in your pocket will not hurt them a bit and likely, they will think about using you again sooner if you charge than if you give..

Nuff from me...

See ya in Vegas Tyson!

Wayne

[claylemon]

SO, You guys will be laughing at my Coolpix2500. I've even got a 128MB card in it. HA


LOL Clay

[Bill@Interstell]

I forgrt who said luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Good job of being prepaired Wayne.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Originally posted by Bill@Interstell
I forgrt who said luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Good job of being prepaired Wayne.

LOL.. ewe guys are all up late tonight... Must be sumptin n the air!!

Ahh.. According to Google... who first said it ... :

A. Wise Man... NOT to be confused with A. Pismo Clam!! They are NOT related... trust me....

Several sources are credited with saying it, including President Coolege... and I believe, Preparation H.

But don't quote me on that because, I'm definately NOT prepared!!!

"Docter.... is that a new set of gloves, or are you just happy to see me"...

Waaaaaaa!!!!!!

Wayne

[Bill@Interstell]

I realize its a personal problem, but I could really use that spell checker somebody brought up , especially late at night. Guess I should cut and paste.

[claylemon]

Originally posted by Bill@Interstell
I could really use that spell checker somebody brought up

I have the most efficient spell checker on the planet, before I open the first Bud. It goes downhill after that.