parisian
Over the hill and far away...
Reged: 10/02/2002
Posts: 7758
Loc: Môn mam cymru
|
|
Ok, the first subscriber AP's should have thudded onto the mat this morning. Who has read the D3 test and rushed out to order one?
--------------------
Hells pensioner - born to be mild
|
TarquinBiscuit
Sometimes I feel like screaming
Reged: 03/02/2001
Posts: 9417
Loc: Staffs/Derbys border
|
|
Not with our new style postal service, Peter. Last Saturday our delivery came at 1.15pm (!)
--------------------
Clive BSRIPN
Cover of the Rolling Stone
|
parisian
Over the hill and far away...
Reged: 10/02/2002
Posts: 7758
Loc: Môn mam cymru
|
|
Funnily enough, ours has gone the same way Clive. From before 9AM (pretty well guaranteed) to as late as 1.30 (perhaps).
This 'progress' thing isn't all that wonderful at times.
--------------------
Hells pensioner - born to be mild
|
Mark_Norton
Reged: 29/06/2002
Posts: 1197
Loc: London, UK
|
|
Spoke to my dealer yesterday who is now gloomy about getting the camera anytime soon. Nikon are, apparently, completely swamped and bringing the cameras in in batches of 50 and, by ther own admission, the dealer is well down Nikon's pecking order. So it's going to be a wait...
Clive/Huw, do you agree about D2x ISO 400+ noise being "very gritty", as described in the review taster? Not sure I do, nor the comment about the dial wheels. As for the direction of +/-, I guess it depends on what you're used to. Many would say the aperture and focus on Nikon lenses work in the wrong sense anyway. They're doomed, I tell you...
--------------------
Mark
|
Zou
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/02/2007
Posts: 2154
Loc: Edinburgh
|
|
I've not owned a D2x, but I've seen plenty of reviews and sample images, which suggest 'very gritty' is an exaggeration. But then cameras, cars and just about anything these days are praised by reviewers for all sorts of things, only for readers to be told (when the new model is out) "well actually we had our reservations all along."
As for the direction "issue" - I'm used to aperture wheels that go faster as you turn them clockwise, so the dials on my digi box still catch me out on occasion. At least Nikon had the sense to make it a customisable feature.
To be honest, if I had the money for the D3, and knew I'd be able to get a return on it through selling the results, I'd have had one on order as soon as it was announced. As it is, I'll have to wait 5 or 6 years and get one second hand.
--------------------
Zou's Flickr Page
|
TarquinBiscuit
Sometimes I feel like screaming
Reged: 03/02/2001
Posts: 9417
Loc: Staffs/Derbys border
|
|
Well the post has come  but no AP! 
Quote:
Clive/Huw, do you agree about D2x ISO 400+ noise being "very gritty", as described in the review taster? Not sure I do, nor the comment about the dial wheels. As for the direction of +/-, I guess it depends on what you're used to. Many would say the aperture and focus on Nikon lenses work in the wrong sense anyway. They're doomed, I tell you...
No, Mark, ISO 400 I use quite a lot without anything nasty, but I do believe that the D3 will be something else........ As for the rest, no probs - it's what I'm used to. But the absence of an AF/AE lock in the vertical position I would agree with.
--------------------
Clive BSRIPN
Cover of the Rolling Stone
|
Mark_Norton
Reged: 29/06/2002
Posts: 1197
Loc: London, UK
|
|
Quote:
But the absence of an AF/AE lock in the vertical position I would agree with.
You can always set the Function Button to AE-L, AF-L which is then neatly accessible with middle finger or your right hand, though I agree a dedicated button for portrait use would be good.
--------------------
Mark
|
TarquinBiscuit
Sometimes I feel like screaming
Reged: 03/02/2001
Posts: 9417
Loc: Staffs/Derbys border
|
|
Yes, I don't use the function button enough - I only have two settings:
1. Spot metering instead of evaluative
2. Flash OFF when I have a flashgun attached
--------------------
Clive BSRIPN
Cover of the Rolling Stone
|
Mark_Norton
Reged: 29/06/2002
Posts: 1197
Loc: London, UK
|
|
I think it must be tough knowing what to put in the camera and what to leave out - balancing the different conflicts. I can imagine the file of "What we'd like in the D3" was a thick one.
I asked our user base what they would like to see in the software package I write and sell for a living and among 250 customers, they came up with 122 separate enhancements, some of them completely off the wall but the most popular had just 7 requests and only 5 had more than 1. So I did that one and ignored the rest.
It's impossible to meet everyone's requirements in a generally available product and even if you do do a custom development, the user's requirements change as you go along, so you're chasing a moving target. Plus of course, there's no pleasing some people who want everything for nothing.
--------------------
Mark
|
huwevans
Old Hand
Reged: 05/08/2000
Posts: 15557
Loc: Dorset, UK
|
|
Quote:
Clive/Huw, do you agree about D2x ISO 400+ noise being "very gritty", as described in the review taster?
It's certainly not how I'd describe it - I find ISO400 excellent on my D2X. By about 1600 (Hi 1) I'd maybe be using a word like 'gritty'. But then I suppose it rather depends on your expectations. I still think in film terms, and I don't think anyone would have used gritty for any film that was as smooth as a D2X is at 400. Maybe Barney has become used to the Canon look, and and so has a different frame of reference. It's only to be expected that there will be subjective differences between things like these. As long as we're all happy with our own preferences. :-)
BTW, on my trip last month I did a lot of low-light stuff, and even found myself shooting the D2X at Hi 2 on one occasion, or the equivalent of ISO3200. That's undeniably gritty, but it's certainly no worse than pushing something like HP5 to 3200, and I'd say frankly a good deal better - perfectly usable anyway. But here's the thing - usable for the sort of thing that suits 'gritty'. I was shooting in a very dimly lit bar, and that sort of thing is just fine when it's gritty. Landscape or portraiture, for instance, would obviously be another matter. And I'm sure those who have to shoot sports under artificial stadium or arena lighting would find a 1D II or III must better suited to their needs.
--------------------
Huw Evans.
   
|
huwevans
Old Hand
Reged: 05/08/2000
Posts: 15557
Loc: Dorset, UK
|
|
Quote:
Ok, the first subscriber AP's should have thudded onto the mat this morning. Who has read the D3 test and rushed out to order one?
I haven't read the test yet (it has arrived - I just haven't had time to read it), but I already knew I wanted a D3, and preferably two of them. Sadly I can only afford zero of them right now, so no - I've not been rushing to order anything. :-(
--------------------
Huw Evans.
|
Learning
Ethelred the Ill-Named
Reged: 26/09/2006
Posts: 2465
Loc: Nottingham
|
|
Perhaps grittiness is relative. Barney had been using the D3 for long enough to write a review, and forget how everyone thought about the D2x before it was superceeded.
|
Carrie
journeywoman
Reged: 31/01/2006
Posts: 635
Loc: England
|
|
Quote:
I already knew I wanted a D3, and preferably two of them. Sadly I can only afford zero of them right now,
It's the most positive review that I can remember reading, but sadly I'm in the same boat
--------------------
Carrie
Proud to be FRIPN
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. (George Bernard Shaw)
|
Rhys
Sasquatch
Reged: 15/01/2004
Posts: 3373
Loc: York (home of the speedbump)
|
|
I've only just been able to afford an old used D1x - maybe 10 years wait for me for one (unless my numbers come up)
Nice to read about it though.. 
--------------------
NRIPN (Officially Nuts..)
RGMP.co.uk (My Website.. getting there at last.)
Benchinistas.org.uk The home of Benchism
|
Devjon
member
Reged: 21/10/2005
Posts: 114
Loc: Poole
|
|
Well, a few years back I helped my son out of a financial hole he had dug for himself. It was all put down to experience and thankfully a lesson well learned.
Last year he fell on his feet with a job that pays him really well, and last month out of the blue he paid me back. Enough for a D3 + 24-70 2.8.
I am sorely tempted but do not feel that I am experienced or accomplished enough to do justice to the new Nikon, it will not make me a better photographer, then I think perhaps it's Kharma and I should treat myself!
--------------------
" Only the seagulls were at Malin Head "
|
IvorETower
Little Buttercup
Reged: 15/11/2006
Posts: 1793
Loc: Camberley, Surrey
|
|
Yes, but it's a lot of money to spend on a camera and if your livelihood doesn't depend on taking photos, how on earth can you justify it? Heck it's bad enough for me ....I'd settle for a D300 but even if I had a spare £1200, I would think seriously about blowing it on a camera. I felt bad enough about spending close to £700 on a D80 kit earlier this year
--------------------
Too many cameras, too many lenses.......
|
Devjon
member
Reged: 21/10/2005
Posts: 114
Loc: Poole
|
|
You are absolutely right, I can think of a lot of other ways to use the money, if I earned my living from Photography It would just be kit for the job and perhaps would not have the appeal that it does to an amateur. I suppose it is a bit like my use of a Lathe with all the extra digital read outs that I use at work, I don't give it a second thought but have friends who are hobbyists and have small lathes in their sheds and drool about the one I use at work. 
--------------------
" Only the seagulls were at Malin Head "
|
barney britton
AP Technical Writer
Reged: 15/01/2007
Posts: 148
|
|
Quote:
Maybe Barney has become used to the Canon look, and and so has a different frame of reference. It's only to be expected that there will be subjective differences between things like these. As long as we're all happy with our own preferences. :-)
When I describe the D2Xs as 'gritty' above ISO 400, I am, inevitably, comparing it chiefly to the D3. If you go through the channels with a D2Xs image you'll see obvious noise at these settings although - of course - what's acceptable in normal use is an entirely subjective matter.
|
huwevans
Old Hand
Reged: 05/08/2000
Posts: 15557
Loc: Dorset, UK
|
|
I'll grant that if you separate the channels noise is more noticeable - especially (and inevitably) in the blue channel under tungsten lighting. Though in practice in the full colour image this seldom shows itself anywhere near as obtrusively.
I certainly wouldn't give the D2X any prizes for low noise, but I would contend that it's still a lot better at higher ISOs than the best equivalent colour film was, and I'm 'quids in' in that respect.
Here's a recent typical ISO400 D2X shot. It doesn't prove anything, but it does at least show what I consider to be acceptable.
And just for good measure, an ISO1600 shot (well, 'Hi-1') from the same plain vanilla D2X (I think the 's' is supposed to be slightly better). I can live with it anyway. And now I think I'll shut up before I talk myself out of wanting a D3. ;-)
--------------------
Huw Evans.
|
parisian
Over the hill and far away...
Reged: 10/02/2002
Posts: 7758
Loc: Môn mam cymru
|
|
As you say Huw, more than simply acceptable and I agree, better than most film at those sensitivities.
I think there is a danger of photographs becoming too 'clean' and looking false at least to those amongst us who are still (in our minds) film orientated.
--------------------
Hells pensioner - born to be mild
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
