NIKON D2H Pro Digital SLR Camera ( Body Only )

Rating:
Summary: A loser in most every way
Review: Good: Motor drive speed. Grip feel. Takes Nikon lenses. Reacts fast to pressing the shutter release.

Bad: Skin tone renditions a color other than skin. White balance doesn't balance well. Noise at anything above ISO 200, looks like 3200. CF card door tough to open. Screen fogs if you breathe when you shoot. Battery cover is not part of the battery. Button placement not as intuitive as on the D100. 4.1MP allows for virtually no cropping of enlargements.

Dumped mine a month after I got it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent gear
Review: I have been working for a major daily newspaper in Baltimore for 2 decades. Perhaps that will qualify me as an expert in photography. I have been shooting digital imagery since the late 1990s. Maybe that qualifies me as an expert in digital photography. This may be long- winded, but it's extensive and can be useful.

I received the Nikon D2H camera -- 2 bodies total -- over one year ago. I think I got them shortly after the D2H system was released in 2003. Since then, I have used them to shoot images of all types -- documentary, sports, daytime, available light, flash, and dead- of- night -- for the paper I work for. This is the only camera I work with.

First, please read the manual. There is a ton of information there, and the information is terrific to begin with. The D2H is highly- configurable, with screen after screen that you can set for your own specific use (resist lending the camera to anyone for a long period of time, for your camera may be returned with many of your settings changed so much that it acts like a thoroughly different camera).

I'll just punch right in to the way it feels. The camera is a rather heavy beast, and for some, there can be an amount of shoulder or neck fatigue when using it for hours per day, like I do. But the camera feels well in hand and the controls are easy to move through. I've long since given up using any camera bag. All I have are a fanny pack for a 14mm, 55mm, teleconverters and 2 extra camera batteries and flashes clipped to its belt. And the D2H's hold the 17-35mm Nikon and the 80-200mm Nikon one- touch or the Sigma 120-300mm 2- touch.

Shooting is a breeze. The batteries let you shoot long before the need to recharge. I have my D2H set on ISO 200 or 400 most of the time and sacrifice shutter speed for lower ISO as often as I can, because the higher ISOs bring digital noise and a loss in color saturation. Just today, I purchased digital noise plug ins for Photoshop to limit this, and that's a wonderful thing to invest in with this camera when you must shoot action photography with no flash at ISO 800 and above.

I now have little problems with capturing images in even barely- limited lighting. I recently shot stars and a plane wing from my seat of an Airbus at 36,000 feet over the Pacific at 30 seconds wide open @ f/ 2.8, and it looks tons better than night shots via the D1H, which lacked the internal digital noise filter. That filter kicks in at around 1/2 second and longer exposures, and can make you wait as long as your image you've shot to strip your long exposure of much of the digital noise. When you shoot this way (and in general), don't simply react by cranking up ISO because you will not be happy with your results.

The camera can be loud. At over 7 frames per second, it can make you obvious in a quiet room. Shooting sensitive situations can be testy, so limit your shooting to single frames. I wish this camera had an option to silence this camera, but since the mirror has to raise and lower, there's no chance to do this.

Am I happy with the D2H? Definitely, yes. Are there improvements that can be made? Yes. But the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. People have been bailing out of using the Nikon system and going Canon, which has some incredible gear, I won't deny that. But instead of simply giving up on your system of equipment, learn how to use the D2H well and you'll be much happier than ever. And that means you should push its qualities to the max while respecting its limitations.

For instance, white balance. This can be the best thing for you, or the worst thing you've ever dealt with, depending upon how you approach it. Daylight, grey skies, dusk and dawn are easy, because you can set the camera to daylight, flash, shadow (for dusk and dawn times) and even the fluorescent and incandescent tend to be right in the ballpark. But the horrible mixed light or the street lamps that glow blue/green or orange- red from mercury vapor can be the death of an image if you don't properly use white balance. Preset white balance is king, here. I can get grey, black and white when I preset in mercury vapor light. And I used the preset for any light that the auto white balance setting can't figure. There is also a setting to dial in kelvin temps as well! If you do this (and I can go on for miles here), you're on your way. So, with trying this D2H, or considering it, read through some of the digital D2H forums and ignore the posts that slam the camera without giving instances. Generally, those who pan the camera have not tried to understand it. I can bang off images to disprove where they suggest this camera will fail. When you have decent light, you'll have a decent image. But when you try to use it without learning how you can maximize the system, you will come about shooting images that are terrible and unprintable.

In closing, I have not been paid by anyone, I have no Nikon stock and have no outside interest in writing this except that I'm giving the D2H credit where it's long overdue.

Rating:
Summary: Great Camera
Review: I ordered this camera in December, have had it since then, and it an amazing camera. First time I have ever had professional camera, and it takes time to learn how to use it. It is not a point and shoot camera. If you want large pictures and like to crop, this may not be the camera for you. However if you want the ability to take great pictures, and learn how to use a professional camera at a great price this is the one to buy.

Ability to have custom curves, which means to have predetermined parameters for different conditions. Ability to chage ISO at random for different conditions. You can pay five thousand dollars for its successor, the Dx2, however for $2000 this is a bargin that you will never find again.

Jim Comfort

Rating:
Summary: A Solid Camera at a great price
Review: I've had my D2H for 9 months now. I've heard of the magenta skin tones issue but have never seen it..skin tones on my unit are great. It seems this issue plagued a minority of users.

Camera is very fast, exposes well and delivers results. It's primarily designed to be a sports and Photojournalism camera -- for situations where speed counts. It's a 4 megapixel wonder -- it's true it only has 4 megapixels, but they are 4 GREAT megapixels. Images upsize wonderfully.

I love my unit, and am debating whether to buy a second one as a backup, or wait for the D2X. The price of the D2x is making that decision a bit easier and I'm leaning toward another D2H.

Rating:
Summary: Overpriced even at closeout price
Review: This camera will probably go down in Nikon's history as one of its most over-priced and disappointing cameras. I bought mine through Amazon from Calumet in January 2003. From the start, the colors never looked right, especially the ghastly magenta-toned skin tones. I also bought the SB800s (3 of them), thinking the CLS would be a great addition. But the system uses IR and is unreliable in any situation except very tight environments.

The camera has a wonderful feel, viewfinder and reasonably good controls. But the results are disappointing. The sensor is undersized for this class of camera and considering what its competition (Canon) offers. Nikon finally realized this and on Dec. 13 decided to dump all these cameras by lowering the price $1,200. It just so happened mine was in Melville, N.Y., with a long list of issues to be repaired while it was still under warranty. These include bad AF performance since upgrading to V2 of the firmware, bad color, overexposure, blurry images with the VR lens and inconsistent color balance from frame to frame even when using a preset value.

I would strongly suggest that you don't buy this camera and thereby reward Nikon for producing an inferior product originally sold at a ridiculous price for what it offers. Indeed, forget Nikon and go to Canon.