Nikon D2H - Still competitive?

[Welly]

But what you seem to be ignoring is the fact that photographers who shot with the D1, D2h or early versions of the Canon 1D and other low megapixel DSLRs actually printed and seemed to have no issue with printing large images with a low megapixel camera. Billboard photos have been shot with 4 megapixel (and lower) cameras.

Why do I need better ISO performance? Because I do a regular monthly event shoot in very low light and I simply need that low light performance. Pro photographers who shot low light images with D2h cameras must have been shooting with fast lenses which I can't afford. When I bought this camera, I weighed up the pros/cons of buying expensive lenses or a camera body which let me shoot clean high iso images and financially, the body made more sense.

[agun]

You are ignoring the fact that the market is now requesting higher resolution files than they did a few years ago.

PS: Billboards don't need to be that high in resolution because you rarely see them up close and can be composed of many pictures and text.

[Welly]

I'm not ignoring it at all. I'm questioning the need for them when I'd wager most images these days are viewed on a screen (tv or computer through a web browser) and publication sizes are getting smaller and being printed less.

This is particularly the case of the compact camera market when I bet hardly any photos are printed and go straight onto facebook. And if they are printed, they'll be printed at 5x7 or 6x4 from the local automated supermarket 10c a printout booth.

[Kenneth Skou]

I think it's a very smart approach to do a real in-depth assessment, before spending thousands and thousands of dollars worth of camera bodies.

More pixels offer some opportunities and some drawbacks all at the same time. What value to attach to that is entirely personal.

I've always lusted after a FF 6MP camera, using modern sensor technology and super-sized photosites. Sadly it doesn't exist because of the often mindless race for higher pixels.

But there is more to the equation than pixels. The modern sensors encompass a much wider dynamic range than the 4-6 MP cameras of old.

Is the D2H still "competitive" ? Heck yeah! - in the rights hands, it is.
It has all the conveniences of a top-end camera with external control, fast everything, near-bullet proof chassis etc. etc. And, it's also now very inexpensive. Practical ISO range may be less than the top-end cams of today, but for the difference you can buy a lot of quality glass and a couple of strobes to go with it.

When you stop thinking of the body alone, but look at what you can get as a system for a fixed budget, it is very likely that you will have more versatility by spending less money on an older body and buying other stuff to go with it. And you can still upgrade as often as everyone else...just some years later. Soon the D2 and D2X will cost the same as the D2H and 5 years from now, the D3 will be just as dirt-cheap.

And if you really NEED to have high pixel count, buy an F5 or F6 and a quality slide scanner and blow everyone away. you can still use all the same quality glass and lighting options from your D2H.

From a very pragmatic point of view, I think that my older D40 takes better images (in my hands) than my newer D300. I stick with the D300 for "serious" stuff due to the convenience and I am seriously thinking about getting a D2X.

Show some more of those great D2H images, will ya ?

Cheers!

[Welly]

I'm actually planning on picking one of these up sometime in the near future as you can get them for around $500. Which is roughly the same price as or actually less than a new mh-21 battery charger and en-el4 battery here in NZ, which I plan to use with my D700 and battery grip. So I'll get a battery and charger and a free camera with it!

[Citruspers]

I'd say about 90% of my pictures are shot with my D2H. I brought both cameras with me on my vacation, and never even touched the D90....

The dynamic range is also something I started considering. It is not as big as the DR of my d90, but I can work around that by exposing for the sky. I don't mind a bit of noise in the shadows, it doesn't really bother me.

[Ruben123]

I hate noise, but I love old dSLRs:)

Problems?

[Citruspers]

Not if you shoot at base ISO all the time

[Ruben123]

20% of the time I shoot astrophotos
And for that I use thte 1600 ISO setting, but the 350D has very low noise, compared to my bridgecamera.

[Malo1961]

Hi, my name is Martin and new to this forum. I will introduce myself properly on the introduction page but just had to share these words.
Call it coincidence or whatever.......I just ordered a second hand D2H in mint condition which will arrive in about 10 days. The reason I ordered it?
Citruspers mentioned them all in his opening post. BTW.....I am from The Netherlands also After finalizing this buy I decided to google Nikon D2H.
Auto-fill showed Nikon D2H still competitive as the first option. And guess what I stumbled upon ? Anyway.....reason enough for me to register as a new member directly.
So.....thank you Marijn. You just made my day.

Martin.

[Citruspers]

You're welcome Martin!
And nice to see another Dutchy here

[Malo1961]

Thanks Marijn. I will be without a camera for about 10 days, so I have all the time to do a lot of reading here. Hope you don't mind if I ask you some D2H specific questions, I needed.

[jameswilby5]

Thanks for the review Citruspers. I love image number 3. I also looked at the canon equivalent which is the 1d mk 1 or 2.

[Citruspers]

Of course Malo, go for it!
I can also give you a link to the manual, which should make the wait a bit more bearable: http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers ... hotography

You're welcome james, and thanks!

I should probably update the thread with some new pictures. Some pretty cool stuff came out of it.

[RexGig]

Thanks for posting this! I like your images. You prompted me to look into reconditioned D2H and D2Hs cameras, and on my budget, I like what I am finding.