In 1999, Nikon released the D1 to the market as the first DSLR with a semi-affordable price. Prior to the D1, DSLRs had been film bodies with small sensors installed and very large battery packs. The Nikon D1, in a way, was no different as the camera was built on the F5 chassis and the internals have residual film-era DNA such as moldings for film a cassette and take-up cylinder. The batteries were large, and today the conversion for them relies on 18650 batteries. And the D1 was also heavy, built to physically withstand the harshness of professional use. The electronics, too, could withstand whatever was thrown their way. The batteries, not so much. And today the batteries are the most significant issue with using a D1. Converting a D1 battery pack to 18650 can be done, and is frankly the only hope these cameras have for a life going forward.
And due to age, and its status as a trailblazer, and having been developed at a time when no one truly knew what a DSLR should or could be, the D1 has some quirks. Some of the D1’s quirks make it a joy to shoot - The viewfinder is incredible given the specs, the fastest shutter speed of 1/16,000th is superb for freezing motion, the colors are fantastic owing to the sensor using four-pixel binning clusters to create each image pixel, the sharpness punches way above the 2.624-megapixel level, and the camera writes slowly and underruns the buffer frequently which forces the user to slow down and think deliberately about their images. Those elements of the camera, they have aged well and least make it fun to use today.
Some quirks have not aged well - using any ISO beyond 200 adds unpalatable digital noise (which can only really be hidden with a black and white image conversion); the camera cannot be turned off while writing images to the CF card or every image following the one you’re writing will be lost, even with a quick power cycle; the batteries are heavy, expensive, and last at most 120 shots under ideal conditions; when batteries age and die they send the wrong amount of power to the camera and it only records plain-white or dead black images or simply sensor amp glow regardless of the settings being correct or not; and finding the equipment needed to make one of these run (specifically batteries, a charger, and small CF cards) will be far more expensive than the camera’s image results justify.
So using a Nikon D1 today, and really at any point in the future after today, makes no practical or financial sense except for eccentrics, hobbyists, fools, and people who dreamt of one of these when they were new but couldn’t afford them. Right? Well, not really. The D1 is an incredible tool for digital photographers who want to learn patience. Like film cameras, like large format cameras though not to the same degree, the D1 needs a slower pace and a slower workflow. Spending time composing your images in your mind is a mandatory practice when using the D1 successfully. And the digital noise at any sensitivity faster than the camera’s native sensor sensitivity of 200 ISO introduces color distortions and shadow detail loss that today’s image viewers would find unpalatable. And in all likelihood when this camera was introduced that was the case, too, with high-ISO images being reserved for black and white conversion for newsprint work.
The D1 will teach you about precision in your exposures and your settings because any variation from precision will impair or destroy your images. The exposure bubble which results in usable images with the D1 is small. My newest digital cameras, as I write this script, are the Pentax K-1 and Sony A7S II. They are far from the newest cameras on the market, too. The K-1’s images have more image adjustment latitude in raw editing than Photoshop CS6 can provide. The A7S II at high ISOs functions better than many cameras made in the five or so years after it do at mid-level ISOs. Those cameras are easy to use, especially compared to the D1. It’s the difference between using a Tesla Model S in self-drive mode and a 1960s muscle car with a gated shifter and no power steering.
But the Nikon D1, it will teach you about photography. That’s what these old cameras do. Modern cameras are like eager busybodies that want to do everything for you, provide unlimited editing flexibility such that a photographer need not poses much or any skill at crafting an exposure, and they keep the secrets of how the image is taken for themselves. Old cameras, they want to pass on their knowledge, pass on a piece of the era in which they were made, and do so in a manner that requires the user to have or learn photographic skill. And the Nikon D1 maintains that, something that I believe very few if any cameras after it do, at least to the same degree.
#NikonD1 #NikonD1Review #NikonD1DSLR
Video 1, Interface:
• Nikon D1 Video 1: Inte...
Video 2, Operation:
• Nikon D1 Video 2: Oper...
Video 3, Menus and Custom Functions:
• Nikon D1 Video 3: Cust...
Негізгі бет Тәжірибелік нұсқаулар және стиль Nikon D1 Review & Sample Photos: Can a 2.6-megapixel DSLR from 1999 Hold its own Twenty Years Later?
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