Nikon D100 Digital Camera

There are some good reviews of the D100 on epinions. Howard Creech s is very comprehensive, for example. Rather than rehashing a perfectly fine review, I ll try to approach this review from the perspective of a F100 or F5 owner. Which is, in my theory, probably the type of user that is considering spending the money for a D100.

The D100, contrary to what Nikon says, is basically a N80 with a digital back. I owned a N80 briefly and while I enjoyed it and thought it was a good unit, the controls were too small and it didn t focus fast enough for my use. As such, I ve owned a F100 exclusively until my purchase of the D100.

The D100 has the same control layout and same buttons as the N80 with the addition of a digital back. Some minor changes to the controls have been done, but more or less it s the same. The good news for F5 and F100 owners is that you ll be able to operate the D100 with little to no referrals of the owner manual. The bad news, however, is that the buttons, like on the N80, are too small and are sometimes difficult to operate due to their size. While this isn t enough to warrant the D100 for a bad review it should be taken into consideration. I m bigger than most people, but my hands are only marginally larger and I still have problems with some of the buttons. For example, the switch to change the metering is really small and even though I know where it is I have to take my eye away from the viewfinder and complete the operation, this is only due to the size of the switch as I can accomplish this without removing my eye from the viewfinder on my F100. The same holds true for other operations such as bracketing. For $2,000 dollars I would have liked Nikon to put the D100 is a F100 body, but you can t have it all, I guess.

The focus speed on the D100 is adequate, but it s nowhere near the F100 and/or the F5. It works for my photography needs, but sports photographers, for example, may find it too slow. To support the argument that the D100 is not a N80 some people claim the D100 focuses faster than the N80. This is not the case. Rather Nikon has finally turned the Closest Subject Priority off as the default and, as such, focus speeds are faster. Either way, if focus speed is a priority for a camera the D100 isn t a speed demon in this regard.

Other minor complaints are things like the door that houses the media; this piece of plastic is way too flimsy and Nikon should have known better as you ll find yourself opening and closing it to load your media. Additionally, while we re on media, I have no idea what Nikon was thinking by making the media transfer via USB. USB is far inferior to Firewire and even though the D100 is prosumer camera it s still 2 grand. At that price I want something that can move my files in a decent timeframe and USB simply will not suffice. Trust me, you ll get bored out of your skull moving 4 hi-res Jpeg files never mind a gigs worth of RAW files.

Having said all this, there are some great features in this camera and some of them are thanks to the fact that it borrows from the N80. On demand grid lines are a fantastic feature that was once found only in the N80. The D100 has them as well. The controls for the digital back have borrowed from lessons learned on the D1 series and are now near perfect. Additionally, the control knob is a great way to switch, for example, from shutter priority to aperture priority.

The most important question, however, is how do pictures turn out?

In a word: great. Even after all I ve said, the quality of the image is what matters the most and this is where the D100 shows it s true colors (no pun intended). The images look fantastic and at 6.1 megapixles they print out beautifully. I use an Epson 2000p for my prints and an 8x10 comes out perfect. I m very happy. As we all know, digital SRLs allow you to preview your images immediately. One thing that s also nice is they have white balance. This is like filters, except you don t have to buy them and put them on your lens and then have to worry you have the right size and color. For example, any basic photography class will teach you that an 80A filter (i.e., blue) is usually used to 'cool' light when you want to use daylight balanced film under tungsten light (i.e., light bulbs inside). I m not sure about you, but I never got around to purchasing an 80a filter. Well on the D100 and other digital cameras you have white balances that balance out the light so you re ensured to get the picture you want regardless of most-common filters. The even better benefit is that if you shoot in RAW mode, you can change the white balance on the computer. This is good because the auto white balance feature doesn t always work perfectly, however, if you shoot in RAW, no worries because you can switch it later. Additionally, the ability to change the ISO setting at anytime is a very big plus. The D100 goes all the way to ISO 6400. In my tests I found acceptable results up to ISO 800 and if you have to 1600. At 3200 and 6400 you get a lot of noise (i.e., the digital equivalent of grain), but, hey, it s there if you need it. I also found that the built-in anti-noise software for long, dark exposures is near perfect. For years digital lacked in this area, but clearly a lot of ground has been made and night exposures with the D100 are plenty acceptable for me. Still, film still has far more latitude and the colors are richer (contingent you re using the right film). However, processing costs and having to wait are frustrating and expensive and thus the benefits of digital, for me, outweigh the advantages of film for 90% of my needs. Therefore, I will be keeping my F100 and using it as my go-to camera for my highest-profile sessions. Additionally, and this should go without saying, any user, digital or film, should invest in a good set of lenses first. Good glass always makes the picture.

So, should you make the jump to digital and specifically the D100? That s a question only you can answer. I would argue that the D100 is a really good second camera, specifically a second camera to a F5 or F100 and is best used when the situation warrants. It s not a pro body, but it s sufficient and does a good job. Nikon came pretty dang close to giving us a perfect unit.

Look for a more comprehensive review and sample pictures on my personal site at http://mcquown.org