Bulbs for the spring.
The gardening crew at Filoli – 14 regulars and no fewer than 300 volunteers – gets to work early, planting bulbs for next spring:
Ever wonder how they get things in those serried rows? You place a plank on the moist soil to provide a template, just so:
Snapped on the D2X on the Nikkor 200mm MF and 35-70mm AFD, respectively.
Some snaps.
Part II appears here.
The only thing not to like about the Nikon D2X is the bulk and weight. Hold it your eye for more than a few seconds and fatigue-induced shakes set in. Neither the body nor the classic era lenses I prefer were built with plastic. We are talking a lot of brass and alloys here and that makes for weight.
I took the body and three Nikon lenses – the current 16-35mm VR f/4 G, the twenty year old 35-70mm f/2.8 AFD and the forty-year old 200mm f/4 Nikkor-Q MF with a CPU installed to Filoli to catch the last days before the house and grounds close for the season. With the body set to center point focus and aperture priority enabled, with center weighted auto exposure, I found it a delight to shoot in portrait mode, owing to the provision of the second shutter release and the auxiliary control dials – the latter needed for the G lens. For the AFD and manual lenses I have the body set to permit use of the lens’ aperture ring. The G has no aperture ring so a control dial on the body must be used.
Here are a few of those snaps from yesterday:
Orchard.
End of season. The fallow plots await new bulbs.
Last growth.
These decorative urns are everywhere.
The Bonsai garden.
The alley.
Planter.
The Conservatory.
Despite its massive complexity and versatility, once set to your preferred mode of shooting using the D2X is child’s play. If you can lift it, that is.
A few comments on the sensor. I have long found that the sweet spot for most of my pictures is an ISO 400 setting. Fast enough to mitigate camera shake but not so fast as to destroy image quality. That held in the days of TriX monochrome film with Leicas, with the superb sensor in the original Canon 5D, in the Nikon D700, and in both my Panasonics – the G1 and G3. The D2X is in the same class. At ISO 400 noise in dark areas is just becoming noticeable in a 24″ print if you get too close. Large areas of continuous tone, like skies, show very fine, even grain at those enlargement ratios. And while the D700 is the best as regards noise suppression, owing to the large photosites used in the sensor, the earlier sensor in the D2X does not disappoint.
I have read some comments which have it that the D2X’s sensor is not usable at ISO 400. I can only think writers of this tripe are either technically clueless or spend their days pixel peeping. That’s just arrant nonsense. 36″ x 48″ prints from this sensor at ISO 400 are easily accomplished. Here are my Import Preset settings in Lightroom 4:
Lightroom 4 import settings for RAW files from the D2X.
The clock tower at Filoli – section of a 36″ x 48″ print, ISO 400, 35-70mm f/2.8 AFD Nikkor at f/4.
Grain and sensor noise? Get real.
Pay no heed to the fact that the lens profile refers to the D700 in the above screenshot – that’s what I named it. In practice, lens profiles are lens – not sensor – specific, and any of my D700 full frame profiles works equally well with the D2X or any other APS-C Nikon body. Remember that for a lens to be automatically recognized it must have a CPU fitted. One comes stock on Nikon AFD and G lenses (and even on some modern Zeiss Nikon-mount optics), but requires manual labor to install on older lenses. The alternative of remembering to set the ‘Non CPU’ lens variable in the camera’s Shooting Menu is near useless, as you will forget to do so the minute you first change lenses. This is a huge plus of installing CPUs on older pre-Ai (once adapted), Ai and Ai-S lenses. If you prefer spending time in LR or PS manually correcting distortions and vignetting because the application does not know which lens was used and hence which correction profile should be applied, that’s your choice. The few minutes it takes to install a CPU is repaid the first time you use the lens and save time at the processing stage.
Trade offs? Well, the APS-C sized sensor make all your lenses 50% longer. That might be a feature at the long end, but it is a curse for wides. A 16mm ultrawide becomes a more modest 24mm, the sensor only using the central part of the image cast by the lens. On the other hand, that central part is very much the cream of the crop definition and distortion wise, so what you lose in coverage you gain in definition. Where the D2X (and probably its later descendants, the D3 and D4) excel is in handling. The ergonomics are superb, the machine clearly designed with input from working photographers. Everything falls to hand, buttons are there in lieu of frustrating LCD choices for commonly used settings and the machine is built like the proverbial tank. Unlike that tank it is very fast indeed and wonderfully quiet, almost as quiet as a G3 despite the far greater capabilities.
Highly recommended, especially at the price, for someone who wants the last word in robustness at the price of a prosumer entry DSLR made of the purest plastic. Unlike that wonder, the D2X can handily double as a weapon in times of need. A good clunk on the assailant’s head will render him unconscious and you can still get his mug shot with the weapon you just used.
There’s a strong case to be made that the D700 is perfect for the wide-angle user whereas the D2X, owing to its superior ergonomics, excels with longer lenses.
Some settings.
Part I appears here.
First things first. Now that my pristine Nikon D2X has arrived, courtesy of a fastidious original lady owner, I immediately installed an Upstrap to make sure it felt comfortable when worn. Not surprisingly, the ghastly ‘Nikon’ emblazoned strap which came with the camera was unused – it’s rubberized on one side only and you become an unpaid advertiser when using it. Upstrap is the way to go – the SLR-LT/SLRN non-Kevlar model is what is called for.
Second, a quick check of the firmware confirmed that Version 1.01 was installed. A download of the two BIN files from the Nikon USA site to the root directory of the CF card, a couple of button presses and two minutes and Version 2.0 was up and running. Advantages?
Nikon D2X firmware version 2.0:
Non-trivial enhancements, as you can see. The only surprise here is that the original owner did not do this!
I popped an SDHC 8GB Lexar CF card in and recharged the battery, which the camera states is some half way through its useful life. The D2X was made before SDHC high-speed transfer technology was available, so write times are not reduced with an SDHC card in the camera, but read times in a USB3.0 card reader most certainly are when loading the images into Lightroom or Photoshop. And with the body’s large multiple-shot buffer, write times are not a major concern. In my D700 the 8GB card will store 302 RAW images; in the D2X that rises to 386. Nice.
As expected, the weight of the body, despite its increased bulk, is little different from that of the full frame D700.
As long time readers know I own many old MF Nikkor lenses from what I consider to be the golden age of manufacturing, and have modified all of these by adding a CPU. To confer aperture control on the aperture ring of lenses thus modified (and also for AFD lenses which come with a CPU) the related setting is found in Custom Setting Menu->f – Controls->f6 Command Dials->Aperture setting->Aperture ring->OK. Phew! You can now change the aperture on manual and AFD lenses using the aperture ring on the lens. That’s how cameras used to be and that’s how I like mine. If you elect to use my
As usual, I turn Image Review off. If I need to chimp the image on the built-in LCD it’s to check the histogram, and that only in challenging lighting.
The GPS unit and sender set forth here for use on the D700 works better with the D2X, the D700’s 70% hit rate rising to over 90% with the D2x.. Latitude, longitude, altitude and UTC time are all faithfully recorded in the file.
A quick reset (two green buttons at the rear base held for 2 seconds) restarted frame numbering from zero, the body having some 22,500 actuations on it when received. In other words, as these things go, it’s a baby. You really must avoid pros’ beaters when searching out one of these.
Autofocus with AFD lenses is slightly (subjectively) faster than with the D700 – the D2X stops the focus first time whereas the D700 sometimes goes past the optimum focus point then retraces. But practically there’s little to choose. Both are breathtakingly fast, and the older AFD lenses which use the ‘screwdriver’ lenses focus mechanism are nicely suited to the powerful focus motor in the body of the D2X. I only own one Nikon G lens, the 16-35mm VR f/4 which uses the more modern linear in-lens focus motor, and this locks autofocus even faster than the AFD lenses I use. The G lens may be set in awful resin, but the technology delivers. On the AF-C D2X, the 16-35mm focal length range computes to an FFE of 24-52mm, a handy range for street snappers. Couple that with the 35-70mm AFD (FFE of 52-105mm) and you have a powerful ‘around-the-world’ outfit.
A quick tweak on the eyepiece adjuster saw things nice and sharp in the finder. Subjectively the finder in the D2X is one stop brighter than the one in the much newer D700. The D700 projects a larger, warmer image with the 1.2x magnifier I use. Removed, the two are near identical, though the D2X has a smaller sensor. Unmagnified, the D2X’s finder is just right – there’s no need for the eye to scan around for data. Both bodies present a wonderfully uncluttered image area through their respective finders. Best of all, the Nikon Eyepiece Magnifier fits perfectly and makes the viewfinder into a true state of the art focus and composition aid. Highly recommended, especially with fast and/or long lenses.
The focus confirmation light, used with manual focus lenses, is more decisive than in the D700 – there’s less stuttering around the optimum focus point, but I am splitting hairs here. If you use my lens correction profiles (click on Sitemap, above), these will require no changes for the smaller APS-C sensor.
The D2X has one useful feature missing from prosumer bodies like the D700. A button at the lower rear allows recording of a voice memo of up to 60 seconds with an image. Very handy for, say, recording the name and email address of someone in a street snap when you want to send them an image later. It’s a nice thing to do for posed snaps and a handy feature to have.
Despite its increased bulk, the D2X handles better than the D700, owing to the duplicated dual command dials on the handgrip which make vertical operation a breeze – as long as you remember to flip the switch to enable the vertical shutter release! The shutter is noticeably quieter than in the D700, but the latter has a 3″ LCD compared to the 2.5″ on the D2X. If you are a big LCD user, that is not good.
Otherwise things are remarkably similar between the two bodies, despite the disparity in their ages. The EN-EL4 battery has a 1900mAH capacity meaning a whopping 1,500 images per charge (the later EN-EL4a is 2500mAH or 32% more shooting capacity). These batteries are awfully expensive but as there are so many tales of melting aftermarket ones, I bought a lightly OEM Nikon used spare. The EN-EL4a will not fit the D700 but will fit the D700 when equipped with the vertical hand grip. One more recharger to remember. For comparison the D700’s battery is 1500mAH.
In summary, I do not think you will complain about value for money when buying a used D2X. You can decide, based on this and subsequent articles here, if a used one makes sense for you. While I’m not a serial shooter, cranking the body up to maximum continuous shooting is quite something to behold – 8fps in cropped frame mode.
Overall impressions are of a body of quite immense solidity, perhaps subjectively better than even the massive and well made D700. At $650-800 for a lightly used non-pro ‘beater’ the D2X is a bargain if you can live with APS-C. Pay a little more for one with low actuations – the risk-reward is positive. The D2X will accept just about any Nikkor lens ever made, and older ones can be easily retrofitted with CPUs to modernize their data recording abilities.
Pictures in Part III, but of course there has to be the obligatory snap of Bert the Border Terrier to round out this piece!
Bertie. D2X, 85mm f/1.8 AFD, f/5.6, ISO 400.
Detail of the above. The spot autofocus center rectangle was used, locked with a first pressure on the shutter release.
A quick look at the first images from the D2X does prompt the question: Wither sensors? A friend sent me some uncompressed originals from his new Nikon D800 the other day, and encouraged me to pixel peep, meaning I was looking at display images which equalled print originals 10 feet in size. 10 feet! The rendering of detail, the absence of noise/grain/whatever were startling. Even at ISO1600 the results were special. But I cannot help wonder, in the real world, one where prints are dying and large LCDs are the default display medium viewed at a rational distance, who needs these insanely great sensors? For those who do not, and who are looking for value for their money, oldies but goodies like the D2X have an awful lot to offer. And you are not going to beat the framing rate or the vast choice of inexpensive manual focus optics.
And thank you, Christine, for a camera delivered in such fine condition!
Part III appears here.
It’s all been done before, generally better.
A friend sent me a piece on a London exhibit which documents the history of photo manipulation in pre-Photoshop times. When Content Aware Fill came to Photoshop a while back, allowing the near instant removal of obtruding elements in images, it was merely automating something image makers have been doing for thousands of years. That something is pleasing a client or finding the pantry bare on returning home. In reportage this is inexcusable but in all other fields of endeavor my reaction is ‘Have at It’. If it looks better, it sells the product or keeps a starving artist in bread and water.
Take a peek at any Raphael or Titian or Giorgione. The players are model perfect. The protagonists in Titian’s ‘Noli me Tangere‘ are straight from a latter day Hollywood. Perfect. Christ is out of a Ralph Lauren ad and Mary Magdalene has the classic profile of a Roman goddess, not that of the scrubber she really was.
But there were a couple of bad boys who really didn’t much care what the client thought and hewed to their own vision. Degas (1834 – 1917) is one and he was wealthy enough not to care about sales. The other, the shining example of the breed, was Caravaggio (1571 – 1610) and everything I have seen of his work suggests that he not only knew how good he was, he knew he was so good that it was his way or the highway. “You want pretty” I can hear him saying, “Buy a Raphael” (1483 – 1520). “You want real, here’s my bill”.
Let me step back. As the proverbial starving student in 1970s London, one of the great blessings of a Socialist administration – maybe the only blessing – was its conviction that free museum entry for anyone with a student card was a fundamental right. So thank you, Mr. Wilson, for the many free afternoons I spent in London’s National Gallery, arriving courtesy of a like-priced subway pass. And what was the primary cause of my many visits? What remains unquestionably the greatest image, nay, the greatest photographic image, of the Renaissance. Caravaggio’s ‘Supper at Emmaus’. (There’s another version in Milan. The London one is what you want).
Sure, the lighting is manipulated, the composition beyond perfect. But that’s where Madison Avenue stops.
The torn sleeve
The broken nose
The rotten fruit
And the faces were those of the working people the artist found on the street. No make-up or plastic surgery here. A painting like no other. Well, maybe excepting the few dozen other Caravaggios extant.
So while Joe Stalin though he was onto something years before Content Aware Fill, there really is little new under the sun.
I left the socialist’s English paradise behind in 1977 but feel for those poor students who now may never revel in Caravaggio’s masterpiece as they cannot afford the price of entry. Subsequent administrations put paid to free entry and of course, like all ‘conservatives’ with their Oxbridge degrees safely on the wall, they sought to deny others that which so mightily benefitted them. That seems to be a global belief of the greedy. Whether the Japanese, British or French leaders with their select degrees from the best schools, or their latter-day successors from Harvard and Yale, once they got theirs free they jolly well made sure you paid for yours.
There’s a lot for any photographer to learn from that bad boy Caravaggio.
A fine show at the CJM.
Sammy’s, New York, 1941. Photo by Lisette Model.
Once upon a time unobserved street photography, high angles, low angles, crazy angles, was unknown. Until, that is, the New York Photo League (1936-51) came along. From the Depression to the Red Scare, these New York photographers, mostly poor, mostly Jewish mostly left-wing, redefined how we see. So much so that whereas their work was shocking and new back then, today we think nothing of the unposed street snap which they popularised.
San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum has an outstanding show of some 150 original images taken by this group of photographers who changed how we see. It has just opened, runs through January 21, 2013, and is highly recommended for those of the street snapper persuasion.
