Re: Nikon D1

From: Sean Quinn
Date: 11/12/99
Time: 10:27:06 AM
Remote Name: 206.171.18.92

Comments

Top Ten Reasons Professional Photographers Prefer Kodak Professional DCS Cameras

Ever since Nikon’s much publicized announcement in February of their intent to build and market the D1 camera, there has been a considerable amount of speculation about how these cameras would actually perform – not on a spec sheet, but in the real world. Now that the first production units of the D1 are slowly leaking to the market, the value of Kodak Professional DCS cameras – Real Cameras Proven in the Real World – becomes even clearer. With apologies to late-night television, the following are the Top Ten Reasons professional photographers will prefer Kodak Professional DCS cameras to the Nikon D1:

10. Access to Custom Functions - Words vs. Numbers
Custom functions on a Kodak Professional DCS camera is done via the LCD screen on the back of the camera: just scroll through the list of text options and choose the feature you want to activate. Access to custom functions on a D1 camera is done by picking one of 28 functions – by number – and then selecting an associated numeric setting. Which would you rather do in the field – choose from a list of words, or try to remember if setting 3 of Mode #18 changes the bracketing order or locks the mirror up for cleaning the CCD? Or was that setting 1 of Mode #8?
This is true of the 3xx, 5xx and 6xx series cameras. Kodak has done a nice job of taking some of the confusing settings from the body of the camera and making them very user friendly on the LCD screens of the newer DCS cameras. However, this was not always the case. Previous versions of the Pro DCS Cameras did not pull custom features of the camera body into the Kodak engineered portion of the camera. Like any other camera on the market, the Nikon D1's controls are different and require adequate acquaintance before usage in demanding situations. From my understanding, anyone that is familiar with the Nikon F5 or the F100 should find the D1's controls to be very similar (basic camera functions).

9. Sound Recording
All DCS cameras come complete with a built-in microphone to allow descriptive information to be associated with each captured image. Photojournalists who try to work with the D1 will find this key feature missing – pushing them back to the days of notepads and looking for scraps of paper to document their shots.
Although the sound annotations of the Pro DCS Cameras is a "neat" feature, I have not often actually used it (other than testing). I am sure others have found this to be a useful feature, but I wouldn't think this is a major concern to most potential buyers of the Nikon D1.

8. Expandability and Image Storage Options
All Kodak DCS cameras come complete with dual PC Card Type II slots, allowing a myriad of storage options. Need high capacity? Use a 1-Gigabyte Type III storage card, and store over 500 full resolution shots on one disk. Note: Although high capacity Type III PC Hard Drive Cards are supported by the Kodak DCS Cameras, it is important to consider the data loss risk factor. A wise practice is to use several smaller cards (solid state is more durable) thereby limiting the number of images at risk from a single card failure. Conversely, if data is lost to a PC Card Hard Drive crash, there is a good chance that much of the data can be recovered. With that said, the writer's point is taken, Kodak DCS Cameras allow the user to choose which storage media they prefer, depending on the situation at hand.
Need robustness? Load your camera up with one or two solid-state cards and don’t worry about running to catch that shot – or getting pushed and bumped along the way.   Note: Two slot card usage is now supported with the recent release of version 3 firmware.
Looking for variety? DCS cameras can be used with almost every camera storage medium available today: Compact Flash, PC Card Type I, II and III, IBM MicroDrive – even the Sony Memory Stick. Want additional features? Put a GPS receiver in one of the slots and record the coordinates of exactly where your picture was taken – anywhere in the world. Note: This feature is now supported with the recent release of version 3 firmware.
What about the D1 – still looking for high capacity storage? Sorry – the best you can do there is 340 MB. Need robust, solid-state storage? Better be willing to settle for a single 64 MB card. Note: Lexar Media offers a Pro Series 80MB and 160MB solid state CompactFlash card. I am not aware of any issues regarding the D1's ability to support this media.
How about expandability, or support for dual storage cards? Afraid not, since the D1 only comes with a single Compact Flash Type II slot.

7. Image Refresh on LCD Panel
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Nikon must really appreciate the work that Kodak has done to introduce image review, histogram analysis and multiple-image thumbnail display onto the back-camera LCD display of our professional DCS cameras. The difference between the implementation of these features, however, is like night and day. While DCS cameras provide instantaneous screen updates when an image is selected for review, the D1 (like a consumer digital camera) takes a long time to draw the image on its screen. So much time, in fact, that Nikon even took the trouble to overwrite the LCD screen with an "hourglass" while the photographer waits for the finished thumbnail to appear. So while DCS users skim through their shots to review them, D1 users have to wait – up to a couple of seconds for each and every thumbnail displayed – until they can even see the shots they have captured.
Kodak's image presentation is fast. This is undeniably a key feature/design that separates professional cameras from consumer cameras. Also, at the cost of reduced battery life, the Kodak DCS cameras allow for the LCD to be continuously left on, even while shooting. The screen literally refreshes faster than you can pull the camera away from your eye. I am not sure if the Nikon allows for such use.

6. LCD Panel Part II
Once you’ve waited for a thumbnail image to finally appear on the LCD panel of the D1, take a good look at the rest of the screen and its menus. The pretty colors and narrow fonts may be nice on a consumer digital camera, but they only help the LCD screen to wash out under bright sunlight. That’s why DCS cameras use a bold font against black background. Clean, simple, Professional. While the D1 has spread its menu controls over seven separate buttons – some above the LCD, some below, some behind a little door – DCS cameras have this simplified down to only four. And activating the histogram display on a D1 is a laborious process: Change the camera to "Review" mode, open the door which hides the control buttons, press the "Menu" button, scroll through seven different selections on the LCD screen until you get to "Options," choose "Histogram" to turn this feature on, and then back out through all of the menus. (And don’t forget to change the camera back to "Capture" mode when you are done, or you won’t be able to take any pictures at all – see below.) Want to activate the histogram on a DCS camera? Just push one button – we do the rest.
The LCD screen of the DCS cameras is not as bright as many consumer digital cameras. I have heard that the D1's LCD is bright (I do not know if it is brighter than the Kodak screens). Kodak's usage of high contrast white on black menus does help the viewer in bright sunlight, but a brighter screen would be nice! Kodak allows for brightness adjustment, but the screen tends to wash out at the brighter settings. Toggling between the histogram view and normal view is appropriately convenient on the DCS cameras (one button).

5. JPEG files vs. Digital Negatives
Clearly, the D1 was not designed with an understanding of the value of the raw archive file – or "digital negative" – to a professional photographer. When saving images in a raw format, both camera performance and usability are significantly hampered. You didn’t like waiting for thumbnails on the LCD of the D1? No problem when using raw files – thumbnail review is not even available when shooting in this mode. In addition, the camera burst depth is cut almost in half, about 15 seconds are required per image to write data to a storage card – why, you even need extra software (not included in the price of the camera) to access the file at all. And what ever you do, don’t turn the camera off while it is clearing its memory buffer to write images to disk – any images left in memory will be lost when the camera switch is turned off. Note: I must support the writer's point here. This is a significant limitation of the D1 vs. the Kodak DCS cameras. It is obvious that Nikon needs to refine the design to better handle raw files if they intend the market the D1 as a professional's tool.
Professional photographers understand that working with raw archive files allows final color balance, cropping and other adjustments to be performed before any compression is applied. Starting with a finished JPEG file instead results in at least two compression steps (once in the camera, once at the editor’s desk), and the image artifacts associated with that double-compression workflow can seriously damage the final quality of the image. Plus, access to the raw archive file enables an entire set of new features, like Exposure Compensation, that aren’t even possible when only using finished files. Still like JPEG’s? No problem – DCS cameras allow JPEG files to be generated in camera, while still leaving the archive file available. If an archive file is a "digital negative," a processed file (like a JPEG) is a "digital print" – while prints are nice to look at, Professionals don’t like to throw their negatives away. Kodak doesn’t ask you to.

4. Workflow Integration
Kodak’s Application Programmer’s Interface (API) – available at no cost – has been used by major news organizations and other third parties to integrate DCS cameras directly into their workflows. Editors and photographers can directly access DCS archive files to crop, process, caption, and send pictures from right within their own custom software. Raw files from the D1, however, can only be opened using Nikon’s proprietary software package, as no API is available to interface these files into a pre-set workflow. And don’t think you can use a program like Adobe Photoshop to work directly with the files, either – no plug-ins are available or have even been announced. So while Kodak has been working with customers to design a camera system that interfaces seamlessly into their workflow, the D1 requires you to change your workflow: Open the file in Nikon’s custom software, save it to disk and then open it again in your own software to make final corrections, caption and send. Which would you rather do?
Efficient workflow is the key to productivity/profits. I am sure, however, that aftermarket solutions will be introduced to address these issues. Nikon certainly has an opportunity improve in this area.

3. Performance at High ISO
Kodak DCS cameras have been proven to provide high quality, award winning images at high ISO. Every D1 camera we have seen – including production models – show significant image artifacts at high ISO, including banding, lines, streaks and noise. If you only need to shoot at low ISO settings, the image quality of the D1 might be OK. But professional news and sports photographers require the ability to excel under low-light conditions – conditions where the DCS 520 and DCS 620 cameras shine. And if you don’t need to work in low light situations, the DCS 330 provides higher resolution and access to a truly professional workflow. Professional photographers can’t compromise the quality of their images – Kodak doesn’t ask you to.
Kodak DCS cameras are not perfect at high ISO either! There is significant blue channel noise to work around when shooting at high ISO speeds. However, this noise can be reduced or eliminated. The Nikon's image quality problems are more challenging to correct, from what I have seen/heard.

2. Always ready to Shoot
A DCS camera is always ready to take a picture – as long as the camera is on, shooting takes priority over any other action of the camera. The D1, however, has three distinct modes of operation: Capture, Review, and Connect. If you are reviewing images on the back LCD panel of the camera and an opportunity for an award-winning photo comes along, a DCS photographer just picks up the camera and shoots. If a D1 photographer has switched to "Review" mode to look at images stored on the camera, picking the camera up and then pushing the shutter button does – nothing. To actually take a picture, you need to stop and change the camera from "Review" mode to "Capture" mode through the camera’s "Mode" dial. After you reframe and finally get to take a picture, just hope that the shot is still there.
The selection of D1 modes, record or playback, is similar to many consumer digital cameras. Kodak's design does not require switching between modes which is helpful for professional use.

1. Product Availability
Regardless of the features is may or may not have, no camera is of any use at all if you can’t even get it. Nikon has announced that production problems will severely limit the supply of D1 cameras, and that shipping delays will likely last well into 2000. Kodak Professional DCS cameras are available today, winning awards and capturing prize winning photos around the world. The Baseball Playoffs, the Super Bowl, the Presidential Primaries, the 2000 campaign – none of these events are going to wait. And Kodak has the tools to make you productive – today. If you are a professional news photographer, how much are you willing to miss by not using Kodak cameras? How long are you willing to wait to take the world’s best pictures?
Availability issues are always a factor when a new product is introduced into the marketplace. This is true with Kodak's products, as well.

What Makes a Nikon D1 Superior to a Kodak DCS 520/620

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