John,
You went "Nikon" today, not digital.
R
John Mustarde wrote:
>So in my new home here in Arizona I found a well-stocked camera store
>just a mile from the plant. Went there, and to my surprise they had
>plenty of Nikon D100's in stock. So I thought I'd give it a spin.
>
>First thing I noticed was that Nikon puts the lens release button on
>the wrong side of the camera. Sales guy says they've been doing it
>that way for years. Sheesh - good way to make ya drop a lens!
>
>Next thing I noticed was the slow autofocus. Sure, I was only using a
>genuine Nikon 300/4 brand new lens, so maybe it lacks some hypersonic
>something or other. Nevertheless, my antique 1996 PZ1p focuses
>noticeably faster than the brand new year 2002 Nikon D100.
>
>Later I read this camera has something called CAM900 AF, which is
>slower than the CAM1300 AF on their better film cameras. Let's see -
>you're gonna charge a grand more than your film camera, then give your
>customers slower AF? Sounds like something straight out of the Pentax
>marketing book. Shame on you, Nikon - crippling an expensive camera
>with second-rate AF when you could have done better.
>
>Then I noticed the Nikon D100 has only 1/180 flash sync. Rats again.
>Another hard pill to swallow when thinking of buying a two grand
>camera. If I needed to downgrade to 1/180 flash sync, I could always
>buy an MZ-S, fer crying out loud!
>
>But in it's favor, the D100 is a pretty good looking camera, because
>it looks almost exactly like a PZ1p. It's just got a little more heft
>on the bottom and a few extra buttons. At least they got the shape and
>grip right. Even has a nice PZ1p-style thumb wheel to change aperture
>- just my cup of tea.
>
>Like I said, I tried out the Nikon 300/4. It nearly whirred out of my
>hand - the dang focus collar spins crazily if you have the lens in MF
>and the body shooting AF! Whoof! They should put a warning label on
>that thing!
>
>So my small foray into DSLR-land was a little revealing. It let me
>know I would have to be crazy to spend two grand for a DSLR from
>Nikon, at least until they get their feature set straight. Even then
>I'd have to learn to live with that idiot lens release location and
>those ugly barbecue-grill-paint black lenses.
>
>
>
