Iīm a experienced photographer with the Nikon D70 which i use for some 2 years with great success. The lenses used in this non-scientific "review" will include my lens line-up consisting of the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, 17-55DX f/2.8 and the 70-200 VR f/2.8 as well as the TC17E-II teleconverter.
Day 1 - 23rd May 2006 - 8:40 pm
When i stopped my Triumph Tiger in front of the store and removed my helmet the shop-owner gave me this look saying "oh my god - and this guy is going to have such a precious body for testing?!?" Iīm not looking that wild but some people may have strange feelings as far as bikers are concerned. After the formalities i left the shop heading back to my office. One meeting and solid three hours i had to withstand the temptation to open the golden shiny Nikon box and start playing with the D2X i picked up before.
Arrived at home i opened the box, grabbed the battery pack and power supply to get it charged. Fortunately the enclosed 2nd battery pack was a bit loaded and quickly the 50mm f/1.4 was mounted. I inserted my 2GB microdrive and started to make the usual settings (thanks to Darrell for his great review on the AF system which helped to get faster to the right settings).
Really amazing in the first shots was the Whitebalance. The D70 does a good job but the D2X is really, really great in this respect. The Kelvin setting is something iīve to figure out - first changes didnīt make the results better (but thatīs a user problem then the one of the D2X).
What i also noticed is the different shutter sound. To be honest it sounds strange - like the mechanism is defect but i think iīll get used to it. Totally different is the feeling when pushing the trigger - a really sweet feeling where nearly no force is needed. Then the next surprise - this machine shots away like an Uzi! (and it was set to slow!!!). Without measuring it i would say that the D70 is slower then the slow-mode on the D2X (at the max equal).
AF is really amazing once it is correctly set up. With the 17-55DX f/2.8 itīs so incredible fast i canīt put it into words. I guess if it goes on like this i run out of superlatives i could use :-)
One last thing i did was a quick series of shots in available light. Folks - i wasnīt surprised at all. For sure AF was spot-on and WB was ok but i got loads of blurred shots. That confirmes that the D2X is unforgiving to shake - especially if shutter-speeds are not even close to the 1/focal range rule.
Well - thatīs all for today ... the women in my life thinks itīs time to notice her and put the D2X away - hard decission - believe me but iīm better off

Donīt miss tomorrowīs report ...