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 When Nikon debuted its Professional D2H DSLR in late 2003, we really liked its super-pro body, features, and incredible 8-fps burst speed. But our enthusiasm fizzled when it came to the D2H's modest 4.1MP sensor and overall image quality. For five grand, it should have had more to offer, and more than a few Nikon shooters agreed, as they jumped to Canon's similar-priced 8.3MP EOS-1D Mark II and more expensive 16.6MP EOS- 1Ds Mark II.
Now, Nikon shooters can breathe a sigh of relief. Enter Nikon's 12.4MP D2X ($4,999, body only; 6.9x5.9x3.4 inches, 3.3 pounds). It shares most of the features we loved in the D2H, but the D2X also offers far more, especially in terms of image quality and control.
Let's start with image quality. Our tests showed it's far ahead of the D2H. Among the standout items: extremely low noise in images shot from ISO 100 to 400, and very low noise all the way up to ISO 800. Resolution? Excellent. Same for color accuracy, and great shadow and highlight detail. (We conducted our tests using the highest-quality JPEGs, so there's a chance you could get even higher image quality processing your own NEF RAW files.)
Field tests also confirmed the accuracy of the white balance and metering systems, even when shooting in snowy scenes like the one on page 58. With the D2X's incredibly low noise and excellent image quality, you can easily make photo-quality enlargements up to 14x21 inches-even from shots taken at ISO 1600 or 3200.
The shooting experience
Like the D2H and older D1X, the D2X body is built for extreme shooting conditions, with a stainless steel frame, a molded magnesium-alloy body, and waterand dust-resistant seals. Overall, it's well balanced, and the rubberized surface makes the D2x easy to hold when shooting horizontal or vertical images. The camera fires up in under 2 sec and has an extremely short shutter lag time, 30- 1/8000-sec shutter speeds, a 1/250-sec flash sync speed, and is compatible with Nikon's newest i-TTL flash units, such as the SB-800 and SB-600.
Around the back is the supersized 2.5- inch, 235,000-dot, low temp. polysilicon TFT LCD that was a big hit with D2H owners, and is the envy of Canon shooters. The LCD has large, multicolored fonts, easy-tonavigate menus, three-color histograms for exposure confirmation, and bright highlight warnings in playback. There are plenty of control buttons arranged around the LCD, as well as an eight-way switch that helps speed you through the vast array of menu options. Buttons under the rear controlpanel LCD also let you quickly change ISO from 100 to 800 (plus H1 and H2, equivalent to ISO 1600 and 3200, can be set through the menus). Another button activates the camera's microphone so you can record up to 60-second sound clips with your images or during playback.
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