D2H, D2Hs, D2X

[rexlim]

Hi all,

Anyone knows if there are still D2h on sale in the market?
Is D2H still in production?
Comparing to D2Hs, is a D2X having a faster focusing ability(for sports photography)? Which is better in that sense?

All info appreciated!

[agape01]

If you are going to get the camera to do sports, then you do need the high fps and high buffer. However, if you are needing it to do more commercial and portraits type of shots, then you would be needing the high MP count.

Hope that this comment has been helpful.

[Jed]

Originally Posted by rexlim Comparing to D2Hs, is a D2X having a faster focusing ability(for sports photography)? Which is better in that sense?

I can't remember the claims Nikon made about the D2Hs when it came out but I know they claimed the D2x had improved focusing over the D2H. I haven't as yet had a chance to test that but I know a colleague who, back focusing issues aside, reckons the focusing isn't as good as the D2H.

I know when Nikon released firmware 2.0 for the D2H, that also apparently had better focusing. I installed it on one of my bodies, the one I normally used with the long lens, and all was fine and dandy so installed it in the other one. And then realised that compared to the original firmware the focusing was all over the place for penalty area stuff. That said in a lot of situations the ability to turn off lock on does help AF generally, but I can't say that the AF per se has improved.

Regardless of your choice the D2s are going to perform about as well as anything commercially available out there. It all comes down to how hard you push your gear. In certain situations I'd take a Canon (gymnastics, diving, although I haven't tested the D2H v2 with that yet), in others I'd take D2H v1 (football goals), in others I'd take D2H v2. So really, there's little between them.

[billpepsi]

Originally Posted by Jed In certain situations I'd take a Canon (gymnastics, diving, although I haven't tested the D2H v2 with that yet), in others I'd take D2H v1 (football goals), in others I'd take D2H v2. So really, there's little between them.

What is your rational for this choice??:

Canon -> gymnastics, diving,
D2H v1 -> football

[rexlim]

Originally Posted by agape01 If you are going to get the camera to do sports, then you do need the high fps and high buffer. However, if you are needing it to do more commercial and portraits type of shots, then you would be needing the high MP count. Hope that this comment has been helpful.

Thks agape01!

[rexlim]

Originally Posted by Jed I know when Nikon released firmware 2.0 for the D2H, that also apparently had better focusing. I installed it on one of my bodies, the one I normally used with the long lens, and all was fine and dandy so installed it in the other one. And then realised that compared to the original firmware the focusing was all over the place for penalty area stuff. That said in a lot of situations the ability to turn off lock on does help AF generally, but I can't say that the AF per se has improved.

Were you saying the new firmware released gives you more headaches compared to the original one?

What do you mean by "...focusing was all over the place..."?

[c_jit]

My D2H with Firmware ver 2.1 (two point one) seems working ok, however, still trying to get used to work on the AF-ON button more effectively.



The bottom line is it gives me the results (18x12) I wanted.

[rexlim]

That's awesome, c_jit!

[Jed]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying v2 (or v2.1 which is supposedly the same in terms of focusing performance) is not good enough. Hence I said, regardless of your choice, the D2s are going to perform more or less as well as anything else out there in the commercial market.

Yes the D2H v2 autofocusing performance is poorer in my experience for penalty area stuff. D2H v1 was THE best goal camera ever... again in my experience.

[b18]

Originally Posted by agape01 If you are going to get the camera to do sports, then you do need the high fps and high buffer. However, if you are needing it to do more commercial and portraits type of shots, then you would be needing the high MP count.

Unless you can afford a few 8GB Sandisk Extreme III cards

[Expiredyoghurt]

even if u can ... u probably won't be able to afford the hardware required to efficiently process all your shots ...

[agape01]

Originally Posted by b18 Unless you can afford a few 8GB Sandisk Extreme III cards

Not really... Just one 4GB MD is sufficient enough with a 2GB Sandisk Extreme III card.

But overall, if you are going for a whole bunch of editorial/documentary and other categories of photography then yes, one to two of those cards would be appropriate.