D2X

[AaronLLockhart]

Short and sweet. I have the chance to take advantage of a killer opportunity to own a D2X. I mean, a KILLER opportunity.

Question is, would it be worth this purchase and then junking the D5k, or using it as a backup body? Or is the D5k a better camera?

 

[MK3Brent]

Keep the d5000.

 

[KmH]

The D2X has an APS-C size image sensor that is out performed by the D5000, but the D2X is a pro grade camera body and beats snot out of the D5000 is just about every other way.

DxOMark - Compare cameras side by side

 

[pixmedic]

not sure exactly how to compare an older pro dslr with a new entry level dslr..I guess it depends on what you want it to do.

Nikon D2X vs D5000 - Our Analysis

 

[MK3Brent]

ISO performance sucks on the D2X

Nikon D2X vs D5000 - Our Analysis

 

[Derrel]

Depends what you want to use the D2x for...as a crop-body for use with studio flash, the D2x is excellent at base ISO. It's pretty temperamental in terms of DR and exposure though. However, the D2x has an absolutely AMAZING AF system that covers almost the entire frame,and in my personal experience, is BETTER THAN the AF system in the D3x. in GOOD light, and at BASE ISO, the D2x's sensor is quite good, and the "camera" part of the D2x is still first-rate. As I mentioned, the D2x's wide-area AF and strong AF module make it a simply AMAZING focuser...just amazing on how fast and well and surely it can autofocus,even with crap lenses. It can focus off-center targets that are moving at high speed. It can focus indoors in poor light, even with slowish zooms. With fast primes, it nails focus over hundreds and hundreds of frames in a row. BUT YOUR EXPOSURES MUST BE PRECISE.

 

[unpopular]

Just this morning I was considering the D2x, but reading here 10.5 stops dynamic range and likely less in the real world (much less), kind of steers me away.

 

[orb9220]

Yep as mentioned by Derrel for a lot of reason a D2x makes more sense. Had a youg'in ask me about a camera for mostly sports a.k.a Skateboarding and was concerned on AF speed & FPS. Told him to look into the D2x. Year later thank me for the suggestion and went with one. All his other shooting buddies struggling with D3xxx,D5xxx and think he mention a friend even with a D90. And he stands on top of Keeper's Pile! with more keeper's than the rest. Of course the newer sensors give more dynamic range and higher iso capabilities.

But what's the point if the superior sensor camera can't get AF lock fast enough to get the shot? So yep many situations where the older Pro bodies still hold their own and even surpass in real world situations.
.

 

[unpopular]

^^ when you don't shoot moving subjects. Wide dynamic range is going to be much more important to a landscape and environmental photographer - like me - than to a sports photographer.

 

[AaronLLockhart]

High ISO performance really isn't a concern of mine. I would use long exposure and Low ISO for night situations anyway. This would be for studio lit, low ISO, and high lighted areas such as outside in sunshine or shade.

The more I'm looking at it, I'm thinking I should go with it. The results I have found from the camera and a 50mm 1.4 are SUPER sharp...

 

[orb9220]

^^ when you don't shoot moving subjects. Wide dynamic range is going to be much more important to a landscape and environmental photographer - like me - than to a sports photographer.

Of course that is why I stated many situations and not All situations. And landscape or concerts,night life I would rather a D5200 or D7000 than my D90. Tho would make do with my D90 and fast prime and/or flash.

 

[unpopular]

I checked what DxO had to say about my current camera, and according to them (apples to apples) my a350 does about 11.5. Being that I typically don't use up anywhere near that, even, 10.9 stops isn't so bad and 0.6 stop difference is pretty much splitting hairs.

I may have to reconsider this one. The D2x might be a good option for me.

Of course, the D5000 is much newer.

 

[Derrel]

I checked what DxO had to say about my current camera, and according to them (apples to apples) my a350 does about 11.5. Being that I typically don't use up anywhere near that, even, 10.9 stops isn't so bad and 0.6 stop difference is pretty much splitting hairs.

I may have to reconsider this one. The D2x might be a good option for me.

Of course, the D5000 is much newer.

I shot a fair amount of springtime track and field with the D2x in 2005 and 2006, and the autofocus on the camera is in a word, superb. EASY to use too...12-area, wide-area AF...the group dynamic AF with a 4-spot group can track RAPIDLY moving subjects with amazing ease...anywhere in the frame...as a portrait camera, in either "tall" mode,or "wide" mode, the D2x's autofocusing sensors can simply LOCK ON to human subjects with astounding ability,using the 4-area Dynamic AF pattern. in single-area AF< the D2x has much BRIGHTER AF bracket illumination than the D3x has...the AF system in the D3 series and D700 series loses a LOT of the perimeter area...the D3/D700 cameras have MORE AF areas, BUT--they are much more concentrated in the center of the frame. Indoors, in poor light levels, the D2x is simply an ASTOUNDING autofocuser...under studio flash modeling lights, its AF is the best I have ever seen. Period. The D3x on the other hand, has been a bit of a disappointment....it lacks what Thom Hogan called the "D2x's focus anywhere nature".

As far as the Dynamic Range of the D2x; it has SUPERB shadow detail retrieval capability. The camera is capable of excellent images, but it is still a more-complicated camera than the majority of lower-level cameras. It has four shooting banks, and three color capture modes + B&W. It can be loaded with custom tone curves using Nikon Capture, to configure the camera to have any kind of tone curve response you can make with up to 20 spline points on a Curves adjustment. The shooting menus are a lot less complicated than the D3 series has, but by the same token, it also has a recent items menu that makes it super-easy to adjust your most-commonly settings with only a few clicks. For the $700 price or so these things bring, they're a hell of a capable camera as long as you understand what it is you have. The D2x also offers 8.2 FPS shooting at 2.0x FOV crop mode, with one button push and one click of the thumb wheel...and the viewfinder quality is miles ahead of that in the low-end bodies...this was at one time a $5,000 Nikon....the viewfinder in the D2x is the absolute BEST EVER in ANY crop-body Nikon ever made. Bar none. It's in no way like a D90 or D7000, and is light-years ahead of the D5000 series cameras with their little squinty penta-mirror style finder.

 

[unpopular]

That body looks absolutely killer! I can't really think of another camera in this price range that looks so impressive.

Doesn't it also have like a massive buffer, also?

 

[AaronLLockhart]

I shot a fair amount of springtime track and field with the D2x in 2005 and 2006, and the autofocus on the camera is in a word, superb. EASY to use too...12-area, wide-area AF...the group dynamic AF with a 4-spot group can track RAPIDLY moving subjects with amazing ease...anywhere in the frame...as a portrait camera, in either "tall" mode,or "wide" mode, the D2x's autofocusing sensors can simply LOCK ON to human subjects with astounding ability,using the 4-area Dynamic AF pattern. in single-area AF< the D2x has much BRIGHTER AF bracket illumination than the D3x has...the AF system in the D3 series and D700 series loses a LOT of the perimeter area...the D3/D700 cameras have MORE AF areas, BUT--they are much more concentrated in the center of the frame. Indoors, in poor light levels, the D2x is simply an ASTOUNDING autofocuser...under studio flash modeling lights, its AF is the best I have ever seen. Period. The D3x on the other hand, has been a bit of a disappointment....it lacks what Thom Hogan called the "D2x's focus anywhere nature".

As far as the Dynamic Range of the D2x; it has SUPERB shadow detail retrieval capability. The camera is capable of excellent images, but it is still a more-complicated camera than the majority of lower-level cameras. It has four shooting banks, and three color capture modes + B&W. It can be loaded with custom tone curves using Nikon Capture, to configure the camera to have any kind of tone curve response you can make with up to 20 spline points on a Curves adjustment. The shooting menus are a lot less complicated than the D3 series has, but by the same token, it also has a recent items menu that makes it super-easy to adjust your most-commonly settings with only a few clicks. For the $700 price or so these things bring, they're a hell of a capable camera as long as you understand what it is you have. The D2x also offers 8.2 FPS shooting at 2.0x FOV crop mode, with one button push and one click of the thumb wheel...and the viewfinder quality is miles ahead of that in the low-end bodies...this was at one time a $5,000 Nikon....the viewfinder in the D2x is the absolute BEST EVER in ANY crop-body Nikon ever made. Bar none. It's in no way like a D90 or D7000, and is light-years ahead of the D5000 series cameras with their little squinty penta-mirror style finder.

That was the exact type of information I am looking for. I'm pulling the trigger on this one.