Stripper
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Craig, Chris, Santos, Andrew, and John,
Thanks for looking and thanks for the comments guys.
One more thing I forgot to add about the camera. As I look at the files on my computer, and as I looked at them on the camera back yesterday, it becomes more and more obvious to me that the matrix metering system works differently on this cam than on my D2H. The ads all said it was improved and I have no way of knowing that. I can tell you that through the 30 or so frames I shot, it was very consistent. I can also tell you that it was consistently a little under exposed, relative to what my D2H would have done. Going back and looking at the shots, I might have added about 1/3 stop of exposure to most of them.
(If you think about it, and look back at some of the side by side comparisons of the D2x and the Canon 1Ds II that have appeared on the measurbator sites in the last few days, it seems obvious that this is the problem with the Nikon files. It is nothing that these idiots could not have solved by learning the camera a little first.)
I guess Nikon is working really hard not to blow any highlights. When I first looked at the files, I thought they lacked dynamic range, because they went black faster than a D2H file appears to. Then, I remembered that on a day like yesterday (almost sunny bright) I would normally set the D2h on -1 contrast in the tone comp. The data shows that the D2X was set to normal. When I dig into the shadows (curves), especially in the RAW files, but even in the JPGs, there is plenty of detail (range) there. The detail is not noisy, although if you are just looking for noise there is a bit there.
What it looks like to me is that either the sensor acts this way or that Nikon decided that they didn't want to hear anything from anybody about noise in the shadows, so they did what a lot of us do with the H and tweaked the shadow end of the curve a tad. This is just measurebating I know. The files look great, but it is nice to know that there is even a lot more dynamic range there, and without much noise, if you want to dig for it.
I love the Nikons I have. I have to have a lot of reason to spend 5 grand on a new camera, and quite frankly, I was not planning to buy a D2X right away, even though my name is high on the list. I must admit though, that the camera seems to be way more than I though it would be. It seems like me best buddy, the rough and tumble D2H with a little bit more of a crease in its pants and a bit of starch in its shirt. It does not look like a stop gap desperation move by Nikon to keep in the race in the high end DSLR market. It is starting to look to me like a really nice tool, which will make almost any kind of serious photographer really happy. Oh well!
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