Computer requirements due to D2X

I made the mistake of going into my local store today and fondled

the D2X. I knew I would have to upgrade my computer to handle a

camera such as this but his recccommendations left me dizzy. What

would some of you lucky D2X owners reccommend as far as computer

requirements?

I've been using a 2001 vintage Apple single processor 733Mhz G4 w/ 1.1Gb RAM. it works

but I'm told that what is now taking me about a minute in Bibble Pro 4.2 to process a D2X

NEF (approx 20Mb) to a 70mb (16 bit) TIFF would take about 6-7 seconds if i were using a

dual processor 2.5Ghz G5 with 4Gb RAM.

 

While testing the D2X over the past two weeks I shot just over 1200 images so 1200 x

20mb = approx 24Gb of storage space for just the NEF files alone.

Ellis - any comments or reactions on your experience with the D2X? Do you find it all that you expected?

Ellis; does the Mac have something like NT window's task manager; so that you can see what amount of ram is being consumed by each task? In windows one can peak and see if your CPU is the limit; or ram; or both. If you batch a mess of small files; the CPU might be saturated; and the ram not really used much. If you batch some huge files; the CPU andthe ram might be saturated; as the computer writes to the scratch disk. it has been around in NT; win2000;and Xp; and is a cool tool.

morethan i expected.

 

I believe that OS X has that kind of use metering built in but I've never used it.

Ellis: How is your system evaluation coming along? Many of us are hoping you land on

the Nikon side of the fence so that your continuing wealth of knowledge jibes with our

chosen environment. BTW, you'd look great with a D2x dangling from your shoulder ;^)

You'll need a DVD burner. Cd's are too small. If you want to keep them on a hard disk, rather than just the DVD, it needs to be as big as you can afford. Also get two GB RAM so you can maximize PS ability to handle the 20MB raw files. The good news I've found is that the images from the D2X are so damn good, they need little in the way of post processing. Ellis, have you found this to be true too? Paul

Kelly; OS X has an "Activity Monitor" that tells you just about everything you want to know about your CPU status, system memory usage, disk activity and disk usage. Probably very similar to NT Windows Task Manager.

Sad news (for me at least) I had to sent back the D2X kit Nikon lent me for the review. In

just over ten days I shot over 1200 images. because a magazine or two are paying me to

review the camera I don't think it is fair to them to post a deeper review just yet. But here

is a brief summary. Better skin tones and textures than I have gotten out of most digital

cameras and backs that I have had the chance to use over the past two years. It is a very

viable replacement for all 35mm and any medium format film cameras in terms of

resolution (caveat; larger format (6cm x 6cm & larger) media photographically "describes"

what is being photographed differently. This is I think a matter of larger media requiring

a longer focal length lens to capture a similar angle of view.) <P>Nikon Capture is slow

but powerful. Like Canon, Nikon makes better cameras and lenses then they do camera

software. I've ended up mostly using Bibble Pro for right now but I'm going to revisit

conversion software again when Capture One and Adobe update to work with the

D2X.<P>The multi-exposure feature and in camera image layering system is pretty

nifty and works well. <P. Exposures were right on, straight out of the box. For general

photography I rarely had to dial in any exposure compensation or flash

compensation.<P>Terrific LCD and info displays & terrific viewfinder. Manually focusing

AI-S and AF lenses was a relative joy. The AF is very fast and very, very

accurate.<P>Battery

life is

outstanding.<P>As other people have reported: if your lenses have problems you'll see

them with the D2X. for this reason it might make sense to buy from a well stocked local

dealer where you can test the specific lenses you are thinking of purchasing. <P> To sum

up: I think right now the D2X is the best value in high resolution

digital photography. if you are on the fence trying to decide between the D2X and the

Canon EOS 1Ds Mk. II you are going to have to think very long and hard about that $3,000

price difference. There is a lot I can do with $3000.00 -- like buy a faster computer or new

lenses. I think Nikon has done a terrific job with the D2X; it would be nice for my

pocketbook if they were paying me to say this but they aren't.

I would add that the dynamic range of the D2X is nothing short of overwhelming compare

to that of the D1X. I'm getting less than 5% of blown-out highlights in the studio now

whereas I was getting around 30% before. For instance, as soon as the model would move,

or even lean, a tiny bit towards the strobe, I had a washed out spot. Not anymore. And the

number of image control sub-settings is just incredible. Now, if I can just quickly learn

how to use all that power to the best results.

 

Now, back to Nikon software. Has anyone here already used the D2X with Capture Control

(vers. 4.1.2), directly uploading the pictures to the computer, bypassing the CF card

entirely? I tried it for the first time yersterday, and I couldn't find a way to get rid of

Capture Editor, which auto-launched as soon as the first picture was uploaded. With prior

versions of Capture and the D1X, there was a preference or something which allowed to

cancel Editor auto-launch. Is it me, or that function isn't there anymore.

 

Also, do you experience bugs like Control suddenly stopping working and telling you that

the camera is not connected anymore? Or just plain freezing in mid-uploading, forcing a

restart?

 

Thanks.

<I>I would add that the dynamic range of the D2X is nothing short of overwhelming

compare

 

to that of the D1X. I'm getting less than 5% of blown-out highlights in the

studio now

 

whereas I was getting around 30% before. </I><P> In complete agreement with this. So

much so that I just took it for granted. It gets better with the Highlight recovery tool in

Bibble Pro 4.2 I understand --but haven't tried it -- that there is a similar tool in Nikon

Capture 4.2.1 & higher.