D2X plus new computer and all the other goodies...

[marcello dasilva]

I'm want to buy a D2X and I'll need help with lens too.Well my PC is

a P4 1.5 Ghz 768 MB.

 

I'm planning on that in about 6 months or so (Will the prices come

down by DEC ?)

 

My PC is slow for PC world now.So that means I will have to purchase

another PC along with my camera ? Or my PC should meet the minimum

requirements?

 

I've got a AFS 28-70/AFS 80-200/Tokina 20/35 Pro Just wondering if a

AFS 300mm will do me any good,or if i buy a TC-17E II 1.7x AF-S,I

would get basically the same quality.

 

Or you guys can give some other ideas for lens.

 

Thanks for you time.

[EricM]

the 17-55 of course. great lens. and a couple more large hard drives...

[marcello dasilva]

Thanks

 

But I'm not planning on leaving my pics on my HD,I will burn them,just in case...

[Rick Waller]

Think about sufficient RAM on your computer. If your machine is that old and is running with 256 RAM.....forgeddaboudit if you plan on shooting raw. I would recommend at least 1 gig RAM, with 2 gigs even better.

[ilkka_nissila]

He said 768 MB RAM so I guess that's probably acceptable but not as fast as it could be.

[jon_noble]

marcello, lenses i have no idea about i only have 3 zooms.

Your computer is fine almost. 1GB min and buy a new hard drive (im guessing less than 200GB). That D2x will fill it up quickly if you use raw

[ShunCheung]

This is just a guess, but I expect the price for the D2X to go down by several hundred dollars by the end of 2005. It has already come down a bit since supply is no longer an issue, at least in the US.

 

I think a PC with 2G of RAM would be very helpful. RAM is really cheap nowadays. If you are getting a new PC, make sure that there is an upgrade path to 4G of RAM later on.

 

Lenses will highly depend on what type of subjects you shoot. If you shoot landscape or indoors in tight quarters, the 12-24 DX would be useful.

[greg s]

"My PC is slow for PC world now.So that means I will have to purchase another PC along with my camera ?"

 

Hi Marcello,

 

As others have mentioned, try checking out your options for increasing the memory in your computer. While speed is a factor, 1.5G isn't too bad. Often a bigger factor is in the ability of the PC to deal with data (how much memory is there to work with). When there isn't enough memory, then the computer is forced to do something called 'swapping' (moving data back and forth to the hard drive). Swapping can degrade performance tremendously.

 

See if you can upgrade to 1G or more of memory. Also, the size of a hard drive helps with not only how many files you can store before burning to a CDR, but can also effect performance as well (acts like virtual memory for swapping data and tasks).

 

I hope this helps. Enjoy your D2X when you buy... it looks like a winner to me, very pleased that Nikon has produced such a good DSLR.

-Greg-

[Landrum Kelly]

Your machine is marginally fast enough. You need storage, storage, storage. I have a Kodak 14n with huge files and it is frustrating, even with an 80 GB internal drive and a 250 GB external drive.

 

You will need Firewire or USB 2.0 for file transfer sooner or later. You might want to think about a new machine with a BIG internal hard drive and plenty of RAM, Firewire and USB 2.0 connectivity, etc. You will still need a big backup drive. Don't think for a second that burning CDs will suffice. It would, but you will never do it, but you will save to a big external drive, and that might be enough. Save your very best to CDs.

[ky2]

Hold on a sec.

 

What photo editing software do you intend to use? If you have PS7, there's no need to upgrade. You can burn the images on CD/DVD, and clean up your HD beforehand.

[ShunCheung]

Come on, I have PhotoShop CS and am planning to upgrade to CS2 soon. If you can afford a D2X, don't skim on PhotoShop. The upgrade is only $149 and you can find discounts.

[EricM]

you have to have CS2 with the D2x, come on....

[ilkka_nissila]

or Nikon Capture. (Yes, I just spent a whole weekend perfecting 8 prints and RAW conversion speed just didn't come to mind at all ...)

[marcello dasilva]

What about the lens ?

 

Thanks

[edpiercy]

I'd say that unless you want to open more than a couple of dozen photos in photoshop and run your music player and have 20 document open in Word at the same time, you should be OK with your old computer. I have an old 700 MHZ with 512 MB ram, and I never have any real problem in photoshop. There is a diffence between what used to be called pipeline speed and processor speed. A fast processor isn't going to help you upload your photos any faster. You can always upgrade your RAM if you have any problems or if you need heavy batch-processing, but getting a faster processor is not going to make any real differnce. Save your money and spend it on some good glass for the new camera. Beware of the "better gold-club" syndrome!

[david_h._hartman]

Buy the Nikon D2X and dont worry about the computer. You

can shoot the D2X in NEF and JPG Fine in Medium size to limp

along at first. You will surely want a new computer soon but Id

buy the D2X as soon as you can afford it. Id keep at least

one good film camera for your backup and for super wide angles if

you use those. <br>

<br>

Id buy a larger hard drive at the same time as the camera.

You will need it. You will need it even though you should not or

do not plan on using the HD for archiving your digital files. Im

thinking 250 to 300GB(s). You can move this HD to your new

computer that you will surely want not too long after buying the

D2X.<br>

<br>

My advice is do not compromise on the new camera or lenses.<br>

<br>

Regards,<br>

<br>

Dave Hartman.<br>

<br>

---<br>

<br>

For those who shoot both manual focus Nikons and a D2H, D2Hs and

probably a D2X, yesterday I tested some of my AI and AIS Nikkors

on my D2H. I very please with the CA and other optical

performance of my 55/2.8 Micro, 85/2.0, 105/2.5, 105/2.8 AIS and

135/2.8 (all AIS). The 135/2.8 AIS is a high serial numbered one

with Super-IC coatings. Very clean images with all. Little or no

chromatic aberration seen at 200~400%. Not surprisingly most CA

problems show up in wide angle lenses.<br>

<br>

I really wish I had an AF-S 17~55/2.8G ED-IF DX, are those the

right letters and numbers. Im too lazy to check just now.<br>

<br>

---<br>

<br>

<em>Come on, I have PhotoShop CS and am planning to upgrade

to CS2 soon. If you can afford a D2X, don't skim on PhotoShop.

--Shun Cheung<br>

</em><br>

Im using Photoshop 7.0.1 and its OK. I need an SB-800

and a 17~55/2.8 way more than I need to upgrade my software and

computer. I also want a super wide angle lens for DX.<br>

<br>

My computer is an Athlon XP 2400+ with Win2000 as my OS. I have 2GB

of RAM and about 460GB (net) HD space. For me the only way is buy

the good stuff one piece at a time as I can afford it. It may

seem senseless to buy a D2X and shoot medium size images as I

recommend but its a way to put ones foot in the door.

RAM and HD space are more important than CS2. Im not

arguing against CS2 but for those who cant afford

everything all the time, compromise where it hurts least.<br>

<br>

Another expense of digital is a backup computer. My backup &

server is almost identical to my front line computer. I wish it

were a lap top but its not. The RAM is 2GB and the HD space

is 340GB (net). The OS is Win2000 Server and the CPU is again an

Athlon XP 2400+. I recommend backing up new digital images to a

second computer and HD as soon as possible. Its also handy

to burn CD(s) or DVD(s) on a second computer.<br>

<br>

Best,<br>

<br>

Dave.

[lex_jenkins]

Marcello, I'm not really sure whether this directly answers your question (we seem to have digressed a bit) but I don't think you'll ever regret buying the best lens you can afford.

 

Admittedly, the D2X creates huge files compared with my D2H. But I'm managing even batch processing with full sized NEFs on a 3MHz P4 with 512 RAM. In fact, if I'm patient and make sure nothing else is running in the background, I can do the same using an 800MHz P3 with 128 or 256 RAM.

 

Better, faster, more powerful computers are always down the road. But the best lens for the money tends to remain secure against the vagaries of planned obsolescence much longer.

[EricM]

How much is your time worth? these raw beasts open as 70 meg files. The largest interpolation option in CS2 makes it 143meg. Then layers/filters/actions/plugin's...How long do you want to sit and watch paint dry?

[david_h._hartman]

Oops! I only have 1.5GB of RAM on my first and server. These computers don't accept more than this.

[jay_blocksom]

<BLOCKQUOTE><I><B>Marcello Dasilva, jun 26, 2005; 06:56 p.m.</B>

<br>

I'm want to buy a D2X and I'll need help with lens too.Well my PC is a P4 1.5 Ghz 768 MB.

<br>

<br>

I'm planning on that in about 6 months or so (Will the prices come down by DEC ?)

<br>

<br>

My PC is slow for PC world now.So that means I will have to purchase another PC along with my camera ? Or my PC should meet the minimum requirements?

</I></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

You make no mention of what sort of camera or image-processing software you use *now*, which would certainly be helpful in estimating what sort of performance degradation you might expect when moving to the presumably larger-format (~12MP) images produced by a D2x, and/or the bigger and more bloated (and hence, inevitably slower) software (i.e., Photoshop CS2 and/or Nikon View 4.2x) you'll need to cope with them. 

<br>

<br>

That said, your current PC is *probably* much more capable than you think.  A 1.5 GHz P4 is "enough" CPU that stepping up to, say, a typical 3.x GHz P4 isn't going to make all that much difference unless *everything* else (memory, I/O, mass storage, software, setup & tuning, etc.) is already absolutely topped out -- and even then, I would expect the performance gain to be "noticeable", not "huge".  CPU clock rates are, in general, *way* over-hyped by both the vendors and the general consumers, precisely because it is such a simple "more is better" yardstick.  But he problem with such simplistic one-dimensional figures-of-merit is that they pretty much ignore the real world, which is nowhere near that simple.

<br>

<br>

So my suggestion would be to do *nothing* with the PC, for now.  If, after you've gotten used to working with the D2x for awhile, you find it inadequate in any way, the specific issues you'll need to address will then be more-or-less obvious.  If/when that happens, odds are the first upgrade will be to add more memory.  But beware of exceeding your AGP chipset's "cacheable limit", which can actually *hurt* performance more than the greater total available memory helps -- most reasonably modern mobos/chipsets can handle up to at least 1.5GB "safely"; but beyond that, it gets a bit iffy.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><I>

I've got a AFS 28-70/AFS 80-200/Tokina 20/35 Pro Just wondering if a AFS 300mm will do me any good,or if i buy a TC-17E II 1.7x AF-S,I would get basically the same quality.

<br>

<br>

Or you guys can give some other ideas for lens.

</I></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Since you said absolutely nothing about what sort of stuff you shoot, or how you shoot it, it is impossible to offer any meaningful advice on this point.

<br>

<br>

[manel_soria]

For my experience, CDs and DVDs are not so reliable. I 2-3 keep copies of all my photos on USB hard disks, stored at different places.