Which Nikon DSLR would you recommend for me?

[jimvore]

Greetings! I have a question as to the D1X, I recently grabbed a mint D1x outfit,ie; new battery,charger and lens. The question is that I never pull a CF card from any of my cameras, but use communication cables to prevent pin damage. I grabbed a firewire to usb cable for this and when hooked to my usb computer drive got an alarm saying to much power is applied to the drive and shut it down, Anyone else have this problem or is the factory cable power throttled. Thank you in advance, Jim.

[mike_halliwell]

Why exactly did you buy a camera about to celebrate it's 20th birthday? Sure the D1X was 2001, but yippee 5.3 Mega Pixels!

[ben_hutcherson]

This might be best dealt with in its own separate thread, but I've never had a lot of luck getting D1 series cameras to "talk" via FW.

 

If I'm not mistaken, you need the wall power pack for the camera to do anything when connected to the computer. I've not played with it a WHOLE lot, but it's a good starting point at least. This seems a bit strange to me given that Firewire itself can supply surprisingly large amounts of bus power(45W IIRC) but none the less if you intend to use D1 series cameras you should have the wall pack.

[jimvore]

Why exactly did you buy a camera about to celebrate it's 20th birthday? Sure the D1X was 2001, but yippee 5.3 Mega Pixels!

For the same reason I would buy a '55 Chevy before a new one, it's about style and design. I have 5 other modern shooters, but enjoy this classic....:)

[jimvore]

This might be best dealt with in its own separate thread, but I've never had a lot of luck getting D1 series cameras to "talk" via FW.

 

If I'm not mistaken, you need the wall power pack for the camera to do anything when connected to the computer. I've not played with it a WHOLE lot, but it's a good starting point at least. This seems a bit strange to me given that Firewire itself can supply surprisingly large amounts of bus power(45W IIRC) but none the less if you intend to use D1 series cameras you should have the wall pack.

Thank you, I will try my power pack, just thought the camera would operate on the same voltage either battery or power pack, will try.

[ben_hutcherson]

Thank you, I will try my power pack, just thought the camera would operate on the same voltage either battery or power pack, will try.

 

D1 series batteries had notoriously short lives back in the day(you can find plenty of internet reviews from the time that recommend users of these cameras have several charged for a day of shooting) and time hasn't done them any favors. I have probably a dozen packs, and they range from completely dead to maybe lasting 20-30 shots, to the best one maybe being good for a couple hundred. Using image review for much more than a casual peak or really doing much of anything other than shooting will zap them a lot faster than that.

 

I suspect that Nikon deliberately locked out certain features that would use a lot of power(like connecting them to the computer) so as to not inadvertently run down the battery in the middle of them.

 

Even though the D200 used much, much better EN-EL3e Li-Ion batteries, I still had to buy a wall pack for mine so that I could clean the sensor(since having the camera shut-off and the shutter close in the middle of the operation can be catastrophic). Even my fairly recent cameras that use EN-EL15 batteries want basically a fully charged battery before they will allow you to update the firmware-there again the camera shutting off in the middle of an update can brick it.

[BeBu Lamar]

D1 series batteries had notoriously short lives back in the day(you can find plenty of internet reviews from the time that recommend users of these cameras have several charged for a day of shooting) and time hasn't done them any favors. I have probably a dozen packs, and they range from completely dead to maybe lasting 20-30 shots, to the best one maybe being good for a couple hundred. Using image review for much more than a casual peak or really doing much of anything other than shooting will zap them a lot faster than that.

 

I suspect that Nikon deliberately locked out certain features that would use a lot of power(like connecting them to the computer) so as to not inadvertently run down the battery in the middle of them.

 

Even though the D200 used much, much better EN-EL3e Li-Ion batteries, I still had to buy a wall pack for mine so that I could clean the sensor(since having the camera shut-off and the shutter close in the middle of the operation can be catastrophic). Even my fairly recent cameras that use EN-EL15 batteries want basically a fully charged battery before they will allow you to update the firmware-there again the camera shutting off in the middle of an update can brick it.

 

I tried to pry open a D1 battery pack but no success. I am sure I can get new/better cells for it.

[ben_hutcherson]

I tried to pry open a D1 battery pack but no success. I am sure I can get new/better cells for it.

 

I've tried to open one also with no luck.

 

I actually ran by Batteries Plus with one, but they didn't have any luck either. They apparently can get new production ones for $40 or so...although I wonder how new they are.

 

They'd be 3rd party, of course, but I don't lose too much sleep over that with D1 batteries. In fact, in my experience the 3rd party ones are often better than genuine Nikons.

[BeBu Lamar]

I've tried to open one also with no luck.

 

I actually ran by Batteries Plus with one, but they didn't have any luck either. They apparently can get new production ones for $40 or so...although I wonder how new they are.

 

They'd be 3rd party, of course, but I don't lose too much sleep over that with D1 batteries. In fact, in my experience the 3rd party ones are often better than genuine Nikons.

 

Well for that the MN-2 battery for the F3 MD4 motor drive I rebuilt is certainly better than genuine Nikon.