Digital cameras suited to my usage?

[luke_unsworth]

Hello,

 

I am a documentary/editorial photographer who often works on 'arts' projects so

although I need the camera to be fast, I also need it to be good enough quality to

print up to a metre or two for exhibitons. I looked at the Nikon D100 but the 'H'

version seemed to be too slow (at high res) and the press version of the D100 (I've

forgotten the prefix) was faster but not good enough quality for big prints. I am I

wrong to come to this conclusion? or Is there another digital camera out there that

would suit my purposes?

[ellis_vener_photography]

I think that right now the only tw oreal choices for you in a 35mm SLR like digital

camera are going to be the Kodak 14n (which makes a "noisy signal at high ISO

settings) or the Canon EOS 1Ds, The Kodak 14n (at $4800) is approx. 3 times the

price of a

D100 / EOS 10D class of camera and the Canon EOS1Ds (at $$8000) is approximately

5.3 times

the price of a D100 / EOS 10D class of camera. And if you do a lot of field work you

won't be buying just body, you will be buying two, or at least two: nothing is worse

than having a camera crap out out on you with no backup readily available.<P>To get

the quality you are looking for you are loooking for, and at a reasonable price, you

might want to continue using film and getting a Nikon Coolscan 4000ppi scanner or

possibly the new minolta 5400ppi scanner. While the Canon FS4000 (another 4000ppi

scanner) is also very good, it lacks a fast scanner-to-computer connection and at full

resolution that will really be a huge time suck.

[ellis_vener_photography]

I should know better than to try and answer any questions before I have coffee!

[klix]

<i>"I am a documentary/editorial photographer who often works on 'arts' projects... be good enough quality to print up to a metre or two for exhibitons."</i><p><p>

 

Digital camera, yes, as Ellis has already pointed out...<p>

<p>

Where you'll get caught in a compromise is in the selection of a printer (which, I'm sure, is what Ellis meant to say, not scanner), especially if the "arts projects" you're talking about is giclee fine art.<p><p>

Fine art prints would require wide format color printers, such as the HP Design Jet or Encad Chroma, etc... Yes, I know Epson has wide format printers, but strike up a conversation with any of the fine art professionals, and they'll tell you why they are or will be switching from their Epsons to the HP or Encad.<p><p>

But, I guess, just like anything else in life, there may be compromises you're willing to make -- only you can answer that.

[plattro]

The Nikon models are D1 (discontinued), D1x, D1h, D100, an the new D2h (Not yet available). It could be that the camera you tried wasn't set correctly. I have a D1; Set to 'S', you have to wait for each picture to be written. However, set to Cs or Ch, I can do 4.5 frames per second for up to 21 shots before its RAM buffer is full and you have to wait for a couple to get written to the card. The newer D1h can take something like 40 before waiting, an I believe the current models have a further buffer upgrade.

 

At maximum resolution RAW, the RAM buffer holds about half as many pictures before waiting. But on the D1H, that should still be, like, 20 frames. How many pictures were you trying to take at once, and at what frame-rate?

 

It could also be that the camera was set to TIFF files. I think most people will tell you to use the RAW instead, then use Bibble to convert to TIFFs if that's what you want.

 

I can't say exactly about the D100, but the capabilities are in between the D1h and D1x, depending if you look at speed or resolution, etc.

 

The D2h, when it is available, should be even faster (8 frames/sec.)

 

I hope this helps