Nikon D100 - HELP! (1 Viewer)

birder · Nov 25, 2003

Anyone got any experience with the Nikon D100 Digital SLR. Currenlty I use Nikon Coolpix 4500 and Leica APO 77 scope for digiscoping, but would like to use Digital SLR for my collection of lenses from my 'non digital' Nikon days, eg 17-35mm, 500mm, Tamron SP90 (1:1) etc.

Also, is there an adapter to connect the Nikon to the Leica scope, in the manner of the Coolpix?

Thanks

nigelblake · Nov 25, 2003

There should not be any problem using the D100 with your Nikon fit lenses. You will find that all the lenses are effectively more powerful, the 17-35mm becoming equivalent to 27.2-56mm and the 500mm becoming 800mm due to the sensor of the camera being smaller (22X15mm approx) than 35mm (36X24mm), this is a sort of in-camera cropping that brings this about.
There is an adaptor also that will allow the D100 to fit your scope it will require a T2 Nikon mount and as the scope is approx the same as an 800mm lens you should have equivalent to 1320mm (26X mag) but as for adaptors for digiscoping with it I am not so sure that this will yield as good results as you will need an 80mm + lens on the camera to avoid vignetting, and the front element of the camera lens will need to be smaller than the eyepiece lens for the same reason. There are also many other difficult to resolve problems with digiscoping with a DSLR, such as effective aperture, which means that in all but excellent lighting conditions the shutter speeds will be very slow.

birder · Nov 25, 2003

nigelblake said:
There should not be any problem using the D100 with your Nikon fit lenses. You will find that all the lenses are effectively more powerful, the 17-35mm becoming equivalent to 27.2-56mm and the 500mm becoming 800mm due to the sensor of the camera being smaller (22X15mm approx) than 35mm (36X24mm), this is a sort of in-camera cropping that brings this about.
There is an adaptor also that will allow the D100 to fit your scope it will require a T2 Nikon mount and as the scope is approx the same as an 800mm lens you should have equivalent to 1320mm (26X mag) but as for adaptors for digiscoping with it I am not so sure that this will yield as good results as you will need an 80mm + lens on the camera to avoid vignetting, and the front element of the camera lens will need to be smaller than the eyepiece lens for the same reason. There are also many other difficult to resolve problems with digiscoping with a DSLR, such as effective aperture, which means that in all but excellent lighting conditions the shutter speeds will be very slow.

Thanks, Nigel. By the way, how do you rate the D100?
Birder

nigelblake · Nov 25, 2003

The D100 is a very good camera, on a par with the Canon EOS 10D, if you were buying all new lenses as well I would strongly recomend the 10D and Canons IS lenses, one thing that the Nikon DSLRs seem to suffer is sensor dust problems as it has a CCD as opposed to the Canon CMOS chip, the CCD seems to generate more static or has the low pass filter closer to the recording surface, so this will require frequent cleaning, its fairly easy to do, but can be a pain.
It may be worth a look at the Fuji S2 Pro is also a Nikon fit body and offers more for your money, both cameras though are oldish and may soon be superceded.

assayer · Nov 26, 2003

SLR - Leica APO 77 Adapter

Birder,

If you have $300-400, Leica makes and adaptor that connects the APO 77 to your SLR. You still need the T-ring and of course the scope connects to the camera body not to a camera lens.

birder · Nov 27, 2003

nigelblake said:
The D100 is a very good camera, on a par with the Canon EOS 10D, if you were buying all new lenses as well I would strongly recomend the 10D and Canons IS lenses, one thing that the Nikon DSLRs seem to suffer is sensor dust problems as it has a CCD as opposed to the Canon CMOS chip, the CCD seems to generate more static or has the low pass filter closer to the recording surface, so this will require frequent cleaning, its fairly easy to do, but can be a pain.
It may be worth a look at the Fuji S2 Pro is also a Nikon fit body and offers more for your money, both cameras though are oldish and may soon be superceded.

Thanks again, Nigel. Have now taken the plunge and opted for the D100 - got a good deal on it - have to try it out this weekend!
Birder

birder · Nov 27, 2003

assayer said:
Birder,

If you have $300-400, Leica makes and adaptor that connects the APO 77 to your SLR. You still need the T-ring and of course the scope connects to the camera body not to a camera lens.

Thanks - I'll bear this in mind. As I wanted the SLR as much for close up (insects / arachnids) work as for telephotography, I may not look at the prospect of digiscoping with it just yet.

birder

JonB · Nov 27, 2003

D100 User

If I may add my own 2 cents worth...

I've been using this camera for a year now for birding, with the 80-400 mm VR lens. I also recently bought a Tamron 1.4x teleconverter, which brings it up to around 800-900 mm lens in film terms (due to the 1.5x "crop factor"). It's a great camera, but it takes a little while to get the feel of the exposure modes and know when to override them. Once you do, though, it does a great job. I'd recommend centre-weighted metering. It skips the matrix metering algorithm and is the most predictable mode.

Sensor dust can be a problem from time to time. I cleaned mine about 3 times in the early days - about once every 6 or 8 weeks. I find that (if you can), leaving the camera off and placing it lens-down for 15 or 20 minutes so that the dust falls away from the CCD makes a big difference. I'm sure if I stopped down and shot the sky I'd probably find some dust on there, but if I can't see it on my photos, why worry about it? I'll only clean it again if I see large specks on the pics. I haven't noticed any big dust specks in the 6 months I've been doing the lens-down thing.

As an aside, if you can afford it, I highly recommend the 80-400 VR. Not having to use a tripod has put all the fun back into birding for me. It's a bit slow to autofocus, but it has good glass and it's sharp. The Canon has the edge there, though. They just came out with a 500 mm and 600 mm VR lens. I hope Nikon catches up at some point.

CJW · Jan 16, 2004

I too have been thinking about the D100, but have been told that the Nikon ISO ratings aren't "as good" as the Canons (i.e. Nikon@200 = Canon @800) can anyone comment on this?

peteh · Jan 16, 2004

A quick check of online comparisions between the 10d and d100, all of them mentioned the lower noise on the 10d.

an example from
http://www.stereografx.com/review/compare.htm

A Matter of Noise

Nikon’s technical prowess aside, the Canon’s greatest strength is it’s brilliant low noise output. In a recent photo shoot of the underground railroad tunnels of Seattle, the Canon really showed it’s stuff in delicate shadings and detail of darker and then darker imagery. In better exposed scenes, the differences between the D100 and 10D are harder to see. Your technical expertise in post production and your own skill as a photographer will be more noticeable than the internal differences between the cameras. But make no mistake- the Canon’s image is smoother and just ever so slightly more defined.

So it's definately true.
Probably more like d100 200 = 10d 400 though.

digi-birder · Jan 16, 2004

I happened to have a look on Amazon a little while ago to check their price for the 10D (a little silly, as I have already bought one!), as this is where I price-matched when buying from Jessops. It was the lowest price I could find then. Anyway, I read the reviews and below is an extract from one:

"Due to the amount of nikon accessories I owned, I nearly got the nikon D100. Thankfully I road tested the two of them over a weekend - No comparison... The 10D is amazing. Negligible shutter lag, quick focusing even in extremely low light levels, picture quality amazing. The 7 point autofocus is superior to the nikon too. The controls are well placed and (alot) easier to understand/change than the D100."

normjackson · Jan 16, 2004

FWIW BirdForum members Yossi and Geomorph have done digiscoping with D100 (some details from last summer on forum at astromart.com; require registration to view now :C ). This thread is still visible :
http://www.stevesforums.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11830

It seems though, that both prefer digiscoping with a digicam. Because the DSLR setups were more cumbersome and slower to set up and perhaps concerns about mirror slap, don't think they pursued ultimate refinement of technique.

Andy Bright · Jan 16, 2004

There are several BF members using the Nikon D100, you can see examples of their work in the gallery... look for Sumit, he takes some cracking shots with the D100.
I didn't fancy the D100, a bit noisier the the competing cameras and I really wasn't sure (from full size images) if it was resolving as much either. Some questions over it's metering accuracy as well.

Prionace · Jul 29, 2004

I use the adapter to connect leica televid 77 apo with D100, I am very happy of the result, is not very simple to focusing but is very luminous. With the "222 Nat" manfrotto head I take shots quickly.

Strandman · Oct 12, 2004

Prionace said:
I use the adapter to connect leica televid 77 apo with D100, I am very happy of the result, is not very simple to focusing but is very luminous. With the "222 Nat" manfrotto head I take shots quickly.

What lens and adapter combination do you use?
I have a D100 but have yet to hitch it up to my scope (a Leica APO Televid) So currently I carry around a coolpix 990 for digiscoping use.

squaredoch · Oct 19, 2004

D100 attachment

Hi, Nikon have brought out an attachment so that you can attach the D70 or the D100 directly to the telescope. I think you have to remove the eyepiece.

It is called the FSA 1L I think and costs £299 and I believe is available from Ace Cameras and Warehouse Express

Regards

Mike

jourdaj · Oct 19, 2004

birder said:
Anyone got any experience with the Nikon D100 Digital SLR. Currenlty I use Nikon Coolpix 4500 and Leica APO 77 scope for digiscoping, but would like to use Digital SLR for my collection of lenses from my 'non digital' Nikon days, eg 17-35mm, 500mm, Tamron SP90 (1:1) etc.

Also, is there an adapter to connect the Nikon to the Leica scope, in the manner of the Coolpix?

Thanks

Birder,

Check out www.nikonians.org. Its a website devoted to Nikon users and has
pretty much everything about Nikon, including forums for D100 users.
Happy shooting!

Jerry

Doug Greenberg · Oct 19, 2004

Andy Bright said:
There are several BF members using the Nikon D100, you can see examples of their work in the gallery... look for Sumit, he takes some cracking shots with the D100.
I didn't fancy the D100, a bit noisier the the competing cameras and I really wasn't sure (from full size images) if it was resolving as much either. Some questions over it's metering accuracy as well.

Certainly people who buy the Canon DSLR will very likely never be sorry, but the "measured noise differences" between the Canon and Nikon models is, in terms of practical in-the-field use, practically negligible. Noise levels are influenced by such factors as exposure accuracy and in actual practice are not as neatly predictable as these tests would have us believe.

With my own D100 I have exhibited many photos in the BF gallery taken at ISO levels of 1000 and even higher, and I doubt people were struck by the "high" noise levels. I even once submitted a pretty good photo of a Hawaiian bird (Shama) that I took at ISO 3200. I used NeatImage to reduce the noise levels and voila, I ended up with a very acceptable picture.

I think that people who choose either the Nikon D100 or D70, or any of the fine Canon digital SLR models will end up with excellent opportunities to get first-rate photos.

Sumit · Oct 21, 2004

Hi,
I had a small point to add.
Images are made by the camera in association with a lens and other supports like a flash. In the days of film SLR's, the lens often dictated the purchase decision of a camera body. In my humble opinion DSLR's are not so different that a primary consideration, like a suitable lens, would pale into insignificance in buy decisions.
I use Nikon because I had invested in Nikon and cannot afford to make wholesale changes. I admire what Canon has to offer. But when I look at my equipment, I am happy that I have a sterling performer like the 80-400VR (for price, sharpness, weight and overall bouquet) and a very very capable flash in the SB-80DX to go with my D100. I am also pleased with the D100's uncomplicated focusing, exposure system and the battery life. There are many things that I want to change on the D100 but I can learn to live with them, specially higher noise when recording underexposed images in jpeg (even at ISO 200).
In sum, I humbly suggest that camera considerations must include what goes with it, not just the camera alone. The purpose you want to use the camera for dictates that decision. In my case, I use it to record and to have fun, not to be a photographer.
Regards,
Sumit

Nikon D100 - HELP! (1 Viewer)

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