It's time once again for me to lust after new equipment for my photography hobby. I have been shooting with the Nikon D100 for some time now, and don't get me wrong, it's a great camera, just not the right tool for my work. With shooting sports (currently), the camera does not have the speed, only 3 fps, needed to get the good action shot. Anything I have shot of my daughter with this camera has been superb in image quality, color and sharpness, but I feel I am being held back by the camera's pitfalls.
I have been looking at Nikon's D2H for a while, and this camera appears to fit my needs perfectly. 8 fps, 4.1MP CCD, full body with vertical grip (I really miss this feature from my F100), and 11 auto focus areas all make this a very attractive body. They are not being made anymore by Nikon, they have been replaced by the D2Hs, but I can find a used one for around $1700, about 1/2 the price that they sold for new, and 1/2 the price of the D2Hs, which doesn't appear to offer much more, at least according to the specs I have seen.
I have been reading a few reviews from random professional sports shooters and wildlife photographers, as well as the reviews from Moose Peterson, my favorite nature photographer. They all give this body rave reviews and say that it simply performs. The fact that it is a used body does not frighten me one bit, it comes guaranteed, and the condition is marked as a 9/10, basically the highest they will give a used piece of equipment.
Now to just figure out where the $1700 is going to come from with a new baby on the way. I would get the tax writeoff for 2006 as well as a boost in my compensation for any freelance work I do since it would be digital, but that does not fully offset the up front cost. The company I am looking at offers a finance program with the minimum monthly payment being 3% of the balance, or about $54/month initially, but the interest rate is 17.99%. Not the best option.
I should also purchase a new speedlight as my SB-28 is not the DX model that integrates with the digital cameras, but that is something that could wait. The SB-800DX is selling for about $315 right now.
Posted by doug at January 25, 2006 03:31 PMI had been watching the 3 used D2H models at the one store for a while, lusting and trying to figure out if it truely would fit my bill and how to work it into the budget, but then they all disappeared. All 3 were sold.
Turns out now that there is one more used one that was put up for sale today, but the price is $50 higher. The quality rating, however, is a 9+ as apposed to a 9. I really want this camera, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm torn.
Nikon has announced the D3, and hopefully that will contribute to the drop in price of the D2X, if I can wait this long. I know I won't be able to afford the D3, or a new D2X, but hopefully D2X models will start to show up on the used market for reasonable prices.
Someone want to make my life easier and buy me the D2H?
Posted by: Doug at February 1, 2006 04:29 PM