Compared to the Canon EOS-D30

The only other 'own brand' digital SLR with similar resolution to the D1H is Canon's EOS-D30. Clearly the D30 isn't aimed at the same types of people who would buy the D1H (the D30 can only shoot at approx. 2.5 fps for a maximum of 8 images) but having similar resolution it's a fair comparison.

Scene comparison

Some crops below are of an 120 x 90 area of the image magnified 200%, the last one is a 240 x 180 crop. Lighting - 2 x 800W studio lights with dichroic daylight filters bounced off a white overhead reflector (about as close as you can get to "indoor daylight").

Lenses used:

• Nikon D1H - Nikkor 17-35mm F2.8D AF-S
• Canon EOS-D30 - Canon EF 17-35mm L F2.8

Nikon D1H ISO 200, sRGB, F14, 1/2 sec, Manual WB JPEG FINE 1,067 KB	Canon EOS-D30 ISO 200, F14, 1/2 sec, Manual WB JPEG LARGE FINE 1,238 KB

Despite the fact that the EOS-D30 has a higher pixel count the D1H manages to pull more detail out of the image. The D30's apparent out-of-camera softness also lets it down.

• The D1H handles colour much better, it's "sRGB" output being much closer to the real colour than the D30
• The D1H image has more contrast than the EOS-D30 image
• The D1H manages to pull more detail out of the image (produces a sharper output image) - its bayer interpolation algorithm seems more 'mature' than the D30
• The D30 appears to have a little less noise than the D1H at ISO 200 (check the gray parts of the colour patches)
• Both cameras handle highlights almost identically