Preview based on a production Nikon D100, Firmware v1.00
The D100 enters that new segment of the digital camera market which was created when Canon released the EOS-D30. It's the middle ground between the high end $1,000 prosumer digital cameras and professional D-SLR's. This years PMA saw the announcement of no less than four new D-SLR's all aimed at that $2,000-$3,000 segment. It's still pretty amazing to think that you can now pick up a six megapixel D-SLR for around $2,000.
Since this article was first published as a preview Canon, Fujifilm and Nikon have announced their pricing. The Canon EOS-D60 full kit weighs in at $2,199, the Fujifilm S2 Pro at $2,399 and the Nikon D100 at $1,999.
The D100 has a six megapixel sensor, a body loosely based on the F80 (although Nikon are keen to note that it shares only some of its components with that camera), a Nikon F mount and a set of features which make it an extremely attractive and capable proposition.
This list, supplied by Nikon Europe
About
a week before Nikon revealed the D100, Sony announced an APS sized six
megapixel sensor. Putting two and two together (and considering the specs
are identical) it's been fairly easy to ascertain that Nikon is using
Sony's six megapixel sensor in the D100. In the picture on the right (from
Sony's press release) you can see the size of the six megapixel CCD compared
to a standard consumer digital camera 1/1.8" CCD.
In that announcement Sony revealed the specifications of this particular CCD:
| Optical Format | 1.8" / diagonal 28.4 mm (APS sized) |
| Aspect Ratio | 3:2 |
| Colour filters | Primary GRGB (Bayer Mosaic) |
| Transfer method | Interline frame readout (requires mechanical shutter) |
| Total number of pixels | 3110 x 2030 (6.31 million) |
| Number of effective pixels | 3032 x 2016 (6.11 million) |
| Active pixels | 3000 x 2000 (6 million square pixels) |
| Active imager area | 23.4 x 15.6 mm |
| Unit cell size | 7.8µm x 7.8µm |
| Optical black | Horizontal: Front 20 pixels, Rear
50 pixels Vertical: Front 4 pixels, Rear 2 pixels |
| Saturation signal | 900 mV |
| Smear | -80 dB |
| Frame rate | 3.06 fps (single channel mode) 5.09 fps (dual channel mode) |
This review started life as a preview article posted in February 2002 and updated again in May. The final review was prepared in July 2002 when a full production D100 became available. Note that many of the product shots are those taken of the pre-production camera, however a full production unit was used to reconfirm operation and for all performance testing and image quality samples.
If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital
Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help
you understand some of the terms used).
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Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the author. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C. |
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This article is Copyright 2002 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.
Nikon D100 6MP Digital SLR Camera | $149.00 |
Nikon D100 - Digital camera - SLR - 6.1 Mpix - body only - supported memory: CF | $189.00 |
Nikon D100 6MP Digital SLR Camera | $149.00 |
Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens | $446.95 |
Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens | Too low to display |
Nikon D7100 24.1 MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR (Body Only) | $1,146.95 |
Nikon D3200 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Black) | $546.95 |
Nikon D5200 24.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Black) | $796.95 |
Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) | $129.99 |
Nikon D600 24.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) | $1,849.99 |
Nikon D3200 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens (Red) | $546.95 |
Nikon D3100 14.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm VR, 55-200mm VR DX Zoom Lenses and 3-Inch LCD Screen (Black) | $596.95 |
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