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D1x chptr - Moose Peterson

1. Metering System TheD1X s metering system unlike that of the D1 is really sweet have found only one weakness in the meter and that was with fog where had to dial in 1 stop to obtain the right exposure Other D 1 problems such as metering white subjects on blue water don t exist with the D 1X W hile the hardwarein the D1X is the same as in the D 1 the software that drives the meter is much better It is nearly as reliable as theF5 but I still check it the same way do for the D 1 in tricky light By previewing questionable exposure by depressing the M onitor button and viewing the image on theLCD using Custom Setting 27 3 you can make exposures you know for a fact are dead on read about histograms on page 204 On the right side of the prism is the M etering Selector Dial You have three options with the D1X 3D Color M atrix Center Weighted and Spot metering To select a metering pattern first depress the button in the center of the dial and then rotate the dial so it lines up with the desired metering pattern still just use M atrix metering It just works for meand my photography making my lifea whole lot easier 3D Color Matrix Metering is an amazing system The D1X has a 1 005 pixel CCD Charge Coupled D evice 67 vertical x 15 horizontal which is what actually reads the light T he amazing thing to me is not the 1 005 pixels but that each pixel has incorporated in it oneR red G green or B blue filter
2. and preview every darn image you capture T his blows away the performance of the same battery in the D1 To get this kind of performance you must properly give life to your EN 4 Note Static charge can cause problems for the D1X and its inboard computers T he first thing to do if the D1X starts acting goofy is to turn it off pull out the EN 4 reinsert it and see if that clears up the problem You must prepare your EN 4 before first using it in the D1X This is accomplished by refreshing the EN 4 three consecutive times before you ever use it in the D1X This entails hooking the EN 4 up to the MH 16 Charger depressing the Refresh button on the charger for the first charge and when the first refresh is completed let the E N 4 cool and then depress the refresh again for a second time Repeat the process for the third and final time If you ve not done this to your EN 4 do it now W hile the EN 4 has only so many refreshes in it some say just 100 but I ve not found that to be true this is the only way to get the maximum number of captures per charge and long term performance out of the EN 4 Once this is done refresh your EN 4 once in every ten charges or once a month and make sure if your EN 4 has sat around for a month that you recharge not refresh it 6 Moose Press prior to use I have found that shooting in the cold does not affect the EN 4 like it does the M N 30 have shot with it down to 16 without it hav
3. like option 1 because in many situations need the largest aperture to blur out the background Consistency in depth of field is not what I m after Custom Setting 20 ISO Step Value In conjunction with the ISO setting in the Shooting M enu this Custom Setting really permits you to customize how you want the D 1X to rate the ISO W hen you access the F 20 ISO Step Value menu you ll find three options symbols 1 3 step 1 2 step or 1 step step stop Select the desired value using the AF thumb pad highlighting the desired amount and then thumbing right Using Custom Setting 20 you can change the SO step values to either 1 3 default 1 2 or 1 stop increments W ith 1 3 step selected ISO 125 160 200 250 320 400 500 640 and 800 are available T he 1 2 stop values available are ISO 125 140 200 280 400 570 and 800 T he 1 stop values are ISO 125 200 400 and 800 remember you can use ISO Boost Custom Setting 31 to affect ISO 800 W ith theF unc button set to CSM your Rear LCD Panel reads 20 1 1 stop 20 2 1 2 stop and 20 3 1 3 stop with this Custom Setting Because of the amount of latitude of digital film have this set to option 2 1 2 stop because find that when do want to make exposure changes based on personal preference 1 2 stop works best for my style of shooting Custom Setting 21 AE L AF L This Custom Setting alters what the AE L AF L button located on the back top right
4. 0 b Bank B 0 C Bank C or 0 d Bank D My shooting is pretty straightforward so always have mine set to Bank A as I only need oneset of Custom Settings Custom Setting 1 Image Review T his Custom Setting automatically displays the image on the LCD M onitor while it is being recorded W ith this Custom Setting you instantly see the images you ve just captured It does not matter if you took one or more images Unlike with the D1 this occurs no matter if the camera is set to S or C shooting mode In the F 1 I mage Review menu you have the options of OFF default or ON If you have the F unc button set to CSM the Rear LCD would display 1 0 OF F or 1 2 ON have this switched to 0 Though would use this on the D1 when the camera is set to S shooting mode don t with the D1X Because the D1X calls up the image so darn fast the time that might be lost hitting the M onitor button is insignificant compared to the time you gain using this Custom Setting Custom Setting 2 EV Step T hisis an excellent Custom Setting which provides you with personal control over how your D1X sets the ISO T he elements that you use to control exposure shutter speed aperture exposure compensation and auto bracketing by default change in increments of 1 3 stops This Custom Setting permits you to alter those increments to 1 3 1 2 or 1 full stop By the way stops are called steps in the instruction book IntheF 2 EV Steps f
5. W hen this option is highlighted you can either delete all the images in the folder or only certain images via protection To delete all the images select ALL with the AF thumb pad T his brings up the delete warning menu If you want to delete the image highlight YES and then depress the F unc button If NO is the option you want depress either the F unc button with NO highlighted or depress the shutter release or do nothing and in 30 seconds it clears itself Any images that are protected or hidden will not be deleted by doing this To stop any action from being taken you can depress the M enu button at any time which takes you back to the Playback M enu To preview images while I m shooting hit the M onitor button If there is onel don t like hit the DEL button right next to M onitor and kill images on the fly However tend to do little editing in the camera for anumber of reasons for instance pilot error or risking having the camera create new folders T he lack of viewing quality of the LCD M onitor makes it risky for me to do in camera edits like waiting until have the image s safely in the computer to do my deleting since DigitalPro software makes it so simple and there can still recover an image mistakenly deleted Print Set W hen this option is highlighted you can delete any current print order file you might have created in Print Set to be covered momentarily If you have no print sets nothing happens when th
6. flash units be attached for TTL operation Nikon flash units havea locking pin that pops down from the flash foot into a hole in the hot shoe Y ou should make yourself aware of this prior to the first time you attach the flash as the pins are known to get stuck in the locked position T he Diopter Adjustment Knob on the right side of the prism permits diopter correction This provides correction from 3 to 1 DP Correction is set by first gently pulling out the small knob rotating the knob to the right setting and then pushing the knob back into place to lock in the correction T he Eyepiece Shutter Lever closes the curtain inside the viewfinder It is important to use this when you are shooting the D1X unattended for instance when you re using the self timer Normally when you re shooting a picture the viewfinder is blocked with your eye but when the camera is shot unattended light can enter through the viewfinder and affect the exposure This can be prevented by simply closing the eyepiece shutter ever The LCD Monitor Cover is a semi clear plastic cover that protects the LCD M onitor It is a pain to remove Y ou must pull up hard on the right side of the black cap A better option is to buy the Hoodman HOODCAP product H CD 1 see Appendix a clear cover that protects the LCD while also permitting a complete view of theLCD T he Vertical Shooting Shutter Release Button on the lower corner of the handgrip is a shutter release button t
7. rather than once down and once left W hen shooting action this makes abig differencein speeding up your reaction time responding to theaction in the viewfinder which is why usetheON option change the active AF sensor constantly because of the subject s movement and the corresponding change in composition W ith theF unc button set to CSM this Custom Setting appears as 6 0 OF F or 6 1 ON on the Rear LCD Panel Custom Setting 7 AE Lock This Custom Setting changes the assignment of the AE L AF L button and the shutter release in regards to which one locks the exposure Access this in the CSM M enu thumbing down to AE Lock and then right arrow thumb to the F7 AE Lock menu By default the AE L AF L button is used to lock exposure you meter an object then depress the AE L AF L button to lock the exposure and then recompose the frame T his is the OFF AE L AF L Button option ton of the word Button is hidden by the word OK You can switch it so the exposure is locked by simply depressing the shutter release halfway down by selecting the ON Shutter Button option W ith the F unc button set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 7 0 AE L AF L button or 7 1 shutter release Custom Setting 8 Mirror Lock up T his Custom Setting is intended to be used when it comes time to clean your CCD You can use this Custom Setting only when the D1X is connected to the EH 4 AC adapter You canno
8. Custom Setting 23 Image Sharp This Custom Setting determines how much image edge sharpening is performed by the D1X in processing images To fully understand this Custom 32 Moose Press Setting and its effects on your images be sure to read D avid s explanation in the chapter How the D1 Family Works With the F 23 Image Sharpening menu accessed you ll find four options which you select by highlighting it in white and then right thumbing on the AF thumb pad T he four options are Normal default Low High and None W ith Normal the D1X increases sharpness making the edges of the elements more distinct or sharp T he Low option still sharpens the edges of the elements of the image but less than with the Normal option W ith the High option the D 1X sharpens the edges of the elements of the image more than with the Normal option T he N one option means just that no sharpening is performed T o put this into rough Photoshop numbers Low 50 6 radius threshold 0 Normal 150 6 radius threshold 0 High 250 6 radius threshold 0 With the F unc button set in theCSM mode this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 23 0 normal 23 1 low 23 2 high and 23 3 none Custom Setting 24 Tone Comp This is a complicated Custom Setting in that what you select can greatly influence your images Y ou must read D avid s chapter H ow theD 1 Family Works so you get a complete handle on this and so you
9. Each sensor then not only evaluates thescene s brightness and contrast but also the scene s color Keep in mind though the CCD originally produces black and white images T he information received from the 1 005 pixels including scene brightness contrast selected focus distance information and the scene s color characteristics is analyzed T his information is then processed by a powerful microcomputer and its database is said to hold at least 35 000 exposure possibilities I could not verify if this number was expanded from the D 1 W ith this input the D 1X s meter provides the photographer with an instant meter reading Asapoint of trivia the RGB meter in theD 1X can actually detect different light sources It can see tungsten fluorescent bright yellow tender green and normal green light T heD 1X can not only see these light sources but it knows how to meter for them by biasing exposure according to the light source The D1 s RGB meter features high sensitivity EV 0 to EV 20 ISO 100 50f1 4 E V 2to EV 20 in Spot Y ou need to usean AF S AFI or AF lens with D capability to get all of this performance W hen anon D lens is used you have only Color M atrix metering and whileit sounds as if you ve lost something personally have not ever found the exposures to be any different with this combo 45 The D1X Center W eighted M etering is the old standby guess In this mode the D1X meters the entire frame but
10. Layout Power TheD1X s layout is basically the same as the D 1 s T his makes it seem like a D1 the first moment you pick it up to shoot but the similarities end there Starting thefun requires turning thecameraon T he On Off switch is located on thetop right panel of the built in hand grip T he D 1X s power switch has no locking mechanism W ith a simple pull of the finger you can turn the D 1X on and by pulling the switch all the way over you activate the backlight in the T op LCD called the Top Control Panel in the instruction book and the Rear LCD called the Rear Control Panel in the instruction book T he shutter release is 5 The D1X what activates the system once theD 1X ison and then turns itself off the amount of time the camera stays on can be altered with Custom Setting 15 Thelag timeof the D 1X thetimefrom when the shutter release is depressed and the shutter actually fires is the same as with the D1 which though one of the fastest at 058 sec wish was still much faster W hile this is the fastest it is not nearly as fast as the F 5 so you might notice adifferenceif trying to photograph lightning for example using the lightning trigger In order to maintain that fast lag time in the D 1X especially if shooting in Sleep mode be sure to use L exar s cards with their nearly instant wake up time You can also use a feature that s not in the instruction book to keep the D1X awake longer T his is accompl
11. ON so can review what I ve just captured A really nice thing about the D1X in this shooting mode is how fast the system works when compared to the same function and feature on the D 1 Sincethe D 1X doesn t have the fast frame per second firing rate of the D 1H it s nice at least that all of its other functions are fast C or Continuous shooting mode captures are made as fast as the camera can go as long as it can go T here are a number of caveats to this as the D1X is a digital camera In order to capture the most images frames with the D 1X shooting at its fastest rate you first need to make sure that Custom Setting 25 is set to 3 Next you need to be shooting at 1 250 sec or faster with the AF 39 The D1X mode set to Continuous Servo C the lever to the right of the lens mount a fast CompactF lash CF card such as the Lexar 256 12x in basically warm 68 F or warmer temperatures and going downhill with a stiff tailwind W ith all of that going for you you can capture 3 fps for a maximum of a 9 frame burst in every file capture but Raw you might get up to 3 2 fps depending on the actual file size being captured T he 9 frame burst is not carved in stone you can squeak a few extra frames out of thesystem Capturing more frames depends on a combination of how big the actual file size the D 1X is capturing shutter speed CompactF lash CF card and if you re shooting at a full 3 fps If you just depress th
12. S Continuous or Single F rame shooting mode you have access to all four menus In Play mode you have access only to the Playback M enu and Set Up M enu Start by depressing the M enu button The LCD M onitor comes on with a menu displayed either Playback or Shooting M enu depending on the firing mode you re in or the message N o images in current folder or the last image you ve captured depending on whether you ve been previewing images or not which will be discussed later W hich message comes up all depends on what operation you did last with the camera If something else besides a menu appears just depress the menu button a second time to bring the menu up If you re in C S mode and the M enu button is depressed the Shooting M enu appears If you rein the Play mode the Playback M enu appears As Playback is the menu at the top of the list that s where we ll start T he Playback M enu W ith the Playback M enu the light blue colored menu displayed in either C S or Play mode thefollowing options are available D elete Slide Show Protect Hide Image Print Set Folder Designate and Display Mode While the methodology of selecting and changing these options differs from the D1 the actual action function remains pretty much the same Deleting images while in the Playback M enu is done by first depressing the M enu button accessing the Playback M enu and then using the AF thumb pad to highlight the word DELETE Once t
13. Set Up M enu Note It is possible that the LCD might turn black in hot temperatures and become very sluggish in cold temps To date I ve shot with the D1X in temps from 122 to 1042 and have never experienced any of these possible problems LCD Monitor Zoom 4 Moose Press You can zoom in on an image displayed on the LCD Monitor to look at images in greater detail T his is akind of cool feature that many photographers had requested as it was missing in the D1 It performs well enough to tell if an image is grossly out of focus but personally would not do final edits based on the sharpness seen using the zoom feature On a number of occasions have thought an image to be sharp when using the zoom feature only to find that it was not sharp enough once viewed on the computer Zooming is accomplished by first bringing up an image either using Play or depressing the Monitor button Next depress the Func button causing an hourglass symbol to appear momentarily Next a zoomed portion of the image appears filling the LCD it fills the entire LCD At the same time a thumbnail of the entire image appears in a gray box in thelower right corner of theLCD A red outlined box appears inside the thumbnail indicating the area of the image that is detailed in the zoomed view Use the small thumbnail in the lower right corner as a reference You can move the red box around inside the thumbnail to select a different portion of the image you wa
14. Sub Command Dial to change the white balance adjustment Its use is described under the Shooting M enu section on page 80 T he Shooting M ode Dial Located to the left of the prism on top of the D 1X the Shooting M ode Dial is what you useto select the various firing modes Y ou have threeshooting options with the D 1X S Single F rame shooting C Continuous shooting and Self Timer T here are also two other non shooting options on the dial P lay Playback and PC AstheD 1X is a digital capture camera these modes operate in a slightly different fashion than you ll find on a conventional film camera body such as the F5 S or Single Frame shooting mode captures just one frame when you depress the shutter release Unlike the D1 when the D1X isin the S mode the next capture can be taken even while the last capture is being written to the CompactFlash CF card On the back of the D1X on the right side is the CompactF lash card slot door the rubber on this door on the D1 is notorious for falling off refer to D 1 G oofies on page 48 if this happens to your D 1X On the top left corner of this door is a small green LCD memory card access lamp W hen the D1X is writing a file this green light is lit You can fire the camera again and again even while this light is on completely the opposite of the D1 typically use S shooting mode when photographing scenics At the same time set Custom Setting 1 to
15. and then F 21 on the option menu W hen you have the FUNC set to CSM the Rear LCD displays just the number 21 All three mean Custom Setting 21 W henever a Custom Setting is set on the D 1X i e it is not set to the default settings the word CUSTOM appears in the Rear LCD Panel won t go through detail by detail how to select each option for each Custom Setting as it s pretty straightforward especially when compared to the D1 I ll spell things out only when there might be some confusion I ll explain the Custom Settings use in case that helps you in making your Custom Settings selection T he Custom Setting headings that follow are the way they appear on the D1X s CSM Menu You will note that this quite often does not correspond with how they appear in the instruction book Custom Setting 0 Bank Select Custom Settings Bank TheD1X allows you to store four sets called Banks in the instruction book of Custom Settings In theory each set would have a different group of Custom Settings that you have programmed so you can select a different set of Custom Settings on the fly without having to select each Custom Setting you want oneat atime In the F 0 Custom Setting Bank menu you havethe options of Bank A default Bank B Bank C and Bank D If you set or make changes in any given Bank those changes are automatically saved If you have the F unc button set to CSM and you look at the Rear LCD it indicates either 0 A Bank A
16. ate and Time by depressing the up down arrows on the AF thumb pad W hen finished depress the F unc button located below the M enu button behind the panel to set your selections Note W hen accessing folders and options via the M enu button you might experience finger confusion when you first access the menus To access a folder Playback Shooting Custom Settings or Setup you need to make sure that the menu icon on the left is highlighted with the same color as the menu display If this is the case you then right thumb the AF thumb pad to access the items in a particular menu list and use the up down action of the AF thumb pad to select theindividual folder item If the main folder icon is not highlighted in this fashion you depress the left arrow of the AF thumb pad to access the folders and then thumb either up or down to select one of the four main folders to begin your selections TheD1 way of setting the T imeand D ateis also available on the D 1X First turn theD1X on Next depress the Auto Bracketing button BKT found on the top left side of thecamera W hile depressing the BKT button depress the E xposure Compensation button found on thetop right of the D 1X You must hold these two buttons down until the Year is displayed in the Top LCD Panel and it starts to blink Once the Year starts to blink you can remove your fingers from the buttons but you must work quickly or the setting disappears Select what you want to change by
17. brings up the thumbnails for the images on the CompactF lash CF card in a2 x 3 grid T he selected image is highlighted with a blue box Include an image in aP rint Set by depressing theT humbnail buttonn W hen an imageis included a printer symbol appears on the protected image You can remove the inclusion by highlighting theimageagain and depressing theT humbnail button Next depress the F unc button to set the Print Set T his brings up another menu which includes D one Copies and Imprint D ate Highlight the desired option with the AF thumb pad You can either leavetheselection as is mark the file for the number of copies you want made highlight the Copies option right AF arrow and then select the number or Imprint Date right AF arrow a check appears in the box when selected Folder Designate Playback Menu have found this to be as goofy on the D1X as on the D1 even though it appears to be better thought out The idea is to give the user some ability to select the folder number starting with 100 and increasing in increments of one Access this by first accessing the Playback M enu and then using the AF thumb 14 Moose Press pad to highlight Folder Designate in white T wo options then appear N ew and Folder Select with N ew being thedefault highlighted item W ith N ew highlighted depress the right arrow on the AF thumb pad T his brings up the New Folder counter Increase the folder number you cannot decrease it
18. changes with the image on theLCD M onitor as you move around it using the AF thumb pad Usually the last screen of information displayed before the M onitor goes off is the screen that appears the next time you review an image on the M onitor say 15 The D1X usually because have had it change on me without any logical reason On the other hand I ve had thesameinfor mation screen present even after veremoved the battery and then reinserted it which you would think would clear the screen s memory K eeping thelast screen in memory is meant to help if you switch your E N 4 or CompactF lash card But for example if havemy D 1X set to display blinkiehighlights and I look at an image onemoment might look at another imagethe next moment and thedisplay will have shifted back to the 1 screen of info see below Sometimes if turn the camera off and then on again the blinkie highlights might be present and sometimes they might not The bottom line is its behavior is erratic and think it is a poor design for the D 1X not to maintain the one screen of info you desire Photo Information Display W hen the Monitor Button Is D epressed TheD 1X can display eight screens of information You cannot select a specific oneto be the default information screen Instead you must thumb through them all to find the one you want Utilizing the Display M ode discussed abover equires thumbing through each of these to reach the option you have s
19. color depth file via Nikon Capture 2 AN D1X camera strap software EG D1 video cable Picture angle approximately 1 5x lens focal length same as the D 1 D1X user s manual Newly designed Advanced Image Processing System with 3D Digital M atrix Image NikonView 4 CD ROM browser software Control Let als pa cle Merk neso NikonView 4 CD ROM contains reference manuals Adaptive TTL white balance control Open M eF irst envelope D1X Serial Numbers Optimal color accuracy 3D Multi Sensor Balanced Fill F lash controlled by newly developed algorithm A y i T wo selectable color modes for different workflow environments optimized for sRGB The first D1X received had the serial number 5100964 firmware version 1 0 the second had the number 5100684 firmware version 1 01 T ypically you need at least a year s worth of bodies to start seeing any trend in serial numbers color space and Adobe RGB color space Sensitivity range 1SO equivalent 125 to 800 if thereis going to be any Since that doesn t seem to presently be the case there New comprehensive noise suppression design reduces picture noise across all sensitivities is no information to relate to you in this regard 2 000 x 1 312 pixel recording also available Enhanced Speed D1X Instruction M anual Massive on board image buffer memory for up to 9 consecutive shots in JPEG or TIFF mode 6 for Raw data frame rate of 3 frames per second T op shutter speed of 1 16 000 sec
20. is reduced W hen you access the F 18 M onitor Off Delay menu you ll find five options 10s 10s 20s 20s default Im 1 min 5m 5 min and 10m 10 min min minutes Select the desired time using the AF thumb pad highlighting the desired time and then right thumbing W ith the Func button set to CSM you ll see this Custom Setting as 18 0 10s 18 1 20s 18 2 1 min 18 3 5 min or 18 4 10 min on the Rear LCD Panel You can also set this in the Set Up M enu M onitor Off Custom Setting 19 Aperture CT RL This Custom Setting simply permits constant aperture operation for variable aperture lenses such as zooms or micros Variable aperture zooms for example change aperture as you zoom in or out to change focal length If you want a constant aperture during the zooming process you can use this Custom Setting to maintain that constant aperture the maximum aperture being thelens s slowest maximum when it is zoomed out Fixed aperture default Variable aperture lenses do not change aperture with a change of focal length symbol Variable aperture Variable aperture lenses change aperture as the focal length of thezoom or extension of the micro changes With the FUNC button set to CSM you ll see this Custom Setting as 19 0 default and 19 1 variable on the Rear LCD Note You cannot make a variable f4 5 5 6 a straight f4 5 lens with this Custom Setting but you could make it a straight f5 6 lens 31 The D1X
21. just like the F 5 as the D1 was also proclaimed T his is not a surprise as it s the same body have found the D 1X does just as well as the D 1 in the rain especially in a combination of rainy and cold conditions Comparing this perfor mance to that of the F5 which is not as computerized as the D1 D1X and D1H I m blown away by the wet performance these digital bodies deliver was shooting with the D1X in two nasty rainstorms in Alaska and one really damp soaker in M aine and it never even blinked it just kept shooting away the camera was not in any type of protective housing or even undercover did blot the camera dry from time to time never wiping but otherwise it just sat out in the elements and did its job However do know of one D1X that succumbed to moisture so it s not water proof An important part of the D 1X s body is its 30 x 40mm LCD M onitor actual screen size T his is the same physical size as the monitor on the D 1 However unlike the D1 the D1X displays 100 of the actual captured image T his was accomplished by making the image smaller not by increasing the size of the LCD The M onitor s 130 000 low temperature polysilicon TFT fluorescent backlit LCD screen does a nicer job than the D 1 s 114 000 dot LCD which really helps when you zoom in on the image with the F unc button in some respects It does a better job of displaying the entire image but I m not thrilled with it for
22. located behind the rear access door You need to access the Shooting M enu and then use the AF thumb pad to thumb down and highlight Assign FUNC Next depress the right arrow on the AF thumb pad Finally highlight in white either Qual Image Quality CSM Custom Setting AF Area or Lock Once this is accomplished by simply depressing the Func button you can access the desired option and changeit via the Command D ial I have this set to CSM because I m always switching Custom Setting 24 between Normal Low and High AF Area Mode Shooting Menu T his is how you set the D1X to either Single Area or Dynamic AF Simply access the Shooting M enu use the AF thumb pad to highlight AF Area M odein white depress the right arrow on the AF thumb pad highlight the option you desire and then right arrow thumb one last time to select it LiketheF5 theD1X has the ability to either hold focus with the one active AF sensor or change the active AF sensor to track the subject with other AF sensors T hese two modes of operation are called Single Area AF and Dynamic AF respectively the instruction book makes it look like there are three settings but there are only two with one being modified via Custom Setting 9 T hese two AF modes are often thought of as the Single Area or static subject AF and DynamicAF or continuously moving subject AF for good reason Don t confuse setting these modes with setting the AF M F lever to theright of the
23. many captures I ve made on that charge If it s been the appropriate number then exchange EN 4s without hesitation do not take the battery down to totally empty as you risk losing captures If there have not been enough captures for that charge first turn off the D 1X let it sit for a second or two and then turn it back on and or depress the depth of field button fivetimes If theindicator goes back to full continue shooting If this doesn t change things pop the battery out and then in again which removes any static charge that might be messing up the battery indicator On many occasions my battery indicator has shown half power when all along the battery was fine only mess around with this if I m short on battery power otherwise switch and keep on shooting W hen the battery charge is going down the metering symbol in the viewfinder blinks if you re depressing the shutter release this is usually when you have 30 of a charge left on the battery T his is another of the D1X s low battery indicators Also when the battery is in this state the viewfinder information instantly disappears once you re no longer depressing the shutter release have found that the blinking meter symbol is a better indicator of battery condition than the battery symbol indicator in the Top LCD Note W hen the battery is in this state you can still do operations such as changing the aperture but you just don t see the changes in the
24. of the D 1X operates W hen the F 21 AE L AF L Button menu is accessed four options appear AE AF Lock default AE Lock Only AF Lock Only and AE Lock Hold which you select by highlighting it in white and then right thumbing The AE AF Lock option locks both focus and exposure when the AE L AF L button is depressed The AE Lock Only option locks only the exposure when the AE L AF L button is depressed the focus is not locked T he AF Lock Only option locks only the focus when the AE L AF L button is depressed the exposure is not locked W hen the AE Lock Hold option is selected exposure is locked once the AE L AF L button is depressed and remains locked until the AE L AF L button is depressed one more time W hen the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 21 0 AE AF Lock 21 1 AE Lock Only 21 2 AF Lock Only and 21 3 AE Lock Hold Custom Setting 22 Aperture Set This Custom Setting changes the way you re able to change the aperture It s pretty straightforward Once the F 22 Aperture Setting menu is accessed you have two options The OFF Sub Command default option permits you to change the aperture viathe Sub Command Dial TheON Aperture option permits you to change the aperture via thelens s aperture ring this is trueno matter how you set Custom Setting 12 W hen the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 22 0 OFF and 22 1 ON
25. one AF bracket appears and which AF sensor is active Next to this is the vertical symbol which says CARD and tells you a CompactF lash card is inserted in the camera of course if there is no card the symbol won t be present and the D1X doesn t function Using Custom Setting 34 you can set the D1X so the shutter release is locked when no CompactF lash CF card is present Above this is a battery symbol which you ll get to know very well W hen this symbol is half darkened your battery is on the way down You have perhaps another 25 to 40 F ine captures left before you re dead in the water see page 70 for more info on the EN 4 During the time when the battery is this low the metering symbol in the viewfinder blinks At the same time the info in the LCDs and viewfinder goes off the moment you remove your finger from the shutter release T his is another sign that you re nearing the end of that battery s charge Now we ve come to one of the most poorly thought out symbols on the D1X this hasn t changed from the D 1 the frame counters which really should be capture counters as we re not shooting with conventional film T here are two sets of numbers in the lower right corner of theD1X s Top LCD Panel T he number on the bottom in the bracket is the current frame number T his number refers to how many captures have been made T his number blinks and adds numbers while the buffer is downloading images to the CompactF lash CF
26. or bad car battery Second the MH 17 must remain on continuously to properly chargethe EN 4 W ith some vehicles every time you turn the engine on and off power to the 12v power socket is interrupted T his interruption shuts the MH 17 off and then turns it back on T he M H 17 must have uninterrupted power the entire charging timeor your EN 4 suffers the consequences F inally the green light on the M H 17 comes on when the EN 4 is only 92 charged You must let 7 The D1X the EN 4 stay plugged into the M H 17 an additional 15 minutes for a full 100 charge A popular alternative to charging the EN 4 on the go is to use an inverter An inverter takes the 12v from an auto accessory socket and changes them into 120v You can plug the MH 15 16 directly into the inverter T he drawbacks are that it drains the car battery and an extra piece of hardware is required T he MH 17 Quick Charger does just as nice a job with only 10 of the hardware You can also couple the M H 17 with a solar panel such as SunW ize s PES for a totally portable charging system T heD1X indicates the battery charge is on the way out in a couple of ways T hefirst is the battery indicator in the T op LCD Panel U nder perfect conditions the battery indicator is half dark and half light when the battery is on its way out q Therearetimes when this indication is displayed but the battery is not on its way out W henever see this indication first think about how
27. selected 3 0 appears on the Rear LCD W hen under correct over is selected for bracketing order then 3 1 appears on the Rear LCD T he actual increments in which the camera brackets is determined by Custom Setting 2 Custom Setting 4 AF Activation This Custom Setting determines which button on the D1X activates the autofocus By default the D 1X is set so both the shutter release and the AF ON button located behind and to theright of the viewfinder can activate the autofocus You can use this Custom Setting so that only the AF ON button and not the shutter release activates the autofocus In the CSM Menu F4 AF Activation provides you the option of ON Shutter AF ON the N is covered by the word OK or OFF AF ON Only Select the desired option with the AF thumb pad highlighting the desired option in white and then right thumbing the AF thumb pad With the F unc button set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 4 0 default or 4 1 AF ON Only Custom Setting 5 Anti Mirror T his Custom Setting is based on thethought that you can avoid mirror bounce during exposure by having the mirror raised prior to the actual exposure I ve never had a problem with mirror bouncein either the D 1 or the D1X By default the mirror is raised the same time the shutter opens to create the exposure W hen you access the F5 Anti M irror Shock mode in the CSM Menu you have the option of OFF or ON Select the de
28. than the SB 28D X F lash exposure with the SB 50D X can be great as long as you keep one thing in mind the limited power of the flash unit have found that when using theSB 50D X at its outer range you can experience flash blowout like you would expect from using the D 1 SB 28D X combo If you stay within the range of the SB 50D X you won t have this problem T hebottom lineis you can pretty much rely on theD 1X sDT TL M atrix metering system to provide you with good flash results no matter what scenarios you run into such as shooting a subject that is farther than 20 feet away or one with dark distant backgrounds Are there any exceptions to this have found one and that is shooting a subject that is off to the side and fills less than one third of the frame W hen this scenario comes up and the subject is farther than 20 feet from the flash test fire to double check things have also found that DT TL Matrix provides better flash fill exposures compared to DT TL but compared to the D 1 the D 1X flash capability is a breath of fresh air Viewfinder Info The viewfinder of theD 1X is ahigh eyepoint finder an old term dating back to the F 3 T he view you seein the viewfinder is only 96 of what you actually capture and remember ontheLCD you now see 100 of what you capture You must learn to expect alittle extra image to be captured on theright hand side and at the top of the viewfinder If you don t youll always end up
29. that before you disconnect the IE EE 1394 cable the D 1X is turned off It is best that the D1X be powered with the AC adapter EH 4 rather than with the EN 4 battery as leaving the camera on while connected to the computer is a power draining process TheD1X was reported to be faster on FireW ire than the D1 1 don t know if it s just me my computer or my lack or FireWire experience but didn t discover any great difference if any in speed And to date those ve spoken with who use the D1X and FireW ire report the same findings Shooting M ode Dial T hree Center M ode Control Buttons T here are three mode control buttons encircled by the Shooting M ode Dial They are the ISO button ISO Auto Bracketing button BKT and the Flash Sync mode button lightning bolt W hile these buttons seem pretty self explanatory each has its own little nuances you should be aware of for successful feature execution ISO ISO Button You re probably wondering just how many times you re going to change your ISO and how many ways the D1X is going to make that possible T he D 1X has two ways of setting the ISO using this button or going through the Shooting M enu To change the ISO depress the ISO button and then rotate the Command Dial W hen this is done the SO appears in both LCD panels T his affects the ISO number that s set via the Shooting M enu and vice versa Custom Setting 20 affects which ISOs are available refer to page 95
30. viewfinder However you can see them on the Top LCD Panel An inconvenience at best If you have N ikon Capture 2 or 1 you can use Nikon View 4 to load the D 1X driver into your computer to use Capture 1 for this purpose you can use the battery meter in the camera folder section to determine the state of your battery level T his tends to be more accurate than the battery indicator in the Top LCD for determining the status of your battery charge but it s a pain to hook up just for that purpose have four EN 4 batteries for powering my two bodies T hat number of batteries has worked very well along with my being very conscious of the current state of battery charges If I m going to be away from my camera bag for an extended time like hours always grab at least one extra battery to take along think about how many CompactF lash CF cards plan on filling and roughly have one EN 4 for each 256 320 12x Lexar CompactF lash card never did this with theF 5 but that s a fact of life with the D 1X T he EN 4 doesn t come with a case but the battery case for the F 5 s M N 30 fits the EN 4 just fine 8 Moose Press One final note on using the EN 4 have found that it does not hold a charge very well when notin use W hether it s in the camera or out theE N 4 discharges If have not used a battery and or charged it in the last ten days simply charge it prior to major shooting Top Control LCD Panel W hile the s
31. you select both the aperture and shutter speed A bar graph appears as a metering aid in selecting the right aperture shutter speed combo It isin M modethat Bulb is available T he D 1X instruction manual states that noise might appear in exposures over 1 sec I ve found that the D 1X has far less noise than the D 1 at slower shutter speeds to the point that don t worry about shooting 10 second exposures You might want to refer to the computer section for more info on noise Note The CCD of the D1X does not like long 30 seconds or longer exposures a fact that is noted in the instruction book whereas it s not in the D1 manual T he image starts a build up of noise until over time the image becomes 10 Moose Press completely unusable T his is properly called dark current noise The term is derived from the fact that even when the CCD is dark current is passing through and creating noise See the Appendix for more information Note To prevent the emergence of smear the D1X incorporates a mechanical shutter in front of the CCD s charge coupled electronic shutter T his prevents intense light from striking the CCD during data processing Next to the exposure mode indicator is a box depicting what flash mode you have selected if any Flash sync modes are discussed in depth on page 106 Next to that is the autofocus box which indicates whether you rein Dynamic AF mode five signs appear Single A rea AF mode only
32. Auto Bracketing BKT Button T his feature provides you with some exposure flexibility in that the D1X can automatically take three frames two of which have varying amounts of exposure compensation which bracket around themain exposure T heD 1X provides you with up or 2 stops of compensation which with the digital format is probably all you need More on the D1X s metering is covered on page 109 To activate auto bracketing first depress the BKT button and then rotate the Command Dial until BKT appears in the Top LCD Panel At the same time the symbol in the Top LCD Panel and viewfinder starts blinking W hile still depressing the BKT button rotate the Sub Command D ial to select a bracketing program which depends on how Custom Setting 2 is set exposure compensation in increments of 1 3 1 2 or 1 stop Next select if you want or exposure compensation and how many frames either two or three W hen the BKT button is depressed you ll seein the Top LCD Panel either a or sign followed by 2F or 3F followed by an exposure value EV based on which option in Custom Setting 2 you ve selected For example if you want to take three frames at 1 3 stop increments you would want the display to show 3F 03 W ith this set you re ready to shoot By default the D1X takes the negative exposure compensation shot prior to the positive T his order can be changed with Custom Setting 3 Compose and shoot as you norma
33. Command Dial the fastest method of changing the ISO you can quickly reach ISO 800 D epress the M enu button use the AF thumb pad to access the CSM M enu and then usethe AF thumb pad to access Custom Setting 31 Boost Here you can select either 1 stop or 2 stops over 800 the instruction manual states roughly 1 or 3 stops of increase W ith this accomplished when you depress the ISO button the message HI 1 for 1 stop over or H 1 2 for 2 stops over appears in the LCD W ith ISO Boost activated you relocked out of switching to alower ISO until you disengage Custom Setting 31 I vetried every ISO setting on the D 1X and found that they all deliver much better results than the D1 especially when it comes to using higher ISOs Is there noise at ISO 800 or boosted T here is none compared to the D 1 and at ISO 800 would say it s so good that don t hesitate to bump the ISO up if need to still shoot at ISO 200 95 of the time but use higher ISOs when needed now that the quality has been substantially improved Assign FUNC Shooting Menu A feature on theD 1X that theD 1 doesn t have is the ability to assign different operations to the F unc button T his is kind of a handy thing It makes sense to me to allow photographers to customize the D1X to their own shooting style This setting permits you to access either Image Quality Custom Settings AF 21 The D1X Area or Lock by simply depressing the F unc button which is
34. Image Save menu is accessed three options are available OF F Uncompressed default and Compressed If the OF F option is selected the D 1X does not capture NE F Raw files only T IF F format W hen Uncompressed is selected the D 1X captures uncompressed NEF Raw files W hen Compressed is selected the D1X captures NEF Raw files at 50 60 compression Besure to read the last chapter with regards to capturing and working with NEF Raw files W hen the Func button is assigned to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 28 0 OFF 28 1 uncompressed and 28 2 compressed Custom Setting 29 File No Seq T his Custom Setting duplicates the F ile N umber Sequencing in the Shooting Menu refer to File No Seq Shooting Menu on page 87 for an in depth explanation W hen you access F 29 F ile Number Sequence you see simply two options OFF default and ON Select the one you desire by highlighting it in white and then right thumbing on the AF thumb pad W hen the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 29 0 OFF and 29 1 ON 34 Moose Press Custom Setting 30 PC mode W hen the D1X is connected to the computer using Nikon Capture 2 this Custom Setting permits you to either shoot in S or C shooting mode W hen the camera is connected to the computer the shooting mode button cannot be used to select theS or C shooting mode W hen you access the F 30 PC Sho
35. S 1 OF F CS 2 1 2 CS 3 N CS 4 ON CS 5 OF F CS 6 ON CS 7 OF F CS 8 OF F CS 9 OF F CS 10 OF F CS 11 AE bolt CS 12 OF F CS 13 OF F CS 14 8 CS 15 6s CS 16 10s CS 17 OF F CS 18 20s CS 19 CS 20 1 2 CS 21 CS 22 OF F CS 23 CS 24 A CS 25 CS 26 9 CS 27 CS 28 CS 29 ON CS 30 s CS 31 CS 32 I1 CS 33 3 CS 34 ON CS 35 CS 36 OF F I ll explain why and how use these in a moment strongly suggest you write down your Custom Setting selections once you ve got them set the way you want them T hat way in case the camera goes in for repair or you accidentally set the D1X back to its defaults you won t have to figure them out all over again Unlike with the F5 you cannot save these settings in a Photo Secretary and reload them New in theD1X and D1H is the way in which you actually program your Custom Settings You no longer have to have all of them memorized or the instruction book on your lap The D1X has the Custom Settings as one of the four menu items If you set the Func button to CSM Shooting M enu then you can select and set the Custom Settings via the Rear LCD but using the CSM M enu is a whole lot easier 0 Custom Settings Bank 19 Aperture Control during Zoom 11 mage Review 2 EV Steps for Exposure Control 3 Bracketing Order 4 AF Activation 5 Anti M irror Shock M ode 6 Focus Area Select 7 AE Lock 8 Mirror Lock up for CCD Cleaning 9 Dynamic AF
36. Single Servo 10 Dynamic AF Continuous Servo 11 AE F lash Bracketing 12 Assign Command Dial 13 Easy Exposure Compensation 14 Center Weight Area 15 Auto M eter Off Delay 16 Self T imer Delay 17 LCD Illumination 18 M onitor Off Delay 20 ISO Step Value 21 AE L AF L Button 22 Aperture Setting 23 Image Sharpening 24 Tone Compensation 25 C Mode Shooting Speed 26 C Mode Max Shots 27 Display Mode 28 NEF RAW Image Save 29 File Number Sequence 30 PC Shooting Mode 31 ISO Boost 32 Color Mode 33 Hue Adjustment 34 Disable Shutter If No CF Card 35 Rear Control Panel Display 36 Zoom PB during Image Write Here are the Custom Setting options offered in the D1X these are Nikon s definitions explanations to follow Access the Custom Settings by first selecting the CSM M enu orange colored menu using the AF thumb pad T hen right arrow click on the AF thumb pad to access the options in the menu thumbing either up or down on theAF thumb pad to access a particular Custom Setting W hen you view theCSM M enu it displays a Custom Setting number on the left side Next to it on theright is a brief description of the Custom Setting and the current setting for that Custom Setting is to the right of that W hen you 25 The D1X access a Custom Setting option on the menu you ll see the letter F and then the Custom Setting number appear For example for Custom Setting 21 it says 21 on the CSM M enu
37. Slow Sync is the classic flash sync mode and provides the greatest amount of flash fill flexibility n this sync mode the flash fires when the shutter opens and provides longer shutter speeds to properly expose low ambient light the shutter closes long after the flash has turned off In Slow Sync mode you have shutter speeds of 30 to 1 500 sec available when in A or P exposuremodes W hen shooting flash fill in Aperture Priority or Program modes the D 1X selects thecorrect shutter speed for the aperture you ve selected T he shutter speed range the D 1X selects is determined by the flash sync mode and is stepless This is the flash sync mode use 95 of the time as I m mostly doing flash fill But you haveto be conscious of the shutter speed when shooting in this mode because it can be really slow which causes ghosting with moving subjects 42 Moose Press Rear Curtain Sync is very similar to Slow Sync In this sync mode the flash fires after the shutter release has been depressed and the shutter has opened T he flash actually fires when theshutter starts to close T heidea behind this is that any movement thesubject might becreating during the ambient exposure happens prior to theflash s effect of freezing the subject In this sync mode you have shutter speeds of 30 to 1 500 sec availablewhen in A or P exposuremodes W hen shooting flash fill in Aperture Priority or Program modes theD 1X selects the correct shutter speed for t
38. The Nikon D1X have to be honest in saying didn t think the D1X would be that big of an improvement over the D1 I figured that a few fixes would be made but nothing radical nothing that would make me rethink my idea of just sticking with the D1 as my main digital body and saving some money T hat s not how it turned out M y first shoot with the D1X was a week spent in Alaska s bush and to say was incredibly surprised and utterly pleased by the D 1X s fixes and improvements is nothing short of an understatement Here s my take on this big file digital camera X in D1X eXtra big files Original Announcement On the same date and with the same press release Nikon Japan announced the introduction of the D1X and D1H Tokyo Japan February 5 2001 Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce the introduction of two new professional SLR digital cameras the D1X and D1H Nikon s latest achievements in digital photography Both models arefounded on the pioneering D 1 which introduced anew price quality threshold to the high end lens interchangeable digital SLR camera market Sinceits inception in September 1999 Nikon has been conducting in depth research into the use of the D1 camera and has analyzed feedback from Nikon users in all disciplines of photography T hese studies which called for further increase in quality and ease of operation led to the conclusion that the requirements of professional photographers
39. ack top right of theD 1X Cyclethrough the Y ear D ate and T ime and once it is all set you can either do nothing or depress any button on the camera and the camera goes back to normal operation 37 The D1X GPS Input Set Up Menu T his feature works in concert with a GPS unit when connected recording the GPS info in the EXIF file W hen viewing an image you can preview the GPS info on the M onitor Oncethe GPS Input M enu is accessed you have the options of OFF or ON Using this feature takes alot of determination on your part Neither Nikon nor the GPS unit manufacturers make a connecting cable to link the D1X toa GPS unit It s up to you to make the cable N ext not all GPS units are certified by Nikon to work with the D1X T here are only two certified units at the time that this book was written the M agellan ColorT rack and Garmin 111 1 honestly don t know what certified means but do know that other GPS units can work with the D1X The Garmin eT rek and III both work as well can provide some help in getting Garmin 11 to work with the D1X as that s the unit use First head to the Garmin W eb site see A ppendix and look up the accessories for your particular unit you can probably do this for other brands but have not tested them Once you re on the Accessories page head to Cables You need to order the Power Data Cable for your unit It has the connector for your GPS on one end and bare wires on
40. ame basic information is displayed on the D1X s Top LCD Panel as on the D1 the way some of these items features and functions are set differs Start by first making sure you have a charged EN 4 battery inserted into the D1X see above Then before you proceed to anything else set the Date and Time This is important because all the images you capture contain a T ime and Date stamp of the instant they were captured in the EXIF file Your computer filing takes advantage of this T ime and D ate stamp when it sorts the image files For this and other reasons it is important that they be set correctly in the U S the D1X comes set pretty close to the correct time and date right out of the box You can set the Time and Date in the D1X in two ways the first method being by far the easiest and a vast improvement over the D1 Turn theD 1X on rotate the dial around the shutter release to On and then depress the M enu button located behind the flip down door on the back of the camera Using the AF selector thumb pad called the M ulti Selector in the instruction book highlight the bottom folder choosing from the icons on the left which is the Set Up Menu the wrench symbol Once in the Set U p M enu right thumb the AF thumb pad to access the items in the folder and then down thumb the AF thumb pad to select Date Once in the Date M enu select the Year M onth Day Hour 24 hour clock Minutes and Seconds in that order Select the desired D
41. and flash sync speed up to 1 500 sec World s shortest shutter release time lag 58 ms and a quick startup Super high speed image processing with newly developed system LSI for rapid throughput and shutter availability Upgraded IEE E 1394 interface with enhanced transfer speed Improved O perability Supports CompactFlash card T ypes I II and Microdrive Newly developed 130 000 dot T FT color monitor with white LED backlighting Camera setup via Custom Settings selectable on TFT color monitor for fast easy operation available in four languages English F rench G erman Japanese One touch playback for rapid review and instant return to shooting mode 100 area accurate playback coverage on TFT color monitor Thumbnail playback in either 9 or 4 segments for rapid image evaluation after Learning from one s mistakes is important and Nikon most certainly did when it comes to the D1X s instruction manual T he instruction manual that came with my first two D 1X bodies was labeled 6M EA 0921 01 03 have not heard of any other printings You ll find that much of theinfo not included in the D1 instruction book such as the values for the on the white balance are included in the D 1X s manual You ll quickly notice that many of the points are well illustrated in the instruction book If you had a D1 you ll also notice that the manual for the D 1X has many more pages making it weigh quite a bit more T
42. ant to capture your image as Color or Black and W hite Under Resolution you select whether you want the Large or M edium file size there is no Small option Large 3 008 x 1960 pixels D 1X filesize and M edium 2 000 x 1 312 pixels D1 file size Select the option you desire for each one of these by simply depressing the AF thumb pad to the right Now this is all it takes to select these options but with digital thereis alot moreto it than just selecting an option W hen shooting with theD1X 1 usetheJ PEG Fine Large option which captures a beautiful 2 8M B file but here are the options and their associated file sizes captures captures Image Quality Color B amp W 256mb CF 512mb CF JPEG Basic M ed approx 320K file 1 16 v 708 1414 JPEG Basic Large approx 720K file v 315 728 JPEG Norm M ed approx 640K file 1 8 v 354 704 JPEG Norm Large approx 1 4M B file v 157 311 JPEG Fine M ed approx 1 3M B file 1 4 v 177 350 JPEG Fine Large approx 2 8M B file 78 154 RAW Compressed 50 60 over RAW v 14 26 RAW Uncompressed approx 7 6M B file v 31 60 HI RGB TIFF M ed approx 7 5M B file v 32 62 HI RGB TIFF Large approx 16 9M B file v v 14 26 HI YCbCr TIF F M ed approx 5 0M B file v v 47 92 HI YCbCr TIFF Large approx 11 2M B file v v 21 39 T hese are approximate numbers for
43. b flash only Custom Setting 12 Command Dial This Custom Setting reverses the Command Dial Sub Command Dial functions W ith the F12 Assign Command Dial menu selected you have the options of OF F M ain S Sub A default A is covered up by the word OK or ON Main A Sub S By default the Command Dial changes the shutter speed and the Sub Command Dial changes the aperture T he opposite then would be the Command Dial changes the aperture and the Sub Command Dial changes the shutter speed With theF unc button set to CSM the Rear LCD Panel displays 12 0 default or 12 1 reversed when viewing these options Custom Setting 13 Exposure Comp Called Easy Exposure Compensation in the instruction book this Custom Setting does make dialing in exposure compensation quick and easy Be forewarned however it also makes it easy to dial in compensation accidentally as well Keep a 29 The D1X close eye on the viewfinder for the compensation reminder You have two options with this Custom Setting the Exposure Compensation button located behind and to the right of the shutter release in conjunction with the Command Dial or just the Command Dial Access the F 13 Easy Exposure Compensation menu in the usual way and you ll find OFF amp CMD to bethe default option Exposure compensation with this option requires that you depress the Exposure Compensation button and dial in the compensation amount by rotating th
44. by one using the up AF arrow If you depress the Key button o while turning on the D1X you create a new folder T his happens only if the CompactF lash card already contains a folder It will not create a new folder on an empty card If you highlight Folder Select amenu appears with the options of NCD1X All or Current If you share CompactF lash CF cards containing images with other cameras these three options deter mine whether or not theimages will appear when previewing them using the D 1X sLCD M onitor If you highlight and select NCD 1X images in all folders created by the D 1X will be visible during playback If you select All images in all folders that conform only to Design Rule for Camera File Systems DCF are visible during playback which includes all Nikons and most other digital cameras If you select Current only images in the current folder are visible during playback Highlight the desired option NCD 1X being the default with the up down AF arrow and select the desired option with the right arrows on the AF thumb pad You can use this feature to create multiple folders in succession using the New option and then choosing Current from Folder Select to decide which folder to store newly captured images in If you want to view images you can view images only from the Current folder the other folders you ve created can be viewed only by going to Folder Select and choosing NCD 1X or All Display Mode Playback Menu T h
45. can useit to your advantage T he definitions that are in the D1X instruction book leave me wanting Basically the Tone Compensation alters the curves of the image to either decrease or increase the contrast of the image based on the exposure W hen you access the F 24 T one Compensation menu you ll find five options selected by highlighting onein white and then right thumbing T he five options are Auto default symbol Normal Less Contrast M ore Contrast and Custom W hen the Auto option is selected the D1X uses either Normal Less or M ore contrast curves when processing the image T his is only when the D 1X is in M atrix metering mode In any other metering modethe D 1X defaults to N or mal Read David s chapter for information on Less and M ore contrast T he Custom option permits you to upload a custom curve you have created in Nikon Capture 2 If this option is selected but no custom curve has been uploaded the D 1X defaults to Normal With the F unc button set in CSM mode this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 24 0 auto 24 1 normal 24 2 less 24 3 more and 24 CS custom Note T he Auto setting on the D1X can cause aT one shift you might not desire For an unknown reason believed to be linked to the improved metering when in Auto the D1X can shift the Tone from Normal to High T he resulting image mistakenly captured on High appears overexposed and grainy with an overall reddish tint compared to an
46. card The true number won t show up until the writing from the buffer process is complete noted by the green light on the CF compartment door on the back of the D1X no longer being lit The number above the current frame number is the number of remaining exposures the space remaining on the CompactF lash card T his number actually represents the minimum number of captures left on the card T heD 1X calculates this number by taking the maximum file size for one image and dividing it into the amount of space remaining on the CF People rarely capture the maximum file size so the actual number remaining is usually greater than that indicated on the counter T his is a really poor system for acouple of reasons one being that the counter has only a two digit placeholder W hen shooting with a high capacity CompactF lash card such as a 512M B Lexar card there are usually a heck of alot more captures remaining than can be represented by just two digits W hen more captures remain on a card than the remaining exposure counter can display which is the majority of the time the counter simply says F L which is really helpful You ll seeREM displayed above the remaining exposures so you know how many captures are left The Rear LCD displays a three digit number capable of 11 The D1X representing the actual number of remaining captures if you select that option via Custom Setting 35 Displayed along the top center and right in the LCD are t
47. color or exposure fidelity didn t find the displayed color to be as brilliant as the D1 s or the exposure as accurate to the actual images captured which requires the user to take advantage of Highlights and Histograms Custom Setting 27 to make exposure judgments from the M onitor W hile the LCD M onitor displays 100 of the image like the large 92 image of the D1 better than the smaller 100 image displayed by the D1X However the D 1X has the advantage of instantly delivering images on the LCD without your having to wait while watching an hourglass and a pixilated image develop before seeing the final image as you do on the D1 TheLCD M onitor protrudes from the D1X s body like the monitor on the D1 but not enough to make proper handholding a problem It sticks out enough to always be smeared with nose oils if it s not used with a cover T oss out the one that comes with the D 1X because while it s supposedly clear it s nowhere close to the quality of the Hoodman HOODCAP product H CD 1 see Appendix which is truly clear and makes it really easy to keep the LCD glass clean TheLCD Monitor might have zero one or a couple of pixels that either don t light up or area color such as red or blue T his is not a problem worthy of sending your D1X in for repair because it has no effect on the final image It is simply the natureof thebeast You can change the brightness of the LCD M onitor by setting LCD Brightness in the
48. depressing the button and then make the actual change by rotating the M ain Command Dial found on the top right of the camera s back Cyclethough the Y ear D ate and T ime and once the infor mation is all set you can 9 The D1X either do nothing or depress any button on the camera and it resumes normal Operation strongly recommend once you have made your settings using this method that you go back and check them T his is accomplished by simply depressing the BKT and buttons until the Year appears but is not blinking and then cycle through the numbers using the button Note If you are shooting with different D1X bodies and the clock is set slightly differently in each when you copy your files over to the computer it is likely to confuse them when displayed in some image preview software programs T heT ime and D atesettings are powered and maintained by a separate battery in the D 1X not by the EN 4 T his clock battery is supposed to have a life of ten years W hen this battery does die a battery symbol with the word CLOCK in it appears in the top left corner of the Top LCD Panel p This means it s time to send the D 1X into Nikon to replace the clock battery You might see LOCK appear in your Top LCD Panel which could mean you ve locked either the shutter speed or the aperture so the settings cannot be changed accidentally or on purpose until they re unlocked Unlike the D1 it is not easy to accidentally set this w
49. e Command Dial W hen selected ON CM D Dial Only permits you to dial in exposure compensation by simply rotating the Command Dial The dial you use to set compensation when ON CM D Dial Only is selected varies depending on what exposure mode you re using In P A and M exposure modes you use the Sub Command Dial to dial in exposure compensation In S exposure mode you use the Command Dial to dial in exposure compensation W ith the F unc button set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 13 0 default and 13 1 reassigned Custom Setting 14 Center Weight W hen using Center Weighted metering this Custom Setting determines the size of the area of the screen that the center weighted priority is given W hile this is described in terms of circles note that the D1X screen has only one circle which is 12mm W hen you call up the F14 Center Weight Area menu you ll find five options Y ou select the desired option using the AF thumb pad and thumbing right once the desired setting is highlighted in white T he options are 6 6mm 8 8mm default 10 10mm 13 13mm and Average Each one of these represents a millimeter circle in the center of the screen which grows with each number T he greatest amount of weight the meter assigns when in Center Weighted metering is determined by this Average bases its exposure reading by averaging exposure for the whole screen T he fact that thereis no reference circle on the D 1X screen t
50. e Display mode takes the place of the D1 s Custom Setting 27 T his is where you can select whether you want mage Only display Histogram Highlights or Both W hileselecting the option is very simple actually using it is abit confusing and in my opinion not user friendly Access this by first going to the Playback M enu and then using the AF thumb pad to highlight Display M ode in white T humb right on the AF thumb pad to call up the options Image Only is the default followed by Histogram Highlights or Both Select the desired option by depressing the AF thumb pad down then thumbing right to make the selection With Image Only selected depending on how you thumb which will describein amoment you see only the entire image Remember the LCD M onitor on the D1X displays 100 of the image If you have selected Histogram the histogram appears over the bottom two thirds of the image LCD If you ve selected Highlights what refer to as blinkie highlights those portions of your image if any that are beyond the range of the film to capture highlight detail blink at you If you select Both the histogram and highlights are displayed on two Separate screens and not at the same time as originally advertised H ere s the trick TheD1X has eight screens of information it can display on the LCD M onitor W hen the Both option is selected thehistogram and highlights information is displayed on separate screens T he infor mation
51. e shutter release and hold it down you ll see the frame counter go to 9 or less depending on your Custom Settings and thefile for mat and that is the maximum number of captures you re going to take If you just start firing and do not hold down the shutter release the 9 doesn t appear in the frame counter so you re not limited to that number of captures I ve repeatedly been able to capture as much as a 13 frame burst with the D 1X T he average file size was 2M B even though was shooting in Fine Large mode using a Lexar 256 12x card assume because was shooting a smaller average file size and not firing at 3 fps the 32M B buffer could accept more captures and write faster to the CompactF lash CF card W hen shooting in C mode it is important that you wait for the little green light the memory card access lamp on the CompactF lash door to be off before you do anything liketurning the camera off or trying to remove the CompactF lash CF card If you turn the camera off prior to all the images being written to the CompactFlash card you re going to lose all the images remaining in the buffer I ve done this before while trying to conserve battery power T he same result comes from pulling out the CompactF lash or the EN 4 prior to the green light shutting off you also run the risk of doing in the D1X or the CompactF lash card with these maneuvers If the EN 4 becomes exhausted while shooting the D1X stops firing but save
52. elected T hese are listed in order as you thumb right on the AF thumb pad 1T heimage itself with the folder and frame number in the lower right corner out of the frame and if protected the key symbol in the top left corner of theimage 2T he image itself with the key symbol in the top left corner if protected the framenumber and total number of framesin thetop right corner of theimage Below theimage from left to right are folder name file name file format date the image was captured time the image was captured image size and image quality 3T he image itself and superimposed over the image in white type against a faint blacked out screen so you can barely see the image camera as if you didn t know you shot it with a D 1X firmware version Nikon USA sent the D1X out with version 1 01 metering method shutter speed aperture exposuremode and exposure compensation 4T heimageitself and superimposed over it ISO white balance white balance tone compensation sharpness focal length and color mode 5 If theGPS Global Positioning System has been activated and the GPS unit is attached you ll see the image itself and superimposed over it latitude longitude and altitude 6T he image itself and if Highlights is activated in the Display mode blinkie highlights 7T he image itself and if Histogram is activated in the Display mode the histogram over two thirds of the image 8T he image only Note T he hi
53. elf Timer Delay menu you have four options 2s 2s 5s 5s 10s 10s default and 20s 20s You must have the firing mode set to the self timer for these times to bein effect If the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 16 2 2 16 5 5s 16 10 10s and 16 20 20s Custom Setting 17 Illumination This Custom Setting affects how the illumination for the two LCD panels not the M onitor comes on W hen you access the F 17 LCD Illumination menu you ll find two options Off Lamp On Switch default ch in the word Switch is hidden by the word OK and On Any Button T he default means that the LCD panels are illuminated only when the On Off switch is rotated clockwiseto the b When On Any Button is selected any button on the D1X that is depressed illuminates the two LCD panels T his can eat batteries depending on how much on time your camera experiences W ith theF unc button set to CSM the Custom Setting appears as 17 0 switch on or 17 1 any button on Custom Setting 18 Monitor Off T his is the one featureon the D 1X that feel can shorten thelife of your battery charge T his Custom Setting determines how long your M onitor stays on before it automatically turns off W hileit might not besignificant if you don t usetheM onitor often or at all if you do or have Custom Setting 1 set to ON you will seea difference in the number of captures you can make battery life
54. f you have depressed the M onitor button to view your images you can protect an image by simply depressing the Key button located between the Func and Thumbnail buttonsh T he key symbol appears on the image when it s protected Hide Image Playback M enu T his feature is meant for when you do Slide Shows directly from your D1X T his feature hides images from being displayed during a Slide Show Access this by first going into the Playback M enu and then using the AF thumb pad to highlight Hide Image in white Then depress the right arrow to the right to display a2 x 3 grid of thumbnails Select the image you want to hide signified by a blue box using the AF thumb pad and then depressing the T humbnail button h You can unhide an image in the same way Print Set Playback M enu can t see any reason why the D 1X has this carryover feature as it s hard to believe that someone shooting NEF files would choose this print method T his option permits images to be selected for printing using a printer or print service that supports Digital Print Order Format DPOF like that found in some photo store kiosks T he idea behind this is that ina DPOF device the image is printed along with its EXIF image data file when the CompactF lash is inserted into the DPOF device To access this first access the Playback M enu and then use the AF thumb pad to highlight Print Set in white N ext depress the AF thumb pad to the right which
55. files of normal contrast with no features such as sharpening added on a Lexar CF T his is the maximum filesize T he D 1X does not often use the entire allocated file size to capture the image JPEG Basic is aJPEG imagewith a compression ratio of 1 16 PEG Normal is aJPEG image with a compression ratio of 1 8 PEG Fineis aJPEG image with a compression ratio of 1 4 HI YCbCr is an uncompressed TIFF image T he image data is represented in luminance Y and two chrominance color channels Cb and Cr HI RGB is an uncompressed RGB TIFF image RAW or NEF files can be uncompressed or compressed selected via Custom Setting 28 Raw is a 12 bit data image from the CCD saved directly to the CompactF lash CF 17 The D1X card in the Nikon Electronic image Format NEF T hese files can only be read originally by using Nikon Capture 2 0 Qimage 2001 version 2 23 or Bibble 2 99f You can also set these functions using the F unc button if you have selected it in the Shooting M enu under Assign FUNC If you have selected this you can change the Quality Color and Resolution by just depressing the Func button T heF unc button is located under the M enu button behind the back door W hile the F unc button is depressed rotate the Command Dial to access HI M RGB HI RGB TIFF Fine Norm or Basic With the Func button depressed and when you rotate the Sub Command Dial you access and set the Color or B amp W Setting and Large or Medium for t
56. ghlights and histogram displays do not appear together on one screen when both are selected in the Playback M enu or with Custom Setting 27 T he Shooting M enu The next menu you can access by depressing the M enu button also the default menu when in the C S shooting mode is the Shooting M enu a teal colored menu As thename suggests this menu contains the most typically needed and often adjusted features you might use when shooting with the D1X Some of these features can also be accessed and set using buttons and Command Dials Access the Shooting M enu by depressing the M enu button the top left button behind the flip down door T his menu appears automatically if you rein the C 16 Moose Press S shooting mode If not thumb to the Shooting M enu using the AF thumb pad and thumb up or down until you reach the camera icon with the title at the top that states Shooting M enu Under this menu you ll find the following Image Quality Shooting M enu T hefirst option on the Shooting M enu is mage Quality A ccess mage Quality by highlighting the words with the white bar and then depressing the right AF thumb pad You have three options Quality Color and Resolution T he Quality M enu is where you select the file format for your images You have the options of HIGH JPEG FINE JPEG NORMAL and JPEG BASIC Under HIGH you have the additional options of YCbCr RGB or NEF RAW Under the Color option you select whether you w
57. gives the most bias to the center of the frame T he percentage of the frame where this bias is placed can be changed by using Custom Setting 14 Spot Metering measures the exposure in a small 4mm circle This is defined and selected by the active AF sensor If you re using Dynamic AF with Closest Subject Priority or a lens without a CPU only the center AF sensor can Spot meter no matter which AF sensor you select The D1X EXIF File W ith each image captured by the D 1X an EXIF file is written and attached to that file The EXIF fileis a text file that contains the following information Date Time Color Data Format Compression Lens prime lens in use Focal Length different focal length from above if using azoom lens or teleconverter Exposure M ode M etering M ode Shutter Speed Aperture exact numbers not rounded off Exposure Compensation F lexible Program Exposure Difference Flash Sync M ode Sensitivity ISO Fixed W hite Balance but not if you ve dialed in any or W B Tone Compensation Sharpening GPS You can view all of this information only by using aDAM such as Nikon s Capture 2 software or DigitalPro D1X Basic Operational Features T he operation of the D1X is pretty much a cookie cutter replica of the D1 For those who are unfamiliar with some of these basic controls and features this is how they operate Depth of Field Preview is possible by depressing the button on the left of the lens mount below the shutter re
58. graphers help others out by sharing CompactF lash CF cards Command Lock Shooting M enu T his option on the Shooting M enu replaces the Lock button feature of the D1 This option permits you to lock certain controls on the D 1X You access the Command Lock by first selecting the Shooting M enu thumbing down to the Command Lock using the AF thumb pad highlighting Command Lock in white and then right thumbing on the AF thumb pad W ith the Command Lock M enu accessed you have four options OF F Shutter Speed Aperture and Both W hen OFF is selected no controls are locked W hen Shutter Speed is selected only the shutter speed is locked it cannot be changed either intentionally or accidentally T his option is available only when theD 1X isin either Shutter Priority or M anual mode If in other exposure modes this option is grayed out on the menu and not accessible T heword LOCK appears in the Top LCD Panel when activated W hen Aperture is selected the aperture is locked and cannot be changed accidentally or intentionally T his option is available only when the D1X is in Aperture Priority or Manual exposure modes If the camera is set to other exposure modes this option is grayed out on the menu and not accessible T he word LOCK appears in the Top LCD Panel when activated W hen Both is selected both the aperture and shutter speed are locked and cannot be changed intentionally or accidentally T he option is available only i
59. hat is used for shooting vertically T he Vertical Command Dial and AF Start are found on the lower right corner on the back of the D1X This facilitates easy function operation when shooting vertically D1X Goofies TheD 1X has its own set of little goofies that happen for no good reason They do not really harm anything but basically just serve to annoy the photographer T hese are some of the known D1X goofies that you should look out for Folder Number Changes seem to happen most often when you delete images on the fly for exampleif you re currently in folder 111 and you re playing back an image by simply depressing the M onitor button while in C or S mode After deleting images in this manner when you go back to shooting the D 1X creates a new folder so you re no longer in folder 111 but 112 This doesn t cause any images to be lost but it s just an annoying feature when it comes time to file your images T his can also happen if you exchange cards with other D1 D1X or D1H users No known repair is available for the D 1X other than it was supposed to have been solved with the early firmware upgrade performed weeks after the 47 The D1X camera s original release T here is no way to distinguish early D 1X s from later ones either by serial number or firmware version Japanese Language tends to pop up in the first released models of theD 1X It seems to happen when you change the battery All t
60. have images to compare T hen go through your normal workflow and look at the results You ll need to take notes because the and changes are neither stored nor read by software reading an image s EXIF file With these images and information in hand you ll know what works best for you ISO Shooting Menu You can select your ISO in the D1X in one of two ways by accessing the Shooting M enu or using the SO button found to the left of the viewfinder U sing the Shooting M enu head to ISO Use the AF thumb pad to highlight the ISO in white and then depress the right arrow on theAF thumb pad ISO 125 160 200 250 320 400 500 640 and 800 are available Using Custom Setting 20 you can change the ISO step values to either 1 3 1 2 or 1 stop increments T he numbers above represent the 1 3 stop ISO values T he 1 2 stop values are ISO 125 140 200 280 400 570 and 800 T he 1 stop values are ISO 125 200 400 and 800 A quicker way of changing ISO is to use the ISO button to the left of the viewfinder Depressing the ISO button makes the current ISO appear in the T op LCD Panel Then rotate the Command Dial to change the ISO to the desired setting Custom Setting 31 ISO Boost permits you to boost ISO 800 by 1 or 2 stops You can select the ISO by either using the Shooting M enu or depressing thel SO button which is oneof thetrio located to the left of the D 1X s viewfinder By depressing the SO button and rotating the
61. he HI RGB HI CbCr HI RAW and Color B amp W Setting Large M edium for Fine Norm and Basic M oose s T houghts on F ile Formats T he D 1X is designed to capture ex tra big files T his it does and in my opinion in glorious fashion T he full files R aw format and TIFF are huge files that print up incredibly beautiful images H owever for most photographers and in most common desktop printing don t think you ll see a difference between the D1X and D1 But where the D1X s large files will really make a big difference is in image quality and I m not talking about just color or exposure here when you start making 30 x 40 prints and using the files for some other commercial applications T he D 1X is built to handle this file size requirement and it does it beautifully T hereis atrade off for this eX tra big performance and that s a slower system feel that anyone deciding between the D1X and D1H the D 1 isn t even in this race must consider whether the big files are more important than speed frames per second because that s really the difference between the D1X and D1H For me fps is the important factor in my success as a photographer and visual communicator W hite Balance Shooting Menu Access the white balance W B by first going to the Shooting M enu then use the AF thumb pad to highlight W hite Bal in white Then select the white balance setting you desire by highlighting it in white and then depre
62. he aperture you ve selected T he shutter speed range selected by the D1X is determined by the sync mode and is stepless Red Eye Reduction helps prevent red eye in your subject T his is done by a ore flash that goes off one second prior to the main flash to constrict the eye s iris around the pupil and reduce red eye In this sync mode shutter speeds of 1 60 to 1 500 sec are available to you when in A or P modes When shooting flash fill in Aperture Priority or Program modes the D 1X selects the correct shutter speed for the aperture you ve selected T he shutter speed rangethe D1X selects is determined by the sync mode and is stepless Red eye Reduction with Slow Sync is a combination of the Red eye Reduction and Slow Sync functions The D 1X and the SB 28DX Thank goodness the flash troubles of the D1 are past history l m so happy to report that I ve found the D1X s flash system to work nearly as well as the F5 s In the viewfinder of the D1X in the lower right corner is a lightning bolt symbol that lights when a flash is attached and charged ready to fire In TTL mode this same lightning bolt indicates when proper exposure with the flash has been accomplished W hen you fire the D 1X the lightning bolt goes off and then on again in less than a second when you ve achieved proper flash exposure If you have not achieved proper flash exposure the lightning bolt goes off and then blinks a number of times before going off prio
63. he menus then are in Japanese rather than the language you had selected It s a simple fix though Go to the Set Up Menu choose Language and select English which you can figure out even if you don t read J apanese U nfortunately this also seems to reset the folder numbers messing up sequential numbering T his happened with firmware version 1 01 and was fixed with later versions though the firmwares still called 1 01 Turning Off the SB 28D X when it s attached to theD 1X sometimes requires that the camera be on If the D 1X is turned off you cannot turn the SB 28D X off found this to be true with my SB 28D X and two other SB 28D X units but not in about a hundred others so go figure T his is a problem with the flash and not with the D1X Fix this by sending your flash into Nikon see Appendix if it bothers you it causes no harm to the camera or flash Funny Color can happen when shooting with the D1X T he actual problem is way too complicated to explain but if you take a series of images and a couple of them appear to be grainy contrasty and with a red tint while the rest appear to be correct the D 1X has changed theT oneto High M ore Contrast when it should beset to Normal T his happens only when the Tone is set to the default Automatic T he only fix is to manually set the Tone to Normal and not rely on the camera to do it correctly in Automatic You can check that this is the case by looking at the image s information in t
64. he only downsideto the manual is that some of the D1X menus pictured have inaccurate menu titles compared to the actual menus in the camera T hese are pointed out in this book whenever appropriate The D 1X Body shooting TAAN aed ii The D1X s body design is exactly the same as that of the D 1 and D 1H it is Playback be enlarged and scroll bility all ti desired j H portion De CEA DO Aera re ene a Se EON GN aea from theexact same mold T heD 1X body is constructed out of rugged magnesium M g in comparison to the F 5 which is constructed out of tough aluminum alloy the F 5 s prism is constructed of titanium T he goal behind the body design was to match the rugged standard set by the F5 but on a lighter platform T he one complaint have not heard about the D1 is that it is not rugged enough and doubt you ll hear that about the D1X either I ve never heard of aD1 sustaining 2 3 Lossless compression mode for Raw file save mode to improve CF card capacity and image handling efficiency GPS Global Positioning System information saved within image data file if connected to aGPS unit via RS 232C interface The D1X aknock out blow from being dropped and I ve heard only a handful of reports of it even being dented due to mistreatment T his means that Nikon met its goal of having the D1 D1X and D1H live up to the F 5 s standard of endurance T he D1X is said to be highly resistant to penetration by water drops
65. he shutter speed and aperture respectively To the right of this is the exposure compensation symbol which indicates that you have dialed in exposure compensation via either the body or the flash this symbol also appears in the viewfinder W hen you depress the Exposure Compensation button located behind the On Off switch this symbol appears Rotate the M ain Command Dial to set the desired exposure comp and if you look at the symbol it reminds you which way to rotate the M ain Command Dial Rotate it to the left towards the for overexposure and rotate it to the right towards the for underexposure You can change the way exposure compensation is set by using Custom Setting 13 see page 93 Under the shutter speed and aperture display is the display for the Auto Exposure Bracketing when it is activated Rear Control LCD Panel T he Menu Button The D1X s programming is no longer controlled through button dial combinations like the D 1 s but rather it is nearly completely controlled with the M enu button like this new system one heck of alot better than the D 1 s Located behind the flip down door at the back of the D1X the M enu button is what you use to access the four main menus that program the D 1X T hese menus are pretty straightforward making it quite simple to set up and program the camera to fit your own needs U nlike the D1 the menu options don t vary if the camera is set to C S or Play mode In C
66. heE XIF file Format Your Card T his message seems to be an occasional problem for some D1X users The general scenario is that you shoot with your camera put the CompactF lash CF cardin your computer and the computer either doesn t recognize it or asks if you want to format your card Doing so of course would erase your images If you put the card back into the camera the camera no longer recognizes it No exact cause or cure for this problem is Known and it s so erratic I ve heard about it from only a handful of photographers and experienced it only once myself that more needs to be learned It does point out why formatting a card every time you insert it into the camera is so important If this happens to you and you use a Lexar CompactF lash CF card you can send the card to Lexar Lexar claims about a 95 success rate of saving images on a card with this problem For more info call Lexar at see Appendix Conclusion In anutshell really like the D 1X T he majority of the problems that surfaced in the D 1 were addressed and fixed very nicely in this model the main two being exposure and flash In addition the D1X appeared with some new features that for many are very welcomed namely the eX tra large files color space and menu driven options From a wildlife photographer s point of view the D1X lacks the frames per second to adequately capture action Its small buffer doesn t help in that respect but its w
67. his is accomplished right select on the AF thumb pad which brings up the D elete options Selected All and Print Set 12 Moose Press Delete Playback Menu Selected W hen this option is highlighted the first six thumbnails of the file appear on the LCD M onitor You can thumb through the images as well as select images by using the AF thumb pad A selected image has a blue box around it M ark an image for deletion by depressing the T humbnail button n bottom right button T he selected image is marked with a trashcan icon in its top right corner W ith your image s selected depress the Func button which brings up a menu with a big red exclamation point and the question Delete image By default a red N O is highlighted or you can access theY ES highlighting it in red using the AF thumb pad If you want to delete the image highlight the YES and then depress the F unc button to delete the image s If NO is the option you want depress either the Func button with NO highlighted or depress the shutter release or if you do nothing it clears itself in 30 seconds Y ou can return to the Playback M enu anytime during this process by simply depressing the M enu button Note You can delete images when in S or C mode by first depressing the Monitor button and then depressing the D elete button when the image you want to delete appears You don t have to do all the steps described above to delete an image All
68. ht thumb W hen the F unc button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 32 0 SRGB and 32 1 Adobe RGB lovethe AdobeRGB color space and I m so pleased that this isnow intheD 1X The richness of color in the digital files in this color space makes a huge difference when images are printed T he only thing that would make this even better is if there were a tag in the file so when you opened the file into Photoshop the application would know the color space rather than your having to tell it so T his is one of the highlights of the D1X compared to the D 1 Custom Setting 33 Hue Adjustment I ll be honest this Custom Setting had me scratching my head T he general explanation for its use is in artificial light it helps correct the color balance isn t that what the PRE white balance fixes ve never used this Custom Setting so can be of no help other than to tell you how to changeit if desired Once you access the F 33 H ue Adjustment menu you ll find seven options in this order 3 default 4 5 6 0 1 and 2 David has more on this in his chapter which should help you decide what you need to use and when W hen the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 33 with the number you have selected following Custom Setting 34 No CF Card This Custom Setting simply locks the shutter release from firing when no CompactF lash CF card is inserted
69. image captured at Normal T his can be fixed by setting the Tone manually Use Normal 24 1 for the vast majority of your shooting Use Low 24 2 when you want to compress the contrast range for a high contrast scene Use the High setting 24 3 when you want to expand the contrast range for alow contrast scene W hen set manually and not left up to the camera s control Tone Compensation works beautifully Custom Setting 25 Shooting Speed Compared to the last Custom Setting this oneis a snap to understand T his Custom Setting determines the D1X s firing rate when the shooting mode is set 33 The D1X to C Continuous W hen the F 25 C M ode Shooting Speed menu is accessed three options appear 3 fps default 2 fps and 1 fps fps frames per second W hen the F unc button is assigned to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 25 3 3 fps 25 2 2 fps and 25 1 1 fps Custom Setting 26 Max Shots T his Custom Setting permits you to set thenumber of images that are stored in thetemporary memory buffer where the images reside prior to being written to the CompactF lash card Your options are from 1 to 9 images the number of which you can select when you access the F 26 C M ode M ax Shots menu Select the number you desire by using the AF thumb pad and thumbing either up or down T hemaximum is 9 except in Raw mode when the max is 6 If Custom Setting 36 is enabled the max is 6 for all modes b
70. in You could think of this as the closest setting to conventional film s 5 500 K the D 1X has to offer usethis setting in early morning late morning late afternoon and in evening light and just love the results W hen there is just a little overcast and the light ratio is down to 1 2 use this setting Basically you can t see the sun but it is still bright out T his setting really makes colors pop in an otherwise dull light It s pretty amazing that the one setting most photographers don t contemplate using performs so well f Shade The instruction book recommends using this setting when shooting in the shade on a sunny day T he color temperature is set at approximately 8 000 K M oose s Rule of Thumb I use this setting only when the lighting is dark there s no sun and the lighting ratio is close to 1 1 no shadows use Cloudy white balance more than Shade white balance but do use it U sing flash fill in this mode works well in making the subject really pop in terms of exposure and color T his is the setting use the majority of the time when photographing a sunset PRE Preset White Balance T hisis apretty helpful setting It permits you to select the color balance by first taking a PRE reading off a white target to preset the white balance T his is one white balance that has been vastly improved in the D 1X in that you can have as many as three preset memorized PRE white balances stored in the D1X
71. in the D 1X W hen you access the F 34 Disable Shutter If No CF Card menu you ll find two options ON default and OFF 35 The D1X W hen the F unc button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 34 0 ON and 34 1 OFF Custom Setting 35 Rear CTR Panel T hisis a cool Custom Setting that permits you to determine what the Rear LCD Panel displays Once you access the F 35 Rear Control Panel Display menu you have two options ISO ISO default or symbol Frame Count It s pretty clear cut W ith ISO selected the SO is displayed on the Rear LCD and with Frame Count selected the remaining frames on the CompactF lash CF card are displayed Since the T op LCD Pane still displays only two digits for the frame counter having the Rear LCD display three digits is really nice for us shooters who don t want to do the math when shooting W hen the F unc button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the R ear LCD Panel as 35 0 ISO or 35 1 frame count have this set to 1 so can see very quickly and without having to do the math the number of captures remaining on the CompactF lash CF card Custom Setting 36 Zoom PB T his Custom Setting permits you to zoom in on an image while the image is being written to the CompactF lash CF card T his Custom Setting is for when Custom Setting 1 is set to ON W hen you access the F 36 Zoom PB during I mage W rite menu you ll find sim
72. ing any ill effects on the battery T here are some precautions regarding charging the EN 4 that are listed in the M H 16 s instruction manual Though most users never read them they are very important Following the instructions makes a big difference in the overall charging life of the EN 4 T he EN 4 cannot go straight from the camera to the charger T he battery must be cold to the touch before charging that s just the nature of the beast It is important that you follow the order of steps for charging described in the instructions that come with the M H 16 For anormal charge plug the AC cord into the wall prior to connecting the EN 4 to the MH 16 Charger T hen plug the EN 4 into the MH 16 Watch the lights for charging progress and if the charge light flickers unplug the EN 4 this can be caused by a static electricity surface charge If this happens and the battery is warm wait for the battery to cool down and then charge it using the Refresh option For anormal charge you don t have to depress any button on the MH 16 just plug the EN 4 in and in about 90 minutes a green light comes on signaling the battery is good to go We tend to trust the battery indicator on the TopLCD to tell us the condition of the EN 4 T his is often inaccurate and should not necessarily be taken at face value Refreshing the EN 4 should be done only onceevery ten charges Refreshing is accomplished by hooking it up using the procedure described ab
73. is is selected Slide Show Playback M enu This is really cut and dried compared to the D1 In the Playback M enu select Slide Show by using the AF thumb pad and highlighting it in white Start is the default option highlighted in white so to start the Slide Show depress the right arrow of the AF thumb pad T he default interval is 2 seconds You can change this by using the Frame ntvl options Highlight this with the AF thumb pad then depress theright arrow T his brings up the F rame ntvl options of 2 3 5 or 10 seconds At the end of the Slide Show you have the options Restart or Frame Intvl You can either restart the show be depressing the right arrow on the AF thumb pad or select a new Frame Intvl and then restart the show 13 The D1X Protect Playback Menu T his feature is designed to prevent you from accidentally deleting an image You can protect images using this menu feature Access the Playback M enu thumb down to Protect using the AF thumb pad and highlight it N ext depress the AF thumb pad to the right which brings up the thumbnails from the images on the CompactF lash card in a 2 x 3 grid T he highlighted image has a blue box around it Protect it by depressing the Thumbnail button n W hen an imageis protected the key symbol o appears on the protected image You can remove the protection by highlighting the image again and depressing the T humbnail button n Note You can protect images on the fly I
74. is the same as Custom Setting 29 W ith this option turned on numbering proceeds from 0001 to 9999 and when the file numbering reaches 9999 the D1X creates a new folder with the numbering starting over at 0001 T his is true whether you format the card or not TheD1X assigns each image a file name that starts with DSC_ followed by afour digit number ranging from 0001 to 9999 Images are stored in folders with numbers ranging from 100 to 999 and the extension NCD 1X If continuous file numbering is not selected file numbering begins at 0001 whenever you create a new folder or if the camera creates one automatically like when you format a CompactF lash card which you should do every time you insert one into the camera T his really makes no difference to the operation of the D 1X but it can mess you up when it comes to filing the image in your computer which does not like duplicate file numbers Reset resets the file numbering in the current folder to 0001 23 The D1X Note W hen using other folks CompactF lash CF cards believe the D 1X and D1H use the folder numbers from a previous camera if that folder number is greater than the folder currently in use If you take a card from Camera A which has the folder number of 124 and place it in CameraB regardless of reformatting if Camera B has a folder number less than 124 it will use the folder number 124 This is something that has happened many times at my workshops when photo
75. ished by depressing the BKT andAF ON buttons while turning the camera on W hen done correctly you ll see the top LCD light up with all of its symbols as pictured on page 8 of the instruction book T his keeps the D1X awake for 30 minutes Any time you touch the shutter release or anything else that would normally wake up the camera during those 30 minutes the clock will be reset to 30 minutes If the camera turns itself off or you turn it off the D1X reverts to normal shut off delay times as per Custom Setting 15 You have only one option for powering the D1X the EN 4 7 2v 2 000mAh 14 4W h Ni MH battery The D1X kit comes with one T hough it s the same battery as powers the D1 because of improvements made to the D1X its performance far surpasses its performance in the D 1 T his battery could last you a good long time In my experience the D 1X s sales brochure is pretty close to being correct with regards to the capabilities and use of the EN 4 T he brochure claims that the EN 4 is good for up to 1 000 captures which is close to the 900 captures was getting from a single battery Once the EN 4 is ready to go you should expect a minimum of 300 captures per charge that s shooting in Fine Large mode with an AF S lens in AF mode and with reviewing images on the LCD Monitor W hy such alow number compared to what was getting call it the olay factor Focus on your big toe fire off a burst just to hear the camera sing
76. ith the D1X To lock the aperture or shutter speed access the Command L ock function in the Shooting M enu described below TheTop LCD Panel displays many of the same familiar symbols found on other Nikon bodies T he exposure modes A Aperture P riority P Program S Shutter Priority and M M anual are displayed in the lower left corner In A or Aperture Priority mode you select the aperture and the D 1X selects the shutter speed T he shutter speed the D 1X selects is stepless ranging from 30 to 1 16 000 sec In P or Program mode the D 1X selects the aperture and shutter speed for you based on the focal length of the lens in use and the light level of the scene being shot The D1X also has a Flexible Program mode which permits you to change the aperture shutter speed combination T his is done by rotating the Command Dial while in the P mode An asterisk appears next to the P when this has been accomplished Note T o cancel F lexible Program you need to either switch exposure mode or turn the D 1X off You can use the Command Dial but at times it just changes the shutter speed aperture combo rather than cancel the Flexible Program In S or Shutter Priority mode you select the shutter speed and the D1X selects the aperture which is stepless Note You must have the lens s aperture closed to its minimum aperture for A S and P exposure modes or the D1X displays a FEE error InM or M anual
77. lease button T his stops down the aperture of the lens permitting you to view theD OF at the selected aperture W ith the D OF button depressed the viewfinder becomes very dark and may be hard to view through Once the button is released the lens automatically goes back to its maximum aperture for viewing T he PC Flash Sync Terminal on the top right side of thefront of theD 1X is for PC flash not computer connection T his is where you can plug external studio flash units into the D 1X T his is an electrical socket so if you lose your PC cap call Nikon Parts see A ppendix and order a replacement to prevent dirt or moisture from entering the camera through this socket and possibly causing electrical problems 46 Moose Press Note Do not attach an external flash via the PC socket when a flash is already attached via the ISO hot shoe and the D 1X is set to Rear Curtain Sync The 10 Pin Remote T erminal is where cable releases are attached You can plug in the MC 20 M C 21 M C 22 M C 25 MC 30 M L 2 with M C 25 and the M L 3 via this socket T his is an electrical socket so if you lose your ter minal cap call Nikon Parts see Appendix and order areplacement to prevent dirt or moisture from entering into the camera via this socket and possibly causing electrical problems T he Accessory Hot Shoeatop of the prism is wherethe flash unit is attached It is an ISO hot shoe which accepts any flash but it is recommended that only Nikon
78. lens mount By depressing the F unc button if selected as described above and rotating the Command Dial or the AF area mode in the Shooting M enu as described above you select the appropriate AF mode for you If only oneAF Bracket appearsin theAF box in theTop LCD Panel you have activated the Single A rea AF To select the oneactiveAF sensor you want to use depress the Focus Area Selector pad which has a lock on it on the back right side of the D1X and toggle around until the AF sensor desired is red which means it s active remember you can use Custom Setting 6 to speed up this process By moving your thumb up or down left or right you select the one active AF sensor With this done you can place the one active bracket in the viewfinder over the subject depress the shutter release unless you re using Custom Setting 4 and the camera focuses on that point or subject Aslong as neither you nor the subject move theD 1X maintains focus on the point you ve focused upon when in the AF mode If the subject moves you must re aim the D1X and then depress the shutter release to focus again W hen Dynamic AF has been selected as described above five signs appear in the AF box inthe Top LCD Panel W hen in this mode the D 1X automatically switches the active AF sensor if the subject moves as long as you and the D 1X move with it First select the active AF sensor and then place that sensor over the subject W ith this done you de
79. lly would T he D 1X takes a series of three frames depending on the shooting mode If theD 1X isin Continuous C shooting mode the camera takes the three frames continuously until all three frames have been captured At that point the D 1X stops firing If theD1X isin Single F rame S shooting mode you must depress the shutter release each time for every 41 The D1X exposure which also holds true for the self timer T he bracketing no matter what shooting mode you rein can be canceled at any time by depressing the BKT button and rotating the Command Dial until BKT no longer appears in the T op LCD Panel T he actual exposure change is done by altering either the shutter speed or aperture depending on which exposure mode you re in If you re in Aperture Priority the shutter speed is changed for bracketing maintaining the aperture you veselected If you rein Shutter P riority the aperture is changed for bracketing to maintain the shutter speed you ve selected In Program mode both shutter speed and aperture are changed for bracketing If you rein M anual the shutter speed is changed W hen a flash is attached and auto bracketing is used the flash s exposureis affected by the bracketing by the same amount as the ambient light exposure You can change this by using Custom Setting 11 Y ou can also affect the bracketing increasing the amount by dialing in exposure compensation prior to shooting via the Exposure Compensation bu
80. n M anual exposure mode If the camera is in other exposure modes this option is grayed out on the menu and not accessible T he word LOCK appears in the Top LCD Panel when activated Thisis one of the functions that can be assigned to the F unc button so you can change what is locked or not locked on the fly rather than accessing it through the Shooting M enu The Custom Setting M enu T he Custom Settings in the D 1X can really make your digital photography a whole lot easier and much more successful N ikon recognizes this which is why they added five more Custom Settings to the D1X compared to the D1 while replacing others in the process To completely understand the Custom Settings you ll want to read how they re activated and how they function here and why they work in the last chapter T hey can make your life a whole lot simpler if used intelligently Asapoint of reference these are the Custom Settings have set in my D1X Viewed on the Rear LCD Panel with the Func button set to CSM they are CS 0 A CS 1 0 CS 2 2 CS 3 0 CS 4 0 CS 5 0 CS 6 1 CS 7 0 CS 8 0 CS 9 1 CS 10 0 CS 11 A5 CS 12 0 CS 13 0 CS 14 8 CS 15 6 CS 16 10 CS 17 0 CS 18 1 CS 19 1 CS 20 2 CS 21 0 CS 22 0 CS 23 0 CS 24 0 CS 24 Moose Press 25 3 CS 26 9 CS 27 2 CS 28 2 CS 29 1 CS 30 5 CS 31 0 CS 32 1 CS 33 3 CS 34 0 CS 35 1 CS 36 0 T he same selections when read from the CSM M enu are CS 0 A C
81. needed to be addressed more directly T he new cameras give professionals exactly what they demand a choice T hey can opt for the super high resolution of the D1X or the fast action workflow based D1H W hile inheriting many of Nikon s fundamental concepts in digital camera manufacture that were embodied in the D 1 total image quality enhanced speed and improved operability both cameras boast a wide variety of enhancements that make them stand out from competitive models and place them a generation further on from their own predecessor The D1X featuring 5 47 megapixel CCD allows photographers to capture ultrahigh resolution images at recording pixels of 3 008 x 1 960 and 2 000 x 1 312 while also enjoying improved color management capability for super high color fidelity in a wide variety of applications and locations It will become the standard for the professional photographer who requires no compromise quality from adigital camera An improved version of the Nikon Capture software allows the full 16 bit image quality and control either in the studio or when post processing RAW files The D1H offers updated consecutive shooting up to 40 shots at 5 fps as well as faster image processing and data transfer both to CF media and direct to computer transfer speed by 1EEE1394 is now enhanced It will become the standard for press photographers and professionals for whom speed is absolutely essential In response to
82. ng Off Flash Sync M ode Front Curtain 36 Moose Press The Set Up Menu T his menu sets up some of the more mundane features of the D1X You ll set many of these features and options once and then probably never revisit them again It s probably why it s the last menu on the list Access the Set Up M enu yellow color just as any other by using the AF thumb pad and heading down Format Set Up Menu This feature formats the CompactFlash CF card When the feature is highlighted in white and the right arrow on the AF thumb pad is depressed a warning menu appears on the M onitor WARNING AII images will be deleted You then have the option of selecting No or Yes To activate either No or Yes first highlight your selection in red and then depress the F unc button to activate it Note Y ou can quickly format a card by simultaneously depressing the DEL and MODE buttons and holding them for two seconds then letting up on them and then depressing them together one last time Language Set Up Menu T his feature sets up the language in which all the menus appear Once you highlight Language in white and then depress the right AF thumb pad arrow four options appear D Deutsch E English F Fran ais or J Japanese Highlight the language you desire and then right click the AF thumb pad to enter your selection The D1X had a Goofy associated with this Refer to page 111 for more information Video Out
83. no doubt in my mind that theAF of the D 1X is just as good as that in the F 100 which is better than that in the F 5 which for action photography is an incredible tool Unlike the F5 with its Photo Secretary the D1X s AF cannot be programmed for faster operation which is a detriment to thecamera T heD 1X also has thesameelectronic rangefinder and focus indicator as the D1 A green dot lights in the viewfinder s lower left corner to indicate that the camera is in focus If the subject is out of focus a green arrow points either left or right to indicate which way to turn the lens to bring the subject into focus File No Seq Shooting Menu T his is something depend on as it makes filing my images in the computer so much easier A ccess F ile No Seq by first going to the Shooting M enu thumbing down on theAF thumb pad to the F ile N o Seq highlighting it in white and then right arrow clicking on the AF thumb pad In the File No Seq M enu you have three options OF F ON and Reset Highlight the option you want using the AF thumb pad and then thumb the right arrow on the AF thumb pad to set the selection Refer to D1X Goofies on page 111for a note on this feature TheOFF option is pretty self explanatory It turns off sequential numbering from CompactF lash card to CompactF lash card E ach time you insert a new card the counter starts over again at 0001 T heON option permits continuous sequential file numbering this
84. nt to zoom in on View the different portions of the image by moving the AF thumb pad to move the red box around To view thenext image depress the F unc button onemoretime which turns off the zoom and permits you to select images in the normal fashion To zoom again depress the Func button and repeat the process T here is only one zoom power you cannot zoom in by greater amounts The D 1X Picture Angle TheD1X sCCD is thesame sizeas the D 1 s though it s not the same CCD It is not the same size as a standard 35mm film image it s smaller T he size of a frame of 35mm film is approximately 36 x 24mm whereas the size of the D1X s CCD is 23 7 x 15 6mm Therefore the picture area seen by the D1X s CCD is approximately 51 of a standard 35mm image T his causes lenses used on the D1X tohavean approximate focal length increase of 1 5x A 300mm lens attached on an F5 becomes a 450mm lens when attached on aD 1X However there is no loss of aperture T he same f2 8 lens on the F5 remains an f2 8 lens on the D1X And while it would appear that the depth of field DOF might change with this 1 5x increase it doesn t T he physical focal length to exit hole ratio of the lens on which D OF is based does not changeto alter the depth of field All that happens is the D 1X does not see nor capture all the info the lens projects It just sees and captures the center of the projected image hence the focal length increase The D 1X s
85. o help you makes me wonder how helpful to metering this really is W ith the F unc button set to CSM these options appear on the Rear LCD Panel as 14 6 6mm 14 8 8mm 14 10 10mm 14 13 13mm and 14 A average Custom Setting 15 Auto Meter Off This is a simple Custom Setting that merely affects how long the D1X s meter remains on once you ve removed your finger from the shutter release or once the image has been captured With the F15 Auto Meter Off Delay menu accessed you have four options 4s 4s 6s 6s default 8s 8s 16s 16s s seconds Select the desired setting with the AF thumb pad highlighting the desired option and then right thumbing With the Func button set to CSM mode the Rear LCD Panel displays 15 4 4s 15 6 6s 15 8 8s and 15 16 16s for this Custom Setting The question with this is does the meter in time affect battery consumption W hile haven t done exhaustive testing on each one of these settings have found that there is practically no difference in battery consumption with the 4 6 or 8 settings and an imperceptible amount at 16 when shooting in the field T herefore have mine set to the default 30 Moose Press Custom Setting 16 Self T imer T hisis a fairly cut and dried Custom Setting it just determines how fast you have to run when taking a family portrait T his Custom Setting determines how long the self timer waits before firing the camera W hen you access the F 16 S
86. or Exposure Control menu you have the options of 1 3 Step 3 dot thing 1 2 Step 2 dot thing and 1 Step 1 dot thing W hy in 26 Moose Press the heck did they use dots instead of the fractions for this Select the desired value you want to use with the AF thumb pad highlighting it in white and then right arrow thumb with the AF thumb pad to enter your selection With the F unc button set to CSM this Custom Setting on the Rear LCD appears as 2 3 1 3 stop 2 2 1 2 stop and 2 1 1 stop use the 1 2 stop selection because of the latitude of digital film W ith the nearly 5 stop range of thefilm find that need 1 2 stop to effect the changes desire in digital film In comparison used 1 3 stop increments with conventional film Custom Setting 3 BKT Order T his Custom Setting gives you control over the bracketing order By default the D1X takes the exposures in the order correct MTR underexposed U nder overexposed Over You can change this order to underexposed Under correct M TR and overexposed Over OntheCSM M enu F 3 Bracketing Order you have the option of N MT R gt Under gt Over OK covers the er in the word Over when you first open the menu or arrow Under gt MTR gt Over The N option is the default option of correct under and over the arrow istheunder correct and over option If you have the F unc button set to CSM when you have the default correct under over
87. oting M ode menu you ll find two options symbol Single default or Continuous Select the shooting mode you want when the D1X is connected to the computer by highlighting the desired option and right thumbing on the AF thumb pad to lock it in W hen the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 30 S single or 30 C continuous Custom Setting 31 ISO Boost This Custom Setting basically permits you to raise ISO 800 to either ISO 1 600 or 3 200 as determined by Custom Setting 20 The instruction book states the boost is roughly 1 or 2 stops which have found to be conservative W hen you access F 31 you ll find three options OFF default 1 stop over 800 and 2 stops over 800 T he camera must be set at I SO 800 to activate these options W hen the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 31 0 OFF 31 1 1 stop over and 31 2 2 stops over Custom Setting 32 Color Mode In my opinion this Custom Setting makes a big difference in the depth of the color you capture with the D 1X David explains it fully in his chapter How the D1 Family Works but in a nutshell SRGB is for the Web and Adobe RGB is for the press much prefer I1 Adobe RGB space Once you access the F 32 Color M ode menu you ll find just two options SRG B default and 11 11 Adobe RGB Select the desired option using the AF thumb pad to highlight it and then rig
88. ove and then depressing the MH 16 s Refresh button In theory this discharges the EN 4 completely prior to recharging it thereby providing better long term battery life It is important that you not depress the Refresh button while the battery is charging or during the refresh cycle as this damages the battery A normal charge takes 90 minutes while refreshing it can take up to six hours depending on the state of the battery You can also use the M H 15 Charger for the F 100 NiCad to charge the EN 4 T he advantage to using the MH 15 is that it can charge two EN 4s one at a time unattended T hat means that at night you can plug in two EN 4s and by morning both are ready to go The M H 16 can charge only oneEN 4 T heMH 15 also has the ability to refresh the E N 4 T he drawback to the M H 15 is that it takes 120 minutes to charge one battery whereas the M H 16 takes only 90 minutes You can find theM H 15 in used condition fairly easily which might bean attractive alternative to the battery eating appetite of the D 1X T heEH 3 E3 Charger can also charge the EN 4 T here s no great advantage though unless you already own one The MH 17 Quick Charger can charge the EN 4 as well T his charger is powered by a vehicle s 12v accessory outlet The MH 17 works really well charging the EN 4 in about 90 minutes but it has no refresh option T here are two things you need to be aware of prior to using it First the MH 17 kills a weak
89. ply two options OF F default and ON W hen the OF F option is selected zooming in on an image cannot occur while the image is being written to the CompactF lash CF card only once it has been written W hen the ON option is selected and Custom Setting 1 is activated you can zoom in during the writing process W hen the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panal as 36 0 OF F and 36 1 ON It is interesting to note that although this Custom Setting is missing on the D 1H it can be zoomed by simply depressing the Func button Restoring D efault Settings Y ou can quickly restorethe D 1X to all of its default settings for Custom Settings and every other mode feature etc by simply depressing for two seconds or longer the Func and n Thumbnail button located on the back lower left corner of the D1X W hen this is done all the Custom Settings in the current bank revert to the factory default settings as noted above while Custom Settings in other banks are not affected T he following camera settings also revert back to the default noted here Image Quality JPEG Normal Image Format Large ISO 125 W hite Balance Auto W hite Balance Adjustment 0 AF Area M ode Single Area AF Focus Center Exposure mode Programmed Flexible Program Off Shutter Speed Lock Off Aperture Lock Off Auto Exposure Lock Off Exposure Compensation 0 Auto Bracketi
90. press the shutter release unless you re using Custom Setting 4 to lock the AF system on the subject If the subject moves and you pan the camera with the subject the D 1X s Dynamic AF automatically changes the active AF sensor to maintain focus where you originally assigned theAF point if you re focused on the eye that s the point the D 1X tracks 22 Moose Press TheD1X s Dynamic Autofocus does not track a moving subject if the camera doesn t move with the subject The D1X does not switch the sensor display to indicate it has switched sensors You cannot plant aD1X on atripod lock it in place and have it automatically follow a moving subject and changetheAF sensors accordingly Dynamic AF makes up for poor panning technique when you cannot keep the point of focus in the selected AF sensor It does this in part by actually enlarging the active size of the AF area of all the sensors so they more or less blanket the five sensor area The biggest mistakes folks make with Dynamic Autofocus are one they think the camera tracks a moving subject while the camera holds still and two they think the camerais in D ynamic Autofocus when no plus signs are present in the Top LCD Panel M ake sure you understand these functions so you can make the most out of them TheD1X hasthesameAF systems as theF 5 It utilizes the M ulti CAM 1300 and W ide Cross Array of five focus areas It also has Nikon s Lock On Focus T racking system T hereis
91. put Set Up Menu T his feature sets up the output for television or VCR viewing viatheEG D1 video cable You have two options once the menu has been accessed NT SC or PAL Highlight the option desired then right click the AF thumb pad to enter your selection Date Set Up Menu TheD1X s Dateand T imeareset using this feature T his is important when it comes to filing and organizing your images in your computer Highlight Date in white and then right arrow click on the AF thumb pad to enter the menu T he Year Month Day Hour M inute or Second appear M ove from field to field by right thumbing on the AF thumb pad M akechanges by using the up down arrow on the AF thumb pad Set your selections by depressing the F unc button The Year M onth and Day are clear cut The Hour is based on a 24 hour clock not 12 so AM and PM arenot displayed You can also set the D ate and T ime by depressing theA uto Bracketing BKT button found on the top left side of the D 1X W hile depressing the BKT button depress the Exposure Compensation button found on the top right of the D1X You must hold these two buttons down until the Year is displayed in the LCD and it starts to blink Once the Year starts to blink you can remove your fingers from the buttons but you must work quickly or the setting disappears Select what you want to change by depressing the button and then make the actual change by rotating the M ain Command Dial found on the b
92. r to indicating it s charged and ready to go again If making use of the AF illuminator on the SB 28D X or SB 50D X be aware that the D1X must be set to S shooting mode S focusing mode and the center AF sensor must be selected Note Refer to the Appendix for the flash compatibility chart Using flash with the D 1X is nearly that cut and dried which is a vast change from using flash on the D 1 T herearea few things you might want to understand about how the D 1X SB 28D X combo operates before you go and use any of their settings See the Appendix for tips on using multiple flash If you re coming from shooting an F5 or an F 100 you re used to the TTL flash system functioning like this You depress the shutter release and the camera fires T he light leaves the flash heads towards the subject and strikes it The light from the flash then bounces off the subject and heads back to the camera going through the lens and then bounces off the film to hit a sensor in the bottom of the mirror box T his sensor meters the light and when the exposure for the flash is correct the camera tells theflash to turn off Before and during this process two other pieces of exposure information are gathered by the camera a measurement of light from the M onitor Pre F lash and distanceinformation from the lens T hese three elements combined are what make flash exposure with the 43 The D1X F5 or F100 so foolproof T his is true T TL fla
93. riting speed does T here s no doubt that its big files produce big results in big prints which is the goal of this camera Despite some known issues that are very minor compared to those in the D1 I think the D 1X a total success and a tool any photographer could make sing in his or her personal efforts to communicate 48
94. s enough power to write the remaining images from the buffer to the CompactF lash CF card before it completely shuts down Self T imer is pretty self explanatory Just remember you can alter how it functions using Custom Setting 16 When self timer is selected depress the shutter release and either run and get in front of the camera or stand and wait for the camera to fire PLAY is Playback mode which permits you to view the images you have captured It s the same as depressing the M onitor button T he T humbnail button and AF thumb pad are used to access the different images PC or PC mode is used when the D 1X is directly connected to a computer via F ireW ire T his is accomplished via an IEEE 1394 F ireW ire interface You can either transfer images in the D1X to your computer using Nikon View 4 or Nikon Capture 2 software or you can operate the D1X from you computer with this connection M aking this connection first requires that the EEE 1394 cable be connected properly to your computer N ext besurethe D 1X is turned off T hen connect the IEEE 1394 cable to the six pin socket on the back lower right corner of the D1X Turn the camera on and then turn the Shooting M ode Dial to PC but don t have it set on PC when you turn the D 1X on W hen the D 1X is connected 40 Moose Press and Nikon Capture is talking to the D1X PC appears on the Top LCD Panel where the frame counter normally appears Finally be darn sure
95. s memory T his is accomplished by first placing a gray card or neutral target as is now stated in the instruction book under the light source you re going to be shooting under this really works well in mixed lighting M anually focus the lens on the target Access the Shooting M enu and then W hite Bal by highlighting it in white 19 The D1X using the AF thumb pad Depress the right arrow on the AF thumb pad to select the PRE WB Preset and then press the right arrow again to select Set At this point a message comes up Please release the shutter At this time you should be pointing the camera at thetarget manually focusing the lens M akesure the gray neutral card fills the viewfinder and that you use an exposure mode that will properly expose the target U nder or overexposure affects the color balance and therefore the accuracy of your PRE white balance Y ou can take a test image and use the histogram to double check exposure prior to setting the PRE white balance Once you have depressed the shutter release at the above prompt the D1X places the white balance for the target into memory W ith this accomplished amenu is displayed that provides you with the option of storing the PRE white balance as Preset 1 2 or 3 You can saveup to three set each oneas described above Once you have preset one or morePRE white balances you can access them by either using the W hite Bal M enu under the Shooting M enu or with the W B b
96. select W hatever you set here is reflected in Custom Setting 18 and vice versa Refer to Custom Setting 18 on page 95 for a warning about this option Rear Buttons Reviewed T he features options and Custom Settings accessed through using the four buttons Func Protect Thumbnail and W B and the M enu button have been 38 Moose Press discussed above Here s a quick review so you don t have to search through the text to find their purpose T he Func button serves many purposes You can select how it s used in the Shooting M enu to affect QUAL CSM AF Area or LOCK Theo Protect button permits you to protect images from accidentally being deleted when they re being viewed on the M onitor W hen an image is on the M onitor depress the Protect button A key symbol is placed on the image signifying it s protected Its use is described in the Playback M enu section on page 76 The Thumbnail button permits you to view more than one image at a time when you depress the M onitor button Depress the M onitor button to view images then depress the Thumbnail button and rotate the Command Dial to view either a 2 x 2 grid of four images or again to view a3 x 3 grid of nine images Its use is described under the Playback M enu section on page 76 The WB button permits you to change the white balance without going back to the Shooting M enu Depress the W B button and rotate the Command Dial to change the white balance or the
97. sh metering W hile this is not the way the TTL works in the D 1X with the D1X firmware upgrade its flash exposure is outstanding compared to the D 1 TheF5 F 100 and D1X all havean 18 gray card gray shutter T his is for the Monitor Pre Flash which is really the first part of the flash exposure calculation OTF or off the film is thesecond crucial part of TT L flash exposure T his is present in the F5 and F 100 but not in the D 1X W hile the D1X has the gray shutter for the Monitor PreF lash to bounce off of it doesn t have film in order to make the OT F calculations T he D1X s software has compensated for this lack of OTF so flash exposures come out makes you wonder what happened to the D 1 W hile the D1X has improved flash performance still keep in mind the basics of D1 flash T heM onitor Pre F lash has arange of just over 20 feet It s important to keep the M onitor Pre F lash distance constant and therefore exposure performance constant and this requires the use of a high voltage battery such as the Quantum T urbo T urbo Z or perhaps Nikon s SD 8a Relying on AA batteries of some type alone can vary the pre flash and the flash exposure by as much as 1 2 stop from frame to frame T he external battery cuts that degree of inaccuracy to a maximum of 1 10 stop between frames W hat about flash with the SB 50D X digital flash T he SB 50D X is a small flash unit with some nice features but less power
98. sired option by highlighting the option in white and then right thumbing the AF thumb pad OFF is the default so the shutter and mirror operate in concert With ON the exposure is delayed until after the mirror is raised to minimize camera shake the delay is imperceptible to the ear W ith theF unc button set to CSM this Custom Setting appears as 5 0 OF F or 5 1 ON on the Rear LCD 27 The D1X Custom Setting 6 Focus Area This is a Custom Setting that rely on for fast camera human response to action This Custom Setting helps speed up AF sensor selection by permitting the selection process to wrap around In the F 6 Focus Area Select menu you have the option of OFF No Wrap default or ON Wrap When you want to select an AF sensor and this Custom Setting is turned off you must take a direct path to that sensor For example if you ve selected the top AF sensor and you want to move to the oneon the bottom you must hit theAF thumb pad twicein the down direction to activate that sensor You can avoid this by selecting ON T his option permits you to skip directly to a desired AF sensor by wrapping around the unwanted sensors Using the above example if the top AF sensor is selected and want to select the bottom one simply depress the AF thumb pad oncein the up direction and I m there Or if I m at the top sensor and want to go to the extreme left sensor depress the AF thumb pad once to the left and it s selected
99. ssing the right AF thumb pad arrow T his then brings up the Fine T une W B screen which permits you to dial in from 3 to 3 see page 3lor pages 218 219 in the D 1X instruction manual To set your selection depress the right arrow on the AF thumb pad one moretime W hile I feel that the color the D 1X captures is richer than the D1 I really wish could report the white balance color temperature in the D1X made more logical sense than that in the D1 but can t It s the same system with the same numbers and the same results but you will find the magenta cast that appeared in portraits is no longer present A Auto W hite Balance n theory theD 1X automatically adjusts the white balance to properly capture color temperature between 4 200 and 7 000 K 1 highly recommend that you do not select just this one setting and shoot only in this one white balance M oose s Rule of Thumb T he only time can honestly say this mode works is when the subject can directly see the sun and the sun is beating down on the subject T here can be no clouds partial clouds or overcast no tree limb shadow and nothing lying in the path between the sun and the subject that includes smog Even under those conditions rarely use this setting 18 Moose Press b Incandescent T his white balance setting is for use when the light source is aregular light bulb likeone you would find in your home T he color temperature of this setting is basicall
100. t use it otherwise The F8 Mirror Lock up for CCD Cleaning menu has the option of OFF OFF default and ON CCD Cleaning You can highlight the ON CCD Cleaning but if the EH 4 is not connected when you right thumb click and select it you are sent back to the main CSM M enu with the option reading off W ith the Func button set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 8 0 OF F or 8 1 ON only if the EH 4 is connected How to clean the CCD without using this Custom Setting is covered in the Appendix 28 Moose Press Custom Setting 9 Dyn AF AF S This is a simple Custom Setting I t enables or disables the closest focus option when the D1X s focusing mode is set to S Single Servo Autofocus and Dynamic Focus is activated viathe Shooting M enu T heF 9 Dynamic AF Single Servo menu offers you the options of ON Closest Subject default ect of the word Subject is covered up by the word OK or OFF Select AF Area With the F unc button set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 9 0 ON and 9 1 OFF T his is strictly my personal preference but don t like this option and since don t find it speeds up the AF operation hate being constricted by it Custom Setting 10 Dyn AF AF C This is also a simple Custom Setting It enables or disables the closest focus option when the D 1X s focusing mode is set to C Continuous Servo Autofocus and Dynamic Focus is ac
101. take advantage of it to achieve optimum results By either using the W hite Bal M enu in the Shooting M enu or by depressing the W B button and rotating the Sub Command Dial not the Command Dial you ll notice you can select settings from 3 to 3 T his can actually alter the color balance range of each white balance setting except PRE T he minus side of the scale warms up an image where the plus side cools down an image seems counterintuitive to me T his great feature is now explained and illustrated in the instruction book To change the white balance temperature of the W B you ve selected you can just dial in 3 to 3 Say you re shooting in overcast light that s at 6 000 K you can dial in 1 and end up with a Kelvin temp of 6 180 K W hilethese additions and subtractions arenot in very big increments they can make a difference T hat s why for every white balancesetting use Sunlight Shade and Cloudy not F lash 20 Moose Press have 3 dialed in You must dial in the or for each white balance setting you cannot just dial it in once and have it change and affect all the white balance settings How do you determine what works best for your styleof photography Y ou have to perform tests which is really easy to do with the D1X Find yourself a coupleof subjects likeawhiteand atan teddy bear then photograph these subjects together in different lighting T ake baseline exposures then dial in or so you
102. the other T here are four bare wires the brown wireis the data out and the black is the common ground T heseare the two leads required to make this thing work Finally you need to have the 2 5mm jack used Radio Shack s Submini Plug 274 244 W ith that in hand you solder the black wire to the ring and the brown wire to the sleeve Head to nikondigital org for illustrations on how to make this work W ith theG PS Input activated on the Set U p M enu you re almost there Y ou must set your GPS unit so the transfer is NMEA 4 800 bps and the units are hddd mm ss s If you do anything else it will not work W ith this all accomplished asmall D appears above the shutter speed on the T op LCD Panel T heD does not appear instantly only once theGPS and theD 1X are talking to each other which takes a few moments think this is a really cool feature and for my work it makes life a whole lot easier LCD Brightness Set Up Menu You can set the LCD M onitor brightness really easily with the D 1X W hen you access theLCD brightness a gray scale appears Y ou then select the brightness you desire on ascaleof 1 to 5 using the up down arrow of the AF thumb pad went with 2 Monitor Off Set Up Menu This is arepeat of Custom Setting 18 You havethe same options as Custom Setting 18 10s 20s 1 min 5 min and 10 min min minutes Highlight the time desired in white and then right thumb click on the AF thumb pad to
103. tivated via the Shooting M enu T he F10 Dynamic AF Continuous Servo menu offers you the options of OFF Select AF Area default ea of theword Area is covered up by the word OK or ON Closest Subject Using the Func button when it is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 10 0 OFF and 10 1 ON This is strictly my personal preference but don t like this option and since don t find it speeds up the AF operation hate being constricted by it Custom Setting 11 AE Flash BKT This Custom Setting is important if you use bracketing It gives you the options of affecting the exposure through bracketing flash light ambient light or both It s not complicated other than that it is affected by other Custom Settings you might have set such as Custom Setting 2 or Custom Setting 3 T he F11 AE Flash Bracketing menu offers you three options AEd AE amp Flash default permits both ambient light and flash exposure to beinfluenced according to how you ve set Custom Setting 2 and Custom Setting 3 When AE AE Only is selected highlight in white and right thumb click permits bracketing only for the ambient light exposure the flash exposure in unaffected d Flash Only permits the flash exposure to be bracketed leaving the ambient light exposure unaffected With the F unc button set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 11 AS default 11 AE affects ambient light only or 11 S
104. tton next to the On Off switch If theD1X is turned off during a bracketed firing sequence when the D 1X is turned back on it continues from where it was stopped If the CompactF lash card should become full or be removed prior to completing a bracketed firing sequence once the card has been replaced the D 1X continues firing the bracketed sequence Flash Sync M odes The D 1X has five flash sync modes to offer the user Front Curtain Sync Slow Sync Rear Curtain Sync Red E yeR eduction and Red E ye Reduction with Slow Sync First the five modes the easy stuff I gnore the hints in the instruction book about these five options they really don t fly Selecting a flash sync is really simple First depress the lightning bolt button inside the Shooting M ode Dial and then rotate the Command Dial As you rotate the Command Dial watch the flash sync box on the Top LCD Panel for the symbol to come up for the sync mode you desire Front Curtain Sync is your basic flash sync T he flash fires when the shutter release is depressed and the shutter curtain opens In this sync mode shutter speeds of 1 60 to 1 500 sec are availableto you in A or P exposures modes W hen shooting flash fill in Aperture Priority or Program modes theD 1X selects thecorrect shutter speed for the aperture you ve selected T he shutter speed range the D1X selects is deter mined by the sync mode and is stepless and in this case limited to just 1 60 to 1 500 sec
105. user feedback and a desire to push the boundary of digital photography to the highest possible level both models incorporate additional improvements in various areas which elevate their performance to the standards copyright 2005 B M oose Peterson The D1X required by today s and tomorrow s photographers All of these features and improvements are complemented by broader system compatibility and are packed into a lightweight rugged magnesium body With the launch of the D1X and D1H Nikon has met the needs of photographers who wish to complement their professionalism with the ultimate combination of total image quality performance durability system compatibility and cost effectiveness Moose Press Easy opening of Raw files via Photoshop file open plug in M ac and PC versions available 512M B and 1GB types can be used N M EA0183 protocol compatible models of GARMIN and MAGELLAN can be connected connection cable not provided The D1X Package W hen you buy your D1X your package includes in one big white box in the US repackaged by Nikon USA TheD1X body with BF 1a body cap and clear LCD cover EN 4 Ni MH battery pack D1X Major Features Total Image Quality Large 23 7 x 15 6mm 5 33 million effective pixel RGB CCD 4 024 x 1 324 sensor processed to output at 3 008 x 1 960 pixels Raw data file size of 7 6MB at 12 bit MH 16 EN 4 battery charger color depth can be processed to a 33 6M B 16 bit
106. ut Raw which has a max of 4 W hen the Func button is set to CSM this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD Panel as 26 with the number of frames you have selected following Custom Setting 27 Display Mode T his Custom Setting is a duplication of the D isplay modein the Playback M enu If you have made your display mode selection in the Playback M enu that is reflected when you look at this Custom Setting Vice versa is true as well W hen you access the F 27 Display M ode menu you ll find four options Select the desired one by highlighting it in white and then right thumbing the AF thumb pad T he four options are symbols Image Only default Histogram Highlights and Both mage Only is self explanatory T he Histogram option creates a histogram superimposed over the image The Highlights option causes what call blinkie highlights to appear in theimage W ith Both selected both histogram and highlights appear on the image see Display Mode Playback M enu on page 79 for an explanation of these options W ith the Func button set in CSM mode this Custom Setting appears on the Rear LCD as 27 0 image only 27 1 histogram 27 2 highlights and 27 3 both Custom Setting 28 NEF RAW Image T his is a Custom Setting that many shooters who capture N EF files requested This Custom Setting simply controls the NEF Raw files Activation is required to capture NEF Raw files W hen the F 28 NEF Raw
107. utton located under the back door in the top right corner W hen it is depressed and the Sub Command D ial is rotated to activate the PRE white balance d 1 d 2 or d 3 is displayed T hese symbols represent Preset 1 2 or 3 for the PRE white balance Select the PRE white balance you desire and shoot Your PRE settings remain in the camera s memory until you either record over them or set your D1X back to default settings Onereal drawback to the D 1X s white balance system is that there is no easy or obvious reminder whatsoever as to what color balance you have set Yes there is a very little symbol in the Rear LCD Panel but if you re not really really conscious of what it is set at you can shoot all day long in different lighting conditions and forget to change the setting For this reason leave the door on the button panel next to the Rear LCD open all the time when I m not in my normal W B setting Cloudy just as a reminder to be on the alert for white balance changes Optimizing W hite Balance Color T emperature T hereis a definite reason to not be satisfied with simply setting your D1X to A or any one of theother white balance settings mentioned above You ll find the technical reason and there really is one explained in D avid s chapter H ow the D1 Family Works M y reasons have strictly to do with the human mind and the psychology of color Since you can fine tune the white balance in the D 1X you should
108. with images that appear to be centered If you re coming to the D 1X from an F 5 the first time you look through theD1X s viewfinder it will seem as if youtre looking down a tunnel T his is because theCCD is smaller compared to thesize of a 35mm film frameand theway theimage is related to you in the viewfinder Despite the smaller field of view theD 1X has avery bright clean image which is areal blessing This is in part because of the screen that s installed The D 1X shares the same screens with the F 100 the B type BrightView clear matte screen 111 is the standard You can install the optional E type BrightView clear matte screen III 44 Moose Press which is the same screen as the B but with an additional horizontal line and three vertical lines You might want to install the anti fog DK 14 eyepiece as well It s really slick Inside the viewfinder you see the five AF sensors etched on the screen The active sensor is red while the inactive ones are gray Change the active sensor via the AF Selector on the back of the D 1X Inside the viewfinder on the bottom you ll find the following info from left to right Focus Indicator M etering System Auto Exposure Shutter Lock Shutter Speed Aperture Aperture L ock Electronic Analog Exposure Display Exposure M ode Exposure Compensation Frame Counter and theF lash Ready Light Not all of these displays are active at the same time what you have selected deter mines what is displayed
109. y fixed at 3 000 K I ve found this works really well and it permits me to use available room light with a reflector quite easily c Fluorescent T his all too common light source is easily handled by the D1X This is the setting to use when the predominant light source is fluorescent obviously T he setting is fixed at approximately 4 200 K Something that would not have been donewith conventional film can bedone with digital If your lighting source is fluorescent you can simply use reflectors to fill in any shadows and the color the D1X captures appears normal using this setting It s pretty darn cool a Direct Sunlight T his setting is for when the subject is in direct sunlight Color temperature is fixed at approximately 5 200 K even though basic sunlight is 5 500 K M oose s Rule of Thumb T he only time can say this mode works is when thereis the slightest thing blocking the light of the sun from striking the subject Since the setting is for 5 200 K and basic sunlight is 5 500 K you can understand why you might find very limited use for this setting d Flash T his is for when you re using flash as your main light source not flash fill Its color temperature is set at approximately 5 400 K even though flash is 5 500 K e Cloudy T his setting is obviously for overcast light Its color temperature is set at approximately 6 000 K M oose s Rule of Thumb use this setting a lot probably for 97 of my shooting with 3 dialed

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