Folks, don't believe the hate, these Nikon D2Hs are spectacular!!!

After not much debating, I picked up one of these Nikon D2Hs for little more than a dime and a song and I couldn’t be happier.
Wow, what a great camera!!!
Not perfect. No Picture Control settings. No Black and White JPEGS. Can’t zoom in on the flip phone like display on back.
Memory card is from the days of the dinosaurs. But all in all, what a spectacular camera.
So why the Internet hate???
I imagine most of it comes from folks who never shot film, before DSLRs, just when the D2H came out.
Film had limited ISO, and particularly color, had terrible low light response. You were lucky to push color to 800 ISO. 3200 monochrome was dull and flat. And slide, required a tripod, and flash. Google the great Eliot Porter shooting birds with Kodachrome 25 on his view camera for a sense of the challenge….
Focusing was by hand. And eye. And if you were smart, demanded prudent planning ahead.
24 or 36 exposures was it!
And it was intended to be printed. You had to wait to see if it turned out,
Many consider the D2H’s 4MP image vastly limited…. Really?
It prints a 4”X6” perfectly, and from my tests today, will do beautifully with a 8”X12”. A nice 2” border mat framed would look perfect on any wall.
Can’t really crop? That’s no different than shooting slides back in the day. The shot was either great or it wasn’t. The mounted slide proved it.
As for the limited in camera JPEG adjustments, these shoot RAW and JPEGS, so if digital manipulation is your thing, knock yourself out. You can do it.
As for me, I’m cool with just two color settings: landscape and portraits. There is minimal WB and hue adjustments, but I’m fine with out then right now.
Compared to the modern prosumer cameras Nikon offers, this one definitely feels and is professional. It’s a tank.
The autofocus and 10fps with buffer is legendary. I’ve not gone over it yet. It’s quite in depth….
There is time.
For now, matrix metering, and as a glorious point and shoot with a normal lens: heaven.
Here’s two shots from my earlier walk at the park.
Folks, if interested in owning a pro-grade Nikon DSLR, I think these are spectacular. Much more similar to shooting film back in the day, than today’s point and shoot and the camera does everything for you offerings.
There’s joy in life’s imperfections.
Without them, there wouldn’t be beauty in the world.
Kind regards from East Tennessee!
Peace.

(Metadata might be off on these. The internal battery needs replacing and the clock is off.)

That's NASA grade hardware! 4 megapixel is more than plenty for 8x10s. Put that baby on a tripod with a 400 2.8, Holy Cow!

I remember when these were released. Seemed so futuristic at the time. I couldn’t afford one as I was still a student but by the time I had saved up to go digital the landscape was already totally different only a couple years later. I ended up with a canon rebel xti that I still have and is still working to this day. A far cry from this piece of high performance machinery though.

The photo studio I worked at switched to digital with the canon 1d mark ii and we would make unconscionably large prints from that thing. 24x36 sometimes. And people were willing to pay for them all day so those 8MP couldn’t have looked too bad

IpseLux said:

So why the Internet hate???
I imagine most of it comes from folks who never shot film, before DSLRs, just when the D2H came out.

(Metadata might be off on these. The internal battery needs replacing and the clock is off.)

Click to expand...

Part of the "hate" was based on comparisons with the EOS-1D. The D2h offered the same resolution, but with a smaller sensor and the Canon had been on the market over 2 years. About 4 months after Nikon released the D2h, Canon released the Canon EOS-1D Mark II, which was an 8 megapixel camera with similar frames per second and burst capability.

Another part was also megapixel related -- the D100 had a 6 megapixel sensor, and many photographers wanted an upgrade to the D1x instead.

I never used a D2h or D2x. For 4x6 snaps, I used a Coolpix 995, (which I still have). My criteria to shift to a DSLR was based on the Canon 30D -- 8 megapixels at $1500. When the D200 was announced I placed my order and never regretted waiting.

_T_ said:

I remember when these were released. Seemed so futuristic at the time. I couldn’t afford one as I was still a student but by the time I had saved up to go digital the landscape was already totally different only a couple years later. I ended up with a canon rebel xti that I still have and is still working to this day. A far cry from this piece of high performance machinery though.

The photo studio I worked at switched to digital with the canon 1d mark ii and we would make unconscionably large prints from that thing. 24x36 sometimes. And people were willing to pay for them all day so those 8MP couldn’t have looked too bad

Click to expand...

Yes. I remember salivating over these too. These photo ads of the past were better than any comic book, or magazine ever….
The great thing, many of these wonderful machines and lenses are still available, well cared for and tremendously affordable today.
Thanks for chiming in T! Kind regards.

benveniste said:

Part of the "hate" was based on comparisons with the EOS-1D. The D2h offered the same resolution, but with a smaller sensor and the Canon had been on the market over 2 years. About 4 months after Nikon released the D2h, Canon released the Canon EOS-1D Mark II, which was an 8 megapixel camera with similar frames per second and burst capability.

Another part was also megapixel related -- the D100 had a 6 megapixel sensor, and many photographers wanted an upgrade to the D1x instead.

I never used a D2h or D2x. For 4x6 snaps, I used a Coolpix 995, (which I still have). My criteria to shift to a DSLR was based on the Canon 30D -- 8 megapixels at $1500. When the D200 was announced I placed my order and never regretted waiting.

Click to expand...

Yes. I started with a Canon film camera. An A1. At the time I thought the Canon F1 was the greatest film camera in the world.
But when they switched lenses for their autofocus, and later digitalis, I went to Nikon.
I’m still shooting Nippon Kogaku Nikkors from back in the day, on my Df.
8 MP sounds plenty.
Great cameras worked then, and work now.
Kind regards