What happened to the 1 and 2 meg pro DSLRs?

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

In news:4snje1d2p0pftmssd9v68lr5gf24n9nelm@4ax.com,
RichA <none@none.com> scwibbled:
> Remember the Kodaks, Nikons and Canons that sported
> that many pixels, and cost something like $10,000-$25,000 each?
> I'm wondering if people ever sell on the used market, or are
> they just gathering dust?
> -Rich

Do you ever check eBay? ;-)

--
Nigel_H

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

"Charlie Self" <charliediy@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1122628524.973412.281300@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>
> RichA wrote:
>> Remember the Kodaks, Nikons and Canons that sported
>> that many pixels, and cost something like $10,000-$25,000 each?
>> I'm wondering if people ever sell on the used market, or are
>> they just gathering dust?
>> -Rich
>
> Check Ebay. Nikon D1s (2.6 MP) are selling for somewhere between $350
> and $1200.

Who on earth is buying them..?!

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

Craig Marston wrote:
> "Charlie Self" <charliediy@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:1122628524.973412.281300@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > RichA wrote:
> >> Remember the Kodaks, Nikons and Canons that sported
> >> that many pixels, and cost something like $10,000-$25,000 each?
> >> I'm wondering if people ever sell on the used market, or are
> >> they just gathering dust?
> >> -Rich
> >
> > Check Ebay. Nikon D1s (2.6 MP) are selling for somewhere between $350
> > and $1200.
>
> Who on earth is buying them..?!

Some mighty fine photos have come out of those cameras. At 350 or 450
bucks, they might make an ideal back-up camera for the newer Nikons,
and they also might make good cameras to place in situations where
they're used as more or less disposable auto firing, or remoted fired,
cameras, where destruction or major damage is a possibility. It's one
helluva lot more economical than having a 5K body wiped out.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

Tony Polson <tp@nospam.net> wrote:


>
>
> They are more than good enough for 99% of PJ work.
>
> For newspaper work, any more than 2.7 MP is overkill.
>
> ;-)
>

Most of these cameras were huge, heavy battery hogs and VERY slow. We had a
Fujix 505 (same camera as the Nikon E2N) at work that we paid $15,000
dollars for new. 1.2 megapixels. A turd of a camera when it was new and
less than a doorstop now.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

In article <Xns96A2CD0CF2151dilfjelfoiwepofujsdk@216.168.3.30>,
Bubbabob <rnorton@_remove_this_thuntek.net> wrote:
>Tony Polson <tp@nospam.net> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>
>> They are more than good enough for 99% of PJ work.
>>
>> For newspaper work, any more than 2.7 MP is overkill.

[ ... ]

>Most of these cameras were huge, heavy battery hogs and VERY slow.

Well ... I have a couple of NC2000e/c cameras. They started
live as Nikon N90s film cameras, to which Kodak fitted a digital back
(and lots of circuitry below the original base of the camera). The
weight was staggering. :-) This was designed for the AP, to let their
photographers use the Nikon glass that they already had, but to shoot
digital.

Only 1.3 MP images -- saved in a RAW format only in the camera.
Needed a special plug in for PhotoShop to convert it to anything else.
(Though the unix "dcraw" program will *almost* do it. It seems to
exchange color channels for whatever reason. :-)

The batteries were non-interchangeable, and had to be charged in
the camera. Battery life between charges was minimal compared to my
Nikon D70.

However -- *slow* it was not. ISO from 200 to 1600, autofocus
was what the N90s gave (quite quick), switch it on as you are lifting it
to your eyes, and it is ready to shoot by the time you get the subject
framed.

Yes -- write time to the PCMCIA hard disks was slower than a
Lexar 1GB 80X CF card, but those weren't available back then.

> We had a
>Fujix 505 (same camera as the Nikon E2N) at work that we paid $15,000
>dollars for new. 1.2 megapixels. A turd of a camera when it was new and
>less than a doorstop now.

The NC2000e/c could be converted back to the N90s film camera
with a replacement camera back, so it is not just a doorstop in any
case.

Some of them had a focusing screen with a black border showing
the crop factor -- others blanked out the outer area of the finder
screen. I prefer the former, as it gives me a clue what is about to
come into the field of view.

Enjoy,
DoN.
--
Email: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

Father Kodak <dont_bother@IDontCare.COM> writes:
> This raises an obvious question. What if you have an N90s camera?
> Can you get one of these backs - cheap - ?

Yes, they come up for auction on ebay on a regular basis.

> What is the crop factor?

Varies with the model. I belive the 1.6 Mpx - 2 Mpx models had a
crop factor of 2.6x, while the 6 Mpx versions had a crop factor
of 1.3x. I own and still sometimes use, one of the latter.

You can see an image of it here:
http://folk.uio.no/gisle/photo/dcs460.html

As you can see the digital back adds some bulk to the Nikon.

I've always considered the N90s as one of the best bodies produced by
Nikon, and the Kodak digital back lets me shoot digital with it.
--
- gisle hannemyr [ gisle{at}hannemyr.no - http://folk.uio.no/gisle/ ]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kodak DCS460, Canon Powershot G5, Olympus 2020Z
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

In article <q5br4jchoo.fsf@kaksi.ifi.uio.no>,
Gisle Hannemyr <gisle+news@ifi.uio.no> wrote:
>Father Kodak <dont_bother@IDontCare.COM> writes:
>> This raises an obvious question. What if you have an N90s camera?
>> Can you get one of these backs - cheap - ?
>
>Yes, they come up for auction on ebay on a regular basis.

I got my first one at a hamfest, for what appeared to be a very
good price compared to the new price -- about $700, after I had seen
them being sold for $14.4k earlier and passed on the option.

This was about the time that the AP dumped the lot, having moved
up to more modern (and higher resolution) cameras.

I got a second one from eBay (N90 not N90s body, FWIW) for
around $200.00.

>> What is the crop factor?
>
>Varies with the model. I belive the 1.6 Mpx - 2 Mpx models had a
>crop factor of 2.6x, while the 6 Mpx versions had a crop factor
>of 1.3x. I own and still sometimes use, one of the latter.

From the PDF file of the manual, in order of crop factor:

Camera Crop MP
-----------------------------
DCS 460 1.3 6.23
NC2000e 1.65 1.28
DCS-410 2.6 1.54
DCS-420 2.6 1.54

Of those the NC2000e was made specifically for the AP, and as a
result had a couple of extra features:

1) It had a microphone and button in the back to allow voice
annotation of the images

2) It had provisions for connecting to a cell phone, so you could
submit your images to the office from wherever you were.

>You can see an image of it here:
> http://folk.uio.no/gisle/photo/dcs460.html
>
>As you can see the digital back adds some bulk to the Nikon.
>
>I've always considered the N90s as one of the best bodies produced by
>Nikon, and the Kodak digital back lets me shoot digital with it.

I've never used it with film, but I certainly liked the camera
body as used in the NC2000e. Someday, I need to get a standard back for
one of mine and try it with film.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---