In its day the 6 megapixels was good

Slow focusing, useless in built flash, build quality atrocious, shutter lag unacceptable. USB 1.1 meant it took ages to download photos.

This camera is was an expensive piece of plastic junk and when it was stolen in 2004, i was able to replace it with a D2hs which quite frankly is a gem.

Build (apart from the CF door).
Weight, balance, handling.
Sensible controls.
More subtle colours than you can achieve with cheaper Nikon DSLRs.
Top image quality (with appropriate processing).
Suitable for professional and advanced amateur users.
Commercial potential of images.
Freely available software for sensor remapping (the only DSLR for which such software is available).

Slow buffer and write times.
Longer learning curve needed to release potential of RAW files.
Out of camera image quality can seem disappointing (esp. JPEG files)
Flash system has been superceded.

This camera is suitable for advanced amateurs and professional users. I understand some of the negative comments made here, but I also do not agree with them.

I think it is more difficult to get good results with this model than with later Nikon cameras that are aimed more at the amateur market. That said, with the D100 you can achieve top quality pictures and even in 2006, this camera remains up there with the finest DSLRs ever brought to market. The images are to my mind closer to film than you can get with many comparable models. Many of the best images you see on the web have been taken with the D100 camera and this is not a coincidence. It is a strength of this camera that it can produce bold, contrasty images with high resolution, subtle colour rendition and low noise. It is capable of producing commercial, punchy images, and this also makes it an ideal journalists camera.

The D100 handles better than all the other DSLRs I have used. The weight and balance of the camera, are excellent. Its not too heavy, yet feels robust, which is important if you are putting larges lenses on the body, which I do from time to time. The layout of the camera is clear and I like the fact that the ISO setting is on the main dial. Its not cluttered with a lot of settings you will never use like the D70 and D50.

To unlock the potential of the camera, you need to take RAW files and to process them using Nikon Capture (either version 4 or NX). You will get better results out of the camera if you first load a custom curve and doing this will eliminate any criticism that the camera underexposes. Out of the camera images can also seem soft because of the design of the anti-aliasing filter. You will achieve the best results by focussing the images with your software (rather than to rely upon in camera-sharpening). Three stage focussing techniques will help achieve the highest image quality. Its also important to master the D-Lighting function of Nikon Capture as mentioned by another reviewer. D100 images can also seem noisy at low ISOs, or after sharpening, but the noise reduction feature in Nikon Capture is excellent and eliminates the problem (at the expense of a slow write time for the resultant image file).

These techniques are not work-rounds to inherant flaws. They are essential techniques that you need to get the best out of any Nikon DSLR image file. Its just that with the D100, they are mandatory if you are to get the best possible results.

If you have moved beyond point and shoot photography, and are prepared to spend time developing your post-processing techniques, then in 2006, the D100 still deserves close consideration.

Customer Service

OK, but not as cheap or consumer friendly as Fuji.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon D70, D70s, D1x, Fuji S1, Fuji S2.

The image quality is good, especially in RAW mode. You can shoot in a variety of JPEG formats, and in TIFF and RAW, as well. It's easy to use, not heavy, the battery life seems to be long (but I haven't tried another DSLR to compare), and it's quite light. This is not a bulky camera and I feel like it's ergonomic. The main strength of this camera, for me, was simply that I could use my Nikon lenses with it. At the time I purchased it, there were much fewer Digital SLR's available. The manual's informative.

Build quality is poor. Yes it's light, but it also feels like a plastic toy. I agree with the reviewers who said that the Auto White Balance doesn't work well. I would like to add that it works so badly, it's almost useless. The camera seems to have no idea of what the true temperature of the light is, so I'm constantly using the presets and adjusting it. Auto-focus is slow and inaccurate. When I use my friend's Canon equivalent I'm astounded at how much faster, smoother, quieter, and accurate the Auto-Focus is. When you shoot in RAW mode, even with a high-speed CF card, the camera works so slow it's almost unusable. And last, but definitely not least, my D100 no longer works, through no fault of my own. Yesterday I tried to turn it on and there was no response - it was completely dead. The manual offered some advice, none of which aided in the problem. This camera is DEAD. When you think about it, all the technical limitations of the camera are secondary, the bottom line is that I bought a $1500 camera and got less than 2 years of use out of it. I don't think I got my money's worth. My experience with this camera: a bad value and poorly built.

Good resolution, easy to use, ability to use all of your Nikon lenses. When you get the color balance right, the images are of a great quality. The cost is not too high, if you consider what some other digital cameras are going for. But maybe you get what you pay for. Poorly built, mine no longer works, and it was always handled with care.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

None.

Wonderful color rendition. Excellent skin tones. Easy controls. Good price. As reliable as it can be.

Slow flash sync. Shutter is a bit noisy.

I am surprised at the bad press this camera gets. I own two of them and use them professionally every day. They take beautiful pictures and have never failed me yet. I hear white balance complaints all the time but I have never experienced them. I suspect few people really understand the concept anyway. For years we pros spent hours in the darkroom for every hour we shot film. Now that we are digital we expect beautiful pictures to spring out of the camera without work. Probably 90% of my news photos are published just as they came from the camera. Editorial is another thing altogether. Now my loupe is a 19" monitor and my doging wand is Photoshop. Accepting this, the D100 is a very fine camera. This camera is great for the intermediate photographer. It is easy to use and the controls are intuitive. You can carry it all day. If you are a professional shooting news get the battery pack. Using the built in recorder rather than a pencil and notebook is nirvana! The time for proper technique is when the photo is taken. Not later in Photoshop. I shoot almost everything on the Auto White Balance setting. Not swimming at noon however. Making the right choices in the field will insure you have what you need later. For most photographers this camera is far more than they need. It will help the intermediate photographer get better. I wish the flash would sync at 1/500th. I wish the buffer was a bit bigger. I use a card reader so I don't care about USB 1. The menus are clear and easy to use. In all I think this camera is a solid hit and now that the prices are where they are, a real bargain. For sports, snag a D2H. It is very cool. Otherwise consider this camera. It will make you look very good.

Customer Service

I have had no problems either camera. I have called Nikon three times with questions. What could be better than 24 hour tech support? Nikon is a class act.

Similar Products Used:

Most of the Nikon line. Mamiya, Canon, Olympus....just about everything at one time or another.

feature laden battery life well built

under exposes by +0.7 to +1 stop

This is a Great camera for anyone taking up SLR digital photography, it's laden with features and the battery life is amazing,the D70 is also very good but lacking in a few of the D100s features although it dose have a better flash sync speed for anyone who wants to do a lot of outdoor flash work.

Customer Service

Never had to use

Similar Products Used:

sony 828

1.Useful as a weapon when swung at a certain angle against hostile characters. It may break first, though. 2. Intuitive controls.

1. Build quality is c-r-a-p. Flimsy CF door. With the MB-D100 attached, the set up creaks especially with the top of the line Nikkors! When I hold the combination vertically the grip actually bends rather dramtically. Both the CF door and the battery door of the grip is so flimsy it bends by just depressing it. Makes me cringe. 2. The viewfinder is dark. Very, very, small. Defeats any attempts at critical compositions. The autofocus is not particularly accurate either in real shoots outside controlled environments- even with AFS lenses. 3. When any lenses with CPU (mostly AF lenses) are attached to it, forget about trying to go into full non metered manual mode when you adjust the actual aperture ring. The camera would refuse to release the shutter and tells you to 'f EE' off. 4. It's basically a F80 with a digital back and I detest that camera despite. Especially the gimmicks. 5.For all it can't do, this is an overweight and oversized camera. 6.Forget about the continous tracking and other focusing capability it's supposed to have. It's all sales talk. 8. Using custom fucntion, when the AE-lock button is set to be used as an AF on button...it loses the AE lock function.

I detest this camera. I woudln't have bought it at this high price in March 2004 if not for a job requirement and if not that I've already a set of Nikkor lenses. The white balance are all wrong! Not just the AWB...as of now I am still trying to tweak the settings via Nikon Capture to get them optimally 'right'. The shutter is noisy as an airplane engine. Some gear heads who bow to big equipment may love this very undampened nose, though. Underexposes in most situations, and then overexposes in others. Forget about the matrix metering. I just use centre weight on it now. I hate the mode dial! Try changing your iso and WB in the middle of a shoot that requires immediate response! More complaints in the weaknesses box...

Customer Service

I am going to bring this junk back to Nikon Malaysia after the next project for complaints. I hope they're friendly because I am not a happy customer.

Similar Products Used:

Canon D-60 (didn't like it), 10d. Maybe I am a manual focus film camera dinosaur. Don't you miss the highly magnified display in those big viewfinders?

Beautiful colour, brisk autofocus.

Duplicated controls between menus and dials. Can confuse to start out with.

Like many people I looked at the Canon 10D and the Nikon D100 when I was thinking about buying a Digital SLR. The strange thing was that I knew that I wanted one of them, but I was not quite sure why.. Perhaps it was the fact that my CP4500 (bless it) threw away 75 percent of the data in every shot, or perhaps it was the experience of trying to photograph a flying Gannet from a passing boat. It may even have been the experience of seeing someone use a DSLR on the Farne Islands. What I did know was that while the CP4500 was good for Digiscoping and had an awesome macro facility, it did have some weaknesses. At the end of the day I went for the D100 for the following two reasons. Firstly, I was familiar with Nikon digital from my CP4500, and secondly, they had a charged battery for the display model in Jessops. Anyway I am well pleased with my (slightly arbitrary) choice, and here is a summary of my experiences to date. With the D100 my autofocus delays disappeared. Suddenly I was able to photograph moving birds. The predictive focus tracking is a particularly useful feature, allowing the camera focus to automatically follow the subject in the last fraction of a second between my pressing the shutter and the camera taking the picture. In fact the feature struck me as so cool that I even tried using it for macro shots, but a hundred or so shots later I learnt to use manual focus. Besides which the motor noise scares bees. Like most buyers I started out with a general-purpose lens. This Nikon AF 28-105 f3.5 is still my general favorite for butterflies and insects as it is nice and light and has a great macro facility. Since then my purchases have now included the 200 Micro, the 70-200 VR and the AF-I 500. In all cases I have stayed with the Nikon range because at the end of the day the camera performance relies on the lens. With the right lenses the D100 is capable of capturing high contrast, beautifully coloured images. I always set my own colour balance, but to date I have always allowed the camera its head when it comes to contrast and internal image sharpening. My goal is always the minimum post processing of the camera image, and the D100 supports this approach. To date I've employed the matrix metering with fully manual exposure control for butterflies, and centre weighted with aperture priority for birds. Both work well. Yes, the D100 does have a slight tendency to underexpose. This is actually a positive feature because it helps avoid burn-out in higher contrast images, and subsequent use of Nikon Capture Editor on the RAW images can be used to tweak the exposure if required. Image noise. Yes, noise is there, but whether you see it or not is another question. I normally use my D100 on ISO 400, but the only time I see any noise is if I try and compensate for a grossly underexposed photo in post processing. Post over-amplification of the image amplifies the noise. At that point I tend to junk the image as I'm too lazy to try and employ noise reduction software. Another great feature of the D100 are the controls. Yes, there is duplication between some of the physical controls and the menus, but the good thing about the controls is that you can wear mitts while you are using them. Scottish Winters ! I include the LCD controls in that category as I am a confirmed CHIMPer. Aperture and shutter speed are controlled by a pair of opposing controls on the top right of the camera body with the power switch and the shutter release close to hand. The shutter release is threaded to take a conventional plunger, which after my experiences of the CP remote is a blessing. Lastly, the power supply. I bought a spare rechargeable battery and I've still never used it. Perhaps on of the reasons is that rather than take dozens of shots with the CP4500, hoping to catch that moment of stillness, I now tend to track and try to frame the end shot, relying on the D100 to catch the bird.

Customer Service

Not needed yet.

Lightweight , yet robust. Wide variety of Nikkors espcially the new "plastic kind" exellent quality versus weight. Due to 1,5x focal change even "lesser" lenses peform good. Battery life is ubelievable.

Dust collects on sensor when changing lenses especially in dusty enviroments and you dont get to see it unil it is on the monitor. Too good to be true!

I truly can't understand why some of these reviewers rate this camera less than exellent... I tend to agree with some others that this is a result of lesser experience or that they did not take the time to explore this amazing product in much more detail. I don't want to be very specifc with with any of the characteristics because this camera has every possible prameter adjustment and therefore can do the job under all coditions. For those who want to use it in P mode and forget it, I have bad news...the result will vary from stunning to very poor... so please learn about your gear boys and girls! I have produced wonderful images with this camera that i have not been able to get before on film (I don't print posters!!), so please forget about the issue of film versus digital. I am using Photoshop 7 very little and on some occasions only. This proves to me at least the importance of getting the picture right from the begining and not fixing it at the end. I use Lexar high speed CF's 40X and the camera is fast but doesn't beat a motordrive though, which in any case i don't need because i take portraits, nature and architecture shots. It is true that there is a tendency for underexposure with or without flash... check and compensate! Use a SB80Dx don't moan about incompatibilities... this is a brilliant flash... i even dare to use it in P mode full auto! AF is fast and accurate, from which planet did the guys come from that said otherwise?? I recomend the following lenses for the advanced amature 18-35 f3.5-4,5D IF, 28 f2,8D, 50 f1,8D, 70-300 f4-5,6D by Nikkor for professional kind of results

Customer Service

None needed yet

Similar Products Used:

Pentax SpotmaticF, Nikon F3, Nikon F4, Coolpix 880

batteries splendid, always works - after a fashion - but a pro camera it isn't

slow mirror, soft images not as good af as people think

This camera works and yet I have always been disappointed with it. I really expected the image quality of a D1X which I had used previously for newspaper work but the sensor is not as good. The major problem with this camera which few people mention is a "slow" mirror so that the camera will not stop action well, even with flash, and one has to handhold at the highest speed one can get away with. Unlike Canons it does work and the batteries are brilliant (you nust buy the grip to make the camera sufficiently heavy to handhold easily) and it half paid for itself on the first job but it is no substitute for a film camera. Frankly I should not have bought it; I should have got the D1X.

Customer Service

only had to use it for updating firmware

Similar Products Used:

Nikon D1X extensively, Canon 1ds for a short period, film cameras too numerous to mention

Feels very close to film SLR cameras. I shoot nature, so high fps is not important, but shutter delay is.

1.5 crop factor. My 50mm acts like 75mm, and 20mm will act like 30mm. Thus, wide angle lens purchase becomes expensive (20mm = $500).

Although I am still learning about the camera, I love this camera. I wanted an DSLR that feels and acts like film SLR. I own a Nikon N8008. Previously I have owned a Nikon FG with MD, until the set and lenses were stolen (them b*stards!). I have shot mostly black and white landscapes and nature photography, and few colors (no slides). I am currently using my old lenses - 50mm/f1.4 and 35-70mm/f3.3-4.5 and purchasing a 20mm/f2.8 (wide - yeah!!) The Nikon D100 has an incredible battery life relative to digicams - I have shot everyday for 5 days, left it on overnight, and still full indicator. The startup time is relatively none - just like film slr, and there is no delay when viewing pics on lcd and back to taking pictures. These were my main gripes about digicams (have had two digicams previously), and priorities in DSLR. There is no excuse in missing shots now - unlike regular digicams. One thing I have noticed is that this DSLR is more sensitive to the quality of the lens. My 35-70mm (Nikon but low-end) has so much noticable drop-off with different apertures, while my trusty 50mm/1.4 does not have noticable drop off throughout its openings. I don't notice the drop off as much with my N8008 or FG. There is a large learning curve in DSLR - unlike film SLR, you now can control the "film" - i.e. white-balance, tone, hue, sharpness. And there is post-processing (i.e. Photoshop) to do to get all the quality out of the pics. These things I am still learning, but having owned digicams for 4 years helps lessen the learning curve. Pictures our of the camera are great! Again, if you have cheap sucky lenses, pictures will look ok, but great lenses will produce good pictures (compared to digicams). I have printed with my old Epson 780 and have good results - I have yet tried to have my pics printed professionally

Customer Service

Don't know and hoping to never know.

Similar Products Used:

regular digicams - Nikon Coolpix 800 and Canon S230.