Nikon D1H

5-6 years ago, this Nikon D1H camera was being brought new for about £2000+ by pro photographers, in particular, those who were involved in sports photography. Since then it has been superseded by the D2 line, and the current D3 line of pro cameras.

I bought mine on ebay for about £200. Already being the owner of a number of Nikons, I knew what sort of quality I was likely to be working with. The D1h is heavy and bulky, but feels solid in the hand. It is designed to take knocks and will last.

The picture quality is professional standard, relying on Nikons reliable metering system, which works well in all weathers and conditions. The camera used a CF card as its memory, and it will not take pictures without it. The CF card I have been using is 2GB, so will contain well in excess of 1,000 photos. Pictures can be saved in either RAW format, or in various other JPEG formats.

The features range on the D1h is huge - white balance can be set or automatic, RGB colour can be set, the usual compensation can be accessed via the dial, and many functions are set via a dial on the back on the camera. Full details of these feature can be found on the internet for anyone wanting an exhaustive list.

The camera has one programme on it, and then allows either fully automatic operation, shutter priority or aperture priority modes.

One of the many drags with digital cameras is the lag between taking the picture and the picture actually being captured. As an old pro sports camera, the D1h is very quick to take the shot and can be set to continuous mode taking up to 8 frames per second.

The D1h uses all the usual Nikon lenses - they are expensive, but high quality. A limited number of flashes are available, designed for use on the camera, and again, high standard, but expensive.

The D1h is cumbersome, and you will need to take spare batteries. If you don;t mind that, the return will be a very high quality camera, for not much money.