The Nikon D1 is a
digital single-lens reflex camera
A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor.
The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...
(DSLR) made by
Nikon Corporation
(, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group.
Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...
introduced on June 15, 1999. It featured a 2.7-
megapixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
image sensor
An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to make an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they pass through or reflect off objects) into signals, small bursts of curr ...
, 4.5-frames-per-second continuous shooting, and accepted the full range of
Nikon F-mount
The Nikon F-mount is a type of interchangeable lens mount developed by Nikon for its 35mm format single-lens reflex cameras. The F-mount was first introduced on the Nikon F camera in 1959, and features a three-lug bayonet mount with a 44mm thro ...
lenses. The camera body strongly resembled the
F5 and had the same general layout of controls, allowing users of Nikon film SLR cameras to quickly become proficient in using the camera. Autofocus speed on the D1 series bodies is extremely fast, even with "screw-driven" AF lenses.
Although Nikon and other manufacturers had produced digital SLR cameras for several years prior, the D1 was the first professional digital SLR that displaced
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
's then-undisputed reign over the professional market.
Unusual for a DSLR, the D1 uses the
NTSC color space instead of the conventional
sRGB
sRGB is a standard RGB (red, green, blue) color space that HP and Microsoft created cooperatively in 1996 to use on monitors, printers, and the World Wide Web. It was subsequently standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission ( ...
or
Adobe RGB
The Adobe RGB (1998) color space or opRGB is a color space developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. in 1998. It was designed to encompass most of the colors achievable on CMYK color printers, but by using RGB primary colors on a device such as a compu ...
color spaces. The resulting color on the D1 can be a bit unorthodox, but methods of correcting and/or compensating for the color problem are readily available.
D1H and D1X
![Nikon D1x 3656](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Nikon_D1x_3656.jpg)
The D1 was replaced by the D1H and D1X on February 5, 2001. The D1X offered higher resolution with a 4,024 x 1,324 - 5.3 effective megapixels sensor (3,008 x 1,960 interpolated image output), and continuous shooting of 3 frames per second for up to 21 consecutive shots. The D1H was oriented towards fast-action photography, keeping the same 2.7 megapixels image sensor as the D1, but pushing the frame rate to 5 frame/s for up to 40 consecutive shots. Both the D1H and D1X use the sRGB/AdobeRGB color spaces, which is an improvement over the original D1.
Development and sensor design
Development began on the D1 in 1996, when digital imaging was in its infancy in the consumer market. At that time the major market leader for DSLR cameras was
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
, who produced their own image sensors and assembled digital cameras under the brand
Kodak DCS
The Kodak Digital Camera System is a series of digital single-lens reflex cameras and digital camera backs that were released by Kodak in the 1990s and 2000s, and discontinued in 2005. They are all based on existing 35mm film SLRs from Nikon, Cano ...
. The DCS cameras were based upon 35 mm SLR cameras, replacing the film back with one incorporating a CCD sensor. This in turn was connected to a power supply and image processing and storage unit that was either carried separately or attached to the base of the camera body. While these cameras offered the convenience of digital imaging to normal photographers, their appeal was limited by huge price-tags and issues with sensor size, resolution, and performance in comparison to film.
Nikon therefore stood to gain a significant market advantage if they could manage to offer a digital camera that had been designed from the ground up. The goal was ambitious; Nikon sought to produce professional-grade cameras using large high-resolution sensors for only a few thousand dollars at a time when the Kodak
DCS 460, based on a Nikon F90X and provided with a 6 megapixel 27.6 × 18.4 mm CCD sensor, was retailing for over US$30,000. Price was just one of the hurdles encountered; engineers also had to consider how to design and mass-produce a high-resolution and high-sensitivity sensor that could be powered by batteries and sustain a continuous frame-rate suitable for journalistic use.
Initially no major sensor manufacturer was prepared to produce the sensor for Nikon, believing that the predicted sales volumes were completely unrealistic. Eventually though a source was located and prototype designs entered production. Several years of refinement followed - working to reduce power use and improve read speeds - until a design was perfected.
The final design that was used in the D1 was for a 23.7 × 15.6 mm CCD producing images with a final resolution of 2000 × 1312 pixels (approximately 2.7 megapixels), and this was the figure used for marketing the camera. The sensor was praised for its high base sensitivity of ISO 200, its excellent signal-to-noise ratio especially at base sensitivity, and its capacity for continuous shooting at five frames per second.
At the time, Bjørn Rørslett famously stated that the camera spelled "The End of The Beginning (of the digital era) - The Beginning of The End (of the film era)". The development of the D1 is generally accepted as one of the major milestones in the development of the digital camera, and Kodak's initial market dominance was genuinely threatened for the first time.
In a later "behind the scenes" interview published on the Nikon website
it was revealed by the General Manager of Nikon's Imaging Development Management Department that the sensor developed for and used in the D1, and subsequently the D1H, actually used 10.8 million
photosite
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
s rather than the 2.7 million that had previously been suggested. This allowed multiple photosites to be grouped together into units that formed the final pixels in the image, contributing to the sensor's high sensitivity and excellent
signal-to-noise ratio
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. SNR is defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power, often expressed in deci ...
.
References
External links
Official sites
Nikon D1 Product Page – Nikon Global Website
Reviews
*
ttp://www.naturfotograf.com/D1X_review.html "Into the Night with Nikon D1X" by Bjørn Rørslettdpreview.com review of the D1dpreview.com review of the D1hdpreview.com review of the D1xphoto.net review of the D1himaging-resource.com review of the D1h
{{Nikon DSLR cameras
Cameras introduced in 1999
D1
D1