The D2H again showed that Nikon has built an incredible camera. The 8 fps speed and 40-shot buffer make the D2H such a pleasure to use for fast-moving sports like this. Rarely is 8 fps truly needed in my opinion -I prefer to pick my moment to shoot- but when the occasion presents itself, there's nothing like being able to hold the firing button down and blaze away. The 40 shot buffer, the same as the D1H and nearly double that of the D1, virtually ensures that shots won't be missed.

A critical issue surrounding all digital cameras is noise. With the announcement of the D2H, Nikon also introduced it's own "LBCAST JFET imaging sensor". Claiming "higher speed, higher resolution, lower power consumption, and minimal dark noise", the new sensor indeed produces clean and sharp images. While certainly not absolutely noise-free, performance at ISO 1600 (typical of what is required for indoor sporting events) is good. I have found that, while not absolutely necessary -depending on the final use of the photograph- using a noise-reduction program like Neat Image on images shot at ISO 1600 can help.

Autofocus performance was again excellent. In my somewhat limited experience, I have found that Single-area or Dynamic-area work very well. I was not completely pleased with Group-dynamic AF. Unlike Single and Dynamic, Group-dynamic AF seems to take a fraction of a second to "decide" where to first focus -way too much time to lose in fast-moving action like this. Working handheld with a Tokina 20-70 f/2.8 or an AF-S 20-200 f/2.8, I was very pleased with the results the camera provided.

For indoor sports like this I prefer to use preset white balance. As with the D1, the D2H does an excellent job taking a preset WB measurement. And as with the D1X/H, preset white balance settings can be stored and recalled later -a wonderful feature when regularly returning to a venue.

SUMMARY

This quick test-drive doesn't even scratch the surface of this incredible camera. The advances Nikon has made in the user interface alone probably make this camera worth the price. If NOTHING else, the performance of the lithium-ion EN-EL4 battery is amazing. I've shot over 1500 exposures on a single charge, with image review turned on, and still had charge left in the battery -vastly better than the performance of the EN-4 battery used in the D1X and D1H. The flexibility of the custom functions is mind-boggling -at times to the point of being confusing. The D2H is far more evolved from the D1X and D1H than those cameras were from the D1. To truly be able to put all its power to good use one must invest a good deal of time learning its features. Once mastered, this camera is a truly fast, accurate, responsive, formidable tool.