A great camera that makes me have to think about taking a photograph

I spent 20-25 years as a professional FILM photographer. I am now retired. I purchased this Kodak DCS Pro 14n as a way to learn digital photography, but in a very film sort of way. I found out fom a friend that I could use nearly all of my older Nikon equipment, and I have found this to be correct. Even my older Nikon flashes have worked well, especially in TTL. If I needed a secial wide angle lens or even a special telephoto lens, I could look on ebay and find an older, great condition manual focus lens. I just had to give up the auto focus feature of the lens, and they could be had for a reasonable price. Of course the AF Nikkors will work fine. But, then how many years did I go out and shoot with a manual focus setup and think nothing of it. The prices were great because everyone wanted their lenses to be auto focus, and I didn't care.


Moving on to the ISO settings...for years I shot with ISO ratigs of 80, 100 125 and when I really wanted something great I'd go to Kodachrome 25 and 64. So having to limit my Digital ISO ratings 160, 125 and below, I've been there and done that. It was like being back in the old days, you just got a bigger flash, faster lens or went to a longer shutter speed.


The camera really shines in portraits and still life settings. With portraits, on a tripod and controlled flash (has a PC connection and a hot shoe) this camera is a great selection. The color and contrast truly rival the qualities of film. It was a rare time that I had to bring an image into Photo Shop.


My original reason for buying the camera was price, but I had also been swayed by all good reviews the camera originally received. Go to your favorite search engine and look up "Kodak 14n review" and find some of the old reviews. This camera was one of the first, if not the first to have a full size (1" x 1.5") imaging sensor. So if you bought a 20mm Nikkor, you got a 20mm lens, no 1.5x or 1.6x factors to multiply to the lens.


This camera was truly ahead of it's time, and still is a great find. At the time I bought it off of ebay I paid about 3 times its present selling price and I still am happy with the deal I got.

The camera was OK for this price point but for a couple of problems.

The camera is as described in the e.bay page. A couple of problems have come to light. The mains power module was supplied but without the connecting DC lead.Also the software on the camera was damaged at some point as the Zoom facility in playback in not available. I have tried Kodak support with no success. Overall though I am pleased with with my purchase.

Full Frame 36mm (FX) Sensor DSLR at a Very reasonable Price!

Finally, full frame wide angle photos. No crop factor.
The main reason for buying this Camera was the FX 35 mm full size sensor.
This Camera's CMOS sensor is quite a bit higher contrast than I get with my Nikon D1X. As far as I can see, the camera can not be down loaded with a custom contrast Curve either. The only thing I don't Love about the Kodak DCS Pro 14n.

A WORTHY UPGRADE FROM DX CAPTURE

The good is: The capture is quite flawless at 160asa and works amazingly well in studio settings. Skin tones look fantastic and the CC is absolutely there. Cropping and enlargements are ZERO PROBLEM because of the rather massive file it shoots and creates in RAW mode.

The lens calibration is a very useful tool (though wants to override a Polarizing Filter placed over the lens) and the Studio Flash WB/CC is spot on.

Not the worlds fastest focus, but neither is my Nikon D200. While s l o w, the Kodak focuses much more accurately, actually.

OK, the ergonomics/ handling of the beasty isn't great. Bulbous and just sorta... Not that comfortable. On a tripod and it is more tolerable. Battery life is terrible, thankfully seller had included 3 batteries for the thing.

I don't know how the performance is above 200asa, and I almost NEVER shoot above 200 as it is, so I really don't care. I'm mostly a studio fashion/ portrait shooter and it does that job extraordinarily well. Better than my Nikon D200 for sure.