July 29, 2004: The D1H section of the database is no longer being updated, as we no longer have access to this camera.

First, its cavernous 40 frame JPEG/TIFF buffer means never running out of bullets when shooting extended sequences, no matter how pokey the card. Even with the camera set to record RAW NEF photos, the 27 frame limit is more than enough to cover almost any shooting situation, which in turn gives the card lots of time to write as the buffer empties.

Second, Nikon has designed the playback mode so that photos may be reviewed and scrolled through immediately after they're shot, even when the card has yet to write out most of the photos in the buffer.

In short, it will be the rare D1H photographer that notices a difference between shooting to the fastest card and shooting to the slowest. Only if you must remove the card from the camera as quickly as possible after shooting an extended sequence will you notice that the wait is quite a bit longer with the slow-pokes. So, a fast card will never hurt, but loads of CompactFlash write speed is not essential for most D1H applications.

CompactFlash Write Speed - Nikon D1H (Firmware Version 1.10)

The data in the table below was derived by timing how long it took the Nikon D1H to write out 20 JPEG Fine and 20 RAW .NEF photos to the card. Timing commenced when the camera's card status light illuminated, and stopped when the light went out. Each test cycle was performed 3 times (if the card's capacity allowed for that) to ensure accurate results.

Note: Because the D1H isn't capable of writing to cards that have been FAT32-formatted, only cards whose capacity is 2GB or less have been tested in this camera.

Card-to-card speed variation within the same brand and model, photographing scenes of varying detail and at different ISO settings - these and other factors may slightly alter write speed performance. As a result, write speed differences of 5% or less from card to card in the table below should be considered insignificant. If one card's write speed is within 5% of another's, the two cards are likely to offer effectively the same performance in the real world. Similarly, it's unlikely that most photographers would notice a difference between the fastest card and one that was up to 10% slower.

The results are arranged in the table from fastest to slowest (based on JPEG write speed). The top 10% (based on JPEG write speed) are marked in blue.

Note: Be sure to examine the wake-from-sleep test data also; the Nikon D1H is one of the cameras affected by the lengthy wakeup time of certain CompactFlash cards.