Nikon D3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nikon D3 camera. As announced, the D3 will be the top model in Nikon's line of and is a 12.1-megapixel professional full frame (35mm) digital single-lens-reflex (dSLR) camera that Nikon Corporation announced on 23 August 2007 along with the Nikon D300 DX formatDSLRs, superseding the D2HsD2Xs.The D3 features a full-frame 35mm equivalent CMOS image sensor measuring 23.9 x 36.0 mm. This sensor is larger than the DX format sensors of all previous Nikon dSLRs, and Nikon has coined the FX format term to describe it. The D3's sensor has larger pixels and greater light sensitivity than previous DX sensors. This allows the camera to reach higher equivalent film speeds and produce images with less noise in low-light situations. Low-light situations include times when the camera is operated at high shutter speed or high f-number, where the lens' aperture is reduced to improve depth of field and sharpness. The sensor captures image data at 14 bits per color channel, which is higher than the bit-depth of previous 12-bit sensors.
The camera grip and body style were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro's Italdesign. The camera body retains the long-standing Nikon F-mount, making it compatible with older Nikon lenses. Other features include the ability to take many shots in rapid succession (up to 9 frames-per-second (fps) in FX format and 11 fps in DX format), and a high-resolution LCD view screen regarded as superior to other camera's view screens at the time.
The D3 advertised features are suitable for professional photographers and the commercial photography industry. The FX sensor has a theoretical advantage due to geometry, of providing greater sensitivity to light than the DX sensor, which translates at a given number of photosites (aka pixels) into a theoretical capacity for less noise at equivalent ISO numbers and a corresponding capacity for higher usable ISO numbers.This theoretical capacity appears to have been confirmed in tests by various independent persons since the camera's announcement and subsequent release, but as yet no full understanding of the camera's relative performance appears to have been gained by the internet photographic community, nor has Nikon confirmed detailed information on the technology underlying the camera's sensor.
This improves the camera's chance to take pictures with superior technical image quality, both at high shutter speeds, allowing photographers to capture fast moving subjects with less blur and better color, and in low light conditions, or usually some combination of the two.
The camera's vertical grip, in addition to the standard horizontal grip, is useful for fashion, sports, and wedding photographers, and anyone else who likes to turn the camera around a lot to alternate between shooting portrait and landscape orientation images.
At the time of announcement, the D3 was priced at $4999.
The Nikon D3 is an upgrade from previous Nikon DSLRs and is not a substitute or minor upgrade of an existing model. Nikon's previous offerings include the professional high-resolution D2Xs and the high-speed D2Hs.
The Nikon D3 Camera - Part 2
The Nikon D3 Camera - Part I
Nikon D3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Type Digital single-lens reflex camera Sensor 36 mm × 23.9 mm CMOS, Nikon FX format Maximum resolution 12.1 megapixels Lens type Interchangeable, Nikon F-mount Shutter Electromagnetically controlled vertical-travel focal-plane shutter Shutter speed range 30 to 1/8000 second and bulb Exposure Metering TTL full-aperture exposure metering system Exposure Modes Program Auto [P], Shutter-Priority Auto [S], Aperture-Priority Auto [A], Manual [M] Metering modes 3D Color Matrix Metering II, Center-Weighted, Spot Focus areas 51 area TTL Focus modes Single Area AF, Dynamic AF with Focus Tracking and Lock-on, Closest Subject Priority, Group Dynamic AF Continuous Shooting 9fps up to ?/64 (RAW/JPEG Fine), 11fps for DX mode Viewfinder Optical-type fixed eye-level pentaprism ASA/ISO range ISO equivalency 200 to 6400 in 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps, boosted: 100 to 25,600 Flash n/a Flash bracketing n/a Focus bracketing Eleven sets of focus brackets (area) Custom WB Auto, Presets (5), Manual, and Color tempature in Kelvin WB bracketing 2 to 9 frames, 10,20,30 MIRED steps Rear LCD monitor 3-inch, 307,000 pixels (922,000 dots), VGA Storage 2 CompactFlash (Type I or Type II) Battery Lithium Ion EN-EL4a Weight 1240 g (2.7b) Optional Battery Packs AC adapter EH-6
Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera Review
Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera
The Nikon D300 is without a doubt leaps and bounds ahead of the Nikon D200 and their competitors. The high ISO is great, and auto white balance more accurate. It is along with the Nikon D3, the best semi-pro camera Nikon has produced.
The pop up flash has commander mode which will free up one of my SB 800 units so I can add it to my army of SB 800 flashes that accompany me to all my shoots. And it will be nice to not have to constantly carry a flash on my camera all the time.
Resolution: The Nikon D300 has a 12 megapixel sensor (32,823 pixels / mm) which means it has a higher resolution than the Canon 1Ds Mark III which has 21 mp at 24,336 pp mm by almost 10,000 pixels / millimeter. It's because of the size of the sensor.
The Canon however has a larger print resolution because it has more pixels, but because the Nikon D300 has a higher sensor resolution it makes inherently sharper images (especially since you can shoot 14 bit now), so you can make larger enlargements with the Nikon than the Canon's enlargements.
This camera is an amazing buy and cheaper than the Nikon D3. The Nikon D2x is still more expensive than the D3. The Nikon D300 is a nice step up from the D2x although I'll miss the high speed crop!
Features: Improved Picture Control for colors - the settings now are sharpening, contrast, brightness, saturation and hue. You can also download from the internet D2XMODE picture controls (there are 3 modes) and load it in to emulate these modes from the D2X bodies.
AF Fine Tuning - this is a great feature that puts in the user's hands the power to calibrate a lens to the camera body. In the past, if you have a great prime lens (e.g. 85mm f/1.4) and want to calibrate it to work optimally to the camera body, you would need to send it to teh Nikon Service Center to do that. With AF Fine Tuning, you can now do it yourself. Because there will be a slight degree of inaccurarcy in AF systems, i.e. front or backward focusing, you can now fine tune that lens (with +/- 20) to the camera body so that it works optimally. It recognizes Nikon lenses without a problem but 3rd party lenses would have to catch up. It can store up to 12 lenses' fine tuning information, so that when you plug back that lens, it would know the fine tune data to use.
In camera picture editing made easier - Once you take a picture, when you press the "ok" button, a list of in camera picture editing tools come up (where you can trim the pic, change to monochrone, use filter effects of skylight or warm filter, or edit the color balance). The color balance feature here is great because you can shift the color balance of the picture to the desire effect you like.
Monochrome Picture Control - The monochrone picture control now comes with filter effects or yellow, orange, red, and green... so gone are the days of carrying these filters when taking black and white shots. You can also adjust the toning from black and white, sepia, cyanotype, and also a range of red, yellow, green, blue green, blue, purple blue, and red purple.
Help button - at anytime when you need some help as to what that feature is about, you only need to press the "?" button and it brings up a page explaing that feature. This is like the D40/x and the menu layout also looks like that of the D40/x.
White balance fine tuning - The Canon 5D had long since had this feature in the white balance tuning where you can shift the white balance in a grid, and finally, this is now incorporated in this camera. Even the other white balance fine tuning is much improved, e.g. for flourascent, it hast a list of different florescent lights to choose from for fine tuning. For the present white balance, you can save up to 4 presets.
Now professional photographers can capture amazing images with this 6 fps camera.
Nikon D40 6.1MP Lightweight SLR Camera with DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens.
Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens
The D40 was a good choice for me for a number of reasons... just wanted
something simple, easy and lightweight... a camera that puts me in
control of my shots without having to think too much about it. I'd
rather work on creating the shot than the logistics of the process.
This camera really is an amazing entry-level DSLR. It's perfect for amateurs who have only used point-and-shoots before, or for someone who has some experience with SLRs but is not a professional.
The recent addition of the Nikkor 55-200mm ED IF AF-S DX VR zoom lens made this package a very sweet combo.
The camera itself is very user-friendly and the quality of the images is just amazing. Awesome depth-of-field making portraits beautiful. Also, you can shoot frames so quickly after one another that it's easy to get some really cool candids.
I like the way the D40 feels, the way it responds, the way the buttons are sized, easy to read & use, the way the menu is displayed on the very large LCD. A hands-on experience showed me that this camera was a good fit, very balanced, had all the options I was looking for at the right price. Since all my lenses and attachments from my Nikon FE fit this camera, the choice was really a no-brainer for me.
Nikon D3 12.1MP FX Review
Nikon D3 12.1MP FX Digital SLR - Incredible Camera!
At last Nikon got its act together to deliver a high speed, high ISO, full-frame camera. I had semi-switched to Canon with the purchase of the EOS 1D Mark III. Even after reports over focusing issues, I haven't had any real problems with it. The frame rate and high ISO on it is phenomenal. Anyhow, the D3's 9-fps at full frame, impressive high ISO, and a wealth of other features of the D3 were enough to lure me and my wallet back to the Nikon camp. Another feature that I really like was the smaller AF areas. If you're doing wildlife, it makes it much easier to lock on to your subject when the animal is in heavy brush (you know, like all the time). The Canons would always have a hard time in these situations, the Nikon grabs the focus immediately.
One last feature I'm really excited about is the virtual horizon. It makes keeping the camera level just so much easier. It has two ways of showing it - the first is a big display on the back that looks like it's out of a 747 and is kind of useless. The second is to set your function button on the front of the camera for virtual horizon. Just press that in with your pinky while you look through the finder and the exposure meter turns into your virtual horizon. Just get it to "0" and you're level. Much easier to do than it sounds. I always thought My shots were level, but I was really surprised how often I needed a little tilt one way or the other.
After some comparison test shots at different high ISO settings on the D3, D2Xs, and Mark III, I have to say that the D3's noise level is as good, maybe even a tad bit better than the Mark III. The D2Xs was a very distant third, clearly unacceptable at ISO 1600. Also, the D3's auto white balance seems to be more accurate than the Mark III. I haven't had extensive use of the D3 yet, but so far, it performs as good as Canon's best offering in terms of speed and noise level. Shooting with both Canon & Nikon is like dating a blonde & brunette at the same time. :)
After having used Canon for years (from film based EOS -1 to IDMKII, a 5D, and even a 1D MK III), there is just no comparison! This camera handles like it was designed by a photographer, not a tech. It's easy to do everything you want, and the quality is simply outstanding. If you're debating it - don't. Just get one and you'll understand!
The Nikon D3 camera has great features like:
Incredible autofocus, a viewfinder so good you can actually manually focus with it if you like, an incredible screen on the back you can use to check focus accurately (impossible with any current Canon, at least by comparison), and so much more. Just a outstanding camera.
camera review : nikon d3
i know that many of you have emailed me asking when i was going to post my d3 review, and here it is. i am so grateful to nikon for the opportunity to use this amazing gear and i'm extraordinarily happy to be a part of the nikon family.this is a freaking fantastic camera.i had always been a canon user and always a manual shooter.susan stripling photography : blog
i loved aperture priority but was never able to achieve consistent results from the canon A settings. with this d3 i can shoot in aperture priority with ease, getting very solid results. the exposure compensation is nearly flawless and very intuitive to use.the much-talked-about high iso performance is EXCELLENT.
Andy Rouse Review - Nikon D3 - warehouseexpress.com
Welcome to my thoughts and feelings about the new Nikon flagship, the D3. As with all of my reviews this will not contain much technical jargon or specifications for the camera as they can be found elsewhere. Instead it will concentrate on how the camera actually performs in the field and whether it does what is says on the tin.Andy Rouse Review - Nikon D3 - warehouseexpress.com
Specifically for this camera I will concentrate on exposure, autofocus, image quality, high ISO performance and some of the new features included on the D3. It will also be a review in two stages, a First Look which is the results of my first day with the camera and then a more in-depth look at everything after a few days of working with it.The D3 has promised much and is the DSLR which Nikon photographers have been waiting for with a full-frame sensor, fully customizable options and a brand new AF system. So let’s see how it measured up.
First LookNikon kindly sent me one of the new 70-200 f2.8G VR lenses to use with the D3 which is great except that this is a much shorter lens than I would use at this time of the year for wildlife. I know that Nikon Pro Services are particularly busy now and all longer lenses are out and about so will have to make do with this lens for now, Warehouse Express have supplied me with a 1.7x teleconverter to help a little.
Picture info – all the pictures shown here are displayed as shot from the D3 and no colour manipulation has taken place. The D3 was set to a Picture Control of neutral, lossless NEF, colour space Adobe 1998 and no sharpening has been applied anywhere. The images were all processed using Adobe Lightroom 1.3.1 and again no colour corrections have been made. I just needed to get that off my chest!My first shots with the D3 were taken this evening. I charged the battery, spent 30 minutes reading the manual and set it up for an autofocus test.
Not just any autofocus test but an extreme one....fast running dogs in very low light. And I mean fast dogs, my two are speed demons and we took them up to the local field at sunset. I set up the D3 to have Auto ISO to get a shutter speed of 1/2500th – this is a great new feature where the D3 will find the correct ISO value to give me the shutter speed that I want. I can see many situations where this will be very useful. In this situation it set the ISO at 1400, which is much higher than any Nikon photographer would have dared to go before!
Share at Technorati!
