Nikon D3

Nikon’s D3 was an instant hit as soon as it was launched around October 2007.

For the fi rst time everyone knew the real meaning of ‘low noise at high ISOs’. This was followed by other manufacturers who were forced to look deep into technologies and fi nd ways to reduce digital noise at higher ISO sensitivities. Most did. Then followed the brainwave to have video facility built into newer D-SLRs, again, with Nikon doing the honors with its D90. Since then, almost every new D-SLR in the market has came along with video. Yet, the Nikon D3, as good as it was (and still is), was video-less. Now, Nikon has added the video facility in their new avatar, the D3S. This, plus further improvements in noise control, and some more.

DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY

Rock solid, heavy (1,240g without battery and cards), and environmentally sealed, the D3S is designed to represent the high-end standard for professional use (and abuse!). The camera’s chassis, body, exterior cover, and mirror box are made from strong yet lightweight magnesium alloy. In appearances, it looks very much like the D3, given that it is the new incarnation of the D3.

NEW FEATURES

Instead of going through all the attributes of the D3S (which are similar to the D3), let’s explore some new features and some other not-new, but useful features.

Newly designed image sensor, high ISOs and large buffer

At the outset, the D3S sports a newly designed full-frame sensor, that is capable of taking pictures in light levels so low that it would be diffi cult for our eyes to see clearly in. This makes it the ultimate camera for wildlife, sports, and news photographers on the go, providing greater latitude in high ISO performance. ISO 200 to 12800 is standard; this can be boosted to an equivalent of ISO 102400. Couple this with the capability to fi re away 9 frames per second in FX (full-frame) mode (11 fps in DX mode), and you have nothing short of a machine gun at your disposal. A very large buffer for 48 RAW frames (130 frames with JPEG Large/Normal) means that you don’t have to worry about the camera coming to a grinding halt when shooting continuously (the D3 has a 18 RAW frame buffer).

VIDEO CAPABILITY

If the above doesn’t tempt you to put you hand to your wallet, the autofocus movie capability will. The D3S can shoot movies in High Defi nition at 720p at 24 fps, with stereo sound. A special feature (‘Save Selected’) even lets you transmit (via your computer) a still image from the movie clip. The ISO sensitivity for movies is from 200 to 12,800, but can be boosted to ISO 6400 (Hi 3).

IMAGE SENSOR CLEANING

As good as the D3 was (and still is), it lacked image sensor cleaning. The D3S resolves that issue. The feature can be set to operate whenever the camera is turned on or off, or manually.

RETOUCH MENU OPTIONS

The Retouch menu offers new in-camera RAW processing options. You can choose to apply certain parameters to your RAW fi les (White Balance, Color Space, Image Size and Quality, Noise Reduction, Picture Control, and Vignette Control) instead of applying them during post processing in your computer. This can save you a lot of time when images are required in a hurry.

ACTIVE D-LIGHTING

D-Lighting, which automatically improves shadow detail and preserves highlight detail in high contrast scenes, is not new to Nikon. The D3S, however, offers six D-Lighting settings that include the newly-added Auto and Extra High settings to the earlier High, Normal, Low, and Off settings. The user can also bracket Active D-Lighting strength levels up to fi ve frames, so that the best frame can be chosen later.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

The D3S shutter has been tested for up to 300,000 cycles in fully assembled cameras. This means that if you shoot about 1,000 frames every month (equivalent to about 28 fi lm rolls of 36 exposures), you can expect the shutter to last at least 25 years!

The D3S has two memory card slots for CF cards. You can record images sequentially, record the same data on to both the cards (as a back-up), record RAW and JPEG simultaneously on separate cards, and transfer data from one card to the other.

The 2-mode Live View has a dedicated button. Live View can be set in tripod mode (greater AF accuracy), and hand-held mode. In tripod mode, the camera uses Contrast-Detect AF, which has been further improved in the D3S. A few more nice features include the quiet shutter release, 51-point AF, AE with highlight analysis, improved White Balance, Scene Recognition System, and 3-inch, 921,000-dot 170 degree viewing angle LCD monitor. An additional feature worth mentioning is the 1.2x crop option (uses 30x20mm area on the image sensor).

FINAL SCORE

Design and Build Quality 19/20
Key Features 19/20
Ergonomics 18/20
Performance 19/20
Value for Money 17/20
OVERALL 92%

 + High ISO, low noise

+High Defi nition Video

+Superb build quality

+Superb performance

-Heavy

-Expensive

ERGONOMICS

As with all such top-end models, it is very much necessary to study the camera time and again before you can use it with ease. Once that is done, the D3S is easy and comfortable to use (that is if you don’t mind heavy cameras). The buttons and switches are well located and the camera provides a lot of user confi dence.

PERFORMANCE

The performance of the D3S, was top notch. If the D3 was superb, the D3S is awesome. During an offi ce function, we shot a lot of pictures without fl ash at ISO 1600 and they appeared to have been shot under bright light conditions at very low ISO. We also shot quite a few pictures from a moving car at night, and to say the least, the picture quality was impressive. Its autofocus was very fast and accurate. The dynamic range was much better than many D-SLRs from the competition. White Balance performance seemed even better than the D3. In the digital noise arena, we have yet to see a camera perform better. If this trend continues and other manufacturers achieve similar noise- level performance, fl ash photography will take a nose dive. The quality of the video was excellent. Some day, we hope to compare the video quality of the D3S to a dedicated video camera