27.01.09
Nikon D3 Review
Words by Will Cheung
Very occasionally, a camera comes along that grabs you by the throat and forces you to re-evaluate life, the universe and your photography. In my photo career, the Olympus OM-1 (small, gorgeous and I still use one) and the Minolta 7000 (first usable AF SLR) are the two cameras that have shaken my world. What you’re about to read may be premature, but there’s possibly a third camera to add to my very exclusive list, the Nikon D3.
If you like your camera to feel like you could smack home six-inch nails, the D3 is for you. It’s solid, heavy and obviously built to be fit for purpose. Put another way, if I dropped the D3 onto my newly tiled kitchen floor, I’d be more worried about the tiles than the camera.
Camera set-up is a great deal more involved than most DSLRs and that’s due to the large number of customisable features that this camera offers. Venture into the Autofocus section of the Custom Setting menu and you’ll find no fewer than 10 options and within these there are two, three or even four further options. In Dynamic AF area, for example, there’s the choice of nine, 21, 51 points (with or without 3D tracking).
To be fair, though, most of the options are pretty straightforward, but the process is worth doing with the instruction manual to hand. Overall, handling is excellent and quick enough to deal with the fastest situations. Take drive speed as an example. In the uncropped FX mode, you get nine frames-per-second (fps) and this increases to 11fps if a DX format lens is used. The latter gives 5.1-megapixel images and a 1.5x crop.
With a SanDisk Extreme IV 4GB card, I got 18 shots at 9fps before shooting speed slowed down to one frame every half a second or so. Shooting Large Fine JPEGs, I got 70 shots at 9fps before the camera drew breath and drive speed then slowed to 3fps for another 40 shots before slowing further. Taking pressure off the shutter release for just a few seconds, allowed enough of the buffer to clear for another 50 shots at full speed.
The D3’s autofocus system features a newly developed Multi-CAM3500FX sensor. It offers 51-focus points, 15 of which are cross-type and give more vertical coverage.
Autofocus speed and responsiveness rate highly and the dynamic AF tracking does work well. However, the longest lens I used was a 70-200mm f/2.8 so it’d be interesting to see how the D3 copes with longer lenses.
The camera has the option of AF-area modes. My default preference for any camera is the single-point mode, which I still prefer because I know where the camera’s going to try to focus. I was happy with the D3’s dynamic AF options, although in some situations the 51-point mode could decide to focus somewhere other than where I wanted. Generally, speed, responsiveness and accuracy are top notch.
In my experience, the exposure system is equally reliable. In the past, I’ve found Nikon’s Matrix systems err on the side of overexposure, but the D3 swings the other way, giving nicely saturated Raw files, which converted nicely using Capture NX. I generally left the camera set to its zero setting and intervened when required. Typically, strong backlighting needed a helping hand.
Nikon isn’t the only camera maker to have made great strides on digital noise, but the D3’s performance beggars belief. It’s so good that it almost makes noise test pictures redundant. Its nominal speed is ISO 200 with the option of dropping down to ISO 100, but at the fast end of the scale it goes up to ISO 6400. And you can go even further, in one-third stop steps to H0.3, H0.7, H1.0 and H2.0 giving equivalent ISOs of 8000, 10,000, 12,800 and 25,600 respectively.
At H2.0, the noise can be horrendous with poor blacks and lots of banding especially on areas of even tone. But anyone who has tried push-processing film to ISO 25,600 knows not to expect much and I can’t imagine anyone, except digital noise fascists, complaining.
While H2.0 is poor, H1.0 or ISO 12,800 is surprisingly good. Printed with no interpolation, the 8-bit 34.5MB file gives an image size of 36x23.9cm (14.1x9.4in) at 300ppi, and viewed at normal distances noise is visible but the banding is under control. In fact, the images at this speed have an appealing gritty quality reminiscent of a fast film like old Scotch 1000, for those with long memories.
Slip down to ISO 6400, the camera’s fastest true ISO and I dare any photographer who has used film at ISO 6400 to moan. There’s no banding, the blacks are solid and the minimal noise that is present looks very film-like.
I shot a wide variety of pictures using the full ISO range whenever I could, from the interior of a very dim restaurant to sun-lit landscapes. I made a set of A3+ size (48.3x32.9cm, 19x13in) landscape prints on an Epson 3800 and on the ISO 12,800 image all you can see is some mottling in the sky. The D3’s turns in an amazing noise performance.
I also did some comparison shots on the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III. The D3 images were interpolated to match the size of the Canon’s 21-megapixel 60MB files (47.5x31.7cm or 18.7x12.4in at 300ppi resolution) and comparison prints made. The difference? Actually, I think the D3 prints edged it.
As for factors like fringing, colour fidelity and contrast, I was perfectly happy. Colour accuracy and saturation also looked great and dealing with scenes of high contrast seemed perfectly fine. I saw no obvious signs of fringing so that wasn’t an issue.
I’m sorry to dwell on the noise and image quality of the D3, but I want to give credit where credit’s due. Nikon deserves an almighty pat on the back.
In this review, we’ve only scratched the surface of the D3’s lengthy list of features and there are plenty of smart touches. For example, the Battery Info function showed I had taken 959 pictures with a fully charged battery and 55 per cent power remained. It also indicates the battery’s overall condition.
Finally, I used the D3 with my 25-year old manual focus Nikkors, a 20mm f/3.5 and 85mm f/1.8. Lovely. And well done, Nikon, for keeping the faith.
ON THE RUN
It was a freezing cold day when I took the Nikon D3 out into the wild. My hands were freezing, and one thing I liked immediately about the D3 was its accessibility. The D3’s menu system is warmer and friendlier than most pro cameras, providing welcome and fast access to the feature you’re after. The camera also felt very solid in the hand, a great relief for numb fingers. It feels built to withstand plenty of work.
Nikon’s main claims for the D3 are for its 12.1-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor, the 51-point autofocus and its Scene Recognition system. I have to say, focusing was indeed amazingly quick in all sorts of contrast and light levels.
As regards the Scene Recognition system, it’s meant to give more accurate white-balance readings, but I found the AWB setting gave me results that were on the cold side for the warm wintry sunshine.
The D-Lighting feature, however, worked very well to help control high contrast. I tried it in the Off, Normal and High positions, and finally plumped for High feature as my preferred setting.
In short, the D3’s a great camera, it’s capable of outstanding resolution, and handling is excellent. It’s also nicely priced considering the level of specification on offer and its quality of construction.
SPECIFICATION
Price: £3400
Distributor: nikon.co.uk
Resolution: 12.1-megapixels
Lens mount: Nikon F
Magnification: Full frame, 1.5x when DX format is selected
Sensor: Nikon FX CMOS sensor, 36x23.9mm, total 12.87-megapixels
Autofocus: Single point or dynamic AF with 9, 21 or 51 points (with/without3D tracking). Single-shot, continuous and focus-tracking modes
Exposure system: 3D Color Matrix Metering II (type G and D), centre-weighted and 1.5% spot
Exposure modes: PASM
ISO range: 200-6400, expandable to ISO 100-25,600 equivalent
Shutter speed: 30-1/8000sec, B, flash sync at 1/250sec
Viewfinder: 100% approx
Monitor: 3in, 922,000 pixels, 100% frame coverage
File formats: NEF, compressed NEF, JPEG
Image size: 4256x2832pixels (L, 12.1-megapixels), 2784x1848 (DX-format, 5.1-megapixels), 3552x2832 (L, 10-megapixels)
Storage media: CompactFlash – two slots
Drive system: Up to 9fps in continuous high mode, 9-11fps in DX mode
Self-timer: 2, 3, 10 or 20sec delay
DOF preview: Yes
Battery: Li-ion EN-EL4a
Dimensions: 159.5x157x87.5mm (WxHxD)
Weight: 1240g body only, no battery
PROS AND CONS
Handling, full frame, noise performance, image quality, autofocus, takes almost any Nikon lens
No physical sensor cleaning system, won’t take my Canon lenses!!!
THE VERDICT
In the two weeks I had the Nikon D3, I was excited, enthused and inspired every time I used it. It made me want to take more pictures. It’s truly amazing. The D3 is my camera of the decade.
I won’t even bother with adding ‘so far’ because I don’t see how it can be bettered this side of 2010. I suppose Nikon could add an effective anti-dust solution, though. I don’t believe there can be such a beast as the ‘perfect camera’ but the D3 gets very close. In fact, it’s so good that it’s got me thinking of chucking all my Canon kit on eBay and switching systems. Hmm, now there’s a thought.
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