Last night I used a Nikon D3 for the first time to shoot the Broncos/Packers Monday Night Football Game. I shot the game at 3200 ISO at a shutter speed of 1/2000 at F 2.8 with a 400 mm lens. Amazing results. The 3D auto focus was quick and followed the your subject throughout the play. Much better than the D2H's auto focus. The buffer was frustrating at first because the camera I was using would shoot a burst of about six or seven frames than stop as the camera caught up. Then you could shoot again. I had the settings set for JPEG at normal and it still did that. Other photographers trying out the D3 didn't have a problem so it may have been the test camera I was using. The downfall could be a non-issue by the time the production cameras come out later this year. The thing that amazed me the most was the lack of noise at high ISOs. Look at the pictures above. Even in the tightly cropped picture of the ball the detail and lack of noise is unbelievable. Fellow Gazette photographer Mark Reis explained it well when he told me the D3 could be the biggest advancement in photography since the switch from film to digital. I think he's right.
12 comments:
The detail is incredible! You can clearly see his tat! Awesome. Too bad it comes with a hefty price tag.
Erik,
The amazing thing is even at a higher ISO the detail is still amazing. Mark Reis shot the game at 5000 ISO and still had great results. You're right though. The D3 isn't cheap.
Gents, the phrase "You get what you pay for..." springs to mind
you might get what you pay for but that D3 costs 5 grand with no lens! That is more than my last car and will likely be more than my next (together!)
One of the photogs there (Pronounced Bree-Ann I think) told me that the d40 is a good "starter" camera and may be my next one. 350 for the body plus lens of course but much more reasonable and better than my Kodak z760.
The D3 is expensive,but not that much more than the D2s. I guess it goes down to want you need. For my job the D3 is worth it. For someone else, a D40 might do the trick.
Thanks for the tantalizing test image. I've got one on order and I'm squirming about how to break to my wife that I'll be dropping about $6,500 between the camera and the spectacular 24-70 lens. I shoot air-to-air photos- MaxAir2Air.com, and the new rig will come in very handy. Now to pay for it. . .
Christian,
Thanks for the continued reviews of the D3. I've been the lone Nikon holdout of all my fellow shooters all these years when people were jumping like rats from a sinking ship to Canon. I'm glad to see that Nikon may have finally caught up. Will the Gazette be getting D3 cameras when the production units his the streets? I'd be interested in seeing how they hold up with hard, daily shooting.
-Mike
former Gazette intern
Summer 2001
I agree that the smoothness and lack of grain is amazing. I wish that Nikon and Canon would get together to sort things out. Wouldn't it be better if both used a 3 inch or 3.5 inch screen, with Nikon's 920k pixel screen, and Canon's 21 megapixel cmos count, but Nikon smooth quality, in the superb Nikon body.
I for one am sick of upgrading my camera each time the two biggies improve things, and if I could have the Nikon color, lack of grain, and body quality, with the larger pixel count, I would be on cloud nine.
Unfortunately, they compete - which drives each to excel - but the advantage is that progress is faster overall, though settling on the 'right' or 'perfect' camera is a pain in the neck, to put it politely.
I have waited years since the Canon 300d came out, but am getting old, and don't have that much time left.
I wish they would sort out, and get the perfect camera made, and then the price right.
I don't suppose that will be this year's Christmas present though.
I would love to see some fine, fine detail on lower iso settings, maybe scenic views at about 200, with a very fine focus quality. Any chance?
Lovely shots, though!
Adrian,
We sent our trial cameras back to Nikon, but for more info check out Dave Black's website. You can link there from our blog. We shot a lot of stuff for Nikon's D3 promo and advertising.
Nikon D3 Preview
Ooh!, Shiny!!
Amazing shots - easily the best I have seen on a Nikon D3
Keep up the good work!
Regards
Adrian
Nikon D3s is rumored to be coming out in October... I'll be happy to pick up a used D3...
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