Nikon D3 12.1MP FX Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Nikon D3 12.1MP FX Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
by Nikon

Our Price: $3,300.00
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Digital Camera
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Digital product summary information

Manufacturer: Nikon
Model: 25434
Product features:

12.1-megapixel FX-format (23.9 x 36mm) CMOS sensor
3.0-inch, super density 920,000-dot VGA color monitor; 170-degree wide-angle viewing and tempered-glass protection
Continuous shooting at up to 9 frames-per-second at full FX resolution
Fast, accurate 51-point AF with 3D Focus Tracking
Capture images to CF I/II cards

Accessories:

Digital camera reviews of Nikon D3 12.1MP FX Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Digital camera Review: Most Excellent (and then some)
Summary: 5 Stars

Pros:
Image quality
Full frame 35mm film-size sensor
Low digital noise, even at high ISO (ASA) ratings
Two SD card slots
Three image modes (24x36, 5x4, and DX)
Even faster high speed shooting at DX mode
Incredibly manageable noise at ISO 6400, even ISO 8000...
Excellent image quality with Jpeg settings on Large size and Basic compression
Efficient battery use
Consistent exposures
Precise interval timing at a host of rates

Cons:
Shutter sound catches attention
No self-cleaning sensor (which is a dust-attractor)
Heavy body (some colleagues bemoan this - yet they won't part with theirs)
Eats up CF card space, especially with Raw and TIFF writing
Difficult to shoot with Nikon DX cameras
The DX lenses are made to smaller image sensors which can lead to vignetting.
Professional price tag

You've read how fast the camera is, how the focus works, and much else on other concerns, so I just wanted to point out the things I enjoyed or wanted changed with the D3. The main thing to keep in your arsenal is a can of compressed air; the full frame sensor loves to catch dust, especially when you have to change lenses all the time. I now use my other pro camera - the Nikon D2HS - as a lens holder. The image quality isn't even in the ballpark with the D3, so I want the best images possible, especially in low light conditions. Otherwise I need to keep changing lenses which can expose the camera's innards to dust or micro metal (a natural occurrence whenever anyone changes lenses on any camera with the metal mounts). But I heard that Nikon didn't have a vibration mechanism to clear off particles for build reasons.

The other pain is that the D3 has the full frame sensor. We have a mix now, of DX lenses (for those cameras with the smaller sensors) and FX lenses (and older film lenses, some of which I never let go of). You can't use, say the 9mm DX fisheye lens without seeing major vignetting, making you have to set the camera to the DX setting (which does yield a lower image size).

I used to rarely shoot at sensitivity ratings of anything higher than 800 ISO unless I couldn't manage an image otherwise. While I still bristle for a moment when I set the D3 at ISO 3200 (I still like going a smudge less, to ISO 2500) I now shrug and know that the image I get will do just fine. I've simply grown up with digital cameras since those days in the 1990's with the Nikon N90 was morphed into the Kodak NC2000. Imagine the images they made when your card size was 128MB! Blech.

But I also had the Nikon F5 film camera in my hands back in the day, having to give it up for the Nikon D1 body, the first production pro Nikon digital camera. So much has changed since then, including my experience and feelings about that age-old preference between film and digital cameras. I understood then that digital photography was a necessary evil in order to get something posted or printed quickly, as opposed to taking film to the one-hour lab. So I will make a "film vs digital" stand at this point, with this camera, with no regrets: With the Nikon D3, I will say that I prefer the D3 to the film F5 camera, hands down. I also prefer the D3 to film, so digital to me is no longer evil. Ask me to elaborate and I will, but not in this review.

This is a professional camera at a professional price. Heck, I sure didn't buy it for myself, and our staff only gets one D3 per staffer. So even large businesses may bristle at the price. This camera spoils me. I want images that are this nice all the time. You can't shoot more than 38 pictures in a film camera. And even with film rated at ISO 1600, I truly believe that the D3 can match or beat film quality (noise vs grain structure). While I haven't found anyone who has, I think it's high time we start comparing film to digital images.

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Summary of Nikon D3 12.1MP FX Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Designed with sports photographers and photojournalists in mind, the Nikon D3 introduces an astounding list of brand new features and technologies that make it the most sophisticated and advanced Nikon digital SLR to date. In addition to the new FX-format CMOS sensor, the D3 incorporates Nikon's new EXPEED Image Processing System that is central to the blazing speed and processing power needed for many of the D3's new features.Images taken with the D3 reflect exceptional overall quality, broad tonal range and depth, along with extremely low-noise throughout its normal ISO range of 200 to 6400. By setting the camera to its built-in options of Lo-1 or Hi-2, the ISO range of the camera can be expanded to the equivalent of ISO 100 or ISO 25,600 respectively, offering unmatched versatility in practically any shooting situation.The D3 also features an entirely new 51-point auto focus system with Nikon's 3D Focus Tracking feature and two new LiveView shooting modes that allow photographers to frame a photograph using the camera's high-resolution LCD monitor. The D3 uses the world's first Scene Recognition System to greatly enhance the accuracy of auto focus, auto exposure and auto white balance detection in the camera by recognizing the subject or scene being photographed and applying this information to the calculations for the three functions.The D3 reflects Nikon's most streamlined, functional and aesthetically pleasing layout in a digital SLR camera, all designed so photographers can take pictures with less fatigue, greater accuracy and comfort.

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