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Test Images (click to enlarge) Still Life Multi Target

	12.10 Megapixels
	Nikon F mount
	3.0 inch LCD

Nikon D3 Preview

by Shawn Barnett, Dave Etchells, and Siegfried Weidelich
Posted: 08/23/07
Update: 12/04/07 Posted first production unit sample test images! Click on the Samples tab, and stay tuned for more over the coming days.
Update: 12/06/07 Added index to Still Life and Multi target NEF files! Click on the RAW File Index subtab under the Exposure tab.

Pro photographers just got a new option for full-frame digital photography: the Nikon D3 digital SLR camera. Not only will it make their old Nikon glass fully usable again, but it's now the fastest digital SLR on the market -- with some limitations.

The big news is that Canon finally has a rival in the full-35mm space. It's been a long time coming. As they did with the D2x, Nikon struck a very fine balance with the D3. It's not 16 or 21.1 megapixels like the Canon 1Ds line, it's 12.1. And it's not a full 10 frames per second, like the 1D Mark III, it's 9; but you can get to 11 frames per second if you don't need full resolution and track focusing. It's an interesting and effective strategy. While they've surrounded Canon's models at the low end, they're still wisely splitting the difference at the pro end, and the resulting cameras are more versatile than the competition.

But resolution and frame rate aren't the only important aspects to this new professional digital SLR camera. The Nikon D3 has 14-bit A/D conversion, just like the D300 that was introduced at the same time, plus the option of stepping back into 12-bit A/D conversion if you desire. The Nikon D3's new Scene Recognition System merges data from the AF system with data from the 1,005-point metering system for greater accuracy and better tracking. A new 51-point AF system includes 15 cross-type sensors and a wide range of modes to take best advantage of them. And the 920,000 pixel, 3-inch LCD rivals the Nikon D3's own optical viewfinder for clarity; both are even said to offer 100% viewfinder coverage.

In-camera Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction, optic-by-optic autofocus fine-tuning, a wide ISO range of 200 to 6,400, plus extension to Lo-1 (100) and Hi-2 (25,600!), really round out the package.

Unfortunately all this goodness that is the Nikon D3 doesn't ship until November 2007. As if to underscore how Nikon has split the difference between the Canon 1Ds and 1D Mark III offerings, the price of the Nikon D3 digital SLR is $4,999.95.

Look and Feel. Much like the Nikon D300, the Nikon D3 body design features mostly evolutionary design changes, which is better for existing D2x users.

The pentaprism housing is notably larger, and the ambient light sensor is no longer a part of the design (on the D2x, the white window perched over the Nikon logo is the ambient light sensor). The red accent on the grip has been restyled as well. The new cover over the Flash and Remote Terminal has a new one-piece design. Also note the gold FX logo in the lower right corner, denoting Nikon's new designation for Full Frame.

Fewer changes are made to the Nikon D3's control arrangement than were done to the D300, but there are a few. The Enter button is now an OK button. The speaker below this button has been moved closer to the rear Status LCD. The LCD is larger, going from 2.5 inches to 3 inches. The more significant improvement is in the LCD's resolution: now 640x480. It's hard to appreciate this improvement until you see an image on the screen. The AE/AF Lock button has gotten smaller and dropped down a bit, making it easier to distinguish from the AF-ON button, which used to be right next to it. The two rear Command dials are set at a slight angle to match the orientation of the thumb's pivot point when holding the Nikon D3; a nice ergonomic change. The vertical, or secondary AF-ON button in the lower right corner has been moved from below the Command dial to above it. Without holding the camera, it's tough to know which will be preferable. The old location did make it easier to press the button accidentally.

Also, it appears there is no plastic screen cover for the Nikon D3, and none of the pictures seem to show a way to attach one.

Here on top, the Metering selector dial has moved back a bit, and the Mode and EV compensation buttons have changed shape. The hot shoe design has changed a bit.

Body. Size and weight has increased on the Nikon D3 when compared to the Nikon D2x. The D3 weighs 2.7 pounds (1,240g) without battery or cards, while the D2x was 2.4 pounds (1,070g). Along with the sensor size increase come necessary increases in size for the mirror, mirror box, shutter, and probably the motors needed to activate these mechanisms. The larger pentaprism and LCD would also affect weight and size. Dimensions are now 6.2 x 6.2 x 3.4 inches (159.5 x 157 x 87.5mm).

The exterior shell of the Nikon D3 is made of magnesium alloy, and sealed against dust and water.

LCD. Both new Nikons share a 3-inch, high-resolution LCD. At 920,000 pixels, the D3's LCD resolution is higher than any SLR currently on the market. As LCDs get bigger, the value of higher resolution becomes clear. You can more easily check focus, sometimes even without zooming in; but when you do zoom in, you can really see whether you got the focus right. The actual resolution in more familiar dimensional terms is 640x480, because they count each color in their calculation (RGB). But even if you count three horizontal pixels as one, that's still 266 pixels per inch, which is a lot finer resolution than your computer screen. The result is a remarkably smooth, crisp, and sharp view of your images. Menus look like they're printed on photographic paper.

The new LCD has a 170 degree viewing angle, and offers a 100% view, whether you're looking at captured images or framing in Live View mode.

Metering sensor. Nikon brings its venerable 1,005-area metering sensor to bear on an old problem: AF tracking.

Autofocus. Though Nikon has been criticized by some for having fewer AF-points on their pro cameras when compared to Canon, Nikon's new Multi-CAM 3500FX AF system will silence the critics. Its 51-point "precision focus" AF points include 15 cross-type points, sensitive to both horizontal and vertical lines. The Multi-CAM system can be set to four modes on the Nikon D3, including 9-area, 21-area, 51-area, and 51-area with 3D tracking.

The big story with the new autofocus system, however, is its intelligent integration with data from the Scene Recognition System (formerly Matrix metering) to enhance subject tracking. When in 51-area with 3D tracking mode, the Nikon D3's EXPEED processor looks at data from both the AF sensor and the 1,005-area metering sensor. With this extra information, the AF system can better select and track a subject, even when it leaves the AF area. A red car moving toward the camera could conceivably be tracked from one side of the frame to the other, tracked more accurately through the AF zone. The implications and actual integration into the system isn't fully clear at this point, but this kind of innovative thinking is a hallmark of Nikon. They seem to recognize more than anyone just how much can be done with a camera that is also a sophisticated computer.

Lens data. Non-CPU lens data handling has gotten more sophisticated, with the camera being able to register data for up to 9 lenses.

Fine-tuning. If we've discovered anything reviewing lenses on SLRgear.com, it's that lenses and bodies don't always match. Sometimes they focus in front of the subject, sometimes they focus behind the subject, regardless of what the AF system says. Camera companies are starting to acknowledge this, building in adjustments to compensate for front- and back-focusing problems. The Nikon D3 has a new system that just does that, offering a little more control than other systems we've seen. Sometimes it's the lenses that are out of tune, so adjusting just the camera's AF to work well with one lens won't solve the problem with another; indeed it can make other lenses worse.

So the Nikon D3 and D300 have a new system where the cameras can store adjustments for up to 10 lenses. Not individual lenses by serial number, mind you, but at least by type. If you have only one of each type of lens, say a 50mm f/1.4 and a 100mm f/2.8, you'll have no problem. But companies that have several of one type of lens, like a few 300mm f/2.8Gs for shooting road races, the camera will only load compensation information for the lens that was mounted when the compensation was initially set for that type of lens.

Live View. Perhaps triggered by Olympus and Panasonic in the consumer SLR space, "Live View" on DSLRs seems to be becoming a more common feature. With the advent of Nikon's CMOS sensor, the Nikon D3 and D300 both now feature Live View modes of their own. Here again though, Nikon has gone the competition one better, by providing what is to our eyes the most useful and usable DSLR Live View mode yet.

What makes Nikon's Live View mode so uniquely effective are the two options it provides for autofocus operation. The first mode is the one used by everyone else. Because the traditional AF sensors are blocked when you flip up the mirror for Live View mode, you have to drop the mirror to focus, then flip it back for Live View. Canon, Nikon, and Olympus all have this mode.

Customizable buttons. The Nikon D3's Function button can be assigned to any of a wide range of functions. Similar flexibility exists for the Preview and AE-L/AF-L buttons.

Their second mode is the real charm, one we've been waiting for since the Olympus E-330: Called Live View (Tripood mode), this mode uses contrast detect autofocus, driven from the imaging sensor. Instead of flipping mechanical switches, the Nikon D3 and D300 simply read data off the CMOS image sensor and evaluate how abruptly light to dark (or dark to light) transitions happen on the image plane. Contrast-detect AF isn't nearly as fast as phase-detect (which is why the shutter response of most digicams is so much slower than most digital SLRs), but at least these new Nikons can focus without interrupting the Live View display. As an added benefit, because it's working with data coming from the main image sensor, you can move the AF point anywhere you want within the frame area, right out to the extreme edges. We're very interested in testing this feature. Apparently they really mean that the camera must be mounted on a tripod for it to work well, because the sensor isn't quite fast enough to handle the camera or subject moving while the AF operation is under way.

The D3 and D300 also provide up to a 10x zoom in Live View mode, providing excellent focus discrimination when focusing manually. This is pretty key, less than 10x magnification really doesn't do the trick for getting the focus set right, but at 10x we felt we could pretty well nail the focus every time.

Both the new Nikons and Canons include the ability to control the camera from a computer remotely, and that includes receiving a Live View image from the camera. You can focus, adjust settings, and fire, all from a computer. What's more, you can do it via cable or WiFi connection, with the optional WiFi adapters. It's a feature Olympus cameras do not yet have.

The new Nikons will require optional Camera Control Pro software to enable this feature, but the price for this software package hasn't been set as of this writing in late August, 2007. Software for this feature is bundled with Canon cameras.

Viewfinder. Of course, where you'll find the real speed of an SLR is through the optical viewfinder. And though the Nikon D2x's viewfinder was big, bright, and beautiful, the Nikon D3's viewfinder delivers 100 percent frame coverage and 0.7x magnification. The AF points are arrayed in an oval, similar to what we've seen on the Canon 1D-series. At this point, we have no images of the AF layout or Viewfinder. Diopter correction ranges from -3 to +1.

Sensor. Here's the big news with the D3: its 12.1 megapixel full-frame, 35mm-sized CMOS image sensor. Measuring 36 x 23.9mm, the sensor size is not the exact dimension of a 35mm frame, which measures 36x24mm. The size of the largest image is 4,256 x 2,832, and the pixel size is 8.45 microns. This is very near the pixel size of the 12.8 megapixel EOS 5D, which is 8.2 microns.

Nikon's new design has a 12-channel readout, which allows it to move data off the sensor at a blistering pace. Combined with the fast shutter and new EXPEED processor, the Nikon D3 is capable of capturing 9 frames per second. Switch to DX format, and the new design can deliver up to 11 frames per second at 5.1 megapixels. There are actually three levels of limitation to this increase. You can have 9 frames with no limitation, 10 frames with AF locked at the first frame, or 11 frames with no autofocus or auto exposure. We know that with the high speed Canon cameras, the maximum frame rate is also limited by the time it takes to move the aperture mechanism in the lens, and this will vary with the aperture setting and the speed of the aperture mechanism, so the fastest frame rates are likely only possible wide open. Only testing will tell us that for sure.

There's also a 5:4 crop for taking 8x10-format images, very helpful for portrait and event photographers.

Shutter. The Nikon D3's new carbon fiber/Kevlar hybrid shutter mechanism is the other important component allowing the greater speed of up to 11 frames per second in DX mode. The new design is rated at 300,000 cycles, twice the number of shots expected of the new Nikon D300. Expected shutter lag is 37 milliseconds, the same as the D2XS.

Expeed. Nikon's new processor makes a number of sophisticated in-camera processes possible.

Processor. The Nikon D3 uses an EXPEED processor, which has the same name as the processor in the D300. That name will be used on all future cameras, including the Coolpix point & shoot line, but it appears that we won't know what kind or speed of processor will be in each. The processor in the D3 has a 16-bit pipeline and is the engine for processing the 14-bit color data from analog to digital at such a rapid rate. It also enables such impressive features as the Scene Recognition System, in-camera Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction, and Active D-Lighting, detailed below.

Scene Recognition System. Nikon's old Matrix metering system has improved so much that they had to rename it Scene Recognition System. We don't have a lot of detail at this point, except that the system takes more of the scene information into account. Matrix metering in general compares what it sees through the lens to a special database, one that's created from several thousand different possible scenes (30,000 to 60,000). The SRS version does a more complete analysis, improving white balance, focus tracking, and exposure. One of its chief benefits is highlight analysis, which is designed to prevent blown highlights in common situations by adjusting the tone curve to compensate.

The D3 also includes a new white balance tweaking tool, with x/y axis adjustment, as we've seen on a few other digital SLRs.

Active D-Lighting. D-Lighting is a popular post-processing feature in cameras like the Nikon D80 and D40, and even Nikon's point & shoot consumer cameras. It's a quick software process that attempts to overcome underexposed images, and bring detail out of shadows. It's seen as a solution to a number of common problems, including backlit images where fill lighting could have been applied, but wasn't (hence the name, for "digital lighting," and a play on "delighting"). Well, the system has been improved in the new Nikon D3 and D300 digital SLRs, to include optimization of image contrast. That's a good tweak on their part, because often D-Lighting could overprocess the shadows and flatten the overall contrast in an image. But it's the new EXPEED processor that gives the new feature the Active prefix, because D-Lighting can be applied to images automatically, immediately after capture. We'll have to see how that works, and we do wonder whether it adds time to buffer clearing, but if it works, it could be a good solution in poor lighting.

Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction. While other cameras have had lens distortion processing built-in, notably the Olympus E-1, none have done the processing based on the distortion they see in the image like the D3 and D300 do with their Lateral Chromatic Aberration correction. The E-1 took its distortion-correction cues from whichever lens was mounted, and applied a pre-set amount of correction; but no image analysis actually took place. That's also the approach taken by most software applications. But the new Nikons have the power, thanks to the EXPEED processor, to actually analyze each image after capture and fix the chromatic aberration before saving the JPEG file.

We'll have to see how well this works once we get a production sample to play with, but the prospects are exciting, particularly on the D3, whose full frame sensor places more demands on most lenses. We'll report more on this exciting development, including sharing the results of some tests made with DxO Analyzer to compare before/after performance, once we have a chance to test a production model of the D3.

Picture Control. Nikon has standardized its Picture Control system so that camera settings for tone, saturation, brightness, and sharpening can be set and ported to other Nikon digital SLRs. Currently the only camera compatible with the option is the Nikon D3, and new models are set to follow the standard.

Storage and battery. The Nikon D3 can hold two CompactFlash cards, and write to them in three different ways. First, fill one and image storage switches to the next card. Next, you can record the same data to both simultaneously. Third, you can write RAW to one and JPEG to the other. The Nikon D3 is also capable of writing to UDMA-capable cards, for faster read and write performance.

Like the D2x, the Nikon D3 is compatible with the lithium-ion EN-EL4 and ships with the EN-EL4a, an 11.1v, 2,500mAh battery. This is charged via the Quick Charger MH-22.

New/upgraded features on the Nikon D3 compared to the D2Xs:

• First Nikon DSLR to offer full-frame (36.0mm x 23.9mm) sensor
• 12.1 megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor (compared to 12.4 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor)
• 9 fps continuous-mode speed at full resolution (up from 5.3 fps)
• Up to 11 fps in 5.1MP DX crop mode (up from 8fps in 6.9MP High-Speed crop mode)
• 64 JPEG / 20 RAW (12-bit) buffer size (up from 22 JPEG / 17 RAW frames)
• ISO from 200 to 6,400 with extensions to 100 and up to 25,600 (up from 3,200)
• 51-point AF with 3D Focus Tracking, utilizing 15 cross-type and 36 line-type sensors (up from 11-points, 9 cross-type)
• Fine-tune adjustment for front/back focus with memory for 20 lenses
• 0.70x magnification viewfinder (down from 86%, but full-frame)
• 3-inch, 920K pixel LCD with 170 degree viewing angle (up from 2.5-inch, 230K pixels)
• Two LCD "LiveView" modes:
  • "Handheld" LV mode drops mirror to focus with TTL phase detection AF module
  • "Tripod" LV mode uses contrast detection on sensor image, allowing any point on the image sensor to be focused on
• Selectable 14- or 12-bit digitization (up from 12-bit)
• Scene Recognition System links 1,005 pixel RGB metering sensor and AF sensor to enhance the accuracy of auto exposure, auto white balance detection and autofocus
• Picture Control System to fine-tune rendering options, with settings consistent and portable to other compatible models such as the D3
• Active D-Lighting providing real-time highlight and shadow correction
• Optional shooting info display on main LCD
• Expanded Retouch menu
• Automatic in-camera Lateral Chromatic Aberration correction
• Automatically switches to DX crop mode with viewfinder mask when DX lens mounted
• Parameters for up to 9 non-CPU lenses can be registered (up from one)
• World's first virtual horizon level indicator displayed in viewfinder and LCD
• Shutter tested to 300K actuations (up from ~150K)
• Self Diagnostic Shutter Monitor that ensures the accuracy and precision of the shutter at all times
• HDMI high definition video out (added to composite video out)
• Dual CompactFlash slots with UDMA support
• Compatible with new WT-4A Wireless Transmitter capable of LiveView transmission and continuous shooting