Nikon D3 review

Nikon's first full-frame professional-level DSLR looks a superb package, replete with all you'd expect from a camera at this level

Despite Nikon’s recent announcement of its new D3 upgrade, the D3X, this 12.2MP professional snapper is Nikon’s first ever full-frame format DSLR and it has certainly shaken up the market and provided us with a bit of a shake-up to boot.

Since its introduction along with a variety of other Nikon DSLR models pitched across the marketplace, cameras such as the D700, D300 and D60, Nikon has finally got pole position in terms of market share for DSLRs. No mean feat and one that reflects the relative improvements across its product range.

Our experience with the new camera started with hefting the D3 from its box for the first time. You cannot be anything but impressed by both its size and its weightiness; the vertical grip integral body (sans lens) sits on the scales at 1.24-kilos.

It’s a lot of camera for the money, with a magnesium alloy chassis and full environmental seals – proofed for both dirt and water ingress – so it is truly an all-weather, go-anywhere camera befitting its top professional billing and price – just shy of £3,400.

Much has been made of the decision to plump for a 12.2-megapixel sensor. The temptation to cram in loads of pixels has been given in to, to help achieve a higher dynamic range usually afforded by fewer but larger pixels, and, as we’ll see, the benefits this affords image quality, particularly high-sensitivity, low-noise performance, make the camera a real stand-out performer.

For those using Nikon’s DX lenses, those optics designed for Nikon’s APS-C (24 x 16mm crop) DSLRs, such as the D60 for example, the D3 FX format (36 x 24mm format) can be automatically switched to the DX format when a DX lens is attached. Providing even more flexibility is a novel 5:4 ratio 30x24mm format that can be selected to provide a squarer, medium-format style image if so required.

There are a couple of drawbacks, however. The first is that the DX format crop drops the image resolution to around 5.2-megapixels and the 5 x 4 crop provides just 10.5-megapixels of image data. However, the large pixels (the pixels have a large 8.45-micron pixel pitch) and superb dynamic range this affords means resizing images is not a problem, although the caveat here is you’re not adding detail, of course.

And so, although the D3 competes with Canon’s 21-megapixel EOS 1Ds Mk III, it is not strictly in that market, and that’s obviously why the new, soon-to-be-tested D3X with its 24.5-megapixel FX sensor has been introduced to compete on a more level playing field.

The D3 offers a very respectable burst rate of up to nine frames per second in continuous high mode in all three sensor crops, no mean feat given the RAW files are around 12.5MB each. In RAW+JPEG mode we could shoot around 14 frames before the buffer would clog up and force the camera to stop as it ferried the images to the Lexar professional 87GB UDMA CF Type II storage card. Incidentally, the D3 has dual CF slots that allow you to choose between backup, overflow and mirroring modes.

The (full) buffer is ready to use again after around ten seconds, but you can start shooting as soon as space is freed up as images are buffered away. In terms of overall handling and control, any previous Nikon user will be right at home here. For anyone that has never used a Nikon camera, controls are well placed and the ergonomics of the camera are superb.

The inclusion of a Live View mode means the camera is also ideal for shooting at awkward angles (low to the ground macro work where looking through the viewfinder means planting your face in the dirt, for example) and is accessed along with all the drive modes from the top left dial on the camera’s top plate. Flash, bracketing modes and a Lock button for setting and fixing aperture or shutter speeds.

This is great because it allows you to get full creative control over, say, depth of field in motion, since you can set one setting in stone and play around with the other to your heart’s content.

Buttons and dials are well placed, as is the large, back-lit LCD top plate control panel, which provides detailed information on camera settings, custom functions; all the info needed to keep you abreast of the camera’s current setup. A back plate LCD panel also illuminates along with the top plate panel and provides info on white balance, ISO and image quality.

One aspect of the camera we particularly liked is the built-in vertical grip that encases the lithium-ion battery pack. It helps the camera’s handling and ergonomics but also means, on one full charge, you can shoot well over 1000 images with plenty of reviewing and menu tinkering. In fact, with heavy reviewing and Live View use, you’d get at least that many shots and, at time of writing the camera displays 145 shots and the battery charge indicator shows 87%.

CIPA power use figures for the D3 estimate a 4,300-shot duration for a full charge, so power management, like much of this camera’s kit, is very good indeed.

Getting back to the ergonomics and handling, the D3’s vertical grip and the deeply sculpted main hand grip with all the grippy, rubberised surfaces, makes the camera secure to hold and use despite the weight.

Meanwhile, the camera’s top plate houses the Shutter button and its encircling on/off data LCD light on switch. The Mode button accesses P, A, S and M settings; there are no subject programs here, and the Exposure Compensation button is sat just behind.

The pentaprism viewfinder houses a bright and clear 100 per cent field-of-view viewfinder, the metering mode switch hugs the prism housing, as does the finder’s dioptre adjustment control, which needs a nail-snapping tug from the housing to turn.

However, the hotshoe is placed atop the finder housing but is disguised and protected with a neat slide-off rubber cap, there is no built-in flash unit here; accessory flash is the name of the game as perhaps you’d expect from a pro camera such as this.

In terms of shooting modes, the aforementioned Live View possesses two modes: hand-held or tripod, both with full AF and it is in Live View you can really appreciate the excellent three-inch screen and its 920,000-dot resolution. Such high resolution makes it both practical and realistic to use for focus checking and assessment, although the Live View still necessitates the mirror completing its click-up, clack-down cycle as you shoot with the screen blanking momentarily as the mirror flips up out of the way as an exposure is made.

The D3 has a range of advanced focusing options for pretty much any eventuality thanks largely to the new, 51- zones AF set up. With the AF left to its own devices, the camera picks the “correct” zones for the shot and it works rather well. However, you can assign groups of AF points or a single, moveable AF zone should you need to tailor things more precisely for portrait work, for example, and to which the metering can be biased.

Nikon’s 3D tracking AF comes into play when in Continuous Shooting mode, which is remarkably accurate. It’s nice to know, however, on more general subjects, the camera can be left to its own AF devices and will hardly ever put a foot wrong.

AF is powered by Nikon’s latest Multi-CAM3500FX processor that, while very reliable, does not always get started as quickly as we’d have liked, particularly so on older DX lenses, but even with the 24-70 f2.8 G ED lens and 28-200 f3.5-5.6 G ED lens we had for this test seemed quite sluggish and much slower to focus than Nikon’s Silent Wave lenses.

But it is inside the camera where the most of Nikon’s evolutionary innovations begin to make themselves felt, with the D3’s CMOS sensor controlled by Nikon’s EXPEED image engine.

For a long time, Canon (arguably) held the crown for low image noise performance from its DSLR range, and rightly so, but Nikon got its act together here and the combination of EXPEED and a high dynamic range sensor now means in terms of high ISO noise performance (or rather the lack of noise) Nikon now give Canon a close run.

The D3 has stunningly low noise performance even at the highest normal ISO settings of 6400. While very subtle detail degradation from the noise processing becomes just visible at the pixel level, what are impressive on the D3 are the boosted ISO ratings that provide the ability to shoot at higher (or lower) ISO without compromising heavily on quality.

These extended ISO settings include an ISO 100 equivalent at the low end and ISO 25600 at the other, all with superb low noise performance at the higher end of the scale.

In fact, with the D3, for the fist time we could routinely shoot at ISO 1600, 2500 or 3200 without worrying about noise. Our usual mantra of low ISO for top-quality shots has been blown out of the water, and it’s worth noting that all the images used for this test have been shot at ISO 1000 above.

Nikon’s active D-Lighting system is included, allowing the vagaries of high-contrast scenes to be rendered more evenly without affecting detail in highlight areas of a shot, and helps dig the most out of the high dynamic range sensor. D-Lighting can be applied in-camera to already shot images, along with a few other basic image edits such as cropping, for example, so there’s a certain amount of tinkering to do inside as well if needs be.

In terms of image quality, understandably we were expecting much from the D3 and were not to be disappointed. Metering – handled by a combination of Nikon’s 3D Matrix system and a 1005-pixel RGB sensor – works amazingly well, although we found predominantly dark or light scenes can still trip it up.

However, thanks to a superb 14-bit RAW capture mode, tonality, detail and colours are sublime; it’s easy to see how the high dynamic range and low noise attributes can contribute to the impressive results.

White balance control is almost flawless, even in Auto WB mode, but we’d come to expect no less by now, and having a full-frame sensor is a joy, since it makes control of depth of field more precise.

Even though this camera is remarkably good, it’s not perfect and there are still some flaws, or rather omissions that are certainly relevant, particularly when looking at the competition.

There’s no sensor cleaning system as found in the D300 and image stabilising has not been included either. Nikon’s latest lens range has built-in lens stabilisation, of course, but it is now only Canon and Nikon that do this, other makers preferring to opt for in-camera stabilisation using CCD shift systems, such as that on Sony’s Alpha 900 pro model.

It’s true to say that even with the recent arrival of the D3X, the D3 is a big step-up for Nikon and has proven its class by helping boost Nikon to top slot in terms of market share.

But more crucially, as a reviewer of cameras for almost twenty years, the D3 is without doubt one of the best DSLRs we’ve used, providing a superb balance of performance and image quality in almost any environment.