9-23-2007 Nikon D3 Test Drive!!!!!!! WOW

OK, It's after 1am and I'm totally spent after a busy weekend test driving the Nikon D3 and editing some files. I'm proud to say that I'm the only wedding or portrait photographer in the country to have been given this camera to test.  I'll definitely post a review of the camera in the next few days, but I've got clients to take care of before I take the time I need to write it.

My first impressions, as expected, were mind blowing. To be brief, I'm stunned at how responsive this camera is and I didn't believe there was much room for improvement to the way the D2xs handled. I was clearly wrong. The Focus, feel of the shutter, focus point selection, enormous LCD, auto white balance, dynamic range, color rendition, and a few other things have all been written about and touted, but nothing prepared me for the incredible quality of the files out of camera. In addition, the high ISO performance, which was also talked about, is nothing short of revolutionary.

This camera literally changes the rules of photography and will simply allow me to capture things like never before. I'll post the full review asap. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the new lenses Nikon sent to me. The 14-24mm 2.8 and the 24-70mm 2.8 are amazing pieces of glass. I'll also review these as well. In a nutshell, you must handle them at Photoplus if you go. In any case, I took it for a test drive at yesterday's wedding. Cristina and Steven at the Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia. The decorator was the fabulous Evantine Design and the orchestra was The Eddie Bruce Orchestra. Please keep in mind that I shot this camera quite sparingly. I only had it in my hands for 24 hours before I needed to use it for a wedding. My obligation was to capture this day for my client, not test a camera. I did, however, find a few parts of the day that screamed for this camera. The only hard part was putting it down. I love my D2xs, but I'll be replacing them when I get my D3's on a permanent basis. I'll post some data above the files.

In case anyone was wondering, I'm unable to post full rez files until after Photoplus and these files were absolutely STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA!!!! In addition, there is no software to open NEF(RAW) files yet so these are all JPG's with absolutely nothing done to them besides a reduction in file size for the web. Most images were captured with auto white balance. For the decor photos, I dialed in 2500 K to nail the color temperature. If these are the JPG's, I can't wait to see the RAW files!!!!!!

 

50 1.4- 1/320th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 1600

50mm 1.4- 1/125th @ 2.0 shot @ ISO 2000

70-200 2.8 VR- 1/320th @ 4.0 shot @ ISO 200

The new 14-24mm 2.8- 1/160th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 3200

70-200mm 2.8 VR- 1/320th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 3200

70-200mm 2.8 VR- 1/100th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 4000

70-200mm 2.8 VR- 1/80th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 1600

The new 24-70 2.8- 1/125th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 3200

The new 24-70 2.8- 1/30th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 2500

70-200mm 2.8 VR- 1/40th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 3200

85mm 1.4- 1/100th @ 2.0 shot @ ISO 1600

85mm 1.4- 1/320th @ 2.2 shot @ ISO 1600

50mm 1.4- 1/60th @ 6.3 shot @ ISO 6400

85 1.4mm- 1/160th @ 2.8 shot @ ISO 3200

Comments

[Robert Pichler]

Wow! Simply stunning. I own a wedding photography studio in Croatia and we ordered two D3s for our use in weddings and fashion portraits.
Altough the beatuy of these images is due to you as a photographer and as a colleague I can just say - bravo, bravo, bravo for the photographs displayed above, we all must admit that the new Nikon technology allows us wedding photographers to capture the moment without flash much oftenly than before. The high iso performance is absolutely stunning as we can see from the images.
The shot in the tunnel is great and the church shots are amazing and leave me breathless.
I'm now convinced even more that the D3 will prove the money we're investing in it.
The only bad side is that here in Croatia we must wait till November to get our cameras.... :(

And for Cliff: just keep the excellent work you showed us,I'm truly amazed with your truly beautiful photographs.

With kind regards from Croatia,
Robert

[Larz]

Hi Cliff, first it was great to meet you Sept. 11. Thank you for all the great information and for dinner!

Wow, this camera seems amazing. Looks like I will have a couple of D2XS up on the market soon. I look forward to your follow up post on this.

Take care, Larz

[Krzysiek]

These photos are amazing.

[Chris Fabbri]

Just stellar and unbelievable.

oh my God, there goes my cash over and over again...

[steve]

what a rush, well done, really liked your work. Personally I liked all the WB's, I thought yellow added to the tunnel shot. Those high ISO's look stunning.

[Drazick]

I'm amazed by the photosm yet I think it's more because of the Photographer skills than the ca,era noise performance ;-)

[Kho King]

Great shots! Not only the D3 at high ISO is amazing, but you have capture a great moment as well!

Well done and thanks for sharing.

[Kho King]

Great shots! Not only the D3 at high ISO is amazing, but you have capture a great moment as well!

Well done and thanks for sharing.

[Drew DeMarinis]

Phenomenal. Absolutely Awesome.

[Jefferson Todd]

I can't wait to get one of these. I was starting my switch to Canon (bought a Mark III) but I've decided to stay Nikon with this camera coming. I'm so glad to see that they've finally worked on the ISO. This will make that Auto ISO setting a lot more appealing!

[海波]

真得很不错～ 很羡慕！

[UN FOR TAIWAN]

好相機更要好的技術才拍的好...

[Kenny]

Wow..... Really stunning shots and gorgeous high ISO performance! Great job, Nikon!

[Billy Gong]

God!
please kill me if Canon can't do something close to this in a near futhre.

[Shamsul Ismin]

Wow this is a great shots... love the lighting...

[Charlie Zhou]

wonderful D3,wonderful job,WOW......

[KayB]

I'm in awe. I don't know what else to say. I'm stunned at these shots. Absolutely beautiful.

[绝版大叔]

呵，不错

[Nathan]

Great camera, Great photographer!!

[mykodachrome]

Superb shots! But in my opinion your older wedding shots are just as superb. Of course I do not know the ISO on those older shots, but the fact remains that your previous shots are just as good (and in my opinion maybe even better) than the D3 shots. Also, do you find the D3 shots are actually a bit soft?

I know I sound negative about the D3 and I do not mean to be, I am hoping that both the D3 and D300 live up to everyone’s expectations (especially because I have my D300 ordered already). But so far I have not seen a single image on the web from the D3 or D300 that has really got my attention—your photography gets my attention of course—but it would do that even without the D3.

I will follow your comments and images as you explore the D3 further—and thanks for sharing.

[Daniel]

great photos.. thanks for sharing

[Daniel]

great photos.. thanks for sharing

[ruoqiz]

宽容度真不得了!
Amazing dynamic range!

[oscar]

The pictures are way too small for judging the high ISO capabilities, can you post a 100% crop from one of the ISO 3200/6400 pictures?

[Clare]

very nice...

wow~
D3的高iso 竟能如此細緻。