Nikon D3, D300 and the Canon 5D

I removed the pictures which caused a lot of discussion ( I claimed better DR on D3 than on Canon 5D) - the comments were that the settup is completly wrong and the like. Funny thing, the complains were comming from 5D users with no experience of the Nikon D3.  Sorry,  no black helicopters, no call from Canon or Nikon, just my bandwith ran out and so the site is limited from now on to the text version only.

On 9.11.2007, the Nikon Solutions Expo in Vienna took place. There, I had the opportunity to test briefly the new Nikon D3, and the D300. It was of course not easy to get a D3. The cameras had serial numbers under 100, but were fully functional Models, and there were no restrictions on photography, it was allowed to take images on your own memory card in JPG and NEF.
Thanks to Nikon for the successful event together with pretty models, and the buffet was also very nice! I do not attend such events only for eating and taking pictures, but because it is always exciting to chat with colleagues from different areas. It was a very informative evening.

I have been for a long time a Nikon Photographer, from F801 to FM and D-100 to name just a few. With the D-100, I had the problem that I had to do news, sports and weddings, for this area the camera was not very good. The D2H was no alternative, the flash system was changed to my anger  just for the third time (SB-28, SB 80, SB 80DX) and my lens Arsenal was not the best. So I sold anything on eBay and invested in a Canon 1D-Mark II. I have no regrets  after about 50 000 recordings I made with this camera. I only recently sold it, because I now prefer calmer Jobs, where a Canon 5D and a 40 D are more than enough and the menus are better. Because the menu of 1D-Mark II was not very user friendly and in combination with the 5D the various menu systems were annoying.

But now to my impressions:

I got the camera surprisingly fast in the hand and was able to shoot with models. The company Loho made available Hensel flash photograph equipment. Directly we sent two pictures without editing through Nikon View to the HP printer and the result was quite good.
The handling of the camera is as usual good and logical, although I have not worked with a Nikon camera for a while, I found myself quickly comfortable with the menu system. The viewfinder is very good, a plus point for most Nikon cameras, and here again improved compared to the D2X. An important feature for the portrait photographer is the capability of the camera to work in 5:4 Crop which is shown in the viewfinder right / left by a gray bar. Now you may ask, of course, why throw away some image information ? Cropping can also be done afterwards. But when you are shooting it is hard to realise the finished crop and you might end with a picture that is not suitable for cropping. The work for an erotic Calendar, where 15 professional photographers in a competition worked with 4 models in the castle of Schloss Hof showed me, how important such a feature can be. The picture that for the calendar was selected, I had to extend the stairs in Photoshop to make it suitable for printing.

The Exposure compensation indicator in the viewfinder is displayed at the right with the D3, all other information below, while the D300 all information can be found below. The viewfinder of the D300 is obviously not quite as good as that of the D3. Details of both cameras can be found at dpreview.com
The LCD monitor of the D3/D300 is really excellent, there is currently nothing comparable. If this is important, everyone must decide for itself, but it is obviously not a disadvantage, that you can for the first time judge the image quality on the screen . The benefits of such a high-resolution screen is also with Live View, but when movement is made, the picture jolts. Still very useful and with the virtual horizon there is an extra useful feature, which is also possible to see in the viewfinder via the Fn key, then the Exposure compensation indicator display is used. An example of how Nikon is also very good at detail solutions. GPS support is included, for example, with this device: http://www.dawntech.hk/di-GPS/index.htm

About image quality:

Regarding resolution gives me no difference to my 5D, but only with tripod mounted cameras this could be clarified for sure. The propagated fantastic high ISO-performance is actually very good, but for a Canon photographer less of a sensation, with a maximum of 1 Aperture advantage over the Canon 5 D, I would say after the first comparisons. But in other words, for a Nikon photographer an improvement of 3-4 steps to the D2X, which is a very impressive difference.
Most surprised me the far greater dynamic range, here are the differences in my recordings to the Canon 5D very large, the cameras were in similar light (same flash unit and similar ISO from 250 to 320) to allow a good comparison. While the black clothes of the model in the 5D were only partly illuminable, with the D3 even the seemingly blackest parts of the dress showed structure without disturbing noise. Very impressive, and in everyday life in many photographic situations more important than MP. If these observations can be confirmed in further tests for me that would be the main reason to consider a change. But Canon will also not sleep, and let's see how well the successor of the 5D is made.

Further tests indicate that at the D3 some black clipping or noise reduction is going on, which could be a reason for the almost noise free blacks. This would mean that with a good noise reduction software like Noise Ninja similar results can be achieved wit the Canon 5D and that the D3 has a good Dynamic range, but not much better than the 5D. Time will tell.

The new lenses, 14-24 and 24-70, leave a very good impression, they are solidly built, pretty slim, for my rather small hands they fit well. Again, a great detail feature, namely that the sun shade on the 24-70 is well-locked, which is with my 24-70 Canon lens a pain, because the sun shade repeatedly shifts (will now probably drill in a screw)
Image quality is hard to compare at a Model Shooting, since the wide angle has especially problems at the edges, some test pictures at 14 mm showed that the lens should perform very good.
The higher weight of the D3 and good ergonomics also have a positive effect on hand hold pictures, I had noticeably fewer blurred pictures at shutter speeds as similar to my 5D, but not really surprising, heavier cameras are simply better in the hand.
The weight is, of course, not only an advantage, especially with the increasingly restrictive rules for flights, a photographer has to be careful with the hand luggage weight. Here my Canon equipment with 5 D and 40 D has some advantages. What is also sorely lacking in Nikon, are lighter Pro Series optics with aperture 4 as it is at Canon. Here I can choose from 17-40 L, 24-105 IS L and 70-200 IS L and the 100-400 IS USM 4-5,6 is on the 40 D a very workable Tele optics, with effective 640 mm. Since Nikon has really nothing comparable to offer here (the 80-400 has slower AF and old IS/VR, but Nikon reps are hoping that it will be updated). Hopefully in the future more new lenses are added which can cope with the high demand of that sensor, many old lenses will not shine very bright, I fear.

Another good feature is the dual CF compartment with various functions. As 1:1 backup, but you can also have on CF1 Raw, on CF2 Jpg or write when card in CF1 is full automatically to CF2.  An intelligent and practical solution and better than the CF / SD slots at the Canon 1 Series.

The autofocus seems to work well, although in bad light conditions a second point with more contrast had to be focused sometimes. But it was simply too little time to really test its strengths and the AF certainly plays his power more at action shots, as in the poorly lit studio.
What I miss, especially compared to the Canon 40D, are custom functions sets, which are activated with a quick jog. Since the time was too short to ask, I am not shure if this is possible with the D3.

I congratulate Nikon to this camera and I am very pleased that Nikon not only has caught up to Canon, but in many areas is even in the fast lane. Which is for the professional market very good, because we know the competition will revive business. The camera is really absolutely top, and the only bitter thing is, this camera will be hardly to get for several months.
As already mentioned, I see especially a painfull gap in the lens line up, especially for those photographers, who want to be mobile with her equipment on flights. Canon offers with the 5D a good solution, but compared to the D300 the camera in many areas look old. But where it really is important, namely, the image quality at high ISO and dynamic range the 5D still keeps up very well.
One issue was also for photographers, whether it is better to wait for a higher-resolution model. For sports photographers this is not an issue, the 12 MP are already overkill.
I am a little skeptical whether more MP really can bring much more resolution. There is also the danger that more MP cuts other performance data. High ISO and dynamic range for example. A comparison between the D3 and the Canon 1Ds Mark III would be very interesting, the first official test images of the Canon left me a little disappointed. 21 MP to 12 MP horizontal means 1250 pixels more, so about 30% more pixels, which is at 300 dpi a jump from 36 cm to 47 cm which should lead to a theoretically noticeable improvement. The only question is how much of this more information can be brought to the print. I think that the differences will be noticeable, but less than hoped / expected. But sometime in the winter I will get for a few days a 1Ds Mark III for testing purposes, and only then I really can make a relevant statement for me.

This article is meant as a service to my customers, readers and colleagues, hopefully you get one or the other tip, but in the professional field, where quickly 10 000 .- $ are invested, all articles are only helpfull as a start, as appetizer so to speak. Testing has to be done individually. But the Nikon D3 is worth more than one look, and I am curious whether in the future at sporting events again more Nikon photographers can be seen. - With a big smile on their faces!

Christian Handl, 11.11.2007