Tokyo report: D3 and D300

Too little time to post in depth right now. Saw and handled the D3 and D300 today and the new lenses in

Tokyo. Also saw large sample prints comparing D3 to the 1D Mark 3. The D3 clearly had better noise o in

the high ISO (1600 and 3200) 40" wide prints. Remarkably little noise. Prints were from in camera large

jpegs. No prints from either Canon or CR2 or NEF files. I'm told there was no post processing done with

any of the prints. The cameras are very quick and the the AF in Live View works very well but not as fast as

when used like an SLR. The camerass were very responsive.

 

The 14-28mm f/2.8 is sweet very little chromatic aberretion problems with that lens on the D3 at 14mm,

even into the corners -- at least on the D3 LCD (we weren't allowed to male test shots onour own cards.

 

No word on who is making the 23.9 x 36.9 mm CMOS in the D3

 

Met Bjorn Roslett too!

They also say they are planningto have them at dealers sometime in November. Also a there

are goign to be a lot of new lenses coming in the next year or so for what Nikon is calling the

FX (i.e. the 23.9 x 36.9mm )

format including new primes.

Thanks Ellis. What are some of the features of the D300? Did you get a chance to get them?

Ellis, thanks for the information. BTW, the full 35mm film frame is 24x36mm. The format for the D3, which Nikon now called FX (vs. DX for the 16x24mm small-sensor DSLRs) is 23.9x36mm.

 

The D3 uses a Nikon-designed sensor, but it is not disclosed who actually manufactures it. The D300 uses a Sony sensor.

You know what size the sensor is on the D300 Shun?

I just found out, I think. The D300 will be a 12.3 MP DX sensored body.

To date, all Nikon DSLRs other than the D3 use DX size sensors, which is roughly 16x24mm (or 15.8 x 23.6 mm, but some DSLR models differs slightly), including the new D300.

 

The sensor format/size is not something you can just change because the lenses wouldn't match very well. As I pointed out in another thread, Canon's 3 DSLR formats is messy; they have no wide lenses dedicated to the 1.3x crop DSLRs and IMO it is very inconvenient.

I am happy that Nikon did not follow the pixel race (Canon FF 21Mpixel now) and the 12Mpix sensor with better noise floor was chosen over more pixels. More useful at least for my needs. I wonder if the 14bit specification will in real live give improved colors like skin tones.

 

I presume in 6 month we can afford the D300 at a nice street price and in 2 years we can afford the FF sensor in the D300x.

It looks like the D300 will be priced higher than the Canon 40D.

 

Sony claims that the new 23.6 x 15.8 mm CMOS 12mp sensor to have better high ISO performance with regards to noise than their current 10mp CCD chip.

 

It's good to see the DX format bumped up another notch, because I prefer the reduced bulk of the smaller format. The D3 and the EOS 1Ds Mk III are much bulkier.

Although it is not called a D3H, the D3 is effectively the continuation of the DnH line for sports/action photography. In other words, it is more optimized for high frame rate instead of pixel count, in this case 9 frames/second. As Ellis points out above, Nikon is comparing the D3 against Canon's 1D Mark III (not the latest full-frame 1Ds III) and is priced accordingly, so the D3 is definitely intended to be a sports camera.

 

However, 12MP is plenty for many other applications. By not cramping as many pixels into a fixed area, the photosites in the D3 can be larger, which helps low-light performance. I am glad that Ellis points out that the D3's low-light performance is good, but that is merely initial information. I'd wait for actual test results after the camera is available.

 

I am a bit surprised that Nikon is not producing a small DX sensor sports camera, though, as you can use shorter teles on such sports cameras. Clearly, Nikon is not going to use the new 12MP, 10 frames/sec Sony chip for its sports DSLRs.

 

Still, Nikon has nothing to compete against Canon's 1Ds, high-pixel DSLRs. Therefore, presumably, there will have to be another D3 variation, perhaps called D3x, to be Nikon's dense pixel, lower frame rate DSLR, but most likely that will be in 2008.

It is my guess that the higher pixel count for a FF sensor is primarily beneficial for the mid range to tele range lenses. Perhaps macro lenses can utilize the higher pixel density. For current medium to wide or ultrawide lenses I expect little benefit. But perhaps I am wrong if one considers that a higher pixel density may allow for less aggressive moire filtering that in turn leads to better resolution even for the wide angle lenses.

Ha! Finally Nikon does a one upmanship against Canon.

Ellis,

 

Are the attendees self-invited or invited by Nikon?

As far as I'm aware of, all were invited by Nikon subsidiaries world wide.

Or was the invitation opened to all NPS members?

Thanks, Bjorn.

 

Were there any sample shots captured at high ISO 25,600. I am curious if that ISO was really usable or was it just for show.

we were all here at Nikon's invitation.

 

Shun was right aboutthe size 23.9 x 36mm (same as in the 1Ds cameras) . I operating on

too little sleep and a body clock that is 13 hours of whack with the outer world. And I had

a lovely time getting here, which you can read about at

 

http://web.mac.com/e_vener/iWeb/Ellis%20Vener%20Photography/eBlog/eBlog.html

 

What follows are some shots from today's press conference.

 

what follows are some screen shots from today's press conference<div></div>

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"I am a bit surprised that Nikon is not producing a small DX sensor sports camera, though, as you can use shorter teles on such sports cameras. Clearly, Nikon is not going to use the new 12MP, 10 frames/sec Sony chip for its sports DSLRs."

 

You get 8 fps Sony made 12 megapixel on the D300 with the added grip and the same autofocus sensors as the D3. I think Nikon made the right call on this one. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Nikon D3H and D3X, D3H with a crop sensor and the D3x with a 20+ mp FX.

 

I wanted to pick up a D2H, hopefully prices on those will come down quite a bit.

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Seven<div></div>

Bjorn and myself (Bjorn's the one in the vest) we are holding D3 bodies with primes mounted.<div></div>