Nikon D3s - It's Official
- Thread starter enchantingmomentz
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Bro, pros i know rarely shoot beyond 6400 leh..
The first few posts on this thread just make me scratch my head.
I think it's safe to say that the D3 and D3s are designed for people like me. And I don't care about more megapixels, I don't care that we have video, I don't care that video isn't 1080p.
I do care about useable ISO and the D3s does that. Maybe there's only a stop improvement but it's a stop in the right direction, and it is a D3s rather than a D4.
I also care about price and frankly, it's appalling. It might get better but the US and UK list prices are, as usual, miles apart.
The fact is the D3 and D3s are designed for sports and news photographers primarily. To other professionals that can adapt it as a tool for them, great. If you need resolution you go down the D3x route, and if you are a rich amateur then you go down whatever route you want.
But don't knock a camera for doing what it's designed to do, better. Just because it doesn't have more pixels, 1080p, or make coffee.
Also, there are plenty of photographers that use high ISOs. Especially those in the camera's target group. Theatre photographers, sports photographers, concert photographers.
Just this evening I was shooting at ISO 5000 and needed to go higher. For night games if I had a stop more speed, then I could get away with a 200-400/4.
More useable pixels, rather than more pixels under ideal conditions, is the name of the game at the moment. I knew the compact camera marketing folk are still desperate for pixels but I thought the DSLR group knew better by now.
audiografx
New Member
a great cam no doubt.But in terms of normal light conditions, it will not be as impressive as the higher megapixels ff cams out there like sony and and canon. I wonder why developers never bothered to concentrate on going for lower iso like 50 or 25.. it will be useful as u wont need to use a nd filter to use ur aperture wide open under sunny conditions. I guess its just a marketing way of either u go impress with high ISO or HIGH megapixel trophy.
Id love to see if they spend some money on all that research on how to get better fantastic colours. I guess the colour development of sensors has been pretty much the same for the big boys. Right now if u want colours, ull have to get an oly which is so poor in the iso departments. Well i guess its back to what cam suits u best now. No such thing as the super cam for the moment
Id love to see if they spend some money on all that research on how to get better fantastic colours. I guess the colour development of sensors has been pretty much the same for the big boys. Right now if u want colours, ull have to get an oly which is so poor in the iso departments. Well i guess its back to what cam suits u best now. No such thing as the super cam for the moment
Bro, pros i know rarely shoot beyond 6400 leh..
Thats because they cant previously. Now, they most prob will...
Because the camera is designed for photojournalists. Who don't, in general, shoot with ND filters with a wide aperture under sunny conditions. Or need a gabagillion megapixels.
As I said in my previous post, the camera is designed that way, for a specific market.
Last I checked there was a Nikon camera that gave you more megapixels and low(er) ISO already...
You really can't have everything in one came. The 9fps and low light capabilities is still a plus.
Photojournalists will really benefit from the new features. 9fps and low light shooting will be great for them.
Photojournalists will really benefit from the new features. 9fps and low light shooting will be great for them.
ricleo
Senior Member
i think the D3s is a great camera, ticks all the right boxes for me.
full frame, fast fps, amazing ISO range, great built and weathersealing, great viewfinder and good AF. If only Nikon makes a canon mount D3s ahhaha.... maybe call it D3Cs
currently, i need 2 canon bodies to sort of match this D3s's performance/specs
full frame, fast fps, amazing ISO range, great built and weathersealing, great viewfinder and good AF. If only Nikon makes a canon mount D3s ahhaha.... maybe call it D3Cs
currently, i need 2 canon bodies to sort of match this D3s's performance/specs
I'd think the D3s fulfils most (if not all) of our "wish list" some time ago,
9/11fps, full frame, crazily high ISO performance, video capabilities, live view, sensor cleaning, duo-CF cards, weather seal. Just that it's still a little too "pro" specs for some of us.
Perhaps, a D700s in the pipeline, with the same sensor, but smaller body?
9/11fps, full frame, crazily high ISO performance, video capabilities, live view, sensor cleaning, duo-CF cards, weather seal. Just that it's still a little too "pro" specs for some of us.
Perhaps, a D700s in the pipeline, with the same sensor, but smaller body?
It pays to stick with Nikon. But looking at the arsenal you have in your sig, I think you should stick with Canon. ;p
Tachyon
Senior Member
Having read through the D3s brochure from Nikon's website, I realized that I'm not the target customer they had in mind:
- "...commercial-quality low noise images..."
- "...immediate print and web publication..."
- "...help you approach your next assignment..."
I'm an amateur photographer, not a professional. And unless I am using this camera to earn my keeps, it would be very stupid of me to get a D3s, as they clearly priced it for the commercial industry (with probably higher margins).
For consumers like me, we'll just have to wait for the successor of D700, of which I am (hopefully) their target.
Incidentally, I feel like a sheep being herded by the camera manufacturers...
- "...commercial-quality low noise images..."
- "...immediate print and web publication..."
- "...help you approach your next assignment..."
I'm an amateur photographer, not a professional. And unless I am using this camera to earn my keeps, it would be very stupid of me to get a D3s, as they clearly priced it for the commercial industry (with probably higher margins).
For consumers like me, we'll just have to wait for the successor of D700, of which I am (hopefully) their target.
Incidentally, I feel like a sheep being herded by the camera manufacturers...
Looking through the forum, a D90 or a 500D would most prob be suffice for our type of pixs.
That said, the capabilities of the D3 series does make inspiring photos.
ricleo
Senior Member
yup
sticking to canon of course, prefer their lens arsenal haha... but just came in to say the D3s is a good camera.yup
Haha.. I like it too but no $$$ to buy.. ;p
proteonXPR
New Member
Bro, pros i know rarely shoot beyond 6400 leh..
two years ago the pros barely shot beyond iso 1600 :dunno:
To be precise, before D3.
hobbit6003
Senior Member
I'm a Canon user, and I must say, the Nikon D3s rocks! I buy a camera to get a better IQ, who cares about making movies? Having seen the image samples at high ISO, I think Nikon has moved towrds the right direction. ISO 12800 is impressive!
Looks like the megapixel race is over, and I'm damn glad about it.
Looks like the megapixel race is over, and I'm damn glad about it.
And not forgetting that prior to the D3, full frame, great high ISO performance and low light are terms that were rarely put together in the same sentence when applied to Nikon in general
Perceptions and needs change - it wasn't too long ago where Nikon users think full frame is a gimmick, that DX is superior and all they ever needed, that with CLS you can apply your own light, and that all Canon is doing is revealing lens flaws at the edges with their silly full frame sensors!
So now full frame is a revelation for Nikon users and suddenly all everyone wants is a big sensor with high ISO performance so that they can shoot without flash! Personally I think the D3s is a step in the right direction, though I wish Nikon would also releease a few fast wide angle prime lenses. Alas, I am afraid with that high sensitivity in the D3s, it would serve as an excuse not to release those lenses......
(to apply what I said at a personal level, it wasn't that long ago too when I mentioned I wouldn't use a Nikon... haha!
)I agree with what you and Jed said, that the D3s is specified for photojournalists except for one small point - every single photojournalist I have met in real life all sport some kind of SB-flashgun
I think the market for the D3 and the D3s is the spot news / hard news / sports and *gasp* paparazzi type of photojournalists. In fact, I am beginning to think that is the market segment that Nikon is trying to corner. It's not the available light-shoot-without-flash documentary photography market. The high ISO is for obtaining the required shutter speeds for sports.
With the D3s, a sports photographer like Jed can have all the shutter speeds he need to freeze motion in sports thanks to the high ISO, a photojournalist like Joe McNally can do quick lighting setups with multiple flashguns and for every spot news photog, they can rattle off frames with high quality JPGs ready for transmission.
That is very evident in their advertising and collateral, and in the professionals that they choose to "represent" their brand. Even the "documentary" photographer Doug Menuez they chose in their D700 advertisement can be seen setting up lights and flashing away in the D700 microsite.
Canon on the other hand, seems to take on a different tack - they seem to be actually advocating available light photography with their choice of Jeff Ascough the wedding photojournalist as their ambassador and with their sponsorship of the VII photo agency. In other words, they are trying to cater to a wider spectrum - that of the available light documentary photographer. Listen to how Gary Knight of VII eulogies about the fast primes in the Canon system. This is also evident in their product - the 5D mark 2, a lightweight highres body with good ISO performance, and the recent re-releases of the 24 f1.4 and 85 f1.2 lenses, not to mention a nod in the direction of the traditional 50mm lovers with their 50 f1.2.
Ultimately the kind of product Nikon and Canon produces depends largely I think to the kind of photographers they listen to
If you're Joe McNally you'd think CLS is a godsend, and if you're Jeff Ascough or Paolo Pellegrin, the 50 f1.2 is a lens you cannot do without! Different cameras for different users!
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Ah, merely a difference of terminology in that case. I regard him as more of a documentary photographer rather than a hard news hard of photographer who works for a paper that needs images transmitted on the day it was taken to meet some daily publication deadline.
When I think of "photojournalist", my mind switches to the image of the press corps hounding some media statesman or celebrity singer.... The term has been sullied in my mind! Of course I m in no way implying that is a lesser form of photography or work than others.....
Yes Gary doesn't use a flash, which is why I said Canon SEEM to be advocating available light photography with their product line, plus their sponsorship of VII, which includes other non flash illuminaries eg nacthwey. The pros Nikon associated with seem to mostly use strobes... hence the probable difference in their product offerings..
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