Review: Nikon X3

[Nnnnsic]

My NDA is over as of midnight so here it is... my review... which has apparently been on news stands for a few days now.

Regardless, here's both the article in PDF form as well as a forum edition of it where I've added a few things back into it and am providing images from the device.

You can download the PDF from here if you don't feel like reading this page and just want to get the magazine copy of the article.

We're hosting the PDF as well as the images at one of our test servers on GoDaddy so if there's lag, please be patient.

Here goes...

[Nnnnsic]

Deeper optics
By Leigh D. Stark

When I got the call from a friend at Nikon R&D in the USA that I was on a list of 10 people for previewing and reviewing a new product they were preparing to release, I was psyched… and then he told me what it was.

Introducing, the Nikon X^3, the world's first gynecological optics device targeted at not only small gynecologists not affiliated with large firms or hospitals but also the home unit.

Previously, Nikon has been testing it's original X^1 unit, a similar device with less of a pyramid shape at the end, it looked more like an elongated stump with a large lens on it. That lens went to a specially designed sensor and pulled around 5 mega pixel from the images it took.

However, the X^1 was merely a testing product and one had to be on Nikon's list to even see the device, let alone use it.

Today, Nikon have the X^3, a sibling of the soon-to-be-released X^2, the more advanced version of the X series medical cameras.

On first glance, it looks just like a vibrator, but what it actually is will surprise you.

The X^3 is based inside a shell of a stainless steel vibrator and has a small hole drilled into it with 4 rectangular notches at the top. A long hole at the bottom of the unit serves as for where you plug the unit into your computer and a small indentation section on one of the sides makes for an easier grip on the unit when it gets too slippery to handle.

Inside the unit is a joint effort on a technological front between Nikon, Fujifilm, and Toshiba called the MultiMedical Imaging Sensor-27. The MultiMedical Imaging Sensor-27, or MMIS-27 as it's known in its technical specs, is a dual layer 27 mega pixel almost-square sensor.

Now normally in digital cameras, we copy the way 35mm film is, which is a rectangular format. However, if you were to do this on an object where the base geometry is circular, you would end up not only with a shape that would be too big for the insides but a problem differentiating what mode you were in half of the time: portrait or landscape.

We get around this by utilizing a square sensor, or in this case, a sensor that is mostly square. Similar to the shape of a 6x7 negative in the world of medium format photography, we have a slightly elongated sensor of 27 mega pixels that is also, because of the size of the lens, one quarter the size of a sensor that sits in a standard consumer camera, say that of a Nikon CoolPix S3.

Now if you know your optics, you're probably thinking something like "whoa, 27 mega pixel... that's amazing!"

Well, hold on there for a second. The overall size of the sensor with it being as small as it is makes 27 mega pixel slightly useless, so at that size the processor inside downsamples the 27 mega pixels down to 6.91, or roughly 7 mega pixels.

What you end up having is a 7 mega pixel camera built into the shell of a vibrator with the vibration functions removed for the viewing and recording of any gynecological or rectal problems a patient may or may not have.

And while a 7 mega pixel sensor isn’t exactly a new achievement in a Nikon based digital optics product, this sensor goes a step further in the sort of imagery it brings to the technological front in photography.

There are three companies involved in this effort for the photo-sensor alone.

Nikon take care of the 27 mega pixels and the noise algorithms.

Fujifilm take care of the downsampling sensor technology as that's something that's appearing more and more on both their digital single lens reflex cameras and their consumer-grade digital cameras.

Toshiba, the other group on this sensor, provide for what the imaging sensor can do. We know it can take color pictures of the insides of a patient and since it’s made by high-end optics maker Nikon, it’s coupled with several liquid-proof layers of Nikon ED glass, allowing it to take impressive pictures for its size.

But what you don't expect it to do it does brilliantly and serves as a warning shot to the rest of the medical optics market to sit up and take notice.

When activated, the sensor can switch over to a proper thermal imaging mode to capture things like bacterial infections, wounds, cellular damage and decay, and all sorts of other things that the human eye through a viewfinder may not find or necessarily look for.

Now, all of this is great so far. You've got your slick brushed aluminum gynecological camera with some great features... now you need some software to drive it.

Nikon have taken care of this by packaging a version of their coveted Nikon Capture software designed specifically to take advantage of the X^3 called Nikon Capture RX.

[Nnnnsic]

Now looking at this device, one of the first things you realize with it is that it doesn't actually have any buttons or switches or wheels on it at all. It is entirely and utterly seamless.

Everything in this device, from the shutter to the zoom (and there is a zoom in it albeit a limited one), is handled at the software level, so as you probe the patient with the device, you take the pictures in Nikon Capture RX.

Now this might make your computer or laptop a little bit messy, I imagine, and this was one of the first problems I thought about as I was beginning to review this unit, but if you're really not worried about mess or if you have a nurse or other medical practitioner on site, it's probably not a major concern.

At the software level, Capture RX is quite stable… more so than I had actually expected out of Nikon programmers.

On the toolbar, six buttons have been added into Nikon Capture RX from its original program Nikon Capture allowing you to switch in and out of thermal imaging mode, press the shutter, control the zoom, eject the plug mechanism that keeps the device connected, and turn on the “light assist” that you have on-board which itself consists of 4 sets of 4 micro-dot white LED’s that sit around the lens on the top of the X^3.

Now what sort of review would this be if it didn't actually have a test run in it? They'd have to make this a preview of sorts and I'm not in the business of making previews, as a reviewer.

I'll tell you, when I looked at the list of the ten people who would be receiving a sample X^3 unit to test out and review, I was the only one on it without a degree of some sort in medicine.

So, without my medical degree, I can't exactly walk up to a girl and say "would you mind if I used your vagina for a medical test with a new medical camera?"

I'd get slapped. It's a shocking pick-up line, even for me.

So I went out and bought a frozen chicken.

I figured that instead of causing myself gross uncomfort by shoving this new toy firmly between my two cheeks, I could see what the inside of my dinner looks like.

And this is what happened.

The installation of this device is a breeze to do.

You install the software, Nikon Capture RX with its version of Nikon Capture Control, first and then you can go ahead and plug the device in.

Plugging it in works like this: the cable has a long and thin needle-like part which gets thick in plastic towards the head of the plug. You put that end inside that bottom of the X^3 where the long hole is and twist it clockwise until it clicks in, and you'll feel it.

Honestly, it’s hard not to feel it. There’s a bit of resistance as the plug connects when you twisted it and then it’s firmly in place.

The cable you get with the X^3 measures at around 3 meters long, but Nikon have assured me that they will be releasing upon launch extended cables for sizes rated for 5 meters, 7 meters, and 10 meters long.

Now, once your plug has been clicked into place, you’ll notice that you can’t actually remove it. Well, this is where the eject button in Nikon Capture RX comes into play. The software handles pretty much everything short of handling the device so this should be no surprise.

So after plugging the X^3 into its connection plug and placing my “patient” on the table next to the computer I was working at, I pushed the X^3 inside to take a look around.

Have you ever looked inside a dead chicken? It’s a far less enjoyable experience than eating one.

Regardless, controlling the Nikon X^3 with Nikon Capture RX is a breeze.
The software picks up the device almost immediately and starts feeding back an image of whatever the device is looking at. If you don’t have enough light, pressing the button next to the eject button labeled as an “L” (I would’ve thought a light bulb would have been a better symbol myself) will turn on the 16 white micro-dot LED’s that line the four quadrants around the lens giving you enough light to see what you need to see and without injuring your patient.

Taking a picture is really quite easy. The button next to your thermal imaging option (which we’ll approach next) looks like a circle with a black dot in it. Press that and a picture will be saved to either Nikon’s default save location or wherever you’ve configured it to save to in the options.

So far, I was finding nothing unusual about my chicken. It was fairly clean and I wasn’t happy with that. I mean here I have a medical camera with thermal imaging capability and I haven’t found any wounds or problems with a B grade chicken?!

Oh yes, that’s right! I hadn’t turned on the thermal imaging yet.

And when you do turn it on, everything goes black and colors indicate what’s going on, so in my case, I saw some sort of damaged tissue that had been eaten away by some sort of bacteria on the thigh. It showed up with traced green and dark green lines at the edges where it had been eaten by what were probably relatively harmless bacteria and small red and blue splotches where more damage at the molecular level seemed to still be occurring.

This was weird but oh so cool. It was almost worth giving this thing a wash and sticking it in my mouth. I wasn’t going to do it, but the thought did cross my mind.

So I took a few shots of this infected chicken and opted to order pizza for dinner.

[Nnnnsic]

Now throughout this review, I’ve pretty much been in high praise of such a device. It’s almost tempting to get a medical degree just to know what the hell I’d be looking at.

Here’s where it gets a bit weaker when you hear about the X^3’s flaws.

Zoom. The zoom is weak.

While I normally have no problems with consumer grade zooms aside for their speed, the zoom you get on this is purely a digital one, which means the pixels are blown up and no real zooming is taking place here. Aside from that, it also is fairly slow. You press the zoom up button, five seconds later the camera does that and stays in the zoom level you put it in. You press the zoom down button, five seconds later the camera does it and leaves you in that mode. It’s slow, but that’s not nearly such a major issue to contend with as having no optical zoom and only having the option of digital zoom.

That said, there’s no major downside here provided the device is being used for gynecological purposes or other cavity-based searches. You’re already as close as you really need to be for the most part.

In fact short of some degree of microscopy, I can’t imagine a need for getting closer.

This device is designed to record the insides of a patient at both the standard optical and thermal level. If there’s any degree of decay that a person would likely worry about, they and the doctor would probably want to take it that one step further and recommend a hospital situation.

You only get to save in JPEG.

That’s kind of a shame because I was really looking forward to see what sort of added features this device would have brought to the Nikon Electronic Format (NEF) table. There’s still “fine”, “normal” and “low” sizes for the JPEG saving modes, but a RAW / NEF option would’ve been nice and there’s really no logic for using anything other than “fine” since it’s always going to save on a hard disk, not flash card memory.

There’s also, consequently, a very severely limited amount of EXIF data recorded to the image.

I’m not sure what they could add and since the camera seems to shoot at somewhat fixed speeds and focal lengths, it makes sense for there not to be much EXIF data at all, but like the lack of a RAW file type, the lack of EXIF is kind of a shame.

Perhaps both of these will be mended in a firmware update over time.

The “grip”.

The “grip” is such a waste of an idea. There’s a triangular dent on one of the sides that’s supposed to act like a grip in case the unit gets too slippery to hold, but since the grip wasn’t coated in any specific compound and is just made out of the same aluminum, it doesn’t really help your hold on it at all.

I understand that at one point Nikon had planned to put a red or black rubber triangle over it much like they do on their digital SLR units, but aside for it looking tacky, it wasn’t surviving the tests from the type of liquids that were used in production testing and sterilization and so they took the idea out but for some reason left the indentation in.

It seems really pointless when you see it because it is otherwise quite a seamless thing of beauty, the X^3, and yet there’s this odd looking triangular dent in one side of it.

And I found through my chicken testing that because the connection cable is literally locked into place, you can just pull on the cable gently to remove the X^3 from whatever it’s been pushed into. Mind you, I used a chicken for my test and not an actual human orifice so it’s likely to be somewhat different. Still, I don’t expect that the triangular dent will make all that much of a difference in a secure grip on the thing.

And that’s pretty much all the cons of this device.

The price is being set at around $1899 US, and that’s its Recommended Retail Price so whether it even hits that at most places is unknown to me.

It is being targeted at both the small gynecological firm market and the home sector, and lately I’ve noticed that even I as a consumer can order a Philips Heartstart Home Defibrillator from Amazon for around $1500 US, so we are likely to see more professional medical products target at the home sector and consumers more and more in the future. This device and its price tag only further that.

Overall, this device is quite impressive, even in light of some of the flaws it does have. It’s still one of the first types of these devices to literally penetrate both the market and the patient and because of the technology used inside of it as well as the fairly decent price, serves as a warning shot to the rest of the medical industry that Nikon are going to be one of the big boys in this new home medical field.


Added notes: while I’ve added a few things here and there from my original text for the article, the following is something I’d like to mention that I couldn’t really find a place to put in and feel it’s necessary for forum users…

Nikon Capture RX is not Nikon Capture NX.
In fact, RX is based off of plain old vanilla Nikon Capture.

As a result, you can load your NEF’s through it like you normally could but you don’t gain any new features and you can’t switch over to things like Thermal Imaging Mode unless the X3 is plugged in.

So if you go looking for Nikon Capture RX thinking it’s going to be like Nikon Capture NX, all you’re going to be getting is a version of Nikon Capture made to support the X2 and X3 products.

[Nnnnsic]

[Nnnnsic]

The following are full-size images rating between 2 meg and 6 meg from the X3.
You can download all in a zip file located here or individually as seen below:

[PiroStitch]

Looks pretty nifty. Great read Leigh! Wonder what your review will read like compared to another tester who may or may not have a med degree.

It looks like a metallic tampon from those pics you've displayed. 7 Mp from that little thing...imagine having a meet and some of the members taking pics of the Opera House or coathanger with a metal tampon How's that for "security risk" (or should that be risque)?

[Zeeke]

That poor dead chook got felt up by a man with a camera!!

Good read Leigh... impressive for someone who doesnt have a medical degree.. so.. really makes ya think how much more someone who does have a med degree could add to your good review!

Tim
p.s. Hope ya didnt choke the chicken afterwards.. and gave it a proper burial with the esential herbs and spices

[obzelite]

wow, you must have been working on that all day, then stayed up late just to get it posted on time.
Maybe i can swap back my 5d for an X^3 and do a swap 1 for 1 for tins of lube

[Nnnnsic]

wow, you must have been working on that all day, then stayed up late just to get it posted on time.

Aside for adding a couple of paragraphs for the forum, most of it was written and submitted weeks ago.

[gooseberry]

That poor dead chook got felt up by a man with a camera!!

...

Tim
p.s. Hope ya didnt choke the chicken afterwards.. and gave it a proper burial with the esential herbs and spices

[birddog114]

BMW has A X3 version while ago
And Mitsubishi Pajero now new facelift of its current model with the VR-X (Yes, Vibration Reduction - Extra)

[Killakoala]

Leigh, that was the most interesting thing i have ever read on this forum.

[LOZ]

MY WIFE HAS ONE OF THEM WITH OUT THE CAMERA

[MATT]

Wow, thats impressive.

Nice write up with good pics.

But what would someone use it for at home .

I'm impressed that the you are doing R&D evalutation for Nikon

MATT

[nito]

Ohh god, I better tell the GOBs (Gynocology Obstetrics) I work with over this lense. They will get it for sure and dam excited over it too!

[antman]

Interesting device and nice review Leigh.

I'm not 100% sure on the advantages of this device over traditional diagnostic methods. Its seems to me that it would be useful as a device to provide a basic visual examination with realatively minimal invasiveness. It would be interesting to see how well the thermal imaging results correlated with actual bacterial infection and the like.

A lot of the traditional gynaecological work carried out in doctors surgeries such as pap semars would probably still require stirrups and speculums, as direct physical contact with the cervix is required. Colposcopic examination of the cervix (where they look directly at a cervix with a big "microscope") is frequently done in conjunction with direct dye (iodine) staining to identify cancer / or pre-cancerous changes. I'm not sure of the device would be useful in this situation.

The other issues that would concern me is the issue of sterilisation. Is the device autoclavable or sterilisable in an appropriate manner. How long is the device expected to last with repeated sterlilisations. Or is some kind of plastic sheath required, which may interfer with the quality of the image obtained.

I can see a potential use for low ano-rectal examinations. I guess it would be intersting to see what the field of view is like. Frequently however, if the patient does have symptoms of bleeding etc, then generally a more thorough examnination with a colonoscope would be required in any case.

Hope you don't mind Leigh. Just a few brief thoughts from a medico (not a gynae )

[wendellt]

amazing Leigh this is the most comprehensive and informative post i have ever read from you
must feel good to let it all out after that lengthy NDA

[sirhc55]

Very interesting Leigh but I am trying to place this product in context with a conversation that took place last Saturday. Why would this be of particular interest to me

[Nnnnsic]

The other issues that would concern me is the issue of sterilisation. Is the device autoclavable or sterilisable in an appropriate manner. How long is the device expected to last with repeated sterlilisations. Or is some kind of plastic sheath required, which may interfer with the quality of the image obtained.

From what I understand, it can survive sterilisation in the same manner that most medical optics devices can already.

I'm not sure entirely what this means but I do understand that the little grip on it was removed because that wasn't surviving a test from various sterilisation methods.

I'm not sure how long the device is expected to last with repeated sterilisations, mind you, but I doubt it would interfere with the quality of the image as, from what I've been told (I didn't actually get to pull apart the device), the lens is behind several layers of waterproof and airtight ED glass.

I'll send an email off to my guy at Nikon R&D and tell you what he says.

[Nnnnsic]

But what would someone use it for at home .

My understanding of it is that it's useful for the home unit in the same way the defribs probably would be in that if a doctor or gyno wanted a device they could use on the family, this could be it.

Obviously, it should only be used by people who know what they're looking for, likewise a defrib should only be used by people who know what they're doing so as to not kill you by using the paddles.

[MATT]

But what would someone use it for at home .

My understanding of it is that it's useful for the home unit in the same way the defribs probably would be in that if a doctor or gyno wanted a device they could use on the family, this could be it.

Obviously, it should only be used by people who know what they're looking for, likewise a defrib should only be used by people who know what they're doing so as to not kill you by using the paddles.

Well i guess people could look for lost Gerbles...

I just finished an Advanced First Aid refresher and the whole CPR thing is changing. They actually would like to see more defibs' out in there. Interesting I thought.. One guy doing the course was going to buy his own for his car.

MATT

[DaveB]

One thing struck me as unusual in your review:

Left to right: Images shot in both regular (left) and thermal (middle and right) imaging modes depicting the insides of a thawing dinner chicken

Are you sure it was showing you bacteria?

[sirhc55]

One guy doing the course was going to buy his own for his car.

MATT

Is his car prone to heart attacks

[Michael]

So let me get this straight, leigh is a medical practitioner of some sort?

[stubbsy]

So let me get this straight, leigh is a medical practitioner of some sort?

No he is not.

Although I have heard him utter the "trust me I'm a doctor" line to several young ladies.

[gstark]

So let me get this straight, leigh is a medical practitioner of some sort?

No he is not.

Although I have heard him utter the "trust me I'm a doctor" line to several young ladies.

And his strike rate with that line is about the same as his "let me show you my etchings" line.

[Nnnnsic]

So let me get this straight, leigh is a medical practitioner of some sort?

I said I'm not. I was the only one on a list of ten without a medical degree.

[Nnnnsic]

So let me get this straight, leigh is a medical practitioner of some sort?

No he is not.

Although I have heard him utter the "trust me I'm a doctor" line to several young ladies.

And his strike rate with that line is about the same as his "let me show you my etchings" line.

Don't make me tell ya'll to stay on topic here.

It took me a good while to write that review. I'd appreciate a little respect in this topic.

[Potatis]

Great review, Leigh, very well done.

[stubbsy]

Leigh

That's a very impressive and throughly researched little review. I wonder what would happen if an X^3 image was opened in the standard version of Nikon Capture (or does it need the newly released Nikon Capture NX) as opposed to opening it in NC RX.

[Nnnnsic]

I doubt much would happen.

They're almost identical.

[sirhc55]

Sounds like they have ’nicked’ the Foveon X3

[Alex]

Very interesting and well written review, Leigh.

Alex

[leek]

It seems that other people are coming out with new products as well...

Take a look at the Apple iZilla?

Personally, I think Leigh might want to try this USB Desktop Tanning Studio

[Nnnnsic]

Indeed.

Those who thought it was a joke were right.

The X3 was originally conceived by Potatis and myself as a VR camera inside a vibrator... and then I took it further by making it have some logical use.

Even after sending it to some doctor friends around the world, they passed it as feasible.

Regardless, the jokes in it (aside for the entire thing itself) were the megapixels (6.91 == 69), the name X^3 (X * X * X == XXX) and the chicken that I used originally had another plan whereby I was going to light the thing on fire and say the LED's were running a bit too hot for their own good.

But I ran out of money.

Still, I've been preparing this for over 6 months with modelling, texturing, and renders done in Lightwave and Photoshop. The chicken was from chicken thighs and the thermal imaging was done through a combination of several filters, namely Weird dreams from Nik and Glowing lines from Photoshop in that order.

Whoever said in another topic that I used the similar software (I think it was PhilipB) for Craig was way off. FaceGen and Lightwave are completely different.

The renders were originally done at the same resolution as our camera pushes out and then resized (3008 x 2000).

The insides and every little aspect of it took a few months and I had to tell people pretty much from late last year till now that I had an NDA for testing something... well... that was this project.

If the magazine Medical Technology Tomorrow exists, I'm sorry for insulting your name for a few days. If a device like the X3 exists, damn, what a coincidence!

[stubbsy]

And not a touch of Gary's handiwork anywhere. Well done Leigh (and Doug for part of the concept).

[losfp]

Now that is dedication to the cause

What made me think though... This is a forum full of nerds (come on, admit it. Cameras AND the internet? perfect!). Every time a nerd gets a new thing, he (again, more likely than not to be a he) will spend large amounts of time taking photos of it. You only had the 3d renders. Something not quite right.

Admittedly, the length of the article and the general shininess of it caught me off guard, and I didn't suspect anything at first

Maybe you should have had a photo of it "in use", complete with black censored box

[Nnnnsic]

Ah, well, I was hoping the renders would be slightly believable.

Taking pictures of aluminium objects in a black environment is hard enough, and all my white ones were coming up as badly shot, and I can't have that!

[stubbsy]

Maybe you should have had a photo of it "in use", complete with black censored box

And what would he use for a subject? OTOH maybe Leigh could kill two birds with one stone and take a pic for the current ES theme

[owen]

It's an amazing amount of effort you went to Leigh and a highly believable review... You had me sucked in until I did a google search for other reviews

[radar]

peter - Please, I'm having lunch here

[Nnnnsic]

It's an amazing amount of effort you went to Leigh and a highly believable review... You had me sucked in until I did a google search for other reviews

Didn't read it that thoroughly then. There only 10 including me who had the rights for reviewing it.

And the rest of them had lives.

Did you like my "NDA" Wendell... and Chris...?

[owen]

Didn't read it that thoroughly then. There only 10 including me who had the rights for reviewing it.

So I was wrong with my assumption then? You did a good job with the review, obviously a lot of time and effort went into it.

[Nnnnsic]

You did a good job with the review, obviously a lot of time and effort went into it.

Oh ya...

Danke.

I wanted it to be as realistic as possible to the point where the idea could possibly exist.

A shame it didn't get as much notice as I hoped, but it got enough and the comments about the review were great.

Now I just need to get a job as a reviewer.

[MATT]

I think this was probably the most believable of all the April 1st stuff..

Got me here also.

MATT

[gstark]

Now I just need to get a job as a reviewer.

Or a doctor.

[PiroStitch]

Great gag! I can see a lot of effort and planning went into it....wait...does that mean Craig's p/shopped head like a dildo was a fake too?

[nito]

I thought it was strange that you reviewed a piece of equipment for medical purposes. The specialists may review something, but its certainly published in more formal language.

[antman]

I certainly thought that the concept was a little strange hence my questions.

It seemed like an interesting instrument that didn't offer any additonal improvements over conventional diagnostic options.

Anyway, well done. It certainly seemed realistic.