D3X - Hands on.

[gstark]

Along with the new 50mm f/1.4 AFS.

Leigh asked and was granted permission for me to go to the Nikon launch of the D3X at the Museum of Sydney this evening.

The package was not overly impressive.

Except for its low light capabilities.

Its handling.

Its resolution.

Its quietness.

Its build quality.

Shooting indoors, at the MoS, around sunset. Natural light was AWOL, settings were 1250 ISO, f2, AWB (you know how much I love that feature) .. and the shots I grabbed varied between 1/20 (S) through 1/100 sec (6 or 7 frames, C-Hi), all with matrix metering. The histograms were wonderful, and very flat. While I wasn't able to load my own card, Leigh shot some of the chimped images (with histo) and hopefully he will add them to this thread.

While the glass is typical modern Nikon build quality (hi grade plastic, and this is a G lens too, remember), the camera was quick to acquire focus, and the images were sharper than I expected to see from being made at f/2. This was all pre- the presentation; I was fortunate to have been able to grab this body before most of the others there, and for a slightly longer impressions shoot than during the presentation.

A couple of points from the presentation. The sensor is made by Sony, but it is not the same sensor as in the A900. I get the feeling that this is an extension of the D300 sensor, and while that wasn't quite what was said in the presentation, the comparison, in terms of pixel density etc, was made.And this camera is targeted at the serious pro market, the MF market. No surprises there.

Ok ... I don't need one.

But this is definitely yet another premium camera that will satisfy many needs.

And yes, I would like one.

Pricing is not yet set, due to the incontinence of the PP.

As an aside, I had a good discussion with some of the Nikon people regarding pricing support and service. They recognise that this is a difficult market situation, but the feeling I get is that often the pricing they get is greater than the pricing that is seen in HKG.

It was a very positive experience, both in terms of the camera (and my impressions) and the chats I had with various Nikon people.

[ATJ]

And here I was hoping that you secreted it on your person and were going to bring it to Leon's so we could all have a play (of the camera).

[gstark]

And here I was hoping that you secreted it on your person and were going to bring it to Leon's so we could all have a play (of the camera).

Suggestions along those lines were, sort of, made. As in, relieving the current holders of their camera bodies.

[chrisk]

Along with the new 50mm f/1.4 AFS.

The package was not overly impressive. Except for its low light capabilities.

the low light wouldnt be as good as the d700/d3 though right ? what about it wasnt overly impressive ? apart from the price.

gary, was anyone giving away any info on when the 50/afs would be available ?

[Glen]

Any sample pics? Sounds like you were impressed by it.

[gstark]

Along with the new 50mm f/1.4 AFS.

The package was not overly impressive. Except for its low light capabilities.

the low light wouldnt be as good as the d700/d3 though right ? what about it wasnt overly impressive ? apart from the price.

Chris,

Was my circumspection and subtlety a bit too much for you? I would have thought that my list of exceptions pretty much comprehensively knocked the "not overly impressive" bit out of the ballpark. Let me be quite clear: this is one hell of a camera. First impressions support the on-paper specs.

I cannot comment on the price, because none was mentioned; I did ask, and the response is noted above.

gary, was anyone giving away any info on when the 50/afs would be available ?

Sorry, no, and I didn't think to ask. The impression I got though was the the lenses are ready to roll, and I suspect (I'm guessing here) that we'll see the 50s in store at the same time as the bodies. I just asked Leigh, btw, and he was of the feeling that they may even be available now. Stay tuned, we'll check tomorrow and give you a proper answer once we have some facts. (Yeah, I know ... )

[chrisk]

Chris,

Was my circumspection and subtlety a bit too much for you?

lol...i cant even blame it on alcohol !
dumbass. lmao

[gstark]

Any sample pics? Sounds like you were impressed by it.

Sadly, no.

Couldn't use my cards, thought about stealing the one that was in the camera , and thought about relieving the custodian of the body, but I figured that as it was Leigh who had arranged for my passage on this ship, I needed to try to not throw too many people overboard. So to speak.

Yes, I was impressed. Verily.

[Geoff]

What an experience Gary...wow.
Thanks for sharing your views on the D3x!
Nice, very nice but not 'needed'...

[methd]

Along with the new 50mm f/1.4 AFS.

The package was not overly impressive. Except for its low light capabilities.

the low light wouldnt be as good as the d700/d3 though right ? what about it wasnt overly impressive ? apart from the price.

gary, was anyone giving away any info on when the 50/afs would be available ?

i seriously doubt it as it's more a studio/landscape camera with a 100-1600 native iso. if you want low light and high iso, get the D3. they're different cameras directed at different markets... although most of us would wish we had both!

what i would think that it is really really good in is the tonal range and dynamic range.... that alone seems to be worth it.

[whoalse]

I wish Santa will be generous this year but I doubt he would during this period of economic "mayhem"......!
I'm happy with my current body but looking at glasses!

How's the AFS 50 1.4 in terms of handling and performance, Gary?

[gstark]

if you want low light and high iso, get the D3. they're different cameras directed at different markets... although most of us would wish we had both!

Let me address this point.

Obviously, the good folk at Nikon would just love for each of us to do just that. In fact, man of the people at tonight's presentation will do exactly that: this was mainly a dog and pony aimed at the working pro. Leigh was one of the few journos there, amongst a gaggle of working pros. I was just a user.

But they did touch on this, emphasising the point that one can set up each of one's cameras - D300, D700, D3 and D3X - to use exactly the same colour setup, and therefore one can switch bodies within a particular shoot, but get identical colour, contrast, brightness, etc response from each and every body. From the PoV of the working pro, that would be a very nice feature.

But yes, they are very different cameras, and this one is aimed squarely at those requiring a Mercedes, rather than a Porsche.

what i would think that it is really really good in is the tonal range and dynamic range.... that alone seems to be worth it.

Yes; that was a part of what I noticed in even my very short play. I have never seen histograms as flat as those that I saw from the D3X.

How's the AFS 50 1.4 in terms of handling and performance, Gary?

It felt very fast. My first impressions though were of the "oh shit!" variety, as nothing in the viewfinder seemed in focus. And so then I needed to ask how one uses the dioptre adjustment.

[wendellt]

hi gary that sounds like quite a night any idea when l&P or other distributors will get one because i want to rent one

[Reschsmooth]

Whilst they are very different cameras, I wonder how the two large MP cameras from Canon & Nikon will compare/compete against the 'small' MP cameras in the MF range. For instance, the Mamiya ZD has a 22 MP back that is twice the size (physically) than the Canon or Nikon sensors.

I appreciate that it would be foolish to compare the cameras based on MP in isolation. But if you think about a studio photographer or landscape photographer, the cameras become viable options for him/her.

[gstark]

Shooting indoors, at the MoS, around sunset. Natural light was AWOL, settings were 1250 ISO, f2, AWB (you know how much I love that feature) .. and the shots I grabbed varied between 1/20 (S) through 1/100 sec (6 or 7 frames, C-Hi), all with matrix metering. The histograms were wonderful, and very flat. While I wasn't able to load my own card, Leigh shot some of the chimped images (with histo) and hopefully he will add them to this thread.

OK, here's some images from last evening ... all shot with Leigh's D300.

Me with the D3X ...



The histogram ... up close and personal ... and very bloody flat.



Wendell ... no idea. December is the scheduled release data, but how individual dealers allocate their stock is entirely up to them.

[DaveB]

Me with the D3X ...

Doesn't that thing have a level in the viewfinder?

[radar]

I was also lucky enough to get my hands on a D3X and 50mm yesterday in Sydney. I was at an AIPP event at Homebush and at 3pm, once the camera had been officially announced, Nikon took one out of the box, likely the same one that was at the press conference that Gary and Leigh attended. My limited impressions of the new camera would confirm Gary's first impressions. It handles exactly like the D3.

The RRP in USA is $8000 according to DPReview. With the way the AUD is going, that roughly translate to $12,200, ouch. Anyway, the Canon 1Ds MkIII has an RRP of $12k on the Canon Australia site, so similar.

I had a play with the new 50mm AFS on a few cameras, D700/D300. It is slightly bigger then the older AFD model. The new lens is very fast, quiet, very nice lens. Nikon were telling me that some stores should have them in stock right now, so ask around if you want one before Christmas.

Cheers,

André

[radar]

 BTW, a 14-bit RAW file is 50Mb, so get ready to upgrade your computer if you want to process these files quickly. This will convert to 140Mb TIFF file

[chrisk]

i've done the ring around for the 50mm. no store has it in stock right now, not in sydney anyway. ECS said they will most likely have them next week and they said it will be $585.

[ATJ]

And ECS already have the D3x on their site, but the price is $TBA.

[chrisk]

yes, spoke to ecs this morning about the d3x when i was asking about the fifty. they are concerned about the price. their guess-timation is that if its more than around $9kAUD they wont be able to sell it. they also said, although nikon will go to great pains to tell us its not the same sony sensor, it most likely is. i make no judgment on their opinions but its hard for me to believe nikon here aswell and i suspect its gonna be hard for them to convince the market its not the same sensor either...particualrly when they are asking such an exhorbanant amount of cash for it.

there will have to be some serious side-by-side comparions done. if the d3x isnt able to show significant differences in tonal range and IQ, then you'd have to say that the d3x is, to use a boxing expression, just a "paper champ" at that price.

[MATT]

Thanks for the preview, I guess the price is in line with the Canon offering. Will be interesting to see what it is once stock arrives.

Regards
MATT

[sirhc55]

Gary, slightly off topic, but is that how you normally hold your camera with your elbow at 90° to your body

[methd]

Gary, slightly off topic, but is that how you normally hold your camera with your elbow at 90° to your body

i was thinking the same.. there's a portrait button along the side which is so much easier to use.

[gstark]

Gary, slightly off topic, but is that how you normally hold your camera with your elbow at 90° to your body

i was thinking the same.. there's a portrait button along the side which is so much easier to use.

I don't normally use the bigger bodied cameras, and thus the extra release is something that I've not yet become accustomed too. That, despite the fact that I use the MB-D10 on the D300.

With the more compact bodies, I'm used to having a CT-60 on the left, and thus the shutter button will be down-side of the body for me, so no.

Old habits die hard.

[Oz_Beachside]

an interesting read indeed. my mind boggles at how one might

require a Mercedes, rather than a Porsche...

with interest rates in AU falling to 1% next year, this might be good timing to get into an "X" now that I have an "Ex".

[jdear]

Gary, slightly off topic, but is that how you normally hold your camera with your elbow at 90° to your body

Whats wrong with doing the old-chicken wing??

As Ken Rockwell says, $8k for a d3X would get you a d3 + 5Dmark II!
He reckons its a $5500 body selling for $8000.

guess we'll see how sucessful it is when it hits the hands of pro's.

[gstark]

As Ken Rockwell says, $8k for a d3X would get you a d3 + 5Dmark II!

But totally avoids the cost of the investment in two sets of glass.

A 5D without glass is just a very expensive paperweight.

[chrisk]

great little article by Mr Hogan.
http://www.bythom.com/nikond3xcomments.htm

[jdear]

Marcus Bell has put up some sample images on his blog: http://www.studioimpressionsphotography.com/blog/

no doubt he will probably be given one for free

[gstark]

Marcus was at the presentation on Monday evening, and the packs we were given included a print of the lady's eyes behind the boa - the first image on his blog.

Thanks for posting that link Jonathan ... reading Marcus's blog, and looking at the images there, there are two things which stand out for me. His point about how important these images will be, not today, not tomorrow, but 30 years hence, is just so significant. We should probably start a separate thread and discuss exactly that point: Matt K and I have briefly discussed some aspects of modern photography, and while we haven't touched on this exact point, we do share similar points of view with respect to certain aspects of this.

It is an important issue though, and I suspect I will start a separate thread to discuss this.

The second thing that I noticed on Marcus's blog ... he posted some images from the wedding of Stephanie and Evan. The images are, in the main, very nicely done, although the presentation within the blog isn't exactly accurate in terms of the registration of the images within their frames .... but also, please, look at the first two of these images. There's the obvious joy in the faces of the people; that's great. But there seems to me to be something very wrong with the processing, the conversion to B&W, or the light, in these two images. There appears to be some selective vignetting applied to each of these images - look at the top of the image of the groom and his attendants - but there's more: there seems (to me) to have been some dodging done as well, on the faces, and I don't know that it sits right with me.

There seems (to me) to be more of this in some of the other images as well, but it seems to be very noticeable to me in these first two images.

And neither image is registered correctly within its frame: look at the bottom of each of these images ...

I'm not trying to be critical of Marcus's work here ... but do others see what I think I'm seeing here?

[methd]

If this is the image you're referring to Gary... then i wholeheartedly agree. There's some extremely dodgy work being done on her face there.

http://www.studioimpressionsphotography ... e-0008.jpg

[gstark]

If this is the image you're referring to Gary... then i wholeheartedly agree. There's some extremely dodgy work being done on her face there.

http://www.studioimpressionsphotography ... e-0008.jpg

I was thinking more of this one and this one, but yes, the example you have selected also does not, to my mind, look as if it's all that great. In fact, in the image you're referring to, compare the look of the bride - the apparent brightness - with that of the groom.