Review: Nikon D3s
I'd say I know the ins-and-outs of the Nikon D3 pretty well -- after all, I've taken more than 200,000 photos with one. And I knew that Nikon had a big problem: The camera is so darned good, how do you make it better, especially with an incremental upgrade? The D3 isn't perfection -- the AF sensors are too closely grouped, the default white balance is a little too cool, the … AF sensors are too closely grouped -- but, as you can see from my struggling, it's generally close enough. If you can't do most jobs really well with a D3, it's probably your fault, not the camera's. So how do you convince people to buy something more expensive?
The obvious way was to stick video in it, and so they did. And that would probably have been enough to keep people at bay until the D4 came out, but some intrepid designer decided that the D3, previously pretty much the best low-light camera around, needed to get better. And so they changed the microlens array and modified the sensor in all sorts of ways, most of them secret or impossibly geeky, but long story shot, the D3s IS better, by about 1 and a half stops (or allowing about three times greater shutter speeds): ISO 12,800 looks better on the D3s than the already-crazy IS0 6400 on the D3.
ISO 12800, 52mm, f/3.2, 1/50thIn most other ways, the cameras are exactly the same -- the finish on the D3s is slightly more matte than that on the D3, the thumb joystick is a little snappier, and there's a quiet mode for the shutter that still isn't all that quiet, and there's an info button for quick review of the settings on the back LCD, but that's about it. The real user-interface changes came with a much, much better way to trigger Live View mode (which is important for video operation). Instead of having to move a mode dial to a certain position, which virually required you to move your thumb and look at the camera to see what you were doing, there's a simple button. Press it, it's on! Press it, it's off! Even for those who don't use movie mode ever, live view has some great tricks, and it's nice to be able to access it easily. My favorite Live View trick is that it shows the effect of white balance. Since on the D3 you can dial in the exact K-value, all you have to do is turn on Live View and look at the LCD while you get the white balance exactly perfect. You can do this on any camera with Live View, but the interface improvements make it a lot easier and faster.
Let's discuss the big changes in detail, with more photos and video:
IMAGE QUALITY:
Just think "Like the D3 or D700, but a bit better." The tiniest bit less shadow noise and more dynamic range at low ISOs, but where you really start to notice it is in the extremely high ISOs, especially 6400 and up. Not only are the photos less noisy, but because the sensor is handling the light coming in more efficiently, you maintain more dynamic range and truer color. What it means in practice is that the things that you used to need a prime lens for on the D3, you can now use an f/2.8 zoom lens for (important, since Nikon's prime lineup has huge gaps in it). Or, of course, you can use a fast prime lens and truly see in the dark. The photo below was taken at ISO 12,800 at 1/30th of a second on a 135mm f/2 lens -- it was DARK! My hands are steady, which is how I could take this at 1/30th, but if I had to shoot it at 1/10th of a second to get the same quality on the D3, then it most likely would be blurry.
Of course it works at low ISOs just fine, with great color and nice sharpness at the pixel level. This one was lit by a flash tucked inside the refrigerator, mixing with the incandescent light in the kitchen.
Better still, Nikon says they've tweaked the default white balance to be a bit warmer. This means that anyone like me who is still using this next to a D3 has to be careful to calibrate them so your images look good next to each other, but it gives a nice, pleasing tone. Here's a simple sunlight WB:
ISO 200, 27mm, f/3.5, 1/250th
Here you can see the limits of the dynamic range. This was at ISO 12,800, and shifted WAY blue for a deep tungsten light, which increases noise -- before the D3s, I would have wanted a fast prime for this shot, but now I could use the 24-70mm f/2.8. Even at 12,800, you still see some detail on the MUCH brighter display screen, and the white on the santa hats are completely retained. Not too shabby.
ISO 12,800, 60mm, f/2.8, 1/30th
The kind of situations we USED to consider low-light? ISO 1600, f/1.4? Fuhgeddaboudit! No noise at all.
ISO 1600, 85mm, f/1.4, 1/250th
MOVIES:
(Facebook embeds these as tiny, but you can find the full versions, most in 720p, and some more on my Facebook Page)
You could hear the wailing around the world when Nikon said that the D3s would only have 720p video resolution. After all, cheap hand-held video recorders have 1080p these days! It would be nice to have a 1080p option, but remember that many of the same people bemoaning no 1080p will yell at camera manufacturers for making digital cameras with way too many megapixels. Even 720p is a LOT of a data to manipulate, and 1080p fills up hard drives extremely fast. For that reason alone, most people using it in the long-term are professionals. Which is why it SHOULD be in the D3s, since this is a camera for professionals, and is priced as such.
But -- and I know this is controversial -- I'm not really all that bothered, because the D3s, like all DSLRs, is pretty awful for professional video use by design. The ergonomics of the dSLR body is great for taking photos, but simply horrible things like long-term tracking stability or simply not having your arm fall off when you have to hold the thing out in front of you and look at the LCD for five minutes straight. The D3s is worse than most for this because it's a heavy beast. But if you're a photographer who wants to shoot some video for multimedia projects and you don't want to carry another device around, it's nice to have the option.
Note: although the manual doesn't say this, there is FULL manual control of the exposure -- ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Just put the D3s on tripod mode, and when you hit Live view mode, press the OK button. You know have full control.
So, other than the no 1080p, is the video mode any good? No! It's great! And it's poor! (Depending on your need)
What's great about it? The low-light capability. Unbelievable. With the lower resolution and moving pixels, even ISO 102,400 video is somewhat usable, depending on your purpose. Here's video at night, at ISO 6400:
More video, this time ISO 8000:
Sweet, right? Well, there are problems, too. In some types of fluorescent light, the D3s exhibits horrible banding that neither changing the shutter speed nor the flickr refresh rate can solve. This is the worst I've seen the effect:
You'll need to solve this if say, you want to take video inside most gymnasiums.
Lastly, all DSLR CMOS sensors have a huge problem with motion effects -- turning buildings into Jell-O and, as you'll see here, passing trains into distorted messes. Nikon said they made this a little better than in earlier cameras, but it's simply the way the sensor reads data. Just another way that DSLR video isn't quite ready for prime time.
CONCLUSION: If you were going to buy a D3 anyway, you should probably get a D3s. It's simply the best camera around for Nikon shooters, and I'll go on a limb and say it's the best camera for most photojournalists or documentary shooters bar none. The extra sensitivity, while not a radical break, is always nice in extreme situations. But if you can't afford it, don't worry -- except for the hardest-traveling professionals, even the D700 will do most of what you want to do. (For me, even just the dual-card features alone are worth the upgrade).
But remember, this is a GREAT time to buy used D3's at, say, the Amazon Marketplace (or anywhere) -- just make sure they've been treated much better than mine. The money you save can be used to buy you a real video camera.
Joseph Yarrow Bristol Wedding Photographer on December 17, 2009 at 03:32 PM
A real life review! lovely stuff, much more interesting than the average review Ryan.
Thanks for sharing this. I now want one =)
Lee on December 17, 2009 at 03:41 PM
Thanks for this review Ryan. I'm sure I'll be upgrading in the next few months. The images are impressive!!
Sam Obeid on December 17, 2009 at 03:59 PM
Nice write up Ryan. I'm on the fence but your opinion and sample images just might push me off the edge even though I'm quite content with my pair of D700s.
gwyneth colleen on December 17, 2009 at 04:54 PM
i want one!!
Paweł Słowik on December 18, 2009 at 06:59 AM
Great review, will be buying D3s in few days
Marshal Ray on December 18, 2009 at 07:59 PM
Well, a couple things are obvious.
When it comes to an all around high end Pro level still photo camera in all conditions from low & medium ISOs to ultra-high, the D3S absolutely rules! In an epic way!
I just wish i could say the same for the video, but unfortunately, it's not yet ready for prime time. Not even close! Nikon is going to need a few more years of R&D for that. In all the ones you posted, it's not the jello effect or the bad banding in one of them that really concerns me. Considering that the train was moving very fast, I'm not surprised it was mostly a blur. My problem is with the simple stationary objects like the buildings @ night or that guy in the train station. His coat, his hair & his face were all blurry. Was this shot through the bottom of a soda bottle? On some you told us the ISO, but not the last 2. What ISO were they? 6400-12800 maybe?
Have you tried shooting video @ ISOs from 200-800? I'd like to know if they look like decent video-HD or even SD. Because what I've seen in the D3S sample vids so far here and on YouTube looks more like Low Definition than High Def. If the low ISO settings are not a whole lot better for video, then I'd say we'd be better off just bringing a Flip Mino Ultra HD or Kodak ZI8 along with us. They only run about $150 and can easily fit in a pocket.
Marshal Ray on December 19, 2009 at 03:30 AM
Ryan,
did you shoot any videos of Stephanie at 200-400 ISO?
Nasir Gul on December 19, 2009 at 07:36 AM
Nikon Love it.. I am using its older model and it works awesome..This new model is very smart...and picture quality is very good..Thanks for the blog :)
By http://connectonlineshop.com/
Ryan Brenizer on December 19, 2009 at 04:35 PM
I have low-ISO video, but none of Stephanie.
Marshal Ray on December 21, 2009 at 10:01 PM
"I have low-ISO video, but none of Stephanie."
:-( Would like to see higher quality vid of her.
Chris Gruhl on December 23, 2009 at 01:00 PM
I'm seeing visible banding in most of the shots you have put up here. Is that a factor of processing or is that an issue with the sensor in general? Do you find it impacting your hand made sub f/1 shots much? It seems to be most evident in the Bokeh. Any chance of a side by side with the D3 for comparison?
Thanks for the great review! Very helpful as always!
dsi r4 on December 28, 2009 at 03:06 AM
Image quality as good or better than Canon champ 5D. Autofocus better than best canon 1dmk3. Dynamic range without peer. Low light capability the best ever except for its sister camera the D700. Only cedes landscape photography to the 1dsmk3.
Roger on December 28, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Chris Gruhl said:
"I'm seeing visible banding in most of the shots you have put up here. Is that a factor of processing or is that an issue with the sensor in general? Do you find it impacting your hand made sub f/1 shots much? It seems to be most evident in the Bokeh."
What lens would he be using for those sub f/1 shots?
dsi r4 said:
" Only cedes landscape photography to the 1dsmk3."
And the 5D Mark II which has a newer sensor than the 1Ds Mark III and the same resolution and about half the price of the D3s.
John on January 08, 2010 at 05:59 PM
nikon love it...its awesome...it has wonderful result :)
http://www.summeronlinestore.com/
Serena on January 09, 2010 at 08:08 PM
Thank you for your review. I am a director/editor and my wife a still photographer who prefers Nikons. You can imagine we were thrilled when this camera was released. The still photography has been amazing, but I'm getting a recurring stutter on the video in both automatic and the unofficial manual mode. It doesn't happen all the time, but enough to prevent me from shooting anything of importance with the camera. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem. Also, could there be a need to purchase a faster flash card? Thx.
Nasir on January 11, 2010 at 11:44 AM
Nikon, best and awesome quality...cool camera
Study in Sweden on January 14, 2010 at 02:32 PM
I am using this camera...its very goog, having nice picture quality. I use to travel alot and before I use to but other brand and I tried this brand, now love nikon
Restaurang on January 21, 2010 at 08:40 AM
great mobile....picture quality is very good
Peter Wilding on February 05, 2010 at 05:35 PM
Thanks very much for the review. Everything I needed to know is here. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one of these later this year to upgrade from my D300. I've already got the Nikon 24-70 pro lens expecting to go to full format. I was thinking maybe the D3 was the same camera with video but this D3s is clearly a jump forward.
Can't wait to get some funds to buy this baby.
Resa on February 22, 2010 at 04:23 AM
Nikon love it
Nasir on February 22, 2010 at 04:24 AM
awesome picture quality
frida on February 23, 2010 at 07:04 AM
Before I dont compromise with Canon, but when I used this Nikon its awesome response with good picture quality...Thanks for sharing wonderful post
frida on February 23, 2010 at 07:05 AM
Before I dont compromise with Canon, but when I used this Nikon its awesome response with good picture quality...Thanks for sharing wonderful post
SEO Company on March 03, 2010 at 08:49 AM
I recently bought NIKON and it works awesome. Very good picture quality
smink on May 21, 2010 at 03:37 AM
Nikon is on of the best camera I have ever used :)