Digital Photography Tips, Recipes, Technology and Photographs from The Mansurovs
During my last trip to Florida, I was fortunate to attend Carlos Santana‘s concert, during which I had a good opportunity to take pictures and video with Nikon D3s DSLR and Nikon 300mm f/4.0 AF-S lens. As I have pointed out in my previous D3s articles, the performance of Nikon D3s in low light environments is incredible.
Take a look at the following shot of Santana:
I have been trying the Nikon D3s in different environments with a variety of lenses and so far I am very impressed by its performance and quality of the images and video. The below coyote images were shot at ISO 3200 after sunset:
Red-Winged Blackbirds are very common in Colorado. They are permanent residents in most local parks, including Cherry Creek State Park, where I captured one of them while it was singing to attract a female. Spring is a great time for birds in Colorado, except when it gets very cold. It snowed today in Denver and the temperatures dropped below 40F, which is not abnormal for Colorado in April :)
Red-Winged Blackbird
Hoping for a sunny day next week, so that I can get out and do some spring birding!
Captured with Nikon D3s and Nikon 300mm f/4.0 AF-S + 1.4x TC.
In this Nikon D700/D3 vs D3s High ISO Noise Comparison, I will be focusing on providing information and image samples from the first-generation Nikon full frame cameras (Nikon D700 and Nikon D3) as well as from the current high ISO king – Nikon D3s. High ISOs are needed in low-light environments, where the amount of ambient light is insufficient for hand-held photography at standard ISO sensitivity values. While doubling the ISO number doubles the shutter speed to freeze motion or prevent camera shake, it also introduces noise into the picture.
All tests below were performed on a sturdy tripod, with timed exposure to prevent camera vibrations. Both Nikon D700 and Nikon D3s were set exactly the same way, shot in manual mode with Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G at f/8.0. Exposures were exactly the same on both cameras, depending on ISO value. I shot in RAW (Active D-Lighting: Off, High ISO NR: Normal), then imported into Lightroom, cropped and exported with “Camera Standard” camera profile. The rest of the data is available via EXIF in the files to those who are interested in technical details.
Here is the full area that I shot for these tests:
The first test is at ISO 800. The image on the left is Nikon D700 and the image on the right is Nikon D3s (click to enlarge). Both are extremely good at ISO 800, but Nikon D3s is a little cleaner in the background areas.
As I have noted before, Nikon is currently offering rebates for customers who are buying a DSLR together with a lens. Although not all Nikon lenses are available with this offer, some of the best Nikon lenses such as Nikon 70-200mm VR, Nikon 70-300mm VR and Nikon 24-70mm are available for an instant rebate.
Rob Galbraith, a well-known and respected photographer from Canada, has recently posted an article on autofocus performance of the new Canon EOS-1D Mark IV after using the camera for a while photographing various athletes that were preparing for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. After weeks of shooting the camera, he compared the autofocus performance of the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV with the new Nikon D3s.
Here is a quick excerpt from his article:
It’s worth noting one other fundamental difference between the AF system in the D3S and that of the EOS-1D Mark IV. When Nikon focus is out, it doesn’t tend to be way out. More often than not, peak action frames that are not perfectly focused aren’t that blurry, making some of them still viable. That is, if you’re of a mind that it’s better to have a slightly soft frame of a great peak moment than a totally blurry one. The EOS-1D Mark IV, on the other hand, produces many more frames that are too soft to use for anything, no matter how sweet the moment.
To sum up, our experience with the D3S’ AF system is that it’s trustworthy and dependable enough for us to be confident using it for peak action sports. Not perfect: it needs to be a bit faster off the line, in addition to the other quibbles we’ve mentioned. But it does work as needed most of the time, which is in stark contrast to the experience of the EOS-1D Mark IV in the last month.
The above review is pretty much in line with what many other sports and action photographers have said after doing comparisons between the two cameras – the Nikon D3s is currently, without a doubt, a leader in both autofocus and low-light photography (high ISO performance).
When I looked at some sample pictures of the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, I got a little worried about Nikon D3s future. However, after seeing some high ISO comparisons and hearing from pros on autofocus performance of both cameras, it turned out that D3s is the leader and it looks like it will stay that way for at least another two years! Sure, it is unfair to compare Nikon’s full frame sensor with a 1.3x cropped sensor, but poor autofocus performance has been Canon’s biggest weakness (especially in 1D Mark III) and despite the fact that Canon re-engineered their autofocus system from scratch in 1D Mark IV, it is still worse than Nikon’s legendary 51 point autofocus system.
Nikon D3s wins, end of story.
Yup, just like I thought, Canon couldn’t wait after the Nikon D3s was announced and rushed to announce the new Canon EOS-1D Mark IV – a direct competitor to the Nikon D3s. Just like the D3s, the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV is for professional news, sports, wildlife and wedding/event photographers.
Canon EOS 1D Mark IV
Nikon has just announced the new Nikon D3s, so I decided to post a quick comparison between the Nikon D3x and the new Nikon D3s in this “Nikon D3s vs D3x” article.
Both Nikon D3s and D3x are top of the line, very specialized cameras for different needs. The new Nikon D3s is a low-noise, high performance camera designed for professional news, sports, wildlife and event photographers that need the speed and low noise while working in challenging lighting conditions. The Nikon D3x, on the contrary, is designed for studio and landscape photographers that need the higher resolution for large prints. While D3x is identical to D3, except for the sensor, there are a few differences between the D3s and D3x.
Nikon has just announced the new Nikon D3s, so I decided to post a quick comparison between the old Nikon D3 and the new Nikon D3s in this “Nikon D3 vs D3s” article.
Nikon D3s (image courtesy of Nikon)
The new Nikon D3s is in many ways a new generation camera. When Nikon adds a letter to a camera (such as “X” or “S”), it typically means that it is an update to its current line, most likely with the same Expeed processor. The new D3s, though, despite featuring the same physical processor, is a whole new world when it comes to sensor technology. Just looking at the images and comparing the ISO performance of the older D3 and the new D3s, I can conclude that the new D3s has a 1.5 to 2 stop advantage over D3, which is remarkable. Nikon was able to achieve this by keeping the same number of pixels as in D3, but increasing the pixel pitch, which resulted in increased sensitivity of the sensor.
For those who are interested in the latest and greatest from Nikon, the new D3s has just been announced, along with a new 85mm F3.5G VR DX lens!
Nikon D3s (image courtesy of Nikon)
Here is the official press release from Nikon USA:
Today, Nikon Inc. announced the FX-format D3S D-SLR, providing professional photographers with a powerful tool that redefines the boundaries of digital SLR versatility, while maintaining the strength of superior image quality and high speed performance inherited from the groundbreaking D3. The D3S enables not only new opportunities in low-light photography, but also provides photographers with added shutter speed and aperture freedom with a base ISO sensitivity range from ISO 200 to a remarkable 12,800. Additionally, expanded ISO equivalent settings up to a staggering 102,400 are available, enabling photographers to create images previously thought impossible.
