The D3s's impact on photography won't be nearly as dramatic as the D3—the camera that started the low-light arms race—but we got to shoot with it, and really, you've never seen nicer low-light images in your life.
I had around two hours to shoot with a pre-production model of the tank-like D3s at New York's Big Apple Circus, hence all of the scary clowns and very flexible folks. Since low-light performance is what you're probably most interested in, I've broken down the sample shots into galleries by ISO speed. Overall, shots at ISO 6400 are the cleanest I've ever seen at that ISO rating—just think about that for a second—and ISO 12,800 photos are unquestionably usable for even large web photos (like 1000x1000 pixels). Of course, the pictures at ISO 102,400 have ridiculous grain and you'd never use them for anything but novelty, but consider that we really are talking light sensitivity on the order of night vision. It's a remarkable achievement for achievement's sake.
All of the photos here are from JPEGs straight out of a pre-production D3s, with no retouches. They were resized, but I've included shots of 100 percent zoom close-ups above the galleries.
These two series are shot at the exact same shutter speed, adjusting only the ISO, so you can get a sense of how much extra light the cranked ISO absorbs.
What Exactly Night Vision Means
I've also cut together some of the 720p video I shot. The video mode's a little confusing to use at first, since the "shutter speed" is how adjust exposure in video mode, but the results are nice, even if they're not in 1080p. The clip was always shot at an ISO rating of at least 3200 (I was fiddling with the ISO throughout), and the second half makes use of a boom mic for stereo.
- click here to see sample images from the Nikon D3s
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These are great Nikon D3s samples images from gizmodo. The high ISO shots are quite usable.
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What's more fun than going to the circus? Photographing the circus with the brand new Nikon D3S.
Nikon invited a group of journalists to a shoot a dress rehearsal of The Big Apple Circus in NYC a couple of days before PhotoPlus Expo opened. We were outfitted with Nikon D3s cameras and an assortment of lenses. I shot with the new 70-200mm VRII f/2.8, the 24-70mm f/2.8, and an 8GB SanDisk Extreme III CompactFlash card.
While the D3s is identical to the D3 in many ways, there are a few differences, the most important are: a new sensor, 720p video recording and a mind-boggling high ISO of 102,400 (High 3). While photographers will probably view this as "emergency" ISO (hey, it's noisy, mostly in shadows...no surprise there), the results were better than I expected.
Drop the ISO down to 12,800 and I was even more impressed but was really blown away by the photos shot between 6400 and 8000. They're stunning, even shooting under difficult conditions with multicolored lights, smoke machines and performers with bright costumes and heavy make-up.
Lighting varied throughout the show but the D3s was more than up to the task, although I got better exposures when I switched from matrix metering to center-weighted (metering and re-composing when the subject was off-center).
Video quality was impressive as well, although I could only view it on a 17-inch Macbook Pro (pardon the shaky video sample...handholding the D3s and a 70-200mm lens when shooting video isn't easy).
Needless to say, I'm anxious to receive a review sample so I can really put the D3s through its paces. But that will have to wait for another time. Meanwhile, check out these first shots. We'll have an in-depth review as soon as we can.
- click here for images and videos
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These are stunning low light images from the Nikon D3s! You won't miss any more important shots just because it's dark.
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On Wednesday, Nikon took the wraps off a follow-up to the pro-level D3 D.S.L.R. with a new model that features advanced ISO and noise-handling capabilities for better low-light photography, as well as a high-definition movie mode.
The new D3s, a 12.1-megapixel FX format camera with a body-only price of $5,200 (that figure will stop most of you here), builds on the platform of the D3. With a redesigned full-frame CMOS sensor and expanded ISO settings up to 12,800 (and a whopping 102,400 ISO using “expanded sensitivity” settings), it should excel in low-light photography. The D3, by comparison, had a maximum ISO of 6400 and an expanded sensitivity that topped out at 25,600.
I met with Nikon several weeks ago and its executives had no photos taken with the D3s at its highest ISO settings to share. But I asked Lindsay Silverman, Nikon’s senior technical manager, if images snapped at an ISO of 102,400 would be jarringly noisy. “Photos at this ISO certainly will have more noise, but it’s better than not getting the shot at all,” he said. Which is a good point.
What’s more, Nikon says tweaks to its Expeed processor and CMOS sensor have improved the camera’s signal-to-noise ratio at higher ISOs. This is achieved, in part, because the D3s’s new CMOS sensor has individual pixels that are larger than those of the D3; larger pixels provide enhanced sensitivity to light and deliver better highlights and shadows, Mr. Silverman said.
And to keep that sensor spiffy, Nikon has added an automatic sensor cleaning capability.
As for movie clips, the D3s has a movie mode that captures video in 720p resolution (1280 by 720 pixels) at 24 frames per second in full manual mode, meaning you can set the aperture and also underexpose or overexpose scenes if you like, Mr. Silverman said. You can also extract a single frame from a video clip and save it as a 9-megapixel JPEG file. What’s more, the D3s has an input for an optional stereo microphone, allowing you to record video in stereo if you use an external mic.
Many of the other D3s specs are the same as the D3: Both have a 51-area autofocus for accurate focusing and a three-inch, 920,000-dot LCD. While they both capture images at speeds of up to 9 frames per second, Nikon says the D3s has an improved buffer that enables continuous bursts that are approximately twice as fast as its predecessor.
Interested? You’ve got about a month to save up. The D3s will be available in late November.
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The capability to shoot high ISO on the Nikon D3s will surely let you shoot in dark areas. I've experienced it a lot where I missed shots simply because it's too dark.
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Nikon have just announced full details for the updated version of their existing D3 model. The DS ‘S’ adds all new features such as a FX CMOS sensor and a new Dust Reduction System.
As reported from Pocket-Lint, customers who pick up the improved version will notice that the new Hi3 ISO setting will now give you an ISO of 102,400.
Also included in the new version is an in-camera NEF RAW editing system, which will let you tweak all sorts of image settings such as balance and exposure, using easy-to-use menu navigation.
If you’re interested in picking up the Nikon D3S, it will be available in December for £4199.99. We’ll let you know when we have a solid release date.
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December is a few more weeks to go. The Nikon D3s is going to be a nice Christmas present!
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We don't want to say Nikon has something of a trend here, but as with most of its major releases in recent memory (c.f. D300s, D5000, Coolpix lineup), the umph of tonight's 12.1-megapixel D3S announcement has been somewhat lessened by a pretty large leak from earlier tonight. Still, let's act a little surprised.
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Apparently, someone leaked out the information about the release of the Nikon D3s.
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Nikon has announced the D3s, the successor to last year's D3, and it comes wading in to the market bragging some pretty impressive specs.
With a redesigned 12.1 megapixel sensor, the pro-level D3s has an impressive ISO range of 200 - 12,800, but with three boost levels to take it up to a whopping ISO 102,400 should you so desire.
There's 720p HD video capture at 24 frames per second, and autofocus that has been fine tuned to support both video capture and Live View as well.
Nice finishing touches include three different crop modes, a quiet shutter release mode for when you need to keep the noise down, RAW processing options in the retouch menu and four manual control levels alongside the new Auto setting.
The D3s will be hitting shelves in the UK in late November, with a price tag of around £4,200. Ouch.
Before you start counting out your pennies, check out what we thought to its predecessor the D3, and let us know if you'll be coughing up the cash below.
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The Nikon D3s
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