Nikon D3s hands on first look

Angela Nicholson was one of a select band of journalists that got to try out a pre-production Nikon D3s at its European press launch. She explains why there's more to it than just adding video technology to the D3.

At first glance the Nikon D3s might look like a D3 with added video technology, but there are quite a few other changes that have been made to the camera. The full-frame (36x23.9mm) sensor, for instance, may have the same 12.1-million-pixel count and pixel pitch (8.45µm), but I am told it is a new device designed with maximising light sensitivity as a primary goal. its primary goal. For starters, James Banfield, Nikon UK Professional Support and Training tells me that the sensor itself has been made thinner to boost the camera's low-light ability. Also, as with the D3, the micro lenses are gapless, but they have been reworked to improve light transmission and allow more of the light that passes through the lens to reach the sensor. The circuitry has also been altered to help reduce the introduction of noise.

Sensitivity

Perhaps the most headline worthy consequence of the changes made to the sensor is that Nikon has managed to push the maximum sensitivity setting of the D3s to the equivalent of a whopping ISO 102,400. This is an incredible two stops further than was possible with the D3, which has a maximum expansion setting that is equivalent to ISO 25,600. The highest native, or non-expansion, setting available on the D3s is ISO 12,800. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to publish the images that I shot with the pre-production camera that I used at Nikon's European press-launch in St Andrews, Scotland, but the images taken at ISO 102,400 are usable. They look similar to shots taken on the D3 at ISO 25,600. Chroma noise is visible, and some have banding in the darker areas, but the beauty of such a high setting is that you can use movement-freezing shutter speeds in remarkably low light. When I used the ISO 102,400 setting to allow me to handhold the camera when shooting in a dimly lit room, the images contained more detail than I was able to see in the gloom. The results at ISO 12,800 are also very impressive and are a good match for images taken at ISO 6400 with the D3.

Amateur Photographer Magazine

Poll:

Nikon D3s hands on first look - Introduction

Wednesday 14th October 2009

Subscribe now »

Latest Issue

Advertisements