Just in time for Christmas, Nikon has announced their newest pro-level DSLR digital camera. The Nikon D3s will definitely be on professional photographers' wish list this Christmas.
The replacement to the very successful Nikon D3, the D3s appears to be a great replacement. The D3s retains many of the wonderful features that made the D3 the camera of choice by many professional photographers.
Nikon has improved or added new features to the D3s which will make it even better than it predecessor. One feature that was highly missed in the D3 was a sensor cleaning function. Nikon elected not to include their dust reduction feature in the D3 and this was a disappointment to many photographers.
Another added feature is a video mode. Nikon has included video mode in consumer level cameras, such as the D90 and the D5000. The D3s will be the first pro-level camera it is in.
Unfortunately, the specs look a little disappointing when compared to what consumer level Canon cameras offer. The video mode in the Nikon D3s is only 720p. Compared to the Canon 7D's 1080p, that seems a little low. But I will hold final judgment till I have had time to use the feature.
One thing on the video feature I do like is the ability to use an external microphone to record sound. Other cameras with the video feature that rely just on an in-camera microphone often result in audio that is hard to hear.
Nikon has also improved the buffer in the D3s over the D3. The D3s still captures up to 9 frames per second as the D3 does, but the improved buffer allows for continuous bursts almost twice as fast.
The improvement that most photographers will be talking about is the improvement in low-light situations. The Nikon D3 made many Canon photographers switch to Nikon because of its ground-breaking low noise in higher ISOs.
With the D3s, that has been improved even more. The D3s now has ISO capabilities up to 102,400. The camera is said to work well in ISO 12,800 and with the expanded sensitivity setting, it can go up to 102,400. Compare this to the D3 that goes to 6400 and 25,600 respectfully. Now there will be some noise in the higher ISOs, but compared to cameras available just a few years ago it is greatly improved.
Nikon has taken the lead on noise reduction in low-light situations by following the bigger is better principle. Not the bigger megapixel number philosophy, but actual larger pixels is better.
Canon and other camera manufacturers have continued the megapixel war. Nikon has stepped away from this battle and has concentrated on making each pixel better.
The Nikon D3s has a 12.1 megapixel full frame CMOS sensor. Each pixel is large and collects more light compared to other cameras that has more megapixels. The has been the key to Nikon's improvement in the noise in low-light situations.
The Nikon D3s pro-level digital camera is scheduled to be available in November. The improved sensor for even better low-light noise will make this a popular camera among professional photographers. Since I am a Nikon user, you can feel free to send me one as a Christmas gift.
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