Nikon D3X

Photo answers review

Photo answers rating

Features & handling
Nikon’s biggest selling point for this camera is that it’s a serious rival for medium-format. Sorry Nikon, but it’s not. Even the most basic 18MP medium-format camera has a huge image quality advantage. It’s all about sensor size – a huge medium-format sensor outperforms even the best 35mm-size sensor, before you factor-in things like medium-format’s full 16-bit file processing and no anti-aliasing filter.
But what the D3X does do is offer image quality that’s the closest you can get to medium format, but in a body that’s totally usable, portable and flexible. The autofocus is the best in the business, offering 51 AF points and dynamic tracking. The metering is unflappable and the handling is so good it’s easy to switch between the myriad modes. In addition, there’s Live View, all the menus are easy to navigate, and you can customise just about every function. Nikon’s wireless flash system is second to none, its lens quality is amazing – although the range of fast primes isn’t on par with Canon just yet.
The D3X is built like a tank, yet feels so natural in your hand the weight almost disappears. The battery life is truly amazing, the body is weather-sealed to keep out dust and water and the rear screen is the biggest there is with the highest resolution. It really is the king of cameras.

Performance
Where the Nikon camera really wins is in its amazing image quality, matched to real-world ease of use.
At its base ISO of 100 the camera outperforms anything else on the market. Skin tones are smooth, detail resolution is fantastic and noise in shadows is virtually non-existent. On some of our landscape pictures there was some fringing where the land met the sky, for example. But it wasn’t objectionable and could be fine-tuned in post-processing.
When you start to crank the ISO dial upwards as the light drops, noise does start to appear but it’s much better than on many cameras. It’s not in the same league as the D3 for resolving shadow detail and suppressing noise at high ISO, but the D3 is exceptionally good at that.
After taking hundreds of frames with the D3X in a wide variety of conditions, it’s obvious that this isn’t just a D3 with a Sony a900 sensor in it. The sensor may be made in the Sony factory, but it’s a very different beast. Nikon designed the sensor and the image processing software to drive it and has done an amazing job.

Verdict
If you simply must have the ultimate image quality available from a camera and medium-format is not an option due to its price, bulk, pedestrian speed or lack of lenses, then you have to splash out on the Nikon D3X. There really is no other camera that comes close.
Of course, it’s not a match for its faster D3 brother as a sports or lowlight camera – but it was never meant to be. In the studio or on location where there’s plenty of light, or you can lock the camera down on a sturdy tripod, there’s nothing better. As long as you have Nikon’s pricey pro glass mounted on the front and great technique for getting everything sharp.
It’s a better performer than the Canon EOS-1Ds Mk III in image quality and autofocus, although the range of fast prime lenses isn’t as good. But that’s a small price to pay for owning the new best, but most expensive, DSLR camera in the world.

Product specification

Street price   £5499 body only
Effective resolution  24.5MP
Sensor type   35.9x24mm CMOS
Crop factor   Nikon FX (approx. full-frame)
Lens mount   Nikon F
Exposure modes  P/A/S/M/Auto ISO
Metering modes  3D Color Matrix II evaluative, centre-weighted and spot
ISO range   100-1600 (expandable 50-6400)
Shooting speed  5fps (7ps in DX crop mode)
Card type   Compact Flash I/II
LCD monitor size  3in (920k dot)
Aspect ratio   4:3, 5:4 or 3:2 in DX crop mode
Live View   Yes
Autofocus   51-focus point dynamic AF tracking, single-point AF, Auto area AF
Integrated cleaning  No
Built-in stabilisation  No
Weight/size (wxhxd)  1220g/159.5x157x87.5mm