Nikon D3X manual Still life Japan

D3X: On Assignment Four of the world's top professional photographers worked with the D3X on a variety of assignments.

For studio shooting, the D3X's	shooting difficult for fashion
resolution is amazing, rivaling	photographers are now diminished
digital medium–format camera	significantly. The fast autofocus and
offerings. Tonal gradation is very	incredible frame rate also gave me
smooth and even, and	the chance to catch
the color rendering	the perfect moment in
is perfect for fashion	ways that a medium-
and beauty. It is always	format camera could
thrilling for me to see	not.
the range of colors in	One of the biggest
my mind realized in the	advantages, however, is
final result, and the D3X	the incredible versatility
did exactly that.	in every kind of weather.
T h i s c a m e r a r e a l l y	Even when shooting in
impressed me during our	the rain, the D3X's brilliant
beach shoot. The beautiful	autofocus was always
tonal gradation allowed	sharp and precise, and
me to experiment freely	the camera's agility and
in difficult light without	rugged build made it
worrying about losing	much easier to handle
detail in the brightest and darkest	than a medium-format camera. No
areas. As I shot that day, I realized	matter what the conditions were –
that with this D3X, the challenges	hot sun, strong wind or even hard
of harsh contrast, backlighting	rain – the Nikon D3X performed!
and sudden lighting and weather
changes that once made location

S t u d i o w o r k i s a g a m e o f millimeters: the slightest move can dramatically change an image and ruin what you have envisioned. The D3X gives me the mobility of

a35mm D-SLR, which opens up completely new opportunities for photographers in my line of work. Without being restrained by a camera stand, commercial and product photographers can now handhold the camera to freely seek an ideal perspective. This can save hours of setup time, as medium- format stands and accessories are cumbersome and require numerous tedious adjustments.

For me, however, the biggest s u r p r i s e o f t h e D 3 X wa s t h e image quality. As a studio still life photographer making my living with expensive medium-format digital equipment, I was skeptical about what any D - SLR could deliver. At the beginning, I was

certain that the D3X images would be vastly inferior to the medium format. The price difference alone between these two systems should be enough to explain the quality difference, I thought.

It did not take long to discover t h a t my p r e s u m p t i o n s w e r e completely wrong. The image quality of the D3X is far better than I anticipated; it would not be an exaggeration to say it was fifty times better than my expectations. The resolution is impressive, and the bokeh reproduction is spectacular, especially when using the PC-E Micro NIKKOR 85mm f/2.8D. Another benefit I see is the D3X's ability to focus sharply with wide-angle lenses in ways that are simply impossible with the medium format. With all of these benefits, I am certain that the D3X will make a big splash in the studio photography world.

The D3X's control layout is virtually	Working fast, as time was tight,
identical to my trusted Nikon D3,	I completed the static shots and
which means that I know exactly	switched to 12 - bit mode for
where everything is and how it	the action shots. I had to keep
works so I can get on with the job.	reminding myself that this was a
However, the huge increase in	24.5-megapixel camera and that I
resolution and detail is	was able to shoot 5 frames
immediately apparent	per second, which was
w h e n r e v i e w i n g t h e	essential to catch that
image on the rear LCD. It	“magic moment” in the
was later, on a computer	Turin traffic. Later, I was
monitor, that I discovered	shooting action shots
image information that I	at night, wide open at
simply couldn't see with	f/2.0 with the AF-S VR
my own eyes at the time.	Nikkor 200mm f/2G IF-ED
Look ing at my files, I	at ISO 800 and ISO 1600.
suddenly realized that I've	Despite the challenging
got the image quality of a	conditions, the shots
medium-format camera in	were full of crisp detail,
the familiar and ergonomic form of	accurate color and incredible tonal
a 35mm D-SLR. I can use my huge	gradation.
range of NIKKOR lenses – including	The D3X is a camera I could walk
many zooms and VR optics – at	around with all day, tackling any
focal lengths not available with	subject without worrying about
medium-format systems. I can also	bad weather or poor light. It makes
use all my Nikon Speedlights and	a perfect companion to my D3.
other accessories.

When Nikon asked me to take a	AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/4G ED VR
D3X camera on my safari in Kenya,	and the AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor
I was at first skeptical. But my	200-400mm f/4G IF-ED. The D3X
reservations disappeared soon after	wo r k e d e x t re m e l y we l l w i t h
I handled this camera. The D3X	each lens despite all the difficult
maintains the incredible ergonomic	shooting scenarios that a safari can
design, ease of menu	present. With the D3X, I
choices and fantastic	get Nikon's exceptional
high-resolution rear LCD	handling, fast autofocus
as the D3, but the most	and an increased dynamic
important addition is its	range, as well as 5 frames
24.5-megapixel FX-format	per second in FX format
sensor. This translates	and 7 frames per second
into detail, detail and	in 10-megapixel DX crop
more detail. An incredible	format. Combine these
amount of information	features with extreme
lies in each full-frame image, but	resolution and NIKKOR optics and I
24.5 megapixels also mean that	know I'll be able to get the pictures
photographs can be cropped into	I want. I was greatly impressed
panoramic formats and still retain	with the D3X. From landscape
amazing detail.	to wildlife, the versatility of the
On this trip, I carried an assortment	camera is truly amazing.
of lenses, but relied heavily on
my two favorite safari lenses: the

Frank P. Wartenberg	Kenji Aoki	Tim Andrew
Fashion (Germany)	Still life (Japan)	Cars (U.K.)

John Shaw Nature and wildlife (U.S.A.)