# The Nikon D3s



## Robert T Higaki (Jan 31, 2010)

I just bought this baby recently. I have completed my own ISO test and you can view the results on my website:http://www.rxphotos.net/Photography/unofficial-high-ISO-test/11'979''_AmDDj#777234443_tv2AD
You can make your own conclusions. 

                                               Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## sizzlingbadger (Jan 31, 2010)

Auto WB on these camera's is usually very close. Why not fix the WB in LR then you could have shown off that too  The high ISO capabilities of that camera are awesome.

BTW... that's a picture of the Beatles not the Rolling Stones (I'm a big fan of both)


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## Brad Snyder (Jan 31, 2010)

Bob, very nice. Have you played with them with Lr3, with the revised NR? Only chroma NR is working yet, but if the luma NR is as good, I think folks are going to see even more spectacular hi-ISO results.


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## sizzlingbadger (Jan 31, 2010)

Here you go, now we can see the beautiful colours in those guitars


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## Robert T Higaki (Jan 31, 2010)

[quote author=sizzlingbadger link=topic=9'85.msg61235#msg61235 date=1264966313]
Auto WB on these camera's is usually very close. Did you shoot RAW ? If so why not fix the WB in LR then you could have shown off that too  The high ISO capabilities of that camera are awesome.

BTW... that's a picture of the Beatles not the Rolling Stones (I'm a big fan of both)
[/quote]

I was just joking about the Stones; it is too obvious who is back there. As my signature indicates, I have a mind of a slide shooter. As a true slide shooter, I tried to anticipate the color problem by playing around the the Kelvin scale before shooting. I tend to show exactly what I shot. I rarely alter images which may explain why I am not learning LR as fast as others. Oh, yes- I shoot only in RAW.

Brad,
  I have not used LR3 at all but I do have Noise Ninja. A friend of mine just emailed me, asking me to run the image at ISO 1'2,4'' through Noise Ninja.
I have not done that yet. 

                                           Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## Robert T Higaki (Jan 31, 2010)

Nik,

   Thanks for fixing the color( colour); I could have done that myself.

                                      Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## sizzlingbadger (Jan 31, 2010)

He He, I just wanted to see them in all their glory, I used to play and own Fenders / Gibsons so have a soft spot for them ! (I was bit slow with the Beatles joke, it was very early)


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 1, 2010)

I have updated the site with two more pictures. One was 'clean up' with Noise Ninja. The last shot- well it is self explanatory!!!!


                                          Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## Brad Snyder (Feb 1, 2010)

Fender Strat, Gibson Les Paul, Martin D-35 for me. (And some miscellaneous, as well)

Here's a bad picture, from the wife's P&S, cropped hard.

www.purpleumbrellaphotos.com/temp/Pip%2'Band.jpg


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## Brad Snyder (Feb 1, 2010)

Is that you in the pix Bob, or the unknown 5th Beatle?


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 1, 2010)

Brad, 

   Good choices on those guitars! Still- a nice shoot. 

   Yep- that is me clowning around!

                                Bob-the slide shooter at heart


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## sizzlingbadger (Feb 1, 2010)

I had a blonde Telecaster and Black Les Paul Standard but I gave up years ago and now just have a Yamaha FG411 acoustic to play about with. I have drums now instead :icon_twisted:


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## Brad Snyder (Feb 1, 2010)

[quote author=sizzlingbadger link=topic=9'85.msg61282#msg61282 date=1264992473] 
....... I have drums now instead .........

[/quote]

Well that explains everything.......


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## sizzlingbadger (Feb 1, 2010)

Animal !


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## johnbeardy (Feb 1, 2010)

Robert, a different angle on noise..... Have you tried the quiet shutter optional setting on the D3s? A friend has avoided Nikon for years because he needs almost-silent shutter release to photograph during performances. I'd be very interested to know if Nikon have finally silenced one of their cameras.


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 1, 2010)

John,

   No, I have not. I am getting ready to go to work so I will look into that afterwards.

                                             Bob


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 2, 2010)

Sorry for the delay but we have to deal with eight hour time difference plus my eight hour work shift. 
The D3s does have a Quiet mode but I am not too impressed with it. I can still hear it; in other words, it is not silent.
John- were you implying that the quiet shutter would make the noise less??? I am going to assume the answer is yes because of the time difference. I tried one shot at ISO 1'2,4'' on Quiet mode; it looks the same to me so I did not bother to post it on my site.

                                    Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## johnbeardy (Feb 2, 2010)

Robert, I only meant "noise" in the sonic sense. It sounds like the benefit of the D3S's high ISO performance would come at the price of being thrown out of the concert hall!

John


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 3, 2010)

Sorry for the misunderstanding!

I think my next test is: the Monterey Bay Aquarium where tripods and monopods are banned. Flash photography is forbidden in many parts of the aquarium. 

                                      Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 12, 2010)

I have done another test using an old Rolling Stones album(London label). Again, I have uploaded large files for you to scrutinize. Enjoy!                                http://www.rxphotos.net/Photography/unofficial-high-ISO-test/11'979''_AmDDj#786677285_e4SQd

                                      Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## johnbeardy (Feb 12, 2010)

My friend has tried the D3s out and found the shutter release noise was acceptable. But the most interesting thing was that he's going to be able to switch to two D3s bodies plug lenses and converters, for less than the cost of upgrading his two 1DMk3 bodies to 1DMk4. Nikon are being very friendly encouraging him to switch. So I hope I'm soon going to get my hands on some very high ISO images to play with.


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 17, 2010)

Gee whiz- John-

  That is a drastic switch.

   You can shoot in very low light but you cannot shoot in the dark( I tried!!!). I just want to make one final comment: 
If you cannot see it, you cannot shoot it. 

                         Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## Kiwigeoff (Feb 17, 2010)

Robert, you may want to look at this site. Alistair has some stunning images - from a Nikon of course!!  http://www.availablelightimages.com/articles/technical-writing/night-light


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## Kiwigeoff (Feb 17, 2010)

Oops it double posted, kinda funny as I got a server error message on the first post!!


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## johnbeardy (Feb 17, 2010)

[quote author=Robert T Higaki link=topic=9'85.msg61936#msg61936 date=1266376488]
Gee whiz- John-  That is a drastic switch.
You can shoot in very low light but you cannot shoot in the dark( I tried!!!). I just want to make one final comment: 
If you cannot see it, you cannot shoot it. 
[/quote]
Big switch, like a divorce, but he was really disheartened by Canon failing to fix his Mk3 bodies' focussing problems and early reports on the Mk4 (Robgalbraith.com) hint at something similar. Nikon let him have a pair of D3S bodies for a live job and while it was unfamiliar, he wasn't losing any frames at all. Add that to the quiet shutter release, high ISO performance and the deal....

John


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## happycranker (Feb 18, 2010)

All the D3s is now reviewed on DPReview and there are also comments about the quiet mode, which did not look particularly great.


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 18, 2010)

Big switch, like a divorce, but he was really disheartened by Canon failing to fix his Mk3 bodies' focussing problems and early reports on the Mk4 (Robgalbraith.com) hint at something similar. 

Yes, I recall vividly on Polar bear trip in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada(Nov 2''7). I met a very good photographer who is a Spaniard physician and pracitices in the UK. With any typical photo tours, you get all kinds of information from your fellow photographers. So. I went up to Miguel L. and asked him how he likes his new camera(Mark lll). He said this right in my face, "Rubbish!" Me-"rubbish???" Then, Miguel explained the autofocus problem to me. 

Geoff- Thanks for the link!

                                        Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## johnbeardy (Feb 24, 2010)

Robert, have you had any issues with D3s raw files not being correctly rotated in LR?


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## Mark Sirota (Feb 24, 2010)

John, perhaps double-check "Auto image rotation" in the camera's Setup menu.


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## johnbeardy (Feb 24, 2010)

Yes, that's what I wondered though I thought it only applied to what one saw on the camera back, not to the raw file. It's not my camera (I was only looking at a series of ISO 128'' shots) and I can't recall needing to do anything with my D7''.


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## Mark Sirota (Feb 24, 2010)

There's another one for playback -- "Rotate Tall" in the playback menu.


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## Robert T Higaki (Feb 25, 2010)

John,

  I apologize for the slow response. I was in Yosemite going after the Horsetail(fire fall) shot. http://www.rxphotos.net/Landscapes/Yosemite-CA/76764'6_WcdoB#79584'134_VH57y
  I have no issues with rotation aspect.
  But, going back to the waterfall shot, I did notice the focal length information is faulty. I know I shot this picture at 25'mm. If you click on photo info, its says 4''mm which is wrong. I just completed a quick test comparing the D3s vs D3 with the 2''-4''mm lens. The D3s does have trouble "reading" the focal length on the zoom. 
  I will call Nikon right after I post this message.

                                      Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## Robert T Higaki (Mar 2, 2010)

Upon further testing with three cameras- D3s, D3 and D3'' and consulting with Nikon tech, the problem with the focal length information is my lens not D3s. I am able to replicate the same issue with all three cameras. Hopefully, it could be as simple as a dirty contact but I am not going to worry about it. ( I sent Nikon a large, unaltered file from D3s. Nikon determined that all the embedded information associated with the image is normal).                        _[/]_                                    Bob- the slide shooter at heart


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## Robert T Higaki (May 24, 2010)

I went out to do a whale watching tour using the D3s + 2''-4''mm/F4 + 1.4 teleconverter + Sandisk 16GB Extreme Pro and the D3 + 7'-2''mm/F2.8. In my opinion, shooting off a boat while it was moving up and down and side to side along with the swells was the toughest situation I have ever encountered. I took advantage of the D3s' 48 RAW buffer. Dealing with quick moving dolphins, I set both cameras at 9fps and I machine-gunned. I shot nearly 24 GB in two hours. Using the D3s as primary, I shot nearly 2'Gb taking advantage of the second card slot(4GB).
Suffice to say, I am impressed with the performance of the D3s and the Sandisk Extreme Pro. In fact, I have bought a second card for my back up camera(D3). 

                                       Bob- the slide shooter at heart(yeah, I know-I could duplicate this if I were shooting film)


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