Nikon D3X

There are lots of brands in the digital SLR camera market that like to represent themselves by putting their best flagship DSLR camera on the frontend and Nikon happens to do it with one of their most recent – the Nikon D3X camera. This is the camera to get for very serious professionals that cannot settle less than top of the line quality.

Nikon D3X | Camera Details

Nikon D3X’s Position in the D Series

The Nikon D3X is a close cousin of the Nikon D3 and represents the latest iteration of the previous Nikon digital SLR cameras having an X at the end which denotes high resolution. This spanned way back before the new millennium where the D1 was born and now nearly 10 years later, the D3X represents just how far digital SLR cameras have gone in terms of resolution.

The Nikon D3X came pretty late too and in fact was the latest of three Nikon DSLR cameras that was introduced back in 2008 so in terms of design, the Nikon D3X borrows a lot of features from the high-end Nikon D700 and high speed counterpart flagship, the Nikon D3. Because these two cameras both got positive reception, this is considered good news for the Nikon D3X despite its extremely high price tag. In terms of price and resolution, the Nikon D3X proudly serves as the most powerful full-frame digital SLR camera in the Nikon line-up.

Design

The Nikon D3X bears the same number “3” so there isn’t much to expect in terms of the design if you tried the Nikon D3 before. In fact every single aspect of the camera is identical to the D3 – save for the D3x logo found near the shutter button.

If you are not that are not familiar with Nikon DSLR cameras, you’ll find it rather simple getting to know the camera on the outside. Looking at the front view, you can see two sub-command dials with one horizontally laid out on the top and one vertically laid out on the near bottom. Turning these dials control the aperture as well as other settings if held with other buttons. Each dial is complemented with a shutter button for taking the picture. There other set is used to make vertical shooting much more convenient. A lock is there as well to prevent accidental pressing. Of course the golden FX logo found on the lower right indicates that it is a full-frame camera just like the D3 and D700.

The left side is the place where you will be plugging in the wires for connectivity. There are two rubber flaps that conceal these connectors with the smaller flap solely concealing the USB 2.0 port since that port will be frequently used. There is a second and larger flap that protects three additional ports including the A/V Out, DC In, and HDMI port. This is also where you can find the battery lock where you need to twist it and then pull it towards the left to unlock so you can pull the battery out from the other side. The metal ring where the strip is placed can also be seen.

The top part of the camera is where you can find the LCD display which highlights some useful camera statistics and some other buttons conveniently represented by icons. Everything looks the same as the old D3 model.

The back side is where you can see the large 3.0 inch display, all the buttons that you need for navigating the interface, and a memory card door where you can place two CompactFlash or microdrive memory cards. The bottom part is rubberized as well and serves as the place where you put the tripod in.

Features

It is the on the inside where the Nikon D3X literally blows away all the other DSLR cameras in terms of resolution offering a massive 24.5 megapixel resolution. This means that you can take very large pictures with 6048 x 4032 resolution. It is the 2nd full frame DSLR camera as well further boosting the image quality. The FX format further expands the wide-angle lenses by increasing the dynamic range and at the same time reducing the noise even when the high ISO 6400 level settings are used.

The D3X doesn’t go the speed route because that is the Nikon D3’s job, but you can still expect a graceful 5 frames per second when using the continuous shooting mode at full FX-format resolution. You can even shoot at 7 frames per second if you cut the megapixels down to 10 so the speed doesn’t lag too far behind the Nikon D3.

The powerful image quality features literally take care of the rest of the camera though and serves as the main highlights of the camera. First it houses the same powerful EXPEED image processing technologies that made all the current digital SLR cameras famous. No matter what ISO setting is used, high quality and reduced noise is ensured. It also produces superb image quality pictures through a 160bit processing pipeline that smoothens gradations and supports 12-bit and 14-bit depths.

There are two live view shooting modes for better flexibility with the other one being the Tripod Mode supporting 27x zooming without sacrificing focus accuracy. This is all displayed on a large 3.0 inch display making it excellent for quick reviews.

Two other technologies are combined as well to further enhance image outputs. The Scene Recognition System which was previously introduced improves the AF performance by intelligently setting the auto exposure and then lets the 1,005-Pixel 3D Color Matrix correctly adjust the white balance in a speedy manner. Images can be further customized with the Nikon Picture Control.

Bottom Line

The Nikon D3X supports the same accessories including both the GP-1 and WT-4a Wireless Transmitter as the D3 so there is no major weakness there. It is a tad slower than the speedy continuous shooting Nikon D3, but the extremely high resolution makes the Nikon D3X a real photographers dream.

Average User Rating:

• “This camera feels exactly like a D3 because they are identical. It feels very solid and rugged, it doesnt feel like it would easily break. The 24mp is surprisingly clear. I tried the 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8 and the 85mm f/1.4. All three produced amazingly detailed and clear pictures that had a lot of pop to them. I’m not sure what the JPEGs were like but in my opinion if you are shooting this camera I hope for your sake you are shooting RAW. For my day to day setup I am using a 5D mk II and a 24-70f/2.8 and I was astonished how much more detail the D3x seemed to pick up. The amount of detail and tonal gradation was significantly higher.” – M.Kalkman (CA, USA)
• “I’ve shot a lot with a D200, even more with a D3, and most recently with the D3x. I must say – the images this camera produces are truly stunning. Paired with a suitable lens, the detail is amazing and other qualities, the more subjective ones like contrast and color, are hard to describe but are excellent and for my work, exceed the D3’s already excellent capabilities. But all the detail in the world can’t help you if you can’t count on the camera to deliver the shot and that’s where handling comes into play. The D3 is the best-handling DSLR body in the world – a combination of the autofocus system and the camera controls and the metering system. The D3x handles identically to the D3, which is exactly what I would have hoped for. I use this camera mostly at ISO 100; the files delivered are amazingly noise-free. Sure, any camera can deliver at its base ISO but you truly need to study these files to really understand the cleanliness and enlargement potential. All in all, this is exactly what I hoped Nikon would deliver. Sure, I’d rather it was cheaper but if you want the best image quality in digital 35mm format that money can buy, this is it.” – Greg R.

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