The D3 will be used by Robert to photograph the events in the upcoming Beijing Olympics 2008.

The exact page where Robert mentions the switch is on Page 2 of the article on PopPhoto.com, and I quote:

I put a lot of thought into what I am bringing and what I am packing for this trip. So you’ll get a little sneak preview of the next Sports Shooter “In The Bag” column. We recently switched to Nikon, so [with the full frame D3] the 600mm becomes a more important lens than it did when we shot with cameras that had a 1.3x crop.

I think my everyday gear will be:
- 2 Nikon D3 bodies
- 1 Nikon D300 body
- 600mm f/4
- 200-400mm f/4 zoom
- 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom
- 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom
- TC-14 1.4x converter
- TC-17 1.7x converter
- SB800 Speedlite

That’s a huge load of gear that’s being used to cover the event.

Robert’s also posted more information on the Beijing Olympics on SportsShooter.com (which Robert founded).

The 30-June-2008 SportsShooter newsletter has Robert cursing about his damaged Nikon gear.

It was acceptable on his D2X, but performed way below par on the full-frame (FX) D3 camera at apertures of f/8 and below.

He has decided to purchase Nikon’s 14-24mm lens as a replacement.

Several Nikon D3 owners have reported improved autofocus performance after updating the D3 with v2.00 firmware.

And this improved AF is with non AF-S lenses, for instance with the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF and the Nikon 60mm f/2.8D Micro-Nikkor.

View a larger version of the picture and read the related forum thread here.

In that post, Stany also commented that the new Nikon D3 firmware v2.00 has improved AF (autofocus) performance with non-AF-S Nikon lenses. The slight hunting experienced previously with some AF-S lenses has also been solved.

The photo was shot in RAW mode and converted using Nikon Capture NX2.

More shot data here: f/16, 1/400 sec, handheld.

This page has two versions of the Nikon D3 User’s Manual, printable and non-printable.

The printable version needs you to input your Nikon D3 serial number, while the non-printable version doesn’t.

The size of the PDF download file is approximately 17.3 MB.

Having the Nikon D3 user guide on your computer is a convenient way of locating information quickly.

See a list of other Nikon manuals.

With the Canon, all AF (autofocus) points are linked to the IR illumination assist beam, while on the D3, not all 51 points are linked to the IR beam from the Nikon SB-800 flash.

Because of this, it’s best to change the AF custom setting on the D3 to only use 11 points rather than all 51 so that’s it’s quicker to access the AF points that are linked.

After changing this camera setting, Josephpapa’s D3 now matches the Canon 1D3 in terms of initial focus lock speed, but with 40% greater accuracy.

The portion of the Nikon D3 manual that Josephpapa referred to in his post is probably the following (from page 195):

If that’s the case, read Keith Snell’s post, in which you’ll also find a link to a watermark script that can automatically read the Copyright info from the EXIF and emboss a watermark on the image using the data.

19-Apr-2008 Update: Nikon has withdrawn the firmware 1.10 update and disabled downloads of the files. Read this forum post for the link to Nikon’s announcement and the reactions to this recall.

17-Apr-2008 Update: A bug has been discovered with this firmware. David R Lane experienced the same thing while shooting a 14-bit RAW burst sequence, and later discovered that the problem doesn’t happen if the D3 is put into 12-bit RAW mode - this is a temporary solution.

For me, two of the biggest new enhancements introduced with firmware 1.10 are:

1. You now get to control the degree of de-vignetting the D3 applies to images
2. Automatic ISO now works on a larger range of shutter speeds - you get Auto ISO all the way down to 1/4000 sec instead of the previous 1/250 sec. This is very useful if you need to need to freeze fast motion.

For more details and download information, see this piece by DPReview.

If you’re having trouble installing the firmware, be careful where you drag and drop the files into. The firmware update files need to go into the root folder of the CF card, rather than into a subfolder - please refer to this, and this link.

Somebody on DPReview.com managed to dig up this juicy piece of information from the B file of the the v1.10 firmware set - looks like a 24.4 MP D3X is on the way!

You might also like to gauge owner reactions to the new firmware by reading through this hot discussion.

Click the thumbnail below to access Peter’s 2008 Paris gallery (don’t forget to click the Original link below each individual photo for best viewing):

The related forum thread discussing these photos is here, and I list some of the more interesting points:

1. Peter is impressed by the fast and responsive AF (autofocus) even in low light, colors and high ISO capability of the D3. High ISO performance is far superior to his other cameras, the Nikon D2H and D200.
2. Good high ISO performance means that a tripod was not needed most of the time, as the ISO can be boosted without worrying about noise (color remains great even at ISO 3200 or 6400) and handholding the camera at low shutter speeds. For the 1/1.6 seconds Eiffel Tower shot, the D3 was braced against a wall.
3. For postprocessing, Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Lightroom were used. Peter recommends http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/ for tips on using Lightroom. For those who like the U-point technology found in Nikon Capture NX but don’t like using the software, Nik Viveza, which is a plugin for Photoshop, can be used as an alternative.
4. On camera settings, the photos were taken in JPEG Large / Fine mode and Auto White Balance. Picture Control used was Standard with Sharpening at +3. Peter prefers JPEG files as they’re faster to work with in Photoshop / Lightroom. The Redynamix Photoshop plugin was used to create the HDR effect from a single image.
5. Only a single lens was used to capture the photos, the AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8D IF-ED

Amazon: This is a predefined link for Nikon D3 configurations on Amazon.

B&H: Here’s their D3 page.

J&R: Shop for the Nikon D3 SLR 12 Megapixel Digital Camera Body at J&R.

Search multiple stores: Here are links to Nikon D3 search results on Shoplinc and Shopzilla