More Osaka images - this time, the source is French

Derek posted a thread pointing to this source of Nikon D3 samples from web site of Fédération Française d’Athlétisme.

The link above takes you to a D3 photo. You’ll see two thumbnails above the photo - click the left one, and you’ll see Canon 20D pics (keep clicking the left thumbnail to see more 20D images); click the right thumbnail to see more D3 photos.

Due to the volume of images, you do get a mix of D3 and 20D pics, so you might want to try skipping several pics by changing the sequence number in the section of the URL that says mediaid=nnnnn. For some unknown reason, the Canon 20D photos are really bad - here’s Sean’s opinion.

Alternatively, go to their Osaka 2007 photos page, where you’ll see links on the right for each day of the event. Clicking the link takes you to the gallery of images for that particular day. Using this technique, I managed to locate this superb photo of Christine Arron doing her 100m dash (the bokeh’s fantastic! - data says Foc. 500,0 - I wonder if that means the new Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4G ED VR lens was used?).

If you ask me, I think I prefer the D3 photos. And perhaps this photo is one reason why many have the opinion that the Nikon D2Xs camera is not at its best when high ISO is required (compare with the D3 equivalent).

Of course, this is provided the camera identification for each photo is legitimate, since there is absolutely no EXIF data available. Gerard McGovern, in a thread about the trial of the Canon EOS 1D Mark III’s latest firmware Version 1.1.1, confirms that there are a few D3 cameras in use at the games.

For what it’s worth though, they’re great images to look at regardless of the camera used to shoot them.