Scott Kelby Gushes Over The Nikon D3

Some people have all the luck, right?

I, like many others, really wish we could get our grubby little hands on Nikon’s shiny new wonder machine, but in the meantime, we’ll have to make do with D3 reports from folks like Scott.

In this article, Photoshop Guru Scott says of the Nikon D3:

“Bill did a demo for the class last night, and even showed images shot at 6400 ISO and there were literally gasps in the room at the low levels of noise. You’ve gotta understand; this isn’t just an improvement in the noise and detail—this is way beyond that. Without sounding corny (though it still will), this is like a new dawn in the digital camera era, and now I can see where noise will soon be a non-issue. I was fully expecting to be impressed with the D3’s low noise, but I honestly wasn’t prepared for this. I was blown away. We all were.”

… and …

“Bravo to Nikon for making a camera that is just a joy to shoot (the feel of the shutter is amazing), that is smart (it holds two memory cards at once; and has a double battery charger as well), and takes some amazingly sharp, crisp, low noise photos.”

Not a full-blown Nikon D3 review by any measure, but an extremely fun read all the same.

My favorite sections from Scott’s Nikon D3 Q&A post are:

• Q. I love Nikon, but is the D3 going to be worth shelling out that much money? I’ve heard rumors in the past of Nikon not going full frame because of loss of information around the edges… does the sensor in the D3 rectify this?
  A. It’s a really amazing, full frame camera (I noticed no loss of info around the edges whatsoever) and worth every penny, if you need it for your work (in other words; if the feature set matches what you do for a living, or if you’re a rich doctor).
• Q. What did you like best about the D3? Least?
  A. Of course, I loved the low noise at high ISOs, but I try to shoot at as low as an ISO as possible, so for me the low noise is a bonus; not a requirement most of the time. I did love the new larger, crisper LCD panel on the back. I was surprised at what a difference it made. Plus, the menus are big and bright, and much more readable all the way around.

  I love the ability to use two memory cards, and all the ways you can configure them. I thought the airplane-cockpit-style leveling device was very clever, but I didn’t find myself using it in real life (though I probably would at some point). One thing I dearly love, (and this will probably sound silly), but it’s the ability to use the Main Control Dial to scroll though the images on the LCD, rather than the Multi-Selector switch. To me, that was almost worth the upgrade, which just proves to me once again that it’s “the little things” that sometimes make the biggest difference. I loved the feel of the shutter button–I think it feels better than any Nikon’s ever made (at least on a digital SLR), and the whole camera just has a wonderful feel in your hands. The images it produces are warm, crisp, sharp, and I was just delighted overall at the quality of the images. What do I like least? The price. I wish it was lower, but if you look at the competition, it’s really a very competitive price.

And here’s a Nikon D3 photo from Scott to make one drool even more.