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发表于 2007-8-24 08:34
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Features of the Nikon D3 include:
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A CMOS sensor that has a capture area of 23.9mm x 36mm (which is effectively identical to the size of a frame of 35mm film) and records 12.05 million pixel photos when the entire sensor area is active. Nikon calls this FX Format mode.
Like the D2Xs, the D3 will also operate with a smaller capture area, but at about 16mm x 24mm, the size of the capture area is larger in the D3 and is roughly equivalent to the sensor size of all Nikon digital SLRs since the D1. In D3 lingo this is called DX Format mode; the photos taken in this mode contain 5.14 million pixels.
While it's widely known that Nikon uses sensors designed by Sony in most of its digital SLRs, the D3's sensor is an original Nikon design. The only other digital SLR models to also feature a sensor created by Nikon are the D2H and D2Hs, and as with those models, Nikon isn't revealing their manufacturing partner. The D3's sensor has a pixel pitch of 8.45µm and utilizes 12-channel readout to enable its 9 fps burst rate at full resolution.
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A total of three capture modes:
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FX Format This mode uses the full 23.9mm x 36mm capture area of the sensor and produces 12.05 million pixel photos. The D3 will shoot continuously at up to 9 fps in this mode.
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5:4 This is for portrait or other shooters who want a photo with the proportions of an 8 x 10 rolling off the sensor. It uses a 23.9mm x 30mm capture area and produces 10.06 million pixel photos. The D3 will shoot continuously at up to 9 fps in this mode.
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DX Format This mode uses a 16mm x 24mm capture area and produces 5.14 million pixel photos. The D3 will shoot continuously at up to 9 fps in this mode. In DX Format mode, the camera will also shoot at 10 fps or 11 fps, but with some limitations. At 10 fps, automatic exposure locks and the exposure throughout the burst is based on the meter reading prior to the first frame in the sequence. At 11 fps, exposure also locks before the first frame plus autofocus is disabled.
The camera can be configured to automatically switch to DX Format when a DX lens is attached, and DX Format can also be manually selected at any time with non-DX lenses.
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All-new processing circuitry that features 14-bit analog-to-digital conversions and a 16-bit processing path. The core image processing technologies contained in the D3 go under the umbrella name of EXPEED. When shooting NEFs, it's possible to specify whether you want them to contain 14-bits per colour or 12-bits per colour of information (for smaller file sizes and a few more frames in extended bursts), as well as as whether they are uncompressed, compressed (visually lossless, 40-55% compression rates) or losslessly compressed (numerically identical after decompression, 20-40% compression rates). The addition of a truly lossless compression option is a welcome addition.
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An ISO range of 200-6400 in 1/3 step increments, plus L1 (100), H1 (ISO 12,800) and H2 (ISO 25,600). By using a relatively large pixel size - in about the last four years, only the D2H/D2Hs have contained a sensor with larger pixels in Nikon's lineup - the company has positioned themselves to tackle their main competitive weakness against Canon: poor high ISO image quality. Larger-pixel sensors tend to have better signal-to-noise ratios than smaller-pixel ones, and based on a look at ISO 1600 - ISO 25,600 frames produced by prototype D3 bodies, including a handful we shot ourselves, the camera looks like it will produce low light photos that are both massively cleaner and more usable than the D2Xs and in the same ballpark as Canon's EOS-1D Mark III (which is the D3's primary competition). Nikon claims a dynamic range bump of 300%, and we suspect that this claimed improvement is almost entirely because of the lower noise characteristics of the sensor.
Canon's 10.08 million image pixel, 10 fps digital SLR is capable of producing great quality in available darkness. We'll need to shoot with a production D3 under real-world conditions to find out whether it approaches, meets or exceeds the EOS-1D Mark III in high ISO image quality. But based on what we've seen so far, it's safe to say that the D3 will produce photos of dramatically better quality than the D2Xs at ISO 1600 and up.
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A camera startup time of 0.12 seconds, shutter lag of 37ms, mirror blackout time of 74ms, standard top flash sync speed of 1/250 and top shutter speed of 1/8000. The shutter mechanism is rated to 300,000 cycles.
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An improved viewfinder. It's so much larger and sharper than the D2Xs, it reinforces how much room for improvement there has been in Nikon's pro digital SLR viewfinders, going all the way back to the D2H. When set to FX Format mode, the viewfinder image is large and crisp, much like looking through a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II. In DX Format or 5:4 modes, the liquid polymer network technology of the D2Xs carries over to the D3, to mask off the non-capture areas of the frame, rendering the outer portions of the viewfinder image dark and fuzzy. In all three modes, the viewfinder displays 100% of the capture area.
The viewfinder image area is also much less cluttered in appearance, thanks to the adoption of a style of AF point display that's the same as Canon's 1-series cameras. Now, an AF point is visible (and glowing red) only when it's active, as compared to the always-visible grid of AF points in the D2Xs.
The D3 easily has the best viewfinder to grace a Nikon digital SLR.
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A 51-area autofocus system called Multi-CAM 3500, featuring 15 cross-type AF areas positioned around the centre (they operate as cross-type sensors with lenses whose maximum aperture is f/5.6 or faster). The 51-area grid forms a wide rectangle across the frame, with minimal spacing between each AF area. In addition to basic single area autofocus, the camera can be configured to use 11 of the AF areas in a layout that mimics that of the D2Xs, or it's possible to choose a group of 9 or 21 AF areas in a cluster that's movable about the 51-area grid (much like Group Dynamic AF in the D2Xs, only with more AF areas in the group). It's possible to employ all 51 areas simultaneously as well when the camera is set to Auto Area AF.
When the autofocus system is set to something other than a single, manually-selected AF area, the camera will employ a a new technology in the D3 called the Scene Recognition System to aid in the subject acquisition and tracking process. The Scene Recognition System uses information about subject colour, derived from the 1005-pixel RGB metering sensor, to help the autofocus determine where the subject has moved to in the frame and shift the active AF point accordingly.
For the type of shooting we do, Nikon's autofocus has trailed Canon's in both the midrange and pro cameras for several years (which is partly why, even though we use both systems and train on both systems, we've strongly favoured Canon cameras since 2004). There's no way of knowing yet whether the D3 will be able to keep pace with Canon's best now, and particularly the EOS-1D Mark II N, a camera that makes so many sharp frames of fast-action sports like soccer and basketball in our experience. We can say that in limited testing of a prototype body, the D3's ability to hold and repeat focus on static subjects is impressive, but whether the Multi-CAM 3500 will be what helps Nikon replace a few white lenses on the sidelines is an open question. Nikon's marketing materials make it clear that the D3 is aimed squarely at the news and sports photographer, so they're clearly going to try and wrestle shooters over from the other brand.
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A 3-inch (diagonal) rear LCD that is so crisp and clear you'll never want to use another rear LCD to review your pictures again. Its 920,000-dot resolution makes it possible to judge critical focus when zoomed in to nearly full magnification. In fact, it's like looking at a screen without pixels; they're so small as to be invisible when looking at photos at even abnormally close viewing distances. The only thing we're not sure of yet is how accurate the brightness of the display is, and as Nikon has typically tuned their rear LCDs to render photos lighter than they actually are (when viewed under typical indoor conditions), even when screen brightness is adjusted all the way down, this a concern for the D3 too. But there's no question about the clarity of the display, it's awesome.
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Info Please: The shooting information screen (Screenshot courtesy Nikon)
Nikon has also revamped the display of shooting information when reviewing photos, gathering it on one screen and using icons in place of text in some cases to enable more information to be crammed onto the screen. In addition, the rear LCD can also be used as a live display of camera settings info, including shutter speed, aperture, autofocus and more. The layout of the camera settings info screen is similar to that of the D40. There are two colour schemes offered.
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Picture Control. Nikon has blended its Color Mode and Image Optimize options of previous cameras into a new Picture Control menu that closely mimics Canon's Picture Styles. There are four Picture Control settings - Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome - the first three corresponding to the colour looks of Color Mode I, II and III in the D2Xs, respectively. Each setting can customized. Customization options are Sharpness, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Hue. It's possible to store up to nine custom Picture Control combos, as well as save them to a CompactFlash card and load them into another body.
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Times Two: The twin CompactFlash slots of the D3. Click to enlarge (Photo courtesy Nikon)
Dual CompactFlash card slots, both of which support the UDMA protocol for a Nikon-specified write speed of 35MB/second with UDMA-capable cards such as Lexar's 300X and SanDisk's Extreme and Ducati Edition lines.
Write options include:
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Overflow The camera will automatically begin writing to the second card when the first card is full.
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Backup The camera will write the same photos to both cards.
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RAW Slot 1 - JPEG Slot 2 As its name implies, NEFs are written to the card in the first slot, and JPEGs are written to the card in the second slot.
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LiveView with autofocus. When enabled, the rear LCD displays a real-time view through the lens. Nikon's iteration of LiveView includes an optional grid overlay, brightness adjustment, zoom and two autofocus modes.
The first, Handheld mode, uses the camera's 51-area AF to determine focus, and to do that it drops the mirror briefly, interrupting the LiveView image in the process.
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Sharpen Up: LiveView's Tripod mode in action (Screenshot courtesy Nikon)
The second, Tripod mode, uses the image sensor itself to determine focus, employing a method Nikon calls Contrast AF. It's slower - you can see the lens' autofocus dance around the correct point of focus for a second before locking in - but the LiveView image isn't interrupted, and you can set focus from anywhere in the frame, not just within the AF grid. It also works when the Live View image is magnified. Tripod mode is cool.
The LiveView image refreshes at 15 fps, which makes it feel somewhat herky-jerky compared to the silky-smooth 30 fps of Canon's EOS-1D Mark III. But it more than makes up for that with Tripod mode autofocus. It's possible to manual focus as well.
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Nikon's specification for the D3's burst depth, when set to FX Format and the card is a SanDisk Extreme IV (or, presumably, other similar fast, UDMA-capable cards), is 64 Large Normal JPEG, 17 NEFs (14 bit) and 20 NEFs (12 bit). For a camera that can shoot at 9 fps, the NEF burst depth is on the skimpy side.
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Real-time image processing options that include lateral chromatic aberration correction and Active D-Lighting. Either or both of these can be applied automatically in the camera to finished JPEGs or TIFFs; the lateral chromatic aberration correction will work with any Nikkor autofocus lens past and present, while Active D-Lighting has three settings: High, Normal and Low and differs from the in-camera D-Lighting first introduced in the Nikon D80 in that the D3's variant applies contrast correction as well for a more natural appearance to the final photo.
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Video out that is now HDMI, at playback resolutions up to true 1080i (in addition to 480p, 576p, and 720p). Video out is possible of the LiveView image also, but at 640 x 480 pixel resolution only.
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A Virtual Horizon Adjustment feature that is both cool and useful and will almost certainly replace a hot shoe bubble level for Nikon photographers that need to shoot pictures with straight horizons. We don't know what the level of precision of the internal detection sensors are, but in testing it's clearly as or more sensitive to left-right camera movement than a typical bubble level (which you'll still need to orient the camera front-to-back). Virtual Horizon Adjustment works when the camera is horizontal, vertical and even flipped upside down, but not when the lens is pointed at the sky or ground. When enabled, leveling can be done when looking through the viewfinder, on the top display or via a fun graphic on the rear LCD.
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Accompanying the D3 is a new wireless transmitter, the WT-4/4A. It support both wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g plus 802.11a) networking, runs off its own battery and with Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 software, enables remote viewing of the LiveView image as well as camera settings adjustment. It's designed to ride on a belt, separate from the camera.
There's more, including:
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An AF fine tune option for compensating for autofocus miscalibration with certain lenses or all lenses.
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A Retouch Menu for applying image effects and creating new finished files right in the camera.
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My Menu for convenient access to commonly-used functions and settings.
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New Option Picture Control software for creating and managing Picture Control settings, and a new version of Capture NX that will incorporate Picture Control (enabling settings to be applied to images from older Nikon cameras as well as the D3 and D300, also announced today).
If the autofocus performance is top-notch and the high ISO image quality is in the same league as Canon's EOS-1D Mark III, Nikon will have an intriguing camera in the D3. The Nikon D3 is slated to ship in November 2007 at an expected street price of US$4999 in the U.S.
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狗仔卡
发表于 2007-8-23 08:51
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显身卡
发表于 2007-8-24 17:04
