Nikon’s new flagship DSLR, the D3s, builds on the groundbreaking D3, which revolutionised the high-speed professional DSLR market on its introduction in August 2007. The D3s has an all-new FX format full-frame sensor and enhanced specification, rugged build and shooting controls. It’s expensive, much more expensive, but as with the D3, it’s certainly a whole lot of camera.

Our quick take

Like its forbear, there really is so much kit within the D3s we could write for another week, but we’ve covered the key areas here and major changes from the D3. In terms of the performance and poise, the D3s is even better than the D3, which was this reviewer's top DSLR when it was introduced. However, the market has moved on since August 2007 and there is a far larger choice of cameras now offering similar attributes.

Some may also ask why the resolution is limited (again) to 12.1-megapixels and others may also ask why the HD video feature is not 1080p, as with the latest Canon EOS models? The answer to the former is simply the better dynamic range afforded by fewer and larger pixels allows for enhanced detail (and sensitivity), so that still adds up in our book.

The D3s is designed to offer a poised, higher performance professional solution and that it does very well indeed. Once again, like the D3 before it, this DSLR is close to a ten out of ten. However, the few minor niggles (low light AF probably the biggest surprise, and the cost) and the way the market has progressed in terms of HD video mean the Nikon D3s achieves a very creditable 9.

Nikon D3s DSLR camera - 4.5 / 5

FORAGAINST
  • Excellent image quality
  • particularly at very high sensitivities
  • great ergonomics
  • design and control layout
  • menu system
  • comprehensive feature set and HD movie capability with external audio
  • Fastest frame rate only available in DX format mode
  • price (the D3s is £800 dearer than the D3 at launch)
  • low light AF hunting
  • bulk/weight

The D3s is pretty much identical to its D3 predecessor and reveals how Nikon has evolved the former camera rather than gone for a revolutionary new model. A D4 this is not which means there could certainly be one of those on the cards in the upcoming year. But speculation aside, the D3s has some significant and not so significant improvements and new features.

The new full-frame sensor is a completely redesigned affair with improved micro lens array to help enable the new high-ISO (low noise) capture settings. This includes a boosted ISO 102,400 mode for shooting in extremely low light without additional light/flash. The low noise image performance "war" between Canon and Nikon, which Canon had the march on for quite some time, were pegged back by the D3. Canon improved things further with the introduction of the EOS 5D MkII and then the EOS 7D but Nikon has pulled ahead once more with the D3s.

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The Nikon D3s almost identical to the D3 in terms of size and design, the most obvious changes are the more intense green colour on the white balance (WB) and ISO buttons on the back; the fact there is now a dedicated Live View control (in which you can also get to the movie capture mode) is also another obvious change.

Other controls remain unchanged and mean if you’ve shot on a D3 (or any other Nikon DSLR for that matter) then the layout is wholly familiar. However, the camera is a hefty beast, particularly with the excellent 70-24mm F/2.8 zoom we had to play with for this test, a test carried out during the worst of the snow and freezing conditions in Kent, with which the camera and battery pack coped well.

At 1.24kg (body only and identical to the D3) and another 902g gives a camera weighing in at almost 2.3kg (with this lens) so wilting violets need not apply. What you get though is a ruggedised and weather sealed camera capable of shooting at up to 11fps (in DX format) or 9fps (in the full frame FX format) in RAW for up to 48 shots in one burst, a vast improvement on the 18 RAWs at a time from the D3.

The new sensor provides the same 12.1-megapixel resolution from the D3 and as with the D3, the upside of this (comparatively modest) resolution means the greater pixel pitch (so bigger core sensitive pixels) means an excellent signal to noise ratio, a ratio even more enhanced by the improvements to the redesigned sensor and improved micro lens array.

Image processing is controlled by Nikon’s EXPEED image engine and it is superb, and with the new sensor, allows the camera’s standard ISO range of 200 to 12800 (ISO 100 to 102,400 in boosted modes) to become a realistic and usable proposition.

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Image noise is so well controlled and as with the D3, we found routine shooting above ISO 1000 no problem. Noise is only really apparent (but very subtly) at ISO 6400 and above, noise in shadows reveals blotches of blockiness at ISO 8000 and it becomes very noticeable at ISO 12,800 and above. Interestingly, areas of smooth featureless colour, such as skies, start to pick up artifacts less quickly.

While the bulk and weight of the D3s mean your average Joe might baulk at carting the camera about with it round their neck, the camera’s handling compensates; it is simply excellent with great ergonomics and easy to use/reach controls.

The integrated vertical grip helps balance the use of the camera too and houses a large lithium-ion battery pack that survived hours of snapping in temperatures as low as -5, shooting 228 images (with plenty of reviewing) and it still reads 74% at time of writing. The camera comes with a dual charger as standard too, and so it darn well should given the price of the camera.

The excellent 3-inch screen has a 920,000-pixel resolution and wide viewing angle making it a great to use, add in the large info display that’s aided by nice (backlit) top and back plate data LCDs and you have information galore. Live View is included and has AF in two modes; hand held and tripod modes and so where you need Live View to aid composition; it works a treat.

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Although much of the D3s is gleaned from the D3, another feature here is the ability to shoot 720p HD movies (with built in and external sound - if you link up a microphone) at 24fps and up to the Hi3 (ISO 102,400) sensitivity setting, making movie capture in low light as flexible as it is in still capture.

The aforementioned external audio connects into a dedicated audio port under the cover on the camera’s side and the HDMI socket also located here is now of the mini-HDMI type, allowing room for the audio socket.

In terms of shooting modes, the D3s has a full complement of the manual shooting options, as you’d expect (aperture and shutter priority, program, and full manual control) and this is now enhanced with Nikon’s Scene Recognition System that uses the AE and AF sensors to assess the subject and pick the “correct” setting for the subject.

This type of mode or feature is common today within many consumer oriented cameras but feels a little incongruous here, but I suppose if it helps get better results, then why knock it? The Picture Control System is still in there and this enables tweaks to each shooting mode and allows pre-settings such as standard, vivid and monochrome and allows you to tailor the way each mode reproduces the image.

Then throw in the power of in-camera RAW processing where image size, quality, white balance, picture control settings, noise reduction, colour space and vignetting control are all available to help quickly process the RAW files, and that can help save a lot of time later, in your post-shoot workflow.

The D3s now has a “quiet” shooting mode found on the drive mode dial just below the flash, bracketing and Command Lock “turret” on the top plate. When active this helps reduce the noise the camera’s shutter and mirror mechanism make when you take a shot, but it’s a subtle difference, the most obvious change being the slower mirror return. Another very subtle but nice change is the pressure sensitivity of some controls has been enhanced and this makes it a far more positive experience using controls such as the AF-On button on the back plate.

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Dual CF Type I/II storage provides ample room for your photos; you can assign which of the two cards has priority, simply use the second card as an overflow when or if the first becomes full or save RAWs to one and JPEGs to the other. However, the D3s brings UDMA media support to the party and this helps get all the data off the camera’s buffer and into the cards more quickly, vital also for shooting the massive 720p HD videos.

Image formats include JPEG (basic, normal or fine) and RAW with simultaneous JPEG capture in each quality setting and you can shoot TIFFs too. You also get four menu banks (denoted A, B, C and D, although you can name them something more meaningful) so that you effectively get four ways to set the camera up and recall them quickly by selecting the corresponding bank of menus.

This means - on top of the four menu banks - there are four custom mode banks too, on which you can layer various custom modes, again for particular camera set-ups you might use repeatedly. Added to the 43 custom options you have 344 possible set-up options in menus and custom modes.

In terms of image quality the metering is handled by a combination of Nikon’s 3D Matrix system and a 1005-pixel RGB sensor, and like the D3, it works amazingly well. However, the (predominantly) snowy subject matter we were forced to shoot (we had weeks of snow) meant the camera would still underexpose, the snow made the metering err as it “thought” everything was brighter than it actually was.

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Exposure compensation and bracketing made it s simple job of dialing in a half stop of exposure compensation to bring exposures back into line.

AF’s controlled by Nikon’s Multi-CAM 3500FX processor which, while very reliable, predominantly dark or very light scenes can fool the AF. And although the focusing has 51-AF points - to which metering can be locked - and you can select and move the AF point of choice around the zones available, or select 11 specific zones and all of which can be tailored to use all or within user specified groups, we found the AF struggled in some low light scenes that the new camera is capable of shooting in, the AF hunting on various occasions.

Colour and white balance control are excellent. Colour is natural in the camera’s default “standard” mode but there are so many ways to tweak the colour performance (along with everything else), that you can pretty much dial in whatever colour parameters you need, depending on what you want from a subject.

In terms of white balance the D3s is as peerless as the D3 and even the auto WB control provides a nice neutral effect in mixed lighting but it’s not so much fun in very low, mixed lighting. In terms detail you loose a slight amount at higher ISO settings as the EXPEED engine works through what noise there is and at the very high sensitivity settings, blocks of noise in shadows can overwhelm detail that is there. Nevertheless, when you look at the sensitivity in use, it’s remarkable, there’s an image as good as there is to even quibble over.

The non-boosted sensitivity settings provide plenty of pristine detail and while on the original D3 it was only above ISO 1000 that the image processing could be seen to affect fine details to any extent, the D3s’ new sensor and its enhanced circuitry mean that limit is not reached until you hit ISO 2000, but only visible (as with the D3) in fine portrait detail such as skin pores.

To recap

This evolution of Nikon’s D3 full "FX" frame professional digital SLR brings new features such as HD movies into the frame. A new 12.1-megapixel sensor with improved circuitry allows superb image quality at very high ISO settings makes the D3s a stunning pro model