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| Nikon D3s Review |
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A $5000 camera is not within reach for most people. So this Nikon D3s review is a bit different—it's a peek at the near future of photography where shooting in any lighting condition is possible. It's really exciting.
ISO Is the New Megapixel: A Case Study
Nikon effectively declared the pixel war over with D3 two years ago: Its $5000 flagship shot a mere 12 megapixels—less than many point-and-shoots—and began the low-light arms race. The D3s again forsakes more megapixels for more light, sticking with 12 megapixels, and it's a tiny miracle of engineering.
The D3s isn't a thoughtless product rehash—as you might expect given that Nikon's simply tacked an 's' onto the end of the D3. Unlike the D300s, which didn't progress all that far in the two interceding years, the D3s is steady evolution at its best: It offers roughly double the low-light performance as the original D3.
What All This Low Light and ISO Business Means
A brief explanation of low-light digital photography and ISO is in order. The focal point of engineering with the D3s, and other cameras of this caliber, has been boosting their ability to pick up more light (because a photo = light). That photo directly above with a 100 percent crop in the loupe? Taken at night at ISO 102,400.
The D3s uses a completely new sensor that refines elements of the original D3's sensor, like a new gapless microlens architecture that directs more available light onto the sensor's photodiodes. With film, ISO speed is a standard that indicates how sensitive the film is to light—higher speeds are more sensitive. With digital cameras, when you set the ISO speed, it's supposed to be equivalent to the film standard. In low-light conditions, you boost the ISO, so you don't need a long exposure time or wide open aperture. The problem with cranking up the ISO is that when you boost the camera's sensitivity to light (the signal) you're also boosting its sensitivity to noise—which can be sexy with film, but isn't really with digital photos. The D3s shoots up ISO 102,400, far beyond any film you could buy at Walgreen's. (Does Walgreen's still sell film?) At that level, you're talking night vision, practically, though the resulting noisy ass photo's nothing you'd want to print.
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