Nikon D3X Review
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- Nikon D3X – The ultimate camera. It is currently the flagship of my arsenal.
- Approx Cost: Approx $7,500 and up
- See the latest prices from Amazon Nikon D3X Body
- See the latest prices from B&H Photo Nikon D3X Body
- Approx Cost: Approx $7,500 and up
The Nikon D3X – An amazing machine
I love it. It completes me.
How’s that for a review? Need I say more?
When I go on photography adventures, this is the main tool in my arsenal. I also carry a Nikon D3S (see my Nikon D3S Review for more).
I will tell you a little bit about my experience with the camera. If you want to geek-out on stats, dimensions, weights, optics, sensor tech, and all that BS, you can grab that off Wikipedia. I’ll simply speak from a practical and personal perspective.
The D3X in vertical takeoff formation
As my regular readers know, I think very intensely about photography and equipment. I want the absolute best, since I may only make it to these locations once in my life. I only have one chance to grab it, and I want to ensure the quality is as good as possible.
I’m pretty much an all-Nikon guy. I don’t get into the Canon vs. Nikon debate. I think it is a silly discussion. They are just about equal, really. Once you start down one path, just stay on that path so you can re-use lenses as new bodies come out. That’s it. End of discussion.
I started with a Nikon D70 and then moved on to the Nikon D2X. I now use the Nikon D3X exclusively.
It is dependable, fast, takes incredible images, and does it all with an eye-popping 24.5 megapixel sensor. Some people will say that is too many megapixels. I ignore those people because I like as many details as possible in my shots. Now, that is too many megapixels for a standard 8×10 print, for example. However, I believe that the future of “looking” at photography will be online. Monitors will continue to get bigger, resolutions will get bigger, and bandwidth will get faster. Imagine a day several years in the future, when people have giant art flatscreens in their house, and your high-fidelity photos will be filling them with incredible walk-up detail.
Most of my work is HDR (about 80%), and the D3X is great for that too. It, of course, has auto-bracketing. My only complaint is that I can only do steps of 1. That means that I normally have to take 5 exposures at -2, -1, 0, 1, and +2. Why I can’t program this thing to step by 2s is amazing to me. Another minor complaint is that the mirror goes up and down between each shot. That is a very silly thing, and it reminds me of some ancient Da Vinci mechanical device. I’m waiting for someone to hack it for me!
Now, in all honesty, the D3X is only, maybe, 20% better than the Nikon D700, if you do not care about megapixels. The D3X is much more expensive. But again, if you simply want the best, and you are into photography where financial reason flies out the window, then you really don’t have a choice, do you?
Photos of the Nikon D3X
I grabbed a few images of the Nikon D3X while I was out shooting.
Shooting in Tokyo. The 2.8 lens lets me shoot through those crossed metal wires and they don’t appear!
The D3X doing some street-shots
IThe huge sensor helps me to capture night images with very little noise
Hi ISO Shooting on a Huge Sensor
What does this mean? Well, the bigger the camera, the bigger the sensor. If you want to take fast pictures in dark situations, you need to increase the ISO. High ISO often means lots of noise, unless you have a big sensor. That big sensor is very sensitive to light and won’t produce as much noise as lesser camera sensors.
The D3X is also exceptional at low-light situations when you are not using a flash. Look at this shot I grabbed at Medieval Times. It was very dark inside even though this looks well lit.
The D3X in low-light conditions with no flash. The shot is at ISO 2000, F 2.8, 1/124 sec shutter speed.
More Information about my Photos
You might notice that I have a special post-processing technique. If you would like to find out more about that, you are welcome to visit my HDR Tutorial.
If you want to find out more about other equipment, I have some HDR Camera suggestions that also discuss a few other lenses.
Sample D3X Images
Last, I will finish by showing some of my favorite images I have snapped with the Nikon D3X.
Any questions about the nature of these reviews? Visit my Ethics Statement. It’s all quite simple!
FANtastic images as always, Trey. I’d love to get a D3x (I’m jealous), but for now, I’m quite happy with my D300.
I am effectively astonished you even wasted time typing this up. The pictures really speak for themselves. Sadly, the D3X budget is far beyond mine, hopefully the D90 will be mine within a few months. One other thing, the website dpreview.com might be very helpful to some readers.
If buying a D3X made me take photos like that, I’d get one in an instant! Good review Trey.
Absolutely love the review, would give anything to own one of these… let’s call it my “holy grail” for now… your end of the world shot is one of my favorites ever, thank you for it
I love your site Trey! It wakes me up every morning and puts me to bed at night – I am not a photographer – but if I was I’d get a D3X to try to be more like you! Keep up the great work!
i love this too <3
Cool, but I hope everyone realizes that it is photoshop/photomatic which makes those photos spectacular, and not the camera itself.
That knight REALLY makes me want to pay a visit to medieval times…*swoon*.
One of these years if I ever have the money, I’ll get something like that and really learn how to use it – I mean if you spend that kind of money, you’d BETTER know how to use it, huh?
Oh, and I LOVE your take on the Canon vs. Nikon battle. I’ve always wondered about that and your comment is perfect. Thanks!
It would also be useful to know which lens or lenses you used to shoot those photos. Surely it’s the camera plus lenses (plus processing) that makes the images.
Yeah, it’s a great camera, Trey, but it’s the photographer that that takes the picture. A good camera helps, but the photographer composes, decides on the depth of field, the time of day to take the shot, and makes many other decisions in the post processing.
Hi Trey,
Is it just me or can you see that on the ‘knight’ photo there seems to be 2 stuck/hot/defective pixels? Not only that, but around the said pixels seems to be very weird artefacting.
Great shots and review nevertheless
I think the D700 is enough, as long as you don’t shoot sport stuff.
Thanks!
Well if you zoom in to most of the photos, you can see the Exif and get a hint of the lens. They are all Nikkor lenses – either then 14-24 or the 28-70
Alex – around those stuck pixels – I have no idea – did not even notice till you told me!
I want one!!
Trey, what is that cube thing on top of the D3x?
It’s a level. If you just google “Green cube level camera” – you can probably find it!
Trey, Love the images! Would also love it if you could work a magic tutorial to talk about HDR and people in your images (how not to get the people to look to HDR, not to have them blur, etc)- the one of the Christmas tree above is amazing, one of my favorites on your site. Thanks for taking the time to post and allowing us to share in your adventures. Great stuff!
As always, great review. I understand that B&H is a sponsor of yours, however, for the small percentage of readers that live in your hometown of Austin Texas like myself, I have to give a plug to Precision Camera. I too have purchased thousands of dollars of equipment from B&H. They provide great service & great prices. In the past I tended to buy the ‘big’ stuff from B&H and the small stuff locally at Precision. I would scout at the local store to see what I wanted to buy & then send the big bucks to NYC for my purchase. Now, Austin, a city of over a million people only has one ‘real’ store left where professional photographers can go and actually try out different equipment. Thus my justification in spending an extra $60.00 when I purchased my $1600.00 70-200 f/2.8 VR. In the big picture (no pun intended) I decided it was worth the rather insignificant difference in price to purchase locally. I encourage photographers to support their local camera stores. Often they will virtually match the price of B&H (it never hurts to ask)& they will be there in your neighborhood when you need them.
Just my 2 cents worth.
John
So Trey,
Would you mind explaining why it is that the 3X can grab so much more light than say a D80 or even a D300? Isn’t your example shot showing great light being captured at midevil times a result of the ISO being at 2000? Does the 3X not make it grainy? Did you use Noiseware on that shot? PLEASE EXPLAIN!!! Thanks man.
Thanks all.
Matt – it is just a much better sensor. That’s all. You can take high ISO shots without much grain… And no – that shot was right out of the camera.
Trey,
You mentioned nothing of the D3. I am set to buy a new camera and have been wrestling between this issue of D3 or D3X. You say its only 20% better than D700, but what about between D3 and D3X? Is there justification in spending $3000 or so more. My take is I see a lot more mega pixels, but I keep hearing that the night abilities and burst speeds were reduced from the D3s. I do much of the same shooting you do, outdoor, cathedrals, monuments, etc and mostly in HDR. Any thoughts?
Rob
Rob – the D3 is a great camera. From what I understand, it’s pretty much the same as the D3X, just with half the resolution. I also believe it shoots a little faster if you are into sports and high-action stuff.
[...] nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the best choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review indicates an improvement over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] over each detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the one to choose. A close Nikon D3x review indicates better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] over each detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the top choice. A close Nikon D3x review demonstrates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its [...]
[...] every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for [...]
[...] over every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the one to choose. A close Nikon D3x review shows better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the top choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review indicates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] last nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the best choice. A close Nikon D3x review indicates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] over every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the top choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review shows better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] every nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the top choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its [...]
[...] every nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the best choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates an improvement over previous D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] over every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the best choice. A close Nikon D3x review shows an improvement over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] every nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the top choice. A close Nikon D3x review demonstrates an improvement over previous D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] over every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the one to choose. A close Nikon D3x review demonstrates better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for [...]
[...] last nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the top choice. A close Nikon D3x review shows better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] over every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the one to choose. A close Nikon D3x review indicates better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] last nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the best choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for [...]
[...] last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review indicates better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
I get the feeling this comes across as more cynical than you intended, or at least I hope so.
What makes these photos spectacular is a convergence of great composition (the talent of the photographer), high fidelity images (the quality of the hardware), and proper post-processing (Photoshop and Photomatix).
If you mean to say that any of these images might have been merely “great” before post-processing gave them the extra pop to push them over into “spectacular”, then I can probably agree with that.
[...] over each nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the top choice. A close Nikon D3x review shows better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] every nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the top choice. A close Nikon D3x review shows better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] last nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the best choice. A close Nikon D3x review indicates better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] over every detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the top choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review indicates better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review indicates better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its [...]
[...] nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for [...]
[...] over every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the top choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review shows better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] last nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the top choice. A close Nikon D3x review demonstrates better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its [...]
[...] last nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the best choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review indicates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] each nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the top choice. A close Nikon D3x review shows better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] each nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the best choice. A close Nikon D3x review indicates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates an improvement over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its [...]
[...] each detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review shows an improvement over previous D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] last nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the one to choose. A close Nikon D3x review shows an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] every nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the best choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for [...]
[...] last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review shows an improvement over previous D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
[...] last nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the top choice. A close Nikon D3x review shows better features over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] over every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the best choice. A close Nikon D3x review demonstrates better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its [...]
[...] every last detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is definitely the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates better features over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its [...]
[...] over each detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is absolutely the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review demonstrates an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its [...]
[...] nook and cranny in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the one to choose. A detailed Nikon D3x review shows an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
[...] over each detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the best choice. A close Nikon D3x review shows an improvement over previous D3 digital SLR, which was widely praised for its ergonomic [...]
Wonderful !
Took delivery of my D3X yesterday. Will keep my D300 which is great but you know when you’ve got everything you can out of it with pro lenses, filters, software, tripods et al.
I now also feel complete.
[...] over each detail in his or her camera, the Nikon D3x is unquestionably the top choice. A detailed Nikon D3x review shows an improvement over an earlier D3 digital SLR, which received positive feedbacks for its [...]
It’s just a tool.
Try the Promote control its hooks up to your Nikon and will give you a mirror lock and will enable you to auto bracket 2 spaces.
http://www.red-door.co.uk/pages/productpages/promote-control-P-CTRL-1.html
Love your site
James
The D700 works for me, may be the DX3 for a second body down the road. $$$$$$$
Loving your work and loving this site, I just stumbled across it yesterday from an @CaliLewis tweet. Cool review and stunning photos. About to jump into a D300s and definitely taking a good look through you lens reviews. As a relative newbie though, what sort of difference will I see with the lenses considering the D300s isn’t full frame? Any tips, tricks, comments, ideas links would be really appreciated!
Cheers,
Daniel
Hi everyone, I am a semi-professional photographer married to a professional photographer. We both have gone through the process of trying and using all the major manufacturers cameras and lens. We are sorry that Trey does not want to get in the debate of Nikon vs Canon because we think that debate is very important regardless of which brand any particular blogger favours. It is important because the debate will allow camera users (or any standard) to make a more informed case than the absence of such a debate will allow. A lost opportunity Trey! Bob Cooper in Bonnie Scotland!
Oops, apologies for the typos in my previois entry! Bob Cooper
Uhm, could you please add an info, if a picture is HDR or not. Would be cool. Thank you.
Great Blog!!
)
masa
CRAP I WISH I HAD $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ haha. like you, i’m one of those people who want the best. I’m still working with an APS sensor. that’s ok. maybe when the D5x comes out i’ll have the money… start saving…
Trey,
I think you missed “buy” from this line:
If you want to the Nikon D3X….?
Hi Trey,
Love the images, you’re a very lucky man. I’m a semi-proffessional photographer in the uk focusing on aviation photography but I’m finding myself doing more and more landscape work. I’m currently using a D3. I’ve just sold my backup body (D2Xs) and I’m looking to buy a new body D3s or D3X. I’ve read many many reviews on the D3X but I can’t decide on my next body. I’m finding I’m drawn to the D3X but everyone I talk to tell’s me I’m waisting my time and should buy the D3s instead of the D3X. Your review of the D3X only reinforced my belief in the D3X. Could you please give me any further advice ?
Hi Trey,
. Thanks for saving me the regular BS. I will stick to your pages often. Warm Regards from Australia: Jacob
I am an almost retired Professional photographer. Still a bit lost in the digital world ye I know I’m late. Recently started selling my Olympus E1 and E3 to return to Nikon. Used the Nikon F2 – F3 – F4 – F5 ( still have the F5 ) for photographing all a pro can do next to a Rolleiflex system since about the mid 1970′s . Now are looking which Nikon D…. to buy. It will be a Nikon for sure , but which one , or shall I stick to film , or shall I retire ( No I do not want to retire I want to become a 120 year old pro ) And living where I do ( see some nice photos at my site ) I should care for the environment and abandon film altogether. But film is so nice to hold and so great fun. Digital is scary I can not see the pixels like I could see grain. Ohhhh digital , yes I have surrendered, and now after your exceptional images , which are simply put impossible to make with most if not all other cameras be it Digital or Film… is no quest anymore you pulled me over : It will be a Nikon D3x , And given the shutter count it will make it with me into my grave
Awesome shots more than prove your point. Guess I better be saving up for one.
[...] photo below is a 5-exposure HDR. It was shot with a Nikon D3X (see my Nikon D3X Review) in aperture priority. The five shots were at -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2. Of course, Leo was moving [...]