BEST of On The Road - November 2007 - Traveling with the New Nikon D3

On The Road
November, 2007

Hi and welcome to this edition of On The Road. This months Workshop at the Ranch article is devoted to images I made with the new Nikon D3 digital SLR camera and its performance regarding sports in low light conditions, but my photographic interests and business have been expanding over the past few years to include other subjects beyond athletic events and so I spent some time using the new marvel of photographic equipment for some additional image making.

Let me begin by saying that I believe the Nikon D3 will encourage photographers to think in new and creative ways. Nikon's new 12.1 megapixel FX Format CMOS Image Sensor produces files with so much detail, clarity, pixel depth and dynamic range that one might think the picture came from a camera boasting 17 megapixels. The extremely low noise at high ISO settings of 1600, 3200 and even 6400 is no less than remarkable and will perhaps become the camera's legacy in history. Nikon's new 3D Focus Tracking and Signature Recognition System works beautifully. Don't forget nine!, count them, 9 frames of continuous shooting, Super Density LCD Monitor, Live View, Picture Control Adjustments, Virtual Horizon Graphic Indicator, Duel Compact Flash Card slots, etc, etc, and the list goes on. AMAZING!

Well, you can find all sorts of information, commentary and opinions on the internet regarding the D3, but, there are only a few photographers that have had the opportunity to use this camera in real working situations and conduct daily assignments and location shoots for an extended period of time. The last 3 months have been wonderful for me with regards to making pictures with the D3 on a daily basis. While this months Workshop at the Ranch features images from football games taken with the Nikon D3 I decided to showcase some landscapes and Lightpaintings in an effort to illustrate the quality, advantages, versatility and usefulness of this camera for those who are not photojournalists or sports photographers.

Image #1 Irena ... I love to make Lightpaintings. I have been making them for about 8 years and always look for an opportunity to make something new even if it is not an assignment or commissioned job. A good friend and talented photographer Allison Earnest (see examples of her career images at www.allisonearnestphotography.com) was wanting to learn more about Lightpainting for a project she was working on. Fashion and Portraits are Allison's specialty and are a far throw from my field of sports. We decided to get together and team up for this image of Irena. I would teach Allison how to Lightpaint and she would schedule a model and location, select the fashion style and compose the scene. I guess I got the easy part. Allison was a quick study and in a short time made some beautiful lightpainted images of Irena and the pick up truck. I also made a few pictures of Irena during our class session and liked this one. Normally I would use a low ISO of 100 or 200 for most Lightpaintings but thought that ISO500 might allow me to use a smaller light source for this slightly larger than life size scene. I used a small Inova XO3 LED flashlight to illuminate Irena and the truck. I also used one Brinkmann 2 million candle handheld rechargeable spot light to backlight the truck and tree. I already knew the exceptionally low noise capability of the D3 at high ISO settings like 1600, 3200 and even 6400 but was anxious to see what a long exposure of 30 seconds at ISO500 might look like. Perfectly clean. No Noise at all and a wonderful increase of Dynamic Range that revealed great detail in the shadow areas with beautiful, clean edges. This was a significant improvement over the D2Xs and D200. Nikon D3, ISO500, 30 second exposure at f8, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, WB 7000K, Gitzo Tripod and Gitzo Ball Head, Inova XO3 LCD Flashlight and One Brinkmann Q Beam, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #2. Teton Star Trails ... Very long exposure times are usually required for large outdoor landscape Lightpaintings and so I arrived a day early for my favorite workshop of the year, Rich Clarkson's Photography at the Summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with the hope of making a Lightpainting with the new D3 using a very long exposure time of 8 minutes. A year ago I had made a similar image of this cabin near Antelope Flats east of the Teton Range but could only achieve a 3 minute exposure before the image began producing what is called "long exposure blue noise" due to the lengthy exposure time. I liked the image but the exposure time was not long enough to have sweeping star trails in the sky. This 8 minute exposure time worked quite well, remained clean and was a long enough exposure time to allow the stars to sweep across the sky, (or allow the Earth to rotate as the case may be.) As with the image of Irena the new Nikon 12.1 megapixel FX Format CMOS Image Sensor of the D3 provided a significant increase of Dynamic Range that revealed much more shadow detail and clean edges. Nikon D3, ISO250, 8 minute exposure at f7.1, Nikon 24-70mm Lens, WB 4000K, Gitzo Tripod with Gitzo Ball Head, Nikon MC-20 Electronic Cable Release set at 8 minutes, Two 2 million candle power Brinkmann Q Beam handheld rechargeable spot lights, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #3A. Wyoming Morning ... Rich Clarkson's Photography at the Summit workshop (www.richclarkson.com) is a joy to be involved with and there is always breathtaking scenery for staff and students to photograph. On my way to breakfast one morning I noticed the sun breaking through the clouds on the freshly snow capped Teton Range over Spring Creek Ranch. The clarity of this image is remarkable and the shadow detail is incredibly clean. By the time I reached Jackson Hole for the Summit workshop I was becoming much more acquainted with the D3 and had discovered the Picture Control adjustments. The Picture Control adjustments are very useful in applying rendering to an image at the time of capture. It's a little like choosing film that you like because of its color or contrast qualities. Previous cameras have featured some picture enhancement adjustment modes but the results were less than perfect quality. The Picture Control adjustments in the D3 are easy to use and provide brilliant quality. The 3 inch Super High Density 920,000-dot VGA LCD monitor on the back of the camera is very helpful in determining how much of an adjustment you want. The LCD monitor is so "Hi Def" as I would call it, that it is easy to see even the slightest change in color when making a Picture Control adjustment. I chose the Vivid setting which seemed to closely replicate Velvia film. Going deeper in the Picture Control menu I found I could adjust precise levels of Sharpness, Contrast, Brightness, Saturation and Hue. I noticed that even though I increased Sharpness, Contrast, Brightness, Saturation and moved the Hue setting to add a touch of yellow to this image the results were uncompromising with regards to quality. The 24X36 print struck from the file is beautiful. Nikon D3, ISO250, 1/100 at f9, 24-70mm f2.8 Lens, WB 8000K, Lexar 8G Flash Card. [NOTE: within Picture Control is a Black & White setting that allows the photographer to filter a B&W image with color tone adjustments, love it! .... I might abandon my Photoshop B&W formula that I wrote about in last months Workshop at the Ranch in favor of the D3's Picture Control B&W with filters ...it's that impressive.]

Image #3B. Wyoming Morning (close up cropped detail) ... I have cropped the image for a closer study. This extreme enlargement of the image illustrates the edge detail in both the sunlit areas and in the shadow areas of the mountains.

Image #4A. Aspen Leaf with Rain Droplets ... I enjoy teaching small off camera flash lighting techniques at many of workshops I work with. The Photography at the Summit is no exception and so I conducted some classes using an off camera SB800 Speedlight with the D3. The ISO of 640 was perfectly clean with no noise at all. Normally the photographer would set up a tripod and use a low ISO of 100 or 200 but the advantage of using a noise free ISO640 made this picture quick and easy with less to carry and set up. Sometimes I want to shoot and move on location and do so without backpacks and tripods. It's nice to be able to take a perfectly clean quality image with out carrying a lot of luggage. This idea echoes my thoughts from this months Workshop at the Ranch article stating that with the Nikon D3 camera ISO400 and ISO800 will now be considered LOW ISO settings. Nikon D3, ISO640, 1/250 at f5.6, WB 8000K, One Nikon SB800 Speedlight as a remote off camera flash with a power setting of -0.3 with LumiQuest Snoot "pinched" with a paper clip (see past editions of Workshop at the Ranch and On The Road articles), Nikon SU800 Commander on the D3 Hotshoe to trigger the remote SB800, Lexar 8G Flash Card. I used the Picture Control setting of Vivid and increased the sharpness, contrast, brightness and saturation in the Picture Control Vivid menu.

Image #4B. Aspen Leaf with Rain Droplets (close up cropped detail) ... I have cropped the image for a closer study. The clean file at ISO640 is remarkable and the details that the new Nikon 12.1 megapixel FX Format CMOS Imaging Sensor are able to produce are wonderful.

Image #5. Gold and White ... The weather was broken overcast with snow showers all the way home from Jackson Hole to Colorado Springs. Usually a 10 hour drive via I-80 and I-25 I decided to take the long way home down through the NE corner of Utah and then east across the Rocky Mountains for more picture opportunities. The snow and scenery was so lovely that I had to stop several times adding 5 hours to my journey, but it was worth it. This Aspen grove had a fresh dusting of snow as the clouds parted for a brief minute, so I took a picture. Nikon D3, ISO320, 1/200 at f10, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Zoom Lens with TC14E 1.4 Teleconverter, WB 7140K, Picture Control Vivid with increase of contrast, brightness and saturation, rolled down Car Window to help steady the lens, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #6. The Red Aspen ... If you read On The Road regularly you may have noticed my wife Susan and I have taken a few road trips this fall. After I returning home from Wyoming and rested a day or two we both decided to see what the tiny town of La Veta near Cuchara Pass and the Spanish Peaks looked like with fall colors. WOW!, perhaps Colorado's best kept secret....ooops, guess I said too much. Normally this kind of picture would require a tripod and low ISO of 100-320 to have perfectly clean noise free quality. A slow shutter speed would also be required because of the low ISO setting, but it was breezy which made the Aspen leaves quake. A faster shutter speed would be necessary to stop the movement of the leaves and for that a higher ISO which normally would mean some noise and a less than perfect picture to make a print from....Oh well, no can do, guess I'll go home....No, I didn't go home, ISO640 is clean and noiseless .... YES!, I can easily photograph this beautiful red Aspen even with the wind...No Noise, No Tripod, No Problem. Nikon D3, ISO640, 1/400 at f7.1, Nikon 200-400mm G VR Lens, WB 6670K, Picture Control Vivid with increased sharpening, contrast, brightness and saturation, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #7A. Gotham ... My efforts photographing with Nikon's new D3 camera over the past 3 months culminated at the Photo East EXPO trade show in New York City. I was asked to give several presentations over three days featuring my commentary and images taken with the D3. I decided to walk back to my hotel from the EXPO one foggy evening so I could take pictures. Lots of interesting scenes and buildings including this one somewhere near 47th and 7th. I really like this picture. I think Batman leaves in this building. It has such a Marvel Comic feeling. Again the moment would usually call for a tripod but I did not have one handy so I opted for an ISO of 1000 with full confidence of a clean image with the D3. Nikon D3, ISO1000, 1/60 at 3.5, Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 Lens, WB 3330K, Picture Control Vivid with sharpness and contrast dialed down slightly, Lexar 8G Flash Card.

Image #7B Gotham (close up cropped detail) ... I have cropped the image for a closer study. Even at ISO1000 the file remains extremely clean. The edge detail looks fantastic as even the curtains and potted plants are defined in the windows.

Well, I hope this edition of On The Road is helpful to those of you who are interested in the new Nikon D3 camera. Any photographer regardless of their chosen field will find the D3 a quantum leap of technology and quality. The nature/landscape photographer will have greater dynamic range, the wildlife photographer will now have 9 frames/second of continuous shooting, the wedding photographer will now be able to capture moments during candle lit ceremonies, portrait photographers will be able to use soft available light more readily and sports photographers will freeze the action in even the poorest lit venues. And we will all have more clarity, more shadow detail and more quality in our pictures. I have full confidence in this piece of equipment as being one of the most significant breakthroughs in the industry. As I stated in Workshop at the Ranch and at the Photo EXPO trade show in New York City I truly believe the Nikon D3 camera will be spoken of as a land mark development in photographic history along with such technology innovations as the motor drive, auto focus and even the digital revolution we enjoy today. The door to opportunity and new ideas in the making of photographs is wide open with the Nikon D3 digital SLR camera. I find it exhilarating to be part of such an exciting era of advancement in my profession.

See you next time On The Road. .........Adios, Dave