Nikon D3x

Color (13.51)

The first of our tests is for color accuracy, and the D3x did well here. We measure how closely the camera captured by the camera matches the known values of the X-Rite color chart we use for testing purposes. The D3x is comparable in accuracy to the D700 and 5D Mark II, slightly worse than the Nikon D90 and performed rather better than the Sony A900.

For this test we illuminate the X-Rite ColorChecker chart to an even 3000 lux, photograph it across all the color modes the camera offers, and then analyze the resulting images using Imatest software, which tells us how accurately the camera captured the colors. The D3x has three color modes (normal, neutral and vivid), with different saturation and contrast settings for each. The most accurate of these was neutral, so this is the mode we tested with throughout the review. We base our score for this section on color accuracy results in the most accurate color mode, with a penalty for substantial under- or over-exposure. More on how we test color.

Below you can see the samples of the individual color patches of the X-Rite color chart (the ideal) and those captured by each of our comparison cameras in their highest scoring mode. The names in the left column are those used by X-Rite for each patch.

Camera Color Comparisons					Expand
	Ideal	Nikon D3x	Nikon D700	Canon EOS 5D Mark II	Sony Alpha A900	Nikon D90
Dark Skin
Light Skin
Blue Sky
Foliage
Blue Flower
Bluish Green
	Ideal	Nikon D3x	Nikon D700	Canon EOS 5D Mark II	Sony Alpha A900	Nikon D90
Orange
Purplish Blue
Moderate Red
Purple
Yellow Green
Orange Yellow
	Ideal	Nikon D3x	Nikon D700	Canon EOS 5D Mark II	Sony Alpha A900	Nikon D90
Blue
Green
Red
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

The D3x produced particularly accurate color results with blues, pinks, yellows and light greens. It struggled more with olive, skin tones, and reds. It slightly over-saturated, even in neutral mode. As you can see from the chart above, the D3x performs on par with two of the other full frame cameras, and better than the Sony A900 while a little worse than the D90.

Color Modes (3.00)

The D3x has three color modes (called Picture Controls by Nikon): Standard, Neutral and Vivid. Monochrome is also available, but not shown below. There are substantial customization controls for each mode, so finicky photographers won’t feel constrained by these choices. All of the color modes can be have their sharpening and contrast shifted. The non-monochrome modes also let you change saturation and hue, and monochrome can add filters (yellow, orange, red and green) and tones (sepia, cyanotype, red, yellow, green, blue-green, blue, purple-blue and red-purple). If you have Active D-lighting (dynamic range optimization) switched on, contrast and brightness adjustments are ignored. Once you’ve made these adjustments, you can either use this as the new version of that preset, or set it up as a custom mode in one of nine slots, which can be renamed. You can also save your Picture Controls to a CF card, use these same settings with your other Nikon SLRs and upload and share them with others. Up to 99 controls can be stored on a card, and transferred to the camera when needed.

Of the modes shown below, Neutral is the most accurate, then Standard and Vivid

Color Mode Comparisons				Expand
	Ideal	Standard	Neutral	Vivid
Dark Skin
Light Skin
Blue Sky
Foliage
Blue Flower
Bluish Green
	Ideal	Standard	Neutral	Vivid
Orange
Purplish Blue
Moderate Red
Purple
Yellow Green
Orange Yellow
	Ideal	Standard	Neutral	Vivid
Blue
Green
Red
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

White Balance (10.68)

The D3x white balance performance is one of the few areas we felt slightly let down by the camera. It underperformed compared to the competition, on both automatic and manual settings. More on how we test color.

Automatic White Balance (9.39)

The first part of our white balance test involves shooting an X-Rite ColorChecker chart under strictly controlled light sources simulating incandescent, cool white fluorescent, and daylight sources. These images are then tested for color error using Imatest software. You’ll notice in the graph below that the D3x had a much higher error with incandescent bulbs than other light sources, a tendency in the vast majority of cameras.

Custom White Balance (11.96)

With a custom white balance, we expect much higher color accuracy than with auto or preset WB, so the scoring is much more demanding on this test. The D3x did quite well with the usually problematic incandescent, but it stumbled over daylight illumination a little.

The D3x didn’t deal with daylight illumination as well as many other cameras, though the difference wasn’t very significant. It tended to make the images a bit cooler than they should be.

The D3x handled the always troublesome incandescent illumination quite well, in one of the few areas it outperformed the D700. However, it was still noticeably inaccurate.

With cool white fluorescent bulbs, the D3x introduced the same error as every camera tested here except the Canon 5D Mark II, and compensated too far into the warm end of the spectrum.

White balance was one of the few areas where we saw the D3x struggle, even a little. It had more trouble with daylight illumination than some other cameras, and both automatic and custom settings were less than stellar.

White Balance Options (12.50)

The wide array of white balance presets includes seven types of fluorescent bulb, in keeping with the camera’s overall pattern of granular control.

The white balance presets can all be shifted along both the amber/blue and green/magenta axes, with 6 steps in each direction. In this case, a step is the equivalent of 5 mired, a unit of color temperature shift that takes into account that changes are more obvious at lower color temperatures. While you’re shooting, you can adjust along the amber/blue axis by holding down the white balance button, then turning the front dial, but strangely you can’t adjust on green/magenta in a similar manner.

White balance bracketing can only be used along the blue/amber axis, in increments of one (five mired), two (10 mired) or three (15 mired) steps. From two to nine photographs can be taken in the sequence.

For reusing manual white balance settings, there are five available slots, d-0 through d-4. D-0 is where the image is stored if you take a white balance while shooting. This can then be saved to one of the other four slots. Alternatively, d-1 through d-4 can be loaded with white balance settings from images stored on the memory card.

The white balance presets can all be shifted along both the amber/blue and green/magenta axes, with 6 steps in each direction. In this case, a step is the equivalent of 5 mired, a unit of color temperature shift that takes into account that changes are more obvious at lower color temperatures. While you’re shooting, you can adjust along the amber/blue axis by holding down the white balance button, then turning the front dial, but strangely you can’t adjust on green/magenta in a similar manner.

White balance bracketing can only be used along the blue/amber axis, in increments of one (five mired), two (10 mired) or three (15 mired) steps. From two to nine photographs can be taken in the sequence.

For reusing manual white balance settings, there are five available slots, d-0 through d-4. D-0 is where the image is stored if you take a white balance while shooting. This can then be saved to one of the other four slots. Alternatively, d-1 through d-4 can be loaded with white balance settings from images stored on the memory card.

Long Exposure (11.51)

The long exposure test looks at how the camera performs at shutter speeds ranging from one to 30 seconds, and the D3x handled the challenge admirably, scoring better than any other camera except its full frame sibling, the D700. For this test, we shoot at 20 lux illumination, and test color error and noise at one, five, 10, 15 and 30 seconds, with long exposure noise reduction on and off. More on how we test long exposure.

We looked at the color error across the five shutter speeds we test at. We found that the color error stays pretty even across the test, but jumps at 30 seconds, due to over-exposure with the really long shutter speed.

With these long exposures, the noise levels stay around 0.7%, and fall off with the longer exposures. You’ll notice that long exposure noise reduction doesn’t improve the situation, which is something that we’ve seen across a large number of cameras. Long exposure noise reduction functions by taking a second exposure the same length as the first, but with the shutter closed. The theory is that you can subtract the noise of the latter from the former, but since image noise is inherently random, it isn’t an effective solution, and sometimes actually makes matters worse.

Compared with the other cameras, the D3x does better than any bar the D700. It maintains good color accuracy and low noise across the entire test.