Nikon D3x

	Hardware Summary
• Viewfinder slightly uncomfortable, but excellent field of view • Three LCDs, two of which are monochrome • Very good battery life • Can use two CF cards at a time • Industry standard ports allow for easy cable replacement
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Sensor (3.00)

The D3x has a full-frame, 35mm sensor, measuring 35.9mm x 24.0mm. It has 25.7-million pixels in total, 24.5 effective, putting it beyond the Canon 5D Mark II (21.1-megapixels) and substantially higher than the Nikon D700 (12.1-megapixels), but equivalent to the Sony A900 resolution (24.6-megapixels).

The D3x has no automated dust removal system, but can make use of Dust Off reference photos to eliminate known particles from images using Nikon Capture NX 2 software. First, a reference photo must be taken of a white area, in which dust will show up clearly. Nikon NX 2 can recognize this, and post-process images to remove spots using this information.

Having a 35mm sensor means that the camera's sensor matches the dimensions of 35mm film, so lenses have their full 35mm perspective, with no crop factor unless you intentionally attach a lens designed for a non-full-frame camera.

Viewfinder (7.00)

The viewfinder offers 0.7x magnification with 100% field of view, which means what you see will exactly match what you get.

The viewfinder with shutter open and closed

The default eyecup for the D3x is very slim, with minimal padding, which is slightly uncomfortable, and bespectacled users may not be huge fans. Of course, there are many alternatives available as optional accessories.

The diopter adjustment for the camera is above and to the right of the viewfinder, and must be partially pulled out from the body to be adjusted, like the dial of a watch. It can be set from -3 to 1 m^-1.

Above and to the left of the viewfinder is a small lever that brings down a sliding cover that prevents light leaks that might throw off the meter reading when shooting on a tripod.

Shown here is the information displayed through the viewfinder.

					AF area
				Center-weighted metering area
	Focus points
								Exposure

Exposure mode

Focus indicator

AE-lock

Shutter speed lock

Aperture lock

ISO

Exposures remaining

Flash-sync

Aperture

Metering

Flash

Battery

Flash lock

Shutter speed

LCD (10.10)

The D3x has three LCD screens, one full-color 920,000-dot screen, and two monochrome LCDs with basic shooting info, one on the top and a smaller one on the back.

The primary LCD is designed to mirror the look and feel of a monochrome LCD when showing shooting information. Information is displayed as light grey text against a dark gray background, but the colors can be reversed. The screen can be set to seven levels of brightness. It remains off most of the time, but is brought to life with the Info button. The only direct camera control you have via this screen is setting the focus area.

LCD Panel
Both of the monochrome LCDs can be briefly illuminated via the light setting on the on/off switch. Shooting information is split between the two screens, with the bottom handling ISO, image quality, and white balance (with buttons nearby to control each), and the top LCD handling the rest of the readouts.

Voice memo

Image size

Compression level

ISO

Image type per CF card

White balance

Top LCD

Shutter speed lock

Aperture lock

Shutter speed/exposure comp level

Flexible program indicator

Multiple exposure

Aperture

Exposure mode

Flash sync

Flash mode

Battery level

Shooting and custom banks

Shots remaining

Frame count

CF card slots

Flash lock

Clock battery indicator

Image comment

Interval timer

Beep during timer

Exposure comp

Autofocus mode

Bracketing

White balance

GPS indicator

Exposure indicator

The top LCD and and rear color LCD both show much of the same information, in an almost identical layout. The only substantive difference is the dark area on the lower 1/4 of the screen, which we explain below.

Image area indicator

Long exposure noise reduction

Color space

Vignette control

Active D-lighting

AF area indicator

Picture control indicator

Release mode/ shooting speed

high ISO noise reduction

Flash (4.00)

Unsurprisingly, the D3x has no built-in flash unit. It works best with CLS (Creative Lighting System) compatible strobes. Full controls (i-TTL flash, flash value lock, flash color information communication, rear-curtain sync and red-eye reduction) are available with the SB-900, SB-800, SB-600, SB-400, SB-R200 flashes and SU-800 wireless controller (though there is partial compatibility with older strobes). These flashes all use the i-TTL control system, and have high speed sync that works at the fastest shutter speeds. The i-TTL system allows for greater accuracy in metering and focus by firing "a series of nearly invisible preflashes (monitor preflashes) immediately before the main flash". With G or D series lenses, focal distance is also entered into the equation to provide the precise  level of flash illumination. You can also set the i-TTL mode to base the reading only on the main subject, leaving out the background, which is the default setting when using spot metering.

A flash lock tool can be assigned to the Function button, which lets you lock flash level and output, even if the scene changes.

The flash hot shoe

Flash Modes
	Front-curtain sync Standard flashcan be set to speeds between 1/8000 to 1/60 seconds.
	Slow sync Combines flash with slow shutter speeds up to 30 seconds to capture both background and subject with appropriate light levels.
	Rear-curtain sync Flash fires just before the shutter closes, to create light trails behind moving objects.
	Red-eye reduction Shoots pre-flash bursts for one second before the proper flash to reduce red-eye.
	Red-eye reduction with slow sync Combines red-eye reduction with slow sync.

Lens Mount (9.50)

The lens mount is the Nikon F mount, which offers varying degrees of compatibility with different generations of Nikkor lenses. With G or D AF lenses, all functions are supported; DX lenses support all functions except shooting with APS-C cropping; AF Nikkor lenses of other types support all functions except 3D Color Matrix Metering II; AI-P lenses don't support 3D Color Matrix Metering II or autofocus; and non-CPU AI lenses can only be used in aperture or manual mode.

Lens mount with mirror up and down

If you're concerned that the mirror raising will cause the camera to shake unacceptably, one of the modes on the Release Mode Dial is "Mup", which raises the mirror on the first shutter press, then takes the photo when the shutter is pressed again

The images below show the range of zoom available wth the 24-70mm lens we used for testing.

Zoom Ratio Examples
24mm	45mm	70mm

To combat light drop off towards the image corners, the D3x offers a Vignette Control function, which can be set to high, normal, low or off. This post-processing system only functions on FX format images.

Battery (10.00)

The Nikon D3x uses the EN-EL4a/EN-EL4 batteries and is rated for an astonishing 4,400 shots using CIPA standard, or 5,300 using Nikon standard, meaning you're highly unlikely to run out of juice mid-shoot. The included battery charger can take two batteries at a time, so you can always have a spare ready.

The battery has an impressive shot rating

If you burrow into the menu system, you can find the camera's Battery Info tool, which offers a wealth of information about the inserted cell. It shows current charge, the number of times the shutter has been released since the battery was last charged, if it needs re-calibrating (achieved using the battery charger) and a scale from 0 to 4 which shows if the battery has reached the end of its lifespan, and needs replacing.

Battery Info

Memory (4.00)

The D3x can take two CompactFlash cards at a time, which provides a huge shooting capacity. The way the second card performs can be set up in three different configurations: overflow starts filling the second card when the first one's full; backup records each photograph to both; and RAW slot 1/JPEG slot 2 records the image to each card but in a different format.

Two CF cards allow for huge shooting capacity

Jacks, Ports & Plugs (6.50)

The plugs on the D3x are well protected by thick rubber covers. The USB port has its own separate section, and the camera comes bundled with a  little plastic tag for the USB cable that locks it into place, so you won't knock it loose. The lower section has the DC, AV and HDMI ports. All of the ports are industry standard, which makes replacing lost cables or finding spares a breeze. On the front of the camera are ports for flash sync and a ten-pin remote.

A panoply of ports

Other Features (1.00)

GPS
The D3x is compatible with certain GPS units. The Nikon GP-1 can be connected directly through the front flash sync terminal. If you don't want to use that model, any GPS unit from Garmin that conforms to the National Marine Electronics Association NMEA0183 data format and uses a D-sub 9-pin connector can be hooked up with an adapter. The GPS data is stored with each photo, and can be viewed on playback.

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Nikon D3x Digital Camera Review Navigation
Intro	Product Tour	Color	Noise
Resolution	White Balance	Sample Photos	Playback
Hardware	Controls	Design & Handling	Speed & Timing
Nikon D700 Comparison	Canon 5D Mark II Comp	Sony A900 Comparison	Nikon D90 Comparison
Conclusion	Specs & Ratings