Nikon D3 - Canon Convert's First Impressions

I've been shooting Canon literally my entire life until now, and I decided to switch to Nikon due to the combo of the D3's appeal and the 1dm3 debacle. I've had the D3 for about 10 days now, and I thought I would give some first impressions of things that other Canon switchers might want to know about in advance. I will also start by saying that I'm very much enjoying the exploration of Nikon, and that I have no buyer's remorse, and I am glad to ditch the cursed 1dm3. However, being "even handed" as I am, I will still point out some undesirable idiosyncracies of my shiny new machine! First, I'll get the good stuff out of the way before the snags: 1. Build quality is awesome. 2. Once you learn the interface differences, the interface is pretty nice, and certainly good enough to dispose of the fears I had... I still think the Canon interface is slightly superior to the extent that it does not arbitrarily adhere to an outmoded paradigm of a large number of dedicated switches (which Nikon clearly does), but this is not a spoiler by any means. 3. It focuses very well. The non-cross point sensors definitely seem to focus better than the non-cross sensors on the 5D. I don't think it focuses as well in extreme dark as the 1dm3, BUT then again the 1dm3 is untrustworthy and cursed, so I can't really uphold it as a standard, can I? 4. The files look awesome. I shoot RAW. When I look at the files I'm getting, I feel no need to split hairs over the dynamic range. If anything, I was very impressed with the way the DR did not blow out the highlights when shooting a dusk landscape that included neon lighting. It handled that very well. Color and sharpness look good. 5. When using the SB-800, I feel like the TTL exposures are superior to those taken with a 580EX to extent that they seem less likely to blow the highlights. The SB-800 is a really impressive machine in terms of menus and robustness. My only grip against the 580EX is that the SB-800 can only rotate 180 degrees in 1 direction rather than in both directions. That definitely needs to be fixed in their next revision. 6. I love Nikon glass, despite the zoom ring being "backwards." The new 24-70 handles well and makes great images, very sharp. The 14-24 is also rad, and I even bought the older 17-35/2.8 ED-IF, due to its longstanding reputation, and my first shots with it backed that reputation up. The bokeh of the 70-200/2.8 VR is really cool. The 85/1.8 build quality totally blows away the Canon version, with 9 aperture blades and an included metal lens hood, and glass that looks more spectacular. OK, now for some of the things that will SNAG canon users! (Or anyone!~) 1. Exposure Compensation button is LIVE during image playback. This is REALLY BAD. To me, this is a huge deal, and an absolute hazard to real world shooting. The exposure compensation button remains live during image playback -- even though there is no logical reason for it to be live then -- and the result is that any false move during playback may result in you accidentally setting exposure compensation without knowing it, and then you miss shots until you do notice it. As far as I can tell, there is no way to turn this off. The button is placed pretty much exactly where your fingers fall to hold the camera in a viewing position, so you are almost certain to encounter this issue. When you wonder how on earth your exposure got to -4.7 stops without you doing it on purpose, THIS is how! 2. Command dials are live during playback for shoot setting - Unlike Canon, Nikon's shooting settings, i.e. shutter speed and aperture, remain LIVE during image playback. For the same reasons as item 1, this is bad. LUCKILY you can remedy this by enabling the command dials for using during image playback. This will change their function during playback from being live shooting controls to being image scrollers... Again, I can't figure any reason for Nikon to leave the shooting controls live during playback, but whatever... The only downside of enabling the shooting controls for playback is that if you have auto playback turned on, you must remember that hitting the dial after a shot will just scroll the image rather than make the shooting adjustment you desired -- that is, until you remember to kill playback by pressing the shutter button half way down. In this respect, Canon handles auto playback more subtly than Nikon, but it's an important subtlety that makes Canon superior on this detail... To me, it became very obvious at this point why playback OFF is the default setting on Nikon. So now I use that default setting with command dials enabled during playback, and it effectively resolves that issue... though it does nothing to resolve the aforementioned compensation item. NIKON - If you read these boards, please consider adding via firmware update a custom function that disables, during playback, both exposure compensation and any other exposure setting (such as shutter and aperture) which are irrelevant to the task of image playback. 3. Exposure compensation is not visible in the viewfinder -- This is also huge... Canon users will expect BOTH flash and ambient exposure compensations to be visible in the viewfinder. With Nikon, you see NEITHER. What you do see is an icon indicating that compensation is in effect, but it does not tell you whether it's for flash or ambient exposure. To see the camera's master comp, you can press a button. To see the flash's, you have to actually remove the camera from your face and look at the back of the flash. I find that somewhat suboptimal. Also, you must physically touch the flash to enter the flash's comp, which is to say that you can't dial it in from the camera directly as you can with Canon. In the end, this does not break the deal for me, but it does suck. If anyone knows any logic as to why this has been omitted, please enlighten me. 4. Very easy to accidentally change focus modes -- Most of the D3's external "knob" type switches offer locking, but the focus mode one does not. Due to the shape and placement of the switch, it's very easy to accidentally bump from single shot mode into continuous mode without noticing. I find this very annoying, and I think it's time to give up this outdated switch model for such a crucial fucntion, but whatever. At least it's not a 1dm3 :-) 5. AF point selection method only "half" configurable -- Many canon users will prefer dialing the AF point as opposed to using a joy stick. On the D3, you can enable selection by command dial while in vertical mode (the second set of controls), but it does not work for the main horizontal set of controls. This is highly annoying to me, as it's a feature which they OBVIOUSLY could enable to appeal to us converts. Nikon - if you're reading this, PLEASE enable this in a future firmware update. All you need to do is add a custom function that makes the AF-ON button act as an AF point selection button in conjunction with the main command dials -- that is: You press the AF-ON button quickly and release it, then the command dials act as AF selection until such time that the shutter button is depressed half way. This is essentially what you already offer via the Function button for the vertical controls, but the AF-ON button would be far more appealing to those of us who used our Canon 1d's in similar configuration. Canon converts would love this, and it would show that you're serious about welcoming us over :-) 6. Reverse indicators does not reverse Exp. Comp - If you enable the custom function to reverse the indicators (to Canon order), the indicator for exposure compensation does not reverse... I think this is an obvious omission, and thus a bug more than a feature.... NIKON - again, if you're reading, you might want to fix this bug in a firmware update. 7. AF Assist light only fires SOMETIMES -- This is horribly inconvenient, really buggy, and really bad behavior. And best of all, it's by design and explained in the manual! If you are a Canon user, you are accustomed to the AF Assist light, used in dark rooms etc, firing always without regard to which AF point you have selected. This is VERY IMPORTANT when shooting in dark rooms. The AF Assist NEEDS TO BE RELIABLE... So, how does Nikon handle this? The AF Assist light only fires when using CERTAIN AF points, and they have a map in the manual of which they are. However, it gets BETTER! There are 3 different maps, and as you zoom through different parts of the focal length range, THE FOCUS POINTS THAT CORRESPOND TO AF ASSIST ACTUALLY CHANGE! And it still gets better! Even if you limit your AF points to the smaller group of 11, the AF Assist light is STILL NOT GUARANTEED TO FIRE... Workaround: Limit yourself to the 11 point, but DON'T USE THE OUTERMOST 2 POINTS, OR use blob focus mode (all points active).... NIKON: Please issue some firmware update that fires this light always, no matter what, and make some use of it! This particular issue will torture the sanity of former Canon shooters who take our lovely and mostly awesome D3's into dark rooms!! OK, enough for now. I reiterate, the D3 is awesome, and I'm very happy to be learning Nikon world, and the glass is awesome! At the same time, I'm retaining half of my Canon glass, and I keep an open mind to Canon, despite being angry with them at present time. In the end, I think I can say I've become very pragmatic and definitely not in the mindless "fanboy" category, but I know I'm already annoying the fanboys who read this far, so let's get it on! ha ha ha ha ha -- David Hill http://www.davidhillphoto.com Austin, Texas