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Canon 1D Mark III vs. Nikon D3
March 22, 2008
In August of last year, Nikon announced the D3, their first full-frame sensor digital SLR. Sporting a 12 megapixel 'FX' (Nikon's branding for their full-frame sensors) sensor capable of firing at 9 frames per second (11 when cropped to the smaller DX size when using DX sensors) this was a camera aimed directly at the professional photo jounalist, wedding photographer or anyone else who needs a fast camera with a killer sensor. One of D3's other claim to fame is its ability to shoot at ISO 6400 with the option of ISO 12800 and 25600. Nikon's previous cameras have been known to have a weak spot when it comes to high ISO performance and the hope was that the D3 would redefine high ISO performance not only for Nikon but for all DSLRs.
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| The 1D3 and D3 side by side (composed image of actual cameras). |
I have been a Canon shooter for several years and have shot with just about every Canon DSLR made. I have been shooting with a Canon 1D Mark III (henceforth called the 1D3) since about August of last year. I've been quite happy with the performance of the camera, not having experienced any of the AF issues discussed on many online forums. In particular I have been happy with the IQ of the files from my 1D3, especially at higher ISOs. I had the opportunity to borrow a Nikon D3 and the new Nikon AFS 24-70 f/2.8G ED lens from work and wanted to compare it to my 1D3. I was interested to see if the IQ of the D3 was as great as many had claimed and wanted to get an idea of what the much vaunted Nikon user interface was like.
For this review, I shot with both cameras and used the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L on my 1D3. What follows are my observations combined with personal preferences.
Metering
The D3 has a 1005 pixel metering sensor which when used with 3D color matrix metering II claims to provide accurate metering even in difficult lighting situations. The 1D3 is no slouch in the metering department, sporting a 63 zone meter. I shot several picture in a variety of lighting conditions, indoor, outdoor, front-lit and back-lit.
Both cameras performed well and gave nearly identical readings in many scenes with various types of lighting. In a few cases the Nikon tended to provide shutter speeds that overexposed the images just slightly (by about 1/3 stop) which is easily corrected in RAW. However in other cases the Canon tended to meter shutter speeds that underexposed images just slightly (by about 1/3 stop). In the end, I'd call it a very slight advantage to the Nikon.
High ISO Performance
This is an area of which there much discussion on online forums. There are several others who have posted comparative high ISO images so I won't bother with detailed tests, rather just show images as I used the cameras. I will say that for my tastes, the D3 at high ISO tends to blur the image too much (at normal noise reduction). Hence I turned noise reduction down to low. To my eye this gave high ISO images with details less smeared. The 1D3 on the other hand tends not to obliterate as much detail with high ISO noise reduction turned on.
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| Canon 1D3, ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/200s |
Nikon D3, ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/200s |
From the above set of images, it is quite obvious that the D3's larger pixel size and gapless microlenses offer an advantage at higher ISOs. To my surprise the 1D3 does hold up well noise wise, however the D3 maintains better color accuracy and contrast at ISO 3200 and higher. At ISO 6400 the D3 also seems to capture higher dynamic range than the 1D3.
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| Canon 1D3, ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/200s |
Nikon D3, ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/200s |
It is also fairly obvious that the D3 suffers from less chroma noise at ISO 3200 than the 1D3. I should add that these images were both processed using Adobe Lightroom with the same settings and default color noise reduction of 25 (part of my usual workflow). Though I am quite impressed with the high ISO performance of the D3, it isn't leaps and bounds ahead of the 1D3. I would say the D3 enjoys approximately a 1/2 to 2/3 stop advantage at ISO 3200 and a 1 stop advantage at ISO 6400 and beyond. I found the images produced at ISO 12800 to be impressive and useful for small prints. However even a well exposed ISO 25600 image was too noisy to be of use other than for small web-sized images.
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| The amount of detail retained by the 1D3 at ISO 3200 is impressive. Shot with the 85L, f/1.4, 1/50s, ISO 3200, handheld. |
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| Even at ISO 12800, the D3 manages to retain some detail. The noise level is tolerable for smaller prints. 48mm, f/2.8, 1/25s, handheld. |
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| Shot in near dark with the D3, even resized to 600 pixels wide noise is visible and the image is useful for little beyond posting on the web. ISO 25600, f/2.8, 48mm, 1/8s, handheld (high ISO NR set to normal). |
Auto White Balance
I have always been a little displeased with the AWB performance of the Canon bodies. I find the temperature it chooses to be either too warm (in tungsten lighting) or too cold (in daylight) for my tastes. I was curious to see how the Nikon would fare. In tungsten lighting, the D3 in my opinion chose a color temperature that rendered skin correctly, though still a hot on the green. The 1D3 chose a color temperature that had consistent color over the image but was too warm. However in a shot with natural window light, I found the D3's AWB to be too cold and the 1D3's to be closer to correct. For AWB, I think its a wash with neither camera having an advantage.
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| A comparison of auto white balance in mixed tungsten lighting. Left is the D3, right is the 1D3. The D3 image isn't perfect but it is better for the face than the 1D3 image. |
Autofocus
I didn't test the D3's continous AF performance. Both cameras seemed on par with each other in One Shot AF mode in both low and adequate light levels. I don't think I had sufficient time with the camera to make a definitive comment here, though in extremely low contrast situations when focussing on something nearly in focus, the 1D3 would hunt and rack the focus while the D3 would stay at a particular focus depth unable to lock focus. I've never had any AF problems with my 1D3 and with the time I spent with the D3, I didn't see any noticible difference to make me think otherwise.
User Interface
When shooting with the D3, I did my best not to let my experience with Canon user interfaces bias my opinion of the D3. I think many of the differences in the user interfaces can be attributed to a difference in philosophy when designing the user interface. The most terse description would be that the D3 uses analog-style switches where as the 1D3 is pretty much entirely buttons with LCD based options. To each their own, I didn't find a strong like or dislike of either. I very quickly flipped through the user manual to figure out where all the usual photographic settings were. I found operating the camera to be as natural as it was my 1D3, though I wasn't quite as fast at certain operations. By the end of a few days however, I found myself changing settings on the D3 as quickly as I would on the 1D3.
I disliked the older 1-series user interface on the Canon. I like several of the decisions Canon has made with the new UI on the Mark III. Moving away from having to press and hold one or buttons to change settings was a good idea in my opinion. The menu system on the 1D3 is also easy to use and navigate and the 'My Menu' feature is equally easy to set up. I found the D3's menu system to be a bit cumbersome but it wasn't that serious an issue.
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| The D3 top LCD with the bracketing button depressed. |
There are a few places where I feel the D3 has a more elegant UI:
- The delete operation. Press the delete key once to pop up a confirmation dialog. Press it again to delete the image. The 1D3 requires you to press delete once, scroll over to erase and press ok. One could argue that the Canon system is safer against accidental deletes, but I didn't have a single problem with accidental deletes on the D3, so I'm not sure that argument holds.
- The bracketing control on the D3 is awesome. Press and hold a single button. Front scroll wheel controls the stops between each exposure. Back scroll wheel controls the number of shots to bracket. The 1D3 on the other hand requires you to press and hold two buttons and the back scroll wheel and top wheel perform the same operation, they determine the number stops between each exposure. In order to change the number of bracketed shots, one has to go into a custom function. That CF can be placed in 'My Menu' but its still more of a hassle than on the D3. Since I like to take handheld HDR, having a robust bracketing UI is important to me.
- Mirror lock-up. This has been an oft repeated complaint on the Canon bodies. I won't repeat it in detail but suffice to say the D3 gets it right, the 1D3 does not.
- On/Off switch just below the shutter. It felt awkward at first, but once I got used to it, it was great. I could turn on my camera and start shooting with one hand. Brilliant.
- AF point selection. On the D3 you use the pad to move AF points. On the 1D3 you have to use a cumbersome combination of the back wheel to go around the ring and the top wheel to move in and out of the center. The 1D3 has a small joystick, why one can't select/move AF points with this joystick is beyond me.
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| I really do like that wheel. |
Of course there are a couple of things I prefer with the 1D3 UI:
- Placement of the ISO button. On the 1D3, its up top and I can quickly change ISO without removing my eye from the viewfinder. On the D3 its placed on the back and I found myself having to pull myself back from the view finder even though I knew where the button was. Furthermore, on the 1D3, when the ISO button is pressed, its the only field active in the viewfinder, giving you a visual cue that you've pressed the correct button. On the D3, there is no such cue and you could have just as easily pressed the quality and white balance buttons and not have known.
- Live View. On the D3, Live View is implemented as a shooting mode. It requires the user to switch to it, then depress the shutter to activate live view. Then once you've taken the shot, the mirror flips back down, requiring you to depress the shutter to raise the mirror again. On the 1D3, I have the set button programmed to raise the mirror and engage live view. Once a shot is taken the mirror is flipped back up and live view remains engaged. I find this a more intuitive way to use Live View, not to mention it is always available regardless of the shooting mode.
- Back scroll wheel. I really really like the back scroll wheel on the 1D3. It feels rather natural to me. The back wheel on the D3 was fine, but I found the front scroll wheel on the D3 to be cumbersome. Perhaps it is something one becomes accustomed to after a while, but even after a several days with the camera, it felt awkward to me.
- Vertical grip. Both cameras have an integrated vertical grip. However I find the vertical grip on the D3 to be a little uncomfortable. It looks and feels a little smaller than both the regular grip and the 1D3's vertical grip.
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| The wonderful LCD on the D3 makes it easy to not only view in bright sunlight but also to check image sharpness. |
One area in which I will chastise Canon is the LCD. The superior resolution, contrast and brightness of the D3's LCD puts the 1D3 to shame. Canon should update the LCD in the next revision of the 1-series camera to include a display of similar if not superior technical specifications. The D3's LCD makes it easy to judge exposure, color and image sharpness. In using the 1D3, I have given up judging anything (except for exposure via the histograms) from the LCD. The D3's LCD also makes it a joy to share an image right away with people after taking the shot.
I should also add that the D3 has a noticiably larger viewfinder though I found both camera's viewfinders to be a joy to use (I also wear eyeglasses so the eye relief for both cameras was excellent for me). Overall there are upsides and downsides to both cameras UI wise. For me, I give a slight edge to the D3.
Conclusions
It is sometimes difficult to objectively compare these two cameras with all of the fanboysh bashing and emotional rants on various photography forums. I have tried to be as objective as possible in comparing these cameras though I have only had a few days to shoot with the D3.
Bottom line: Both cameras are amazing photographic instruments and can produce fantastic images. One cannot seriously go wrong by choosing either camera. I have
summarized some of the most striking advantages of each camera below.
| Advantage Nikon |
Advantage Canon |
- Full frame sensor
- Wonderful LCD
- High ISO noise (ISO 3200 and beyond mostly)
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- Price (especially on the used market)
- Focal length limited shooters (field sports and wildlife)
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I myself don't intend to replace my 1D3 nor add a D3 to my kit. A lot of what I shoot is wildlife and birds where even with a 600mm lens and a 1.4x teleconverter I find myself focal length limited, not to mention that the Nikon 600mm VR lens costs nearly 3k more than the Canon counterpart. Furthermore, to me the advantages offered by the D3 (1 stop better high ISO performance, LCD, FF sensor) simply isn't worth getting rid of all those wonderful Canon L primes (nor some of those useful f/4 L zooms). However I should add that if I were starting out from scratch, I would seriously consider a Nikon D3 and D300 combination along with the great AFS 24-70 f/2.8 and fantastic AFS 14-24 f/2.8.
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