I am smitten. Thrice…

Hello Nikon D300, hello Fuji S5, and hellooOOooo Nikon D3!

Yes, I have recently handled and tested all three of these cameras. I shot a wedding with the S5 a weekend or two ago, I held / fired / tested the D300 on two occasions and the D3 just today, about 12 hours ago…

All three are AMAZING cameras in their own right.

The Fuji S5 does JPG:

Fuji S5, Nikon 50mm f/1.4, hand-held
1/50 sec, f/2.0, ISO 400. (+1 EV comp from matrix metering in apeture priority)
JPG capture with camera set to “Fujichrome simulation mode” (Velvia)
(COMPLETELY un-processed, without even the slightest bump in anything at all.)

The Fuji S5 does RAW:

Fuji S5, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 manual focus, tripod
1/2 sec. f/16, ISO 100. (Nikon pro bodies meter with old manual lenses…)
RAW capture with camera set to “STD” mode, dynamic range set to 400%
(NO bracketing exposures, NO graduated filters, NO dual-processing! ONE straight exposure!)

The D3 does ISO 25600!!!!!

(100% crop)
I am just in shock that the image even comes close to use-able. I mean, this is the camera at “HI 2″ for crying out loud. “HI 2″ is not suposed to look this clean!!!

The D300 does ISO 6400:

(100% crop)
Definitely not 16×20″ print quality, but I’ve done 4×6′x and 5×7′s with worse images, that’s for sure! And yes that would be JChan! Here’s the full size image…

What I notice foremost is the fact that Nikon has managed to do away with that horrible drop in color and tone when you used to switch into “HI” ISO modes. With all other cameras it was a slow progression of increasing noise until HI, and then POW the saturation and contrast just falls through the floor as soon as you switch the D200 to ISO 3200, for example.

Not anymore. Both the D300 and the D3 just roll right on through, hardly batting an eye when you switch into “HI” mode… Yes, there is noise. Yes, there is considerable loss of fine detail. But the matter of the fact is that they’re still use-able, AND the fact also is that ISO 800 and 1600 are now perfectly acceptable for almost ANY application. And THAT is what I need in a camera.

Now I just gotta decide which one to buy!