Nikon and its D3: The New Dogs on the Block
The Nikon D3 is turning heads and winning awards.
For Nearly 10 years there have been two big names in the world of digital SLR photography–and two alone. Nikon and Canon have dominated the market for one reason: they are simply better. While their dominance on SLR photography over the past couple of decades is nothing new they always had competitors who pumped out quality film bodies and quality lenses to match. Their dominance in digital SLR photography (it is important to distinguish SLR’s and point-and-shoots as they are truly a different market) is due to one thing: their camera’s are better. This is often debated though i tend to feel the debate is futile.
The bottom line is that by removing film and replacing it with a digital sensor, the camera body itself became paramount in determining the image quality of your photographs. This is where Nikon’ and Canon’s competitors have primarily lagged behind. The simple fact is that for years, if you wanted a clean looking image from your D-SLR you had few choices but Nikon or Canon. And in that regard, for a very long time Canon has dominated in that regard. Year after year, Canon released a camera that simply produced cleaner looking images than anything from Nikon. Some have attributed this to the fact that Nikon’s digital sensor’s are produced by Sony, while Canon produces their own in house. I think this is not completely accurate but what is true is that Nikon has had to push the bar to compete with Canon and in the last couple of years, many Canon owners (like myself) have been wondering why features on Nikon camera’s are not found on similarly priced Canon models.
Is Canon's dominance on the decline?
This last batch of Nikon Cameras, specifically the D3 and the D700, completely buck the trend entirely. Not only are the feature rich, but they are producing some of the cleanest and highest ISO images we’ve ever seen.
Users across the internet are blowing people out of the water with their high ISO images captured from the D3. And while the 1D is no slouch, the D3 is simply better.
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iF Product Design award winner of 2009
It should therefore come as no surprise that the D3 is receiving high praise from the people who hand out praise to inovative products every year. The International Forum of Design has awarded the Nikon D3 with its highest honor for 2009, awarding Nikon and its flagship DSLR the iF Product Design Award. What does this mean for most of us? Perhaps nothing–at least in the short term. In the long term it could mean a closing of the already closing gap between Nikon and Canon. What it could mean for users of either family of camera equpiment is more competition and more competitive pricing. One can hope, at least.
The International Forum Design (iF), based in Hannover Germany, has sponsored the iF Product Design Awards since 1953, selecting industrial products exhibiting superior design from those manufactured the world over, making them highly prestigious and globally respected awards. Aspects including quality of design, functionality, degree of innovation, ease of use, as well as any effects the product may have on the environment are considered with product evaluation and award selection.
Click here to read Nikon’s Press Release regarding their award
Read more on the iF award here
[...] A few months agoI mentioned Nikon’s D3 was awarded the IF Product Design award for 2009. In that article I discussed, brifely, Nikon’s recent impressive advances in their digital camera bodies. [...]