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Nikon D3 : Specifications and Opinions

Nikon D3

The Nikon D3 is a reflex camera with FF (1.0x) sensor and 12.1 megapixels, manufactured from 2007 to 2009 (discontinued). The range of sensitivities, including ISO extension, is 100 - 25600 ISO and it has a continuous shooting (burst mode) of 9 FPS x 22 RAW / 130 JPEG. The average price was 4100 €;

82 users have given it an average vote of 9.5 out of 10.

Specifications

Reviews (32)

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Sensor
Format	Fullframe, 36 x 24 mm (image ratio 3:2, crop factor 1.0x in comparison with FF)
Resolution	12.1 megapixels (pixel pitch 8.49 μm)
Sensor type
ISO sensitivities	100 - 25600 ISO
File formats	RAW, JPEG
Esposure
Shutter speeds	30" - 1/8000
Exp. compensation	+/- 5 stops at 1/2 steps
Exp. modes	P, S, A, M
Metering modes	Multi-Area, Semi-Spot, Spot
Features
Mount	Nikon F (click here to view all compatible lenses)
Stabilization	No
Continuos shooting	9 FPS x 22 RAW / 130 JPEG
Pre-Burst	No
MLU/SS	Yes, Mirrok Lock Up
Live View	Yes
Video mode	No
Wi-Fi	No
GPS	No
USB
USB Charging
Computing Features
ND Long Exposure	No
Pixel Shift	No
Focus Stacking	No
Startrail/Composite mode	No
Camera body and built
Viewfinder	Optical, coverage 100%, 0.70x
Viewfinder resolution
Touchscreen	No
LCD	3.0", 640 x 480 pixels, fixed
Flash	No
Storage	CF
Storage, Slot 2	CF
Internal memory	No
Shutter
Battery	Nikon EN-EL4, 20.90 Wh
Weather sealing	Yes
Weight	1300 g
Dimensions	160 x 157 x 88 mm
Production	2007 to 2009 (discontinued)
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Reviews

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Blue1707

sent on 24 Febbraio 2024

Pros: Purity of 8.5 µm pixels, reliability, ergonomics, robustness, image and mechanical quality, lightweight files, speed

Cons: 12 MP, tricky AF point control in portrait position, heft, no video, no IBIS, portability

Opinion: It might sound crazy, but I bought a 2007 camera in 2022 with 12 MP. It's a bold, reliable, really loud and heavy but precise, bulky though beautiful, top ergonomic camera with below 8000 shutter actuations and in pristine condition. No vibrational sensor cleaning, no video, slow life view AF, just 1470 g pure photographic full frame ergonomic 8.5 µm pixel power and ISO up to 6400 machine that will never let you down. The camera responds fast with high precision and the ergonomic design helps with direct access. Of course, don't expect clean ISO 6400 and above, cropping the heck out of 12 MP pictures and video at all. The size can be an issue, but somehow it helps for a steady camera position. It was built for speed and that shows even today: responsive operation and a quick, precise shutter with up to 9 frames per second. The precision and speed of the AF is more than enough for all but the most demanding purposes, everything you use just works. Focus on what's important, the composition and the decisive moment, the D3 does everything in the background, instantly, reliably and without fiddling. Used wisely, the results are great even by today's standards and for me there is always something special in the colors, the sharpness, the feather-light raw files and the printed photos. There are a lot of better and more modern cameras out there, but this gem is an all time star, a true legend and one of it's own. I might have to replace my DSLRs with mirrorless options in future, but this beauty will stay until my last breath. It's that good. Still.

The following opinions have been automatically translated with Microsoft Translate.

Il Santo

sent on 1 Settembre 2026

Pros: 19 years old and not feeling them.

Cons: It makes you want to take mirrorless cameras and throw them out the window.

Opinion: The perfect camera for all kinds of photos at a ridiculous price (€490.00 including customs duties and shipping with 15,000 shots looking like new). A tank ready for any war whatever the weather conditions. A flagship of yesteryear with an indestructible appearance. Infinite battery. Viewfinder "a screen on the world". Precise and reliable AF and files churned out of a disarming beauty: different and particular, almost "intimate". It returns in the file exactly what you see in the viewfinder. No interpretation of reality. It does exactly what you ask it. The first Nikon Professional full frame of 2007/9 that gives modern mirrorless cameras a run for their money... practically a myth. 12 mpx are enough for 50x70 prints indistinguishable from prints made by cameras with three times as much mpx. Keep buying mirrorless so the prices of the DSRL will go down again and soon I will be joined by the D5. Commit yourself... please!

Pkkleopard

sent on 28 Gennaio 2026

Pros: File quality up to 6400 iso, construction, ergonomics, battery life, speed of use, optical viewfinder, low light AF, current price (01/2026)

Cons: None (maybe just shutter noise in certain situations)

Opinion: The progenitor, when it all began... It was 2007 and Nikon presented its first FF, the D3. 19 years have passed since that wonderful moment and today I am here to exalt its praises with love and a touch of melancholy, because products like this are no longer seen: too many market logics, cost reductions and a market increasingly saturated with machines that do many more things than they need. She didn't, she only did what was needed and still today is needed by a professional photographer. Of course, he doesn't make videos... In fact, it's a camera, and what a camera! When you pick it up you fall in love immediately, everything is in the right place and nothing out of place: it is perfectly balanced with any pro lens, from fixed to zoom, and the viewfinder is a bright window on reality. It makes you want to photograph and for a long time because the battery is infinite. It generates addiction using it, even more so looking at the raw files that churns out that wonderful first Nikon FF sensor (I want to point out, not Sony): what you find yourself working on Lightroom is something incredible, the colors are pastel and the grain very analog, there are no problems in recovering lights and shadows at practically any ISO speed up to 6400, I wouldn't go beyond that, but in any case between 6400 and 12800 a nice BW is enough and the fear passes. The Nikkor D series are the death of him, the combo is almost unique and perfect even if this is a personal taste. He never misses a beat despite his now primordial AF (reference of the time, and if it was good at the time rightly so it is also good today). Today it is very difficult to find in good condition but if you find it you can take it home with a ridiculous and fully unjustified monetary outlay because it is worth much more. We must accept its shortcomings because there is not even a shadow of defects. It was and still is an object for conscious photographers and remains a cornerstone of digital photography. Lucky is he who has it, hold it tightly and use it with joy!

Cabriniv3

sent on 12 Gennaio 2026

Pros: Poetry in its purest form

Cons: Nothing

Opinion: My first FF, later I had many other cameras, arriving at the mirrorles both Nikon and other brands, I say that the Z do not reach the level of this dated reflex, but it is still ahead. I say this because in the new ones they have put a lot of stuff crippling the files that to date I find damn unnatural both in colors and in artificial sharpness. The D3 is so natural and returns in every light situation such a beautiful file that you would spend hours looking at it, even in bad photos... I always wonder why, everything is beautiful and in order, I call it magic. Then, from F4 to F5, I have always loved the professional cameras, for that feeling and sense of robustness and stability in shooting, balance any lens, the camera with the built-in VR. Grain at 3200 iso that I love, it is distributed on the frame in a filmic way. Manna from heaven camera raw, with super resolusion, enlarges the image like a D850, resampling it, fantastic. I can't find any other words to describe it.

SaroGrey

sent on 5 Gennaio 2025

Pros: Solidity, ease of use, it always works.

Cons: Nothing, that's why I don't sell it.

Opinion: I bought a new Nital a little before the arrival of the s version, they were the last available and at a price not to be missed, having the first Nikon FF was a lens not to be missed, I have other more recent nikon digital but every now and then even now you go out with that and you feel you have a hand a piece of history, mine for 16 years and has never reed a photo, it always exposes me as I want and has never shown any hitch, obviously I treat it well and to see it is still very beautiful but since they pay you a ridiculous price I keep it for life and convinced to do it I have just equipped it with three original batteries since the old ones were just gone so for a while they are fine. When someone asks for a camera to start photographing I always recommend a used D3, you get it with two pennies and with all the buttons out you quickly learn everything there is to learn, you use the menu very little and you don't need many apps and other, with that it's almost like shooting with film and you learn much better than with a super technological with a thousand functions that a neophyte will never use. With 3/400 euros you can get the right car to start even if it weighs a little.

There are 27 more reviews. Show all »

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