D3 Q&A By Thom
Thom’s got a decent set of Q&A on the D3 here.
This is the most interesting part to me- I’d seen that the D3 was variously rated down to 100 but normally 200 and assumed that was an error of some sort (what kind of camera doesn’t support 100iso?) Well, it does do 100iso but that doesn’t mean it’s better than it’s 200 rating:
Why no ISO 100?
The D3 (and D300) have a new low setting, which is essentially ISO 100. Nikon has been very consistent in following proposed ISO guidelines for ISO: the base ISO should be the optimal light gathering point for the sensor (basically measured in maximal signal-to-noise ratio), and in both sensor’s cases, that would be ISO 200. The low ISO value is derived much like the high ISO values, by using modification to the signal coming off the sensor. And for what it’s worth, there are intermediate settings at 1/3 stops between 100 and 200, as well (L0.3, L0.7, and L1; you’re going to have to think backwards to understand this, though!). But expect ISO 100 to be slightly inferior to ISO 200 in image quality.
Which makes sense, but I hope the 200 is as good as I’m getting on my D2x at 100- 15+ second at 100 look really good to me.