NIKON D3 Setting the standard

On 23 August 2007, Nikon announced the D3, its first full-frame digital camera. The world knew what to expect in terms of build quality – it was a flagship Nikon full-frame SLR after all – but no one was really prepared for the step-change its 12.1Mp FX-format CMOS sensor was about to bring to high-ISO photography. Up to this point, pushing the sensitivity beyond ISO1600 was, well, pushing it in terms of quality. But the D3 could take ISO3200 and ISO6400 in its stride. It could produce colourful and surprisingly clean images in light so low that you could barely see anything with your eyes. It could, if you really needed it, be cranked up to the equivalent of ISO25,600. Some might say (and whisper it) that the D3 is the best SLR Nikon has ever produced, such was its impact when it was released.