Nikon D3

Pay Less! $4673.50

The big news was that Canon finally had a rival in the full-35mm space. It had been a long time coming. As they did with the D2x, Nikon struck a very fine balance with the D3. It's not 16 or 21.1 megapixels like the Canon 1Ds line, it's 12.1. And it's not a full 10 frames per second, like the 1D Mark III, it's 9; but you can get to 11 frames per second if you don't need full resolution and focusing tracking. It's an interesting and effective strategy. While they've surrounded Canon's models at the low end, they're still wisely splitting the difference at the pro end, and the resulting cameras are more versatile than the competition.

But resolution and frame rate aren't the only important aspects to this new professional digital SLR camera. The Nikon D3 has 14-bit A/D conversion, just like the D300 that was introduced at the same time, plus the option of stepping back into 12-bit A/D conversion if you desire. The Nikon D3's new Scene Recognition System merges data from the AF system with data from the 1,005-point metering system for greater accuracy and better tracking. A new 51-point AF system includes 15 cross-type sensors and a wide range of modes to take best advantage of them. And the 920,000 pixel, 3-inch LCD rivals the Nikon D3's own optical viewfinder for clarity; both offer 100% viewfinder coverage.
In-camera Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction, optic-by-optic autofocus fine-tuning, a wide ISO range of 200 to 6,400, plus extension to Lo-1 (100) and Hi-2 (25,600!), really round out the package.
As if to underscore how Nikon has split the difference between the Canon 1Ds and 1D Mark III offerings, the price of the Nikon D3 digital SLR is $4,999.95.