D3 "Crop Function"

My main reason for going back to Canon was i missed the 1.3x crop factor, i was using a 1.4x on my D3 all the time except for the darkest grounds but i was happy to keep it on and shoot ISO 5000 with the D3 knowing full well it was producing cleaner files than the NK111 was at ISO 2000 and the MK1V at ISO 3200. however having gone back to a D3's the crop factor wont be an issue as i will buy a 1.4x and he happy in the knowledge that i can shoot at ISO 6400 and still knock spots off a MK1V shooting at ISO 2,000-2,500
 
Adding a 1.4x TC doesn't just effect the available light for whatever aperture you have dialed in for your shot, it also drops off a stop for the focusing. I'd have thought that in poor lighting conditions, having an aperture of f4 (ie half as much light as f2.8 - assuming you have a 2.8 lens to start with?) for AF would be a poor thing?

Just curious....
 
desantnik said:
Adding a 1.4x TC doesn't just effect the available light for whatever aperture you have dialed in for your shot, it also drops off a stop for the focusing. I'd have thought that in poor lighting conditions, having an aperture of f4 (ie half as much light as f2.8 - assuming you have a 2.8 lens to start with?) for AF would be a poor thing?

Just curious....
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I used a 1.4x on my old D3 under floodlights at high ISO and never noticed any difference in AF speed, certainally no loss in IQ either.
 
Gary Coyle said:
It actually gives you 10.2mp, however the crop mode is just a gimmick, best to crop in camera then if you cut toes and heads off its your own fault.
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I am slightly curious in this reply. Are you saying the 1.2x crop on a D3s doesn't alter the view through the viewfinder?

I can't say I've ever stuck my D700 into DX crop mode, but if you can't see the edges of the frame, then it's a fairly pointless option.

I was quite interested in the D3s 1.2x crop, but if it's unusable then what's the point?
 
Well, this review says:

the Nikon D3S has a new 1.2x crop mode as well, although it does not offer the benefit of increased frame rate in continuous high speed drive mode. Sports photographers might welcome this addition nonetheless, as it also allows them to compose more tightly when shooting faraway subjects without having to manually crop the image post capture, and also to see what's going on just outside the frame (the part of the viewfinder that falls outside the capture area in DX or 1.2x crop mode is masked out, but the mask is not completely opaque). One advantage of the 1.2x crop mode over 1.5x DX is that you get more resolution (8.4 megapixels versus 5.1).
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gribbsy said:
I am slightly curious in this reply. Are you saying the 1.2x crop on a D3s doesn't alter the view through the viewfinder?

I can't say I've ever stuck my D700 into DX crop mode, but if you can't see the edges of the frame, then it's a fairly pointless option.

I was quite interested in the D3s 1.2x crop, but if it's unusable then what's the point?
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Sorry, that should have said, best to crop in post, and yes it does alter what you see in the viewfinder and yes its just a gimmick and of no use at all except for the increased frame rate at higher crops.
 
Its not worthless to what myself and Gribbsy do.

Maybe for your ball games it is, but it certainly would have value for us...
 
Because it distributes the focus points across a greater percentage of the frame?

Why crop off junk you don't need manually when you can frame it up better to start with.

8Mp of correctly framed image is perfectly adequate until Nikon can come up with a way of better distributing the focus points (and I know the technical reasons why its currently like it is and what the probable solution is for the D4).

I know it probably doesn't matter about framing for (premier) football as they don't care about a "photo shaped shot", they just cut the thing to odd shapes and round players etc so sending them a big wide shot of nothing at the edges is fine - you the photographer won't be cropping it anyway will you, thats down to the picture editor of the paper?

Focus point distribution is far better by the way on the MkIV.... (and I say that as a devout Nikon'ian)
 
Well, no word from CPS, not a sausage :thumbsdown: i'm not surprised though. it seems Canon's customer service has a track record of being poor
 
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