Nikon D3s - A killer professional body and the low-light champ

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The Nikon D3s is a serious, professional body with quality and ergonomics to match. It is fast, and works very well in low light and at higher ISOs with an extended usable ISO range compared to most other dSLRs. This is the camera to shoot action in less than perfect light. If photography is your bread and butter and you can swallow the price (Rs. 2,89,950), you won't regret it. However, given well lit conditions, there are much better bodies around, with higher resolutions that would offer finer detail.

Pros

• Extremely well built, with good weather sealing
• Brilliant high ISO image quality - probably one of the best cameras around for shooting in low light
• Produces sharp, detailed images with good resolved detail
• Very good auto focus system
• Perfectly substantial grip and ergonomics - everything is so spaced out

Cons

• Bulky and heavy, a good workout if you're looking to carry it all day
• 12.1 megapixels was considered a mediocre resolution in 2008
• AWB tends to add a warm cast under incandescent lighting
• Menus are very complex, and memorising where which option is, is an uphill task
• At close to 3 lakhs, did we mention it's expensive?

Look and Feel: A seriously professional body

Looking at the D3s face on, one cannot help be impressed at the sheer size of the camera. Those wanting sleek cameras will find the Nikon D3s to be a sumo-grade heavyweight, while pros will appreciate the heavy, solid lines and reassuring heft, and the substantial grip that makes even the D300s seem like a cheap toy. In fact, the sturdy magnesium-alloy frame has been given one of the chunkiest rubber grips your money can buy. As a result, the Nikon D3s is very comfortable to hold. Ones fingers do not have to bend, and at no point does hand-space feel insufficient. As one would expect with such a large grip, all the buttons are well spaced out, sufficiently to render them usable even if you are wearing gloves. Quite a bit of the surface is metal as well, and on the whole, the D3s looks and feels rugged enough to endure years of hard use with the elements - no doubt as Nikon intended.

The integrated vertical grip makes the Nikon D3s look even bigger, but in fact, if you add a battery grip to the Nikon D700, (that doesn't have an integrated vertical grip), it will become marginally higher than the D3s, and slightly heavier. The vertical grip is a must for professionals who need to take portrait-inclined shots without altering the camera position and having to tilt ones hands. Equally important, when paired with costlier and larger FX lenses, the D3s doesn't feel unbalanced. Lighter bodies tend to tip forward because of the disproportionately high weight of the lens. The rubber coating on the vertical grip is not as substantial as the one on the horizontal grip, but it is sufficient. The shutter release button has a nice positive feel, and the shutter makes a reassuring click. In comparison, the Nikon D300s has a very dead feel to it. The Nikon D7000, (read its full review here), and Canon EOS 7D, (click here to read its full review), are closer to the solid sound of the D3s' shutter.