D3 fastest camera in the world?

You've seen the adds. Motorcycle sparking by the camera doing 11fps. Further more this is with DX mode (read 5mp) and turns out there is another wrinkle, nikon marketing isn't telling us.

ken rockwell D3 page (he has one, he should know better than me) - "The D3 is 12 MP in FX (full-frame) mode. It's only 5MP in DX mode, but in DX (cropped) mode it can smoke at 11 FPS if you don't need metering or autofocus from frame-to-frame. Everything works at 9FPS. "

Since I'm not a sports shooter. Those who are can tell me how useful 11fps that will not AF between shots. I'm thinking that taking a series of Randy Moss darting to the goal line would only have one if focus.

Wonder if Rob Galbraith will scrutinize the D3 as he did the MIII. Seems like the D3 is not faster than the MIII. What say you?

More time means more information on the D3.

11fps would be cool but for me the 10fps of my MKIII is fast enough. If I were to shoot the D3 and what you say is true I would make 9fps the limit because I need af and metering.

I could possibly understand not re-metering at 11 fps, but no AF? That just doesn't seem to have any practical application to me for situations where 11 fps would be needed.

I think you worry too much about what Nikon does!

No metering and no AF makes it a pretty useless combo for moving subjects (e.g. sports). While you could get away without metering, AF is kind of important. Unless you want to rely on DoF to get you through the blitz.

The Canon 1D3 hums along at 10fps, everything working - compared to the Nikon D3 at 9fps. So comparing apples to apples, Canon wins.

Mark_Cohran wrote in post #4520771
I could possibly understand not re-metering at 11 fps, but no AF? That just doesn't seem to have any practical application to me for situations where 11 fps would be needed.

Gives new meaning to "spray and pray" when there is no active auto focus going on...

11fps with no af? wow what a joke.. isn't that pretty useless then?

Okay, I refuse to believe that Nikon would disable AF on 11FPS. That just doesn't make sense, as 11FPS would be unusable. Anything that Ken Rockwell says is never to be believed. Before we all start believing this, I would like to see this coming from Nikon's site.

BigBlueDodge wrote in post #4521065
Okay, I refuse to believe that Nikon would disable AF on 11FPS. That just doesn't make sense, as 11FPS would be unusable. Anything that Ken Rockwell says is never to be believed. Before we all start believing this, I would like to see this coming from Nikon's site.

Why would you believe any different? Do you think he makes up this sort of stuff? Ken's website is very educational... he is unbiased and although a little weird, I appreciate the work he puts into his site I don't see him making up facts like that.

My God!

Does this mean that (gulp!) the D3 isn't the perfect camera?

That'll upset some of the Nikon wannabee trolls that are singing its praises on here ad nauseam...

ErikM wrote in post #4521098
Do you think he makes up this sort of stuff?

Rockwell is well known for making up "facts" - by his own admission he has "reviewed" lenses he's never even had in his hand, much less used at length on a camera.

That was reported in a DPR preview some time ago as well: no AF tracking at 11 fps.

BigBlueDodge wrote in post #4521065
Okay, I refuse to believe that Nikon would disable AF on 11FPS. That just doesn't make sense, as 11FPS would be unusable. Anything that Ken Rockwell says is never to be believed. Before we all start believing this, I would like to see this coming from Nikon's site.

The D3 manual confirms this on p 88:
"The maximum frame rate for FX is 9fps....The maximum frame rate for DX can be chosen from 9, 10 and 11 fps...note that at 10 and 11 fps, focus will be fixed at the value for the first shot in each burst and when poorly lit, exposure will also be fixed at the value for the first shot."

Not sure whether that means that when not poorly lit exposure changes for each shot - can't imagine why the metering would act differently under different lighting conditions. Maybe it just means that exposure won't matter so much in good lighting???

Now why would someone want to take oof pics cropped at 5MPs with the D3? I expect Nikon thinks there'll be a use for this but I cannot think of it.

Edit: I've thought of a reason. It's so Nikon can claim the fastest dslr crown

This info has been out since the d3 was announced...

'cuse me ...but how do you think sports photography operated in the pre-digital era? Back then auto was a car, not a camera function. Way back then ... my film Nikons did six FPS and we'd have to adjust focus "manually" as participants ran amuck. Granted, auto focus is better than no auto focus ... but, I can see a ton of instances where 11 FPS and prefocus would be just fine.

Gary