What is the crop factor of the Nikon D3?

The Nikon D3 is equipped with a full frame sensor, whose diagonal measures 43.2mm. The sensor has a crop factor (or format factor, or focal length multiplier) of 1.0.

The crop factor is defined as the ratio of the 35mm full-frame film diagonal to the diagonal of a digital sensor. This number indicates how a lens behaves in relation to the size of the image sensor.

Sensor size comparison with a film slide

With a crop factor of 1.0, the sensor in the Nikon D3 has a similar size as a 35mm film slide or negative. As a result, a lens that is attached to the Nikon D3 will offer the same angle of view and provide the same depth of field as a lens of the same focal length and aperture on a film camera.

Sensor specs and performance

The table below compares the sensor specs of the Nikon D3 to those of several similar cameras. The reported DXO values are indicators of the sensor's imaging quality (higher is better), covering color depth (DXO Portrait), dynamic range (DXO Landscape), and high-ISO noise (DXO Sports). Larger sensor cameras tend to outperform cameras of the same generation that are equipped with a smaller imager. On the other hand, larger sensors are more expensive and require bigger and heavier lenses than smaller light receptors.

Sensor Characteristics

#		Camera Model	Sensor Class	Resolution (MP)	Horiz. Pixels	Vert. Pixels	Video Format	DXO Portrait	DXO Landscape	DXO Sports	DXO Overall
1.		Nikon D3	Full Frame	12.1	4256	2832	none	23.5	12.2	2290	81
2.		Canon 1D Mark III	APS-H	10.1	3888	2592	none	22.7	11.7	1078	71
3.		Nikon D5	Full Frame	20.7	5588	3712	4K/30p	25.1	12.3	2343	88
4.		Nikon D4S	Full Frame	16.2	4928	3280	1080/60p	24.4	13.3	3074	89
5.		Nikon D4	Full Frame	16.2	4928	3280	1080/30p	24.7	13.1	2965	89
6.		Nikon D3S	Full Frame	12.1	4256	2832	720/24p	23.5	12.0	3253	82
7.		Nikon D3X	Full Frame	24.4	6048	4032	none	24.7	13.7	1992	88
8.		Nikon D700	Full Frame	12.1	4256	2832	none	23.5	12.2	2303	80
9.		Nikon D300	APS-C	12.2	4288	2848	none	22.1	12.0	679	67
10.		Nikon D2Xs	APS-C	12.2	4288	2848	none	22.2	10.9	489	59
11.		Nikon D2X	APS-C	12.2	4288	2848	none	22.1	10.9	476	59

In the United States, the D3 was initially launched in August 2007 at a price of $4,999.

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Camera to camera comparisons

In case you are interested in seeing how this camera compares to another one, just use the search menu below. There is also a set of direct links to comparison reviews that other users of the CAM-parator app explored.

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