Nikon D3X Samples

Here, the Nikon D3X is compared to the Pentax K-5
Pentax K-5 , the current image-quality champion among cropped-sensor DSLR cameras. All images below are 100% unmodified crops from their respective cameras. Both cameras were set to F/8 in aperture-priority mode with fixed ISO and custom white-balance. As usual, the cameras were calibrated to give the highest quality and most realistic results possible.

The Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm F/3.5-5.6G IF-ED VR
Nikkor AF-S 24-120mm F/3.5-5.6G IF-ED VR was used on the Nikon D3X while the Pentax K-5 used the Pentax DA* 50-135mm F2.8 ED (IF) SDM
Pentax DA* 50-135mm F2.8 ED (IF) SDM.

These crops help determine which ISO settings can be acceptably used on these cameras. As image noise increases, most cameras compensate with noise reduction which introduces softness. The point at which a print become unacceptably noisy is a matter of personal taste.

Nikon D3X	Pentax K-5
ISO 50	ISO 80
ISO 100	ISO 100
ISO 200	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 1600
ISO 3200	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 6400
The Nikon D3X and Pentax K-5, while being introduced two years apart, show surprisingly similar results. This is an amazing achievement for both showing that it took two years for APS-C sensors to match the pixel quality of full-frame sensors, yet the Nikon D3X has 50% more resolution which lets it produce much larger prints with the same quality. The standard ISO range shows impeccable results up to 1600 with a slight lead to the K-5. The expanded ISO 3200 and 6400 settings show more noise but actually less noise-reduction softness. On the low end, the expanded ISO 50 setting shows a strong color-shift while not improving image quality compared to the base ISO.	ISO 12800
	ISO 25600
	ISO 51200