[VikingPhotography]

Since I'm picking up my D3's next week, I'd like to pose a quick question to folk who currently own them.

When I'm shooting the UFC events, I prefer to shoot RAW + JPG; I can wire the JPG shot rapidly if there's been a piece of action that warrants rapid transmission and, later, I can transmit a RAW conversion that's been tweaked to look as good as possible for print.

So what I need to know is this: how deep is the buffer of the D3 when shooting with the following settings

1. Card slot 1: Compressed Lossless RAW, 12-bit
2. Card slot 2: JPG Normal, optimal quality, slot 2
3. UP to ISO 6400 with High ISO NR set to OFF

For what it's worth, I currently am using Sandisk Extreme III cards, though I might move up to IV's or Ducati since I'm well aware they give the buffer a bit of 'oomph'

Thanks in advance for your help

[Hacker]

Not sure if this is any help Martin but last weekend at Badminton I was shooting RAW (compressed lossless 12-bit) with the camera set to 9 fps and looking back on it I would probably have set the fps a bit slower as 9 was a bit too much at times and the buffer would fill up pretty rapidly with 'unnecessary shots' - I'm sure you know what I mean. I use 8gb Sandisk Extreme III's and whilst they are good it would be nice to have a bit more buffer capacity at times.

Hope this helps.

[Charlotte]

Haven't the foggiest VP. But I hope you don't mind if I slot in a quick question here too, which maybe Colin can answer ...

I cannot view the NEF's from the D3 in Windows Explorer (Vista 32bit) I have installed the software that came with the D3, and I can view jpegs shot from it, but not the NEF's. Not a train smash, as I simply load them straight into LR + all is well, it's just a puzzle.

[tomu]

Charlotte, you need to install the Nikon RAW codec, download is here: Nikon Imaging | Global Site | Nikon RAW Codec

As for the other D3 question's, I'm afraid I can't help there but I can put in a good word for the (4GB) Extreme IV CF card's, I've never had any buffer problems coupled with my D300

[Charlotte]

Thanks for the link tomu. I already have that codec installed, albeit the previous version. I can view NEF's from the D50, just not those from the D3, which seems odd. I will try installing the latest version of the codec + see if it helps

[LJR69]

I'm afraid I don't own a D3 but I would just mention that I noticed a huge difference in buffer size purely through completely disabling Active-D on the D300. I thought I'd mention it as I am sure this will have an effect on the D3 too.