Not a V3 Review

My philosophy is give me a camera, any camera, and I will try to find it's strengths and weaknesses and use it to the best of my abilities.

With that in mind, I'm still evaluating the V3, however, I am surprised at Steve Huff's complete and total dismissal of the camera. My initial feeling is this a wonderful camera with some significant improvements over the V1 - but at a steep price. I considered the V2 but didn't see enough of an upgrade over the V1. In the V3 I like the extra pixels, the camera is gorgeous and well built, I kind of like the modular EVF, the tilting lcd is a revelation and function button customization is very welcome. I don't like the squishy shutter, the micro SD card and high price. A magazine wanted to purchase one of my V1 images but the resolution was insufficient. Now hoping I can sell a V3 image or two in the future to pay for this purchase.

For me, the V3 is a nice complementary camera to my Nikon DSLRs. If I want the highest IQ I'm willing to carry the extra weight and use my d800, if I need low light quality I use my heavy duty D4 or more diminutive Df. The V3 is my fun daylight camera with incredible reach and sufficiently good IQ in a small, discreet package. I have a small bag with a 10, 18, 32, 10-30 and 30-110 lens along with an SB-n5 flash. Covers just about everything I need.

If I were starting from scratch I would look for a bargain V1 and prime lens or the 30-110 for amazing reach. If I already owned a V1 or V2, then the V3 only makes sense if you value the tiltable touchscreen and more pixels . And by the way, having those extra pixels is a luxury, not a necessity.

Tomorrow I plan to shoot a night time event with the V3 so I will get an idea of low light capability. This, however, is a bonus because if the images were important I would use the proper tool such as the Nikon D4 of Df. Tomorrow's event is just for fun as it should always be with the Nikon V3.