What a camera

A lot has been written about the Nikon D3 and it has gotten a lot of praise.

Well, it deserves all the press and it is going to get a little more praise here.

I shot the NASCAR race in Richmond, the first weekend in May and I thought that would be a good test of the camera.

I have shot in Richmond, twice a year for about 10 years, so I knew what a digital camera could do at the track.

I shot film on my first visit to the track. The newspaper I worked for at the time made the leap to digital by my second visit.

We used the Nikon D1 for about five years. It was a good camera to start with, but there was color shifts and the dreaded noise, so it was hard to shoot the race once it got dark.

I was able to convince the "powers" that be at the newspaper to upgrade to the Nikon D2Hs. What a step up in quality. The photographers at the paper are still using the camera, as I am too.

There are still noise issues with the D2Hs. In the twilight you could shoot the race, but once it got dark it was hard to get an image that I liked.

So I borrowed a D3 from Nikon. I should have done this sooner. What a difference at the track. I started shooting the race before moving to pit road. Usually you need a flash. I shot without it and the images are great.

I borrowed the camera to also shoot at Dover and again wonderful results.

There are images from each camera and a shot from pit road.