New top-of-the-range DSLRs always generate more interest. All the more so when it replaces a top-of-the-line camera that hasn’t yet exhausted its potential. Let’s try to understand if it is necessary to immediately replace the working tool which has not yet worked out its service life with a novelty.
Technical characteristics
Mount: Nikon F
Sensor format: CMOS FX format , 36×23.9 mm
Krop factor: 1
Sensor size: 12.1 million., 4928×3280 pixels.
Viewfinder: pentaprism, 100%
LCD monitor: 8.12 cm, 920,000 pixels., Live View mode
Aspect Ratio: 3:2, 5:4
Autofocus: 51 points
Shutter speed: 30-1/8000 sec
Shooting modes: P, A, S, M
Continuous Shooting: 11 fps
Exposure metering: 3D color matrix, center weighted, spot metering
White balance: Auto 2 options , incandescent, daylight 7 options , direct sunlight, flash, cloudy, shadow, manual preset 4 options , color temperature selection 2500-10,000 K
Sensitivity: 100-12 800 ISO extended 50-204 800 ISO
Flash: external, hot shoe, sync, X-sync at 1/250
Video: up to 1920×1080, 24/25/30 fps
Memory cards: XQD/CF
Interfaces: USB 2.0, HDMI, AV, microphone and headphone input
Power: EN-EL18
Dimensions: 160×157×91 mm
Weight: 1340 grams
Price: 230 000 Dollars.
About the camera
Insiders said last fall that Nikon’s new top-of-the-line reportage camera is due out any minute now, but the unfortunate events of March in Japan and the unprecedented flooding in Thailand made the necessary adjustments. That’s why we didn’t officially announce the existence of this new flagship until early January this year.
I held the camera in my hands for a few days and this text was the result – what a professional reporter feels about the new camera.
The instruction to D4 is a small book of more than four hundreds pages, so it is not possible to talk in detail about all the options the camera has on two magazine spreads, but we are going to try to put into this Procrustean bed the most interesting options of the new camera.
Clearly, the camera is good – a flagship and has to be. Interesting and important another: what the novelty is able to do new compared to the recent top – Nikon D3s. Is it worth changing one thing for the other, what will you have to get used to when working with a new camera, in other words, the “pros – cons – pitfalls.
What has, in fact, changed? Resolution has increased by 4 megapixels, which is not much, but leaves more potential for framing.
The range of sensitivity changes slightly expanded – from 100 to 12 800 ISO in extended mode – from 50 to 204 800 units, about it below , which is very good: often, to make a nice picture from a trivial event, you have to use slow shutter speeds, and here “iron” ISO 100 is very appropriate.
Now you can shoot Full HD video, the video part in general has improved noticeably.
Noticeably changed the shape of the camera. Nikon D4 is more “sleek,” not as brutally angular as the D3 series. But the first thing that catches your eye, but in your hands, are the new controls and the old ones that have changed their place. It would seem that, well, there were new buttons, and the old ones have moved somewhere – not a big deal, you can tear your eyes off and look, but for reporters and Nikon D4 – reporter camera motor autonomy and the ability to change many of the settings without leaving the viewfinder are among the important requirements for the camera.
The way you hold the camera is a little different, with the shutter release button at a different angle – Nikon says it’s more natural and comfortable that way. I could not agree more, it just fits like a glove and the difference to the D3 is noticeable.
Where there used to be the Mode button responsible for selecting exposure modes, there is now a video recording button in photo mode you can assign various functions to it by default this button is responsible for changing the sensitivity , but the Mode button has moved closer to the pentaprism and you literally have to reach for it.
At the rear, too, the focus point selection micro joystick was slightly redesigned for both vertical and horizontal grip. The LCD screen was increased in diagonal to 3.2 inches, its resolution remained the same, but the sealing of this unit has been significantly improved. The D3/D3s had some complaints about this: it could fog up inside when filming in the rain for long periods of time.
Unfortunately, the weather conditions made it impossible to find out if this was actually the case, we can only take it on faith. In general, there is a tendency to unify some controls with the younger cameras – D800 and D7000.
So, it is unclear why there are two buttons “+” and “-” for zooming in and out while watching the picture luckily, you can set the usual way of zooming in and out in the settings .
The way the camera switches between focus modes has changed. The AF/MF lever, which has only two AF/MF positions, has a button which you can press and turn the jog wheel to change the AF type and setting frame AF, tracking AF and selection of AF auxiliary points in tracking mode .
The active area during group tracking focus is now displayed in the viewfinder, making it easy to see which points are currently being used to focus.
In general we can say the following about autofocus: it became really better, especially when working in extremely low light conditions. Tuck, focuses accurately and quickly even at 1/15th of a second exposure and f/2.0 at ISO 12,800 you can barely see anything with the naked eye anymore .
Moreover, it is declared that some sensors are operable up to f/8 aperture value, which will allow you to shoot comfortably with TVs with a double converter, the more so that the new converter TC20E III practically does not lead to image degradation of course, these words are true about supertelephoto 300, 400, 500, 600 mm and zoom 200-400/4 .
Using a new autofocus module, new mirror and shutter mechanics, and a new electronic harness allowed for a slight increase in speed.
The maximum speed of shooting with tracking AF has now increased to ten frames per second, with single-frame AF available at 11 fps the D3s, recall, allowed shooting at full resolution and AF at 9 fps, or 11 fps in DX-crop mode without tracking AF .
For more dynamic scenes you can turn on the Live View mode at about 25 fps, but with resolution of about 2 megapixels.
The memory buffer of the D4 is absolutely oversized! Even with the slowest card you can count on a hundred and a half full-size JPEGs or 60 14-bit RAWs at maximum speed.
Of course, it’s hard to think of a shoot where you need to shoot 14-bit full-size “raw” shots at full speed, but still. On this parameter the D4 is a head above the D3/D3s, where if you put RAW 14 bit, the shooting speed drops to 1.5 frames per second.
Where it doesn’t differ from the D3s fundamentally is when it comes to high sensitivities. The D4, of course, is a little better, but not cardinally.
The difference is noticeable by eye in the “overclocked” range of 25 600-51 200 ISO: with skillful processing, an image taken at 25 600 can be “overclocked” to a magazine spread without much trouble, and taken at 51 200 – to the strip. Paper will hold..
As for video the following can be noted: now the format Full HD 1080p with 24, 25 and 30 f s, you can also record 720p videos at up to 60 f s, which when editing to achieve the effect of slow motion.
Moreover, the video can be written both to a memory card and to a separate recorder connected via HDMI, – video via this interface is performed without any compression. The picture in video mode depends directly on the Picture Control settings, so the nature of the video can be changed within a very wide range.
In video shooting mode, the autofocus works, it has several modes, including focusing with face recognition, it is of course not as fast and accurate, but that is what it is. There is an input for an external microphone and headphone output, and the sensitivity of the microphone can be flexibly adjusted.
In a special interview, one of Nikon’s engineers talked about the new battery, which has a markedly reduced capacity compared to the D3/D3s. He said that in real life, the battery is good for more shots compared to the old batteries.
I like to believe it, but facts are stubborn things and the test result says the opposite: the battery lasts about 10-15 per cent less. However, in defense of the fact that the test camera was only 8 thousand frames and the battery could just not “swing”.
Separate consideration should be given to the new WT5 WiFi transmitter. Unlike bulky WT4 for D3/D3s which obviously was created by Aliens for Predators: huge, slow, awfully awkward to set up , WT5 is a small black box that screws into special slot on the side of the camera.
It can be used to quickly send pictures to the editorial office – the modern newspaper and news photography requires pictures to appear on the media as soon as possible, and here the saying “time is money” literally works. The faster you work the better, the more you earn, such are the conditions of nowadays.
Out of the scope of the article are many features of the camera, such as built-in Ethernet support, a slot for the new superfast XQD standard cards, extensive in-camera image processing capabilities, the ability to capture time-lapse video, and much more.
All these functions are the subject for long term testing of the camera in the reality of everyday “chasing” the needs of news agencies.
Conclusions
Whether to swap your existing D3s for the D4? If you need to work at a more advanced level, if you need to shoot Full HD movies, if you need a more accurate and quick autofocus, if you want to send pictures to the editorial office over the air – then you should definitely change the camera. Otherwise, the D3s is still a competitive camera that can handle almost any photographic challenge.
The editorial team would like to thank Nikon New York office for the equipment provided for testing.
Picture tests
1. Compared to the D3s, the D4 has a softer, more gradated look. This is a great help in further processing 58mm, f/8, 1/25s, ISO 200 .
2. Early spring does not always bring nice weather. Transparent, clear and well defined picture. 28mm, f/4.5, 1/400s, ISO 100 .
3. The maximum “iron” sensitivity of ISO 12 800, with proper processing is quite suitable for printing photos of 30×45 cm. 50 mm, f/4, 1/125 c, ISO 12,800 .
4. When shooting 14-bit RAWs, you can pull about two and a half stops of information out of the over-exposure 24mm, f/8, 1/1600 c, ISO 500 .
5. Excellent performance of the dust removal system is worth mentioning. The dust on the sensor is almost gone 31mm, f/20, 1/15s, ISO 100 .
6. No complaints about the autofocus. Focusing is instantaneous, regardless of lighting and shooting speed 155mm, f/5.6, 1/1250s, ISO 3200 .
7. At a maximum shooting speed of 11 frames per second, you’re shooting just the right moment, and the range of resolution leaves plenty of room for framing 145mm, f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO 3200
8. It’s hard to expect high picture quality at maximum sensitivity, but sometimes it’s the only thing that saves 70mm, f/5.6, 1/16000s, ISO 204,800 .
What specific features or settings of the NIKON D4 SLR contribute to producing such transparent, clear, and well-defined images?