Nikon D4 - what do you want to know??

[Chris Humphreys]

Howdy folks. The lovely DP Mag has asked me to review the Nikon D4 for them (thank you Rosie ), and the even lovelier folk at Nikon delivered one to me yesterday.

First impressions are pretty damned impressive. I'll be putting it through it's paces over the next two weeks, I've a couple of architectural shoots to do and will be seeing what it's like at low light / speed work too.

So what do you want to know??

Cheers

Chris

[ALwin]

I've ordered one myself, waiting to get it hopefully in April after 2 months of delays and postpones on delivery.

What I want to know are the video features; stills image wise I don't see it differing too much from the D3s. Especially after reading this article today I am a bit concerned. My local dealer was supposed to have had some NPS Switzerland guys giving a demonstration of the D4 in February but they canceled that event and I didn't get the chance to try it out in person.

Now the real information I am waiting for is the D800 vs. D800E comparisons. So if you're gonna get a chance to review them, my main question:
Q: D800E with the negation of the AA filter, is the extra sharpness that it supposedly provides worth (significant enough) the effort/time taken to correct moire issues?
A: ?


PS: I am very very jealous of you at the moment

[Chris Humphreys]

yes I have to admit I've got my eye on the D800 / D800E debate as I'll likely get one or the other for my architectural work. I'm not convinced moire is going to be a real issue from what I've read so far.

DP are going to be reviewing the D800 themselves so I'll look forward to seeing the results.

The article you posted on D800 / D4 video makes interesting reading eh!! It certainly seems the D800 is grabbing the headlines at the moment, I wonder if that was Nikon's intention.

[ALwin]

yes I have to admit I've got my eye on the D800 / D800E debate as I'll likely get one or the other for my architectural work. I'm not convinced moire is going to be a real issue from what I've read so far.

DP are going to be reviewing the D800 themselves so I'll look forward to seeing the results.

The article you posted on D800 / D4 video makes interesting reading eh!! It certainly seems the D800 is grabbing the headlines at the moment, I wonder if that was Nikon's intention.

Did you read that DxOMark gave D800 the No.1 spot and the D4 is ranked No.3, just below the PhaseOne IQ180.

[Chris Humphreys]

Yeh I saw that, score of 95 wasn't it? Pretty amazing really.

[ALwin]

Yeh I saw that, score of 95 wasn't it? Pretty amazing really.

What's another pretty amazing thing is the 14.4 Evs of Dynamic Range, now if I remember correctly our eyes have a Dynamic Range of around 18 Evs. Until the D800, the best DR of any digital camera I've see (within the ones I could afford) were about 12-13 at best. Could we be looking at drastic improvements of DR in cameras a decade from now?

It would be great if the D800E with it's high resolution would not have major moire issues.


Actually regarding the D4, I just thought of something else I wanted to know. I'm currently a D700 shooter, I've played around with a friend's D3 and D3s before. The D4 has some major repositioning and redesigns of buttons/locations. Such as the shooting mode selector on the left of the lens mount. I wonder with changes like these how it would effect someone who needs to shoot stills in a fast pace environment. With the D700 that I currently use, I don't need to look inside the menu system to make changes I needed (such as WB, Qual, ISO, focus/metering modes, etc.) since I'm used to just pressing a button or flipping a switch or turning a dial while my eye is still on the viewfinder.

Now of course I understand that with any new camera, it would take a while for someone to get to know the camera, I am just wondering how often I would need to take the camera off the eye and look into the menu to change something that I might often use.


FYI: if you do plan to get either a D4 or D800, which includes better video features that you might consider incorporating into your photography, SmallHD (http://www.smallhd.com/site/home.html) is currently offering a huge sale on their DP4 field monitor/evf. Just thought you might like to know before this sale ends.

Another FYI Chris: http://mansurovs.com/a-conversation-with-my-nikon-d800 this one is just hilarious.

[photographyxfactor]

What excites me about the D4 is that it has taken so long to replace a superb model.
I have a very early D3 and a D700 both are still going strong and give me all the results I need at this time, I don't do video and some of the biggest prints i do are A1 both camera's will do that. If i buy another body at this time it will probably be a D3s.

[Chris Humphreys]

Aung, you're right that the buttons menu's etc are a little different. The focus button in portrait mode in particular is taking a bit of getting used to as they have not been able to place it in exactly the same position relative to the shutter release as it is in landscape orientation. It is also more flush with the body making it harder to find by feel. That said I'm now fairly comfortable with it. I'm really liking having ISO and bracketing buttons in easy reach too. I'd say it's a matter of getting used to it, but coming from a D700 the menu system is virtually the same with more options.

Early impressions of noise handling are staggering, though whether it is significantly better than the 3s that it replaces remains to be seen. Have to remember the increase in pixels in that equation though.....

[Rosie]

Has everyone seen this about the UK prices - hope you all got your orders in early before the price hike!!

NIKON UK Press Statement 26-March-2012

Nikon UK can confirm a correction to the originally published recommended retail prices (RRP) on the D800, D800E and D4 products.

Due to a local internal systems error, the incorrect RRPs on the D800, D800E and D4 products were communicated in the UK and Irish markets at the time of announcement. The correct RRPs for the products should have been D4: £5289.99, D800: £2,599.99 and D800E: £2,899.99. We would like to apologise sincerely to our customers for this unfortunate mistake, which has been corrected with immediate effect. We know that there has been strong consumer interest in these products and a high level of pre-orders placed with retailers; Nikon will be honouring the original prices to retailers on all customer pre-orders placed before March 24th 2012.

[Chris Humphreys]

Bugger I've missed the bought, was hoping they'd be going down not up! Amazon had a pricing error when the D800 was first released and were selling for £2099!! Some lucky folk out there with a bargain (whenever they get delivered).

BTW Rosie, the delivery man is going to have to fight me to get this D4 back!

[simon3116]

I think a side by side comparison against an older Nikon (D3, D300, D700, D7000) would be good to read as we read a lot of stuff from all manufacturers about increase in pixels, noise, shutter speed, etc but how does that compare in the real world? If I the biggest home print I ever need is A3+ then am a going to notice a huge difference in quality over my D300?

[Chris Humphreys]

I think a side by side comparison against an older Nikon (D3, D300, D700, D7000) would be good to read as we read a lot of stuff from all manufacturers about increase in pixels, noise, shutter speed, etc but how does that compare in the real world? If I the biggest home print I ever need is A3+ then am a going to notice a huge difference in quality over my D300?

That would be a good test to do Simon, but unfortunately it isn't covered by the scope of this review. I'll do my best to give you real world feedback on how it is to use, it's best and worst features etc. As a D700 user myself I will of course give you feedback on the forums as to how it compares (at the time of writing.... very favourably!)

Cheers

Chris

[digitalfingers]

I'm So Jealous!!! but congrats and enjoy your time with the D4. What I want to know it how it performs using continuous shooting and low light shooting. With its 11fps, its a speed shooters dream but I'm keen to see the results using the Matrix metering and the 'improved' 51 AF points! What exactly has improved? and what are the results shooting 12,800 ISO. I love the look of the D4 however I think I'm leaning more towards the D800 judging by the excessive amount of reviews online.

Good luck and Enjoy!

[Chris Humphreys]

Well that's it, the D4 has gone back to Nikon....

What a great camera though. Yes it's release may have been overshadowed slightly by the exemplary D800, but you can't take away from the fact that it is an extremely honed tool for sports, journalist and wedding photography.

Keep your eyes peeled for the full review in Issue 122 folks.