The D4 has a redesigned body and features a raft of updates throughout, bringing improvements both for photographers and videographers alike. The company employs its 51-point AF system to emphasize better focusing in low-light situations than its immediate predecessors, the D3 and D3s. You now get full autofocus at F8.0 or faster—an upgrade from F5.6 or faster in the previous flagship model. New controls make the camera easier and more convenient to operate, too: New joystick controls for the AF system and backlit controls on the camera aid usability in low-light shooting situations.
The D4 provides for full HD shooting of 1080p video at 30fps and 720p at 60fps. A crop mode for movies is available when the DX lens is attached. A new compression scheme for H.264 video gives you higher resolution and higher-quality movies without increasing file size. You can output from HDMI at 1080p, uncompressed, straight from Live View and you can now use cable releases to start and stop video. You can manually control video shooting, and even change the aperture while recording. Noise reduction is available in movie mode. Nikon didn't ignore audio: A headphone jack is built in.
The camera sports a fixed 3.2-inch LCD, 91,000-pixel RGB color matrix metering, a two-axis electronic level with pitch and yaw display, as well as a horizontal tilt. A silent shooting mode is available at 12 to 24 fps at reduced two-megapixel resolution.
It's rated at 2600 shots per battery charge.
The camera is encased in a 2.29-pound, weather-sealed magnesium-alloy body (only). The unit has two card slots—one CompactFlash and one XQD (a new format that is faster than CompactFlash), that allows backup and copying between slots. A new wireless transmitter—WT-5A supports 802.11N protocol.
Nikon has enhanced its 51-point Automatic Focusing (AF) System to offer continuous autofocus in a variety of shooting conditions, such as 10 frames per second burst mode. The 16.2-megapixel FX-format (36 x 23.9mm) CMOS sensor works with the camera's Expeed 3 image processing engine to help photographers shoot in extremely challenging environments and lighting conditions.
This customizable system lets shooters capture fast moving subjects, precisely track focus, or accurately select a single AF point. The Nikon D4 aligns 15 cross-type sensors in the center to detect contrast data in both vertical and horizontal planes. This sensor can accurately detect up to 16 human faces, even when shooting through the optical viewfinder, and facilitates correct exposure even with backlit subjects. Photographers can also select multiple AF modes, including normal, wide area, face tracking, and subject tracking. A silent shooting mode is available at 12 to 24 fps at reduced two-megapixel resolution.
The camera has a native ISO range of 100 to 12,800, however the ISO can be expanded to between 50 to 204,800—a full stop above the previous model. The camera automatically adjusts ISO based on lens focal length and can also be used for recording video.
With the D4, Nikon has introduced its new 91,000-pixel 3D Color Matrix Metering System. According to Nikon, this system analyzes each scene for color and brightness, which are then interpreted and compared to the D4’s internal database to implement settings to reproduce color and balance exposure.
The camera stands ready to shoot in approximately 0.012 seconds and can capture full resolution JPEG or RAW files at up to 10 fps with full AF/AE or up to 11 fps with AF/AE locked.
Image data is funneled through a 16-bit pipeline and written to dual card slots that support the latest UDMA-7 Compact Flash cards, as well as the new, faster XQD memory card. You can back up and copy between slots.
The Nikon D4 provides variety of shooting options. In addition to standard NEF (RAW) files, the D4 can also shoot smaller compressed RAW files. The camera's High Dynamic Range (HDR) function merges consecutive exposures. Active D-Lighting can also be used to create balanced exposures. The camera features a dedicated button for quick access to Nikon’s Picture Controls, allowing users to quickly select one of six presets.
In related news, Nikon announced the addition of the AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G FX-format lens to its line of NIKKOR lenses. The new 85mm is a fast, fixed focal-length lens with medium telephoto capabilities and a large maximum aperture of f/1.8. This addition to Nikon’s line of prime lenses is designed for travel, general photography, low-light, landscape, portraiture, and capturing movies with extreme depth of field.
The lens is lightweight, easy to carry, and provides an equivalent focal length of 127mm when attached to a Nikon DX-format DSLR camera body. The 85mm is also designed to capture photos with enhanced image blur because of its large maximum aperture. The construction consists of nine optical elements, with a seven-blade diaphragm that contributes to a substantially more circular bokeh for a natural appearance to out-of-focus background elements.
The new D4 DSLR will be on display at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at booth #11039 from January 10-13th in Las Vegas. It will be available for sale in February for about $6000. The AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G will be available in March for $500.
The D4 provides for full HD shooting of 1080p video at 30fps and 720p at 60fps. A crop mode for movies is available when the DX lens is attached. A new compression scheme for H.264 video gives you higher resolution and higher-quality movies without increasing file size. You can output from HDMI at 1080p, uncompressed, straight from Live View and you can now use cable releases to start and stop video. You can manually control video shooting, and even change the aperture while recording. Noise reduction is available in movie mode. Nikon didn't ignore audio: A headphone jack is built in.
The camera sports a fixed 3.2-inch LCD, 91,000-pixel RGB color matrix metering, a two-axis electronic level with pitch and yaw display, as well as a horizontal tilt. A silent shooting mode is available at 12 to 24 fps at reduced two-megapixel resolution.
It's rated at 2600 shots per battery charge.
The camera is encased in a 2.29-pound, weather-sealed magnesium-alloy body (only). The unit has two card slots—one CompactFlash and one XQD (a new format that is faster than CompactFlash), that allows backup and copying between slots. A new wireless transmitter—WT-5A supports 802.11N protocol.
Nikon has enhanced its 51-point Automatic Focusing (AF) System to offer continuous autofocus in a variety of shooting conditions, such as 10 frames per second burst mode. The 16.2-megapixel FX-format (36 x 23.9mm) CMOS sensor works with the camera's Expeed 3 image processing engine to help photographers shoot in extremely challenging environments and lighting conditions.
The camera has a native ISO range of 100 to 12,800, however the ISO can be expanded to between 50 to 204,800—a full stop above the previous model. The camera automatically adjusts ISO based on lens focal length and can also be used for recording video.
With the D4, Nikon has introduced its new 91,000-pixel 3D Color Matrix Metering System. According to Nikon, this system analyzes each scene for color and brightness, which are then interpreted and compared to the D4’s internal database to implement settings to reproduce color and balance exposure.
The camera stands ready to shoot in approximately 0.012 seconds and can capture full resolution JPEG or RAW files at up to 10 fps with full AF/AE or up to 11 fps with AF/AE locked.
Image data is funneled through a 16-bit pipeline and written to dual card slots that support the latest UDMA-7 Compact Flash cards, as well as the new, faster XQD memory card. You can back up and copy between slots.
The Nikon D4 provides variety of shooting options. In addition to standard NEF (RAW) files, the D4 can also shoot smaller compressed RAW files. The camera's High Dynamic Range (HDR) function merges consecutive exposures. Active D-Lighting can also be used to create balanced exposures. The camera features a dedicated button for quick access to Nikon’s Picture Controls, allowing users to quickly select one of six presets.
The lens is lightweight, easy to carry, and provides an equivalent focal length of 127mm when attached to a Nikon DX-format DSLR camera body. The 85mm is also designed to capture photos with enhanced image blur because of its large maximum aperture. The construction consists of nine optical elements, with a seven-blade diaphragm that contributes to a substantially more circular bokeh for a natural appearance to out-of-focus background elements.
The new D4 DSLR will be on display at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at booth #11039 from January 10-13th in Las Vegas. It will be available for sale in February for about $6000. The AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G will be available in March for $500.