Nikon D4 Review

The Nikon D4 is Nikon's fastest, tightest professional camera ever made for sports and action photography. It leaves consumer cameras like the D800 and Canon 5D Mark III completely in the dust.

Yes, the Nikon D4 excels at computer hobbyists' technical tests for high ISO noise and resolution as you'd expect, but far more important is how the D4 allows the professional photographer to get in, get the shot and get out long before anyone else knows what happened.

IMG Source : Amazon.com

Like its predecessor, the Nikon D4 looks as if it’s going to be an incredibly impressive camera. Nikon has looked to its professional user-base and tried to work out what it needed to add or adjust on a camera that just a couple of years ago represented the best they were capable of. The result is a camera with few big changes but a extensive series of small improvements.

The biggest change is, of course, the improvement in video capabilities. Given the increasing demand for video footage from professional photographers, and the incredible success of Canon’s 5D Mark II in the professional video market, it was inevitable that Nikon’s pro flagship would need to offer a more compelling feature set than the existing models.

The D4 blazes away at 10 frames per second, with every frame in-focus and perfectly exposed as your subject moves around. The D4's speed is much more than just its 10 frames-per-second specification; it's all the other things like its metering and auto white balance and face-recognition autofocus and focal-length tracking auto-ISO systems that all work twice as hard and fast as other cameras to keep those ten frames per second all looking great. I worry about getting there and pointing the camera in the right direction, and as I preset my D4, it takes care of the rest. (copy my personal NCSETUP9.BIN file to a card, pop it into your D4, then MENU > SETUP > Save/Load Settings > Load Settings > OK and your D4 will match mine — and erase your settings.)

It's not just ten frames; the D4 can keep this up longer than you can, running for up to twenty continuous seconds, making 200 full-resolution images in a burst. The D4 cheerfully rips away at 10 FPS, and hiccups not once writing all this to your card, even if the bursts run a hundred shots. Run just a few seconds at 10 FPS, and you'll be recording dozens and dozens of frames at a time, while the D4 never misses a beat.

The Nikon D4 features dual slot storage, but its one CF slot and one XQD slot. XQD? Really? Well this is very specific for a format and pretty much keeps most shooters to use this for backup only. That’s not a bad thing at all, but XQD? How about something really obscure next time?

That and cards go in backwards for some reason. You’ll get used to this, but its odd that the camera was designed this way.

Specification Nikon D4

Body type
Body type	Large SLR
Body material	Magnesium alloy
Sensor
Max resolution	4928 x 3280
Other resolutions	4096 x 2720, 4096 x 3280, 3696 x 2456, 3200 x 2128, 3072 x 2456, 3072 x 2040, 2464 x 1640, 2400 x 1592, 2048 x 1360, 2048 x 1640, 1600 x 1064
Image ratio w:h	5:4, 3:2
Effective pixels	16 megapixels
Sensor photo detectors	17 megapixels
Sensor size	Full frame (36 x 23.9 mm)
Sensor type	CMOS
Processor	Expeed 3
Color space	sRGB, Adobe RGB
Color filter array	RGB Color Filter Array
Image
ISO	100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800 (204800 with boost)
Boosted ISO (minimum)	50
Boosted ISO (maximum)	204800
White balance presets	12
Custom white balance	Yes (4)
Image stabilization	No
Uncompressed format	RAW
File format	NEF (12-bit or 14-bit, compressed or lossless compressed RAW) NEF + JPEG TIFF JPEG
Optics & Focus
Autofocus	Phase Detect Multi-area Selective single-point Tracking Single Continuous Live View
Digital zoom	No
Manual focus	Yes
Number of focus points	51
Lens mount	Nikon F
Focal length multiplier	1×
Screen / viewfinder
Articulated LCD	Fixed
Screen size	3.2″
Screen dots	921,000
Touch screen	No
Screen type	TFT color LCD with brightness control
Live view	Yes
Viewfinder type	Optical (pentaprism)
Viewfinder coverage	100%
Viewfinder magnification	0.7×
Photography features
Minimum shutter speed	30 sec
Maximum shutter speed	1/8000 sec
Exposure modes	Programmed auto with flexible program (P) Shutter-priority (S) Aperture-priority (A) Manual (M)
Built-in flash	No
External flash	Yes (Hot-shoe, Wireless plus sync connector)
Flash modes	Auto, On, Off, Front curtain, Rear curtain, Red-Eye, Slow Sync, High Speed Sync
Flash X sync speed	1/250 sec
Drive modes	Single frame Continuous low speed Continuous high speed Quiet shutter-release Self-timer Mirror up
Continuous drive	11.0 fps
Self-timer	Yes (2-20 seconds, 1-9 exposures at intervals of 0.5, 1, 2, or 3 seconds)
Metering modes	Multi Center-weighted Spot
Exposure compensation	±5 (at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV, 1 EV steps)
AE Bracketing	(2, 3, 5, 7 frames at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV, 2/3 EV steps)
WB Bracketing	Yes (2-9 frames in steps of 1, 2, or 3)
Videography features
Resolutions	1920 x 1080 (30, 25, 24 fps), 1280 x 720 (60, 50, 30, 25 fps), 640 x 424 (30, 25 fps)
Format	MPEG-4, H.264
Microphone	Mono
Speaker	Mono
Storage
Storage types	CompactFlash, XQD
Storage included	None
Connectivity
USB	USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec)
HDMI	Yes (Type C )
Wireless	Optional
Wireless notes	via WT-5, WT-5A
Remote control	Yes (via ten-pin remote terminal)
Physical
Environmentally sealed	Yes (Water and dust resistant)
Battery	Battery Pack
Battery description	Lithium-Ion EN-EL18 rechargeable battery & charger
Weight (inc. batteries)	1340 g (2.95 lb / 47.27 oz)
Dimensions	160 x 157 x 91 mm (6.3 x 6.18 x 3.58″)
Other features
Orientation sensor	Yes
Timelapse recording	Yes (Playback speed 24x to 36000x )
GPS	Optional
GPS notes	GP-1 or GPS device compliant with NMEA0183 version 2.01 or 3.01 (requires optional MC-35 GPS adapter cord and cable with D-sub 9-pin connector)

Price Nikon D4 From Amazon : $3,999.99
Price Nikon D4 From Ebay : $3,399.99