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Nikon D4
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cliff Mautner is a rare combination of technical excellence & artistic eye - I have the deepest respect for a photographer who not only takes the tools beyond what they were designed to do, but also creates new ideas and most importantly - succeeds in photographing them. I really look forward to Cliff's test drive of the Nikon D4, because he is one of the photographers who will receive their D4 bodies before the factory in Sendai starts shipping them to the general public.

There is a chance that I will get my hands on a prototype D4 tomorrow Monday 9th, but since it's a prototype I am likely not allowed to publish samples.

[edit]Links to photographers who tested the D4

http://www.matthiashangst.de
http://www.joemcnally.com
http://www.billfrakes.com

Last edited by Esox lucius on Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:13 am; edited 4 times in total


PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
gaeger wrote:
rbelyell: I apologize for the tone of my post earlier. You're right, not something to get one's knickers in a knot over. I respect your opinion on this.


no problem man--from time to time i get pretty worked up over this stuff myself. Embarassed Very Happy in the end its just good fun, and great to have a place where people think and care about esoteric stuff like this.
tony


PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
Looking forward to your hands-on report! Also any news as to likely street price.


In Finland, stores are taking pre-orders at the price of EUR 5999,90 (including VAT 23%)

Well, I had a few minutes to try it myself. Firmware on the prototype D4 was 0.3 (production models start with 1.0), this meant that me and the others invited did not have a chance to insert our own memory cards into it and grab samples for ourselves. Here's a short summary of things I noticed or found interesting

- frame rate of 10fps (with AF) and 11fps (without AF) remains constant regardless of whether you are, or aren't using D-Lighting, noise suppression or other controls that slowed down the D3 and D3s somewhat during bursts
- with UDMA CF cards buffer is 70 RAW frames (7s burst) and with the new XQD memory cards buffer size is 100 frames (10s burst). When shooting JPEG large size I think the burst buffer was filled with 177 frames...
- internally, just about everything has been pimped and tuned to remove any likelihood of bottlenecks: from analog to digital converter, to signal processing and write speeds and transfer speeds
- 91,000 individual RGB sensors (the D7000 for example has "only" 2016), which in practice means that it's dense (ie. smart) enough for metering not to become fooled by a quickly passing rally car's headlights or other bright sources. the sensors are all individual, not grouped
- completely silent mode for shutter, something classical music concert shooters (the audience and musicians) will appreciate
- the vertical grip is now ergonomically identical to the horizontal grip, and a number of other tweaks by Giugiaro have also been implemented. the D4 really feels like it fits more snugly in my hands, which have held the D2x and D3 for about 500,000 frames
- vertical grip shutter release button is now slightly embedded (great) and next to it is a programmable function button, very convenient. both the horizontal as well as vertical AF-ON/AF/AE-lock button can also be programmed, just as on the D3.
- two programmable buttons on the front right as well as a number of alternatives to customize how the 3 different displays show info
- the wireless transmitter is only the size of my thumb, very small and attaches to the left of the camera
- ethernet port on camera is of course a data transfer, which now means you can use both WiFi and Ethernet to control the camera, read cards or shoot to computer. I am sure quite a few sports shooters will appreciate the more reliable ethernet connection as opposed to WiFi, because a stadium is usually cluttered with WiFi networks which slow down each others transfer rates when channels collide.
- slightly larger and improved LCD

Last edited by Esox lucius on Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:14 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for sharing that first user impression.

Wow, that is one some camera! Must be a dream come from true for Pro shooters like you. I love to hear how mare stops improvements the new D4 brings in addition to the improvement in colour depth and DR.

D3s was tuly ground breaking being able to shoot at ISO 12,800 at Pro quality. Now I wonder if the now camera will have 2-3 stop further improvements for light low shooting.


PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Original timetable for D4 shipping date was Feb 16th, but a bug discovered in the firmware will delay the D4 shipping date to March 15th. This is of course bad news for those who expected to receive their D4 body very soon.

The good news: The firmware bug announced does not affect hardware production, giving the factory one full month of time to stock up supply for the shipping date. Nikon's Sendai factory's unit output per month in 2007* was 12,000 for the Nikon D3, a number that surely would ease global availability when shipments begin. I wouldn't be surprised if the efficient Japanese have ramped up their production capacity since 2007, though the 2011 March earthquake surely gave them a hard time last year.

* http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8744-9113


PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2012 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My D4 body finally arrived (when I was in Berlin enjoying beer and the X10 + X100 combo), and it seems that Sendai churned out 18,178 bodies before the D4 designated for me reached my studio. And that's NPS priority Rolling Eyes

Well, it'll go to work in 8 1/2 hours so there is just enough time to charge the batteries. Tomorrow night I'll take it out for some low-light action


PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2012 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Esox lucius wrote:
My D4 body finally arrived (when I was in Berlin enjoying beer and the X10 + X100 combo), and it seems that Sendai churned out 18,178 bodies before the D4 designated for me reached my studio. And that's NPS priority Rolling Eyes

Well, it'll go to work in 8 1/2 hours so there is just enough time to charge the batteries. Tomorrow night I'll take it out for some low-light action


Hi mate,

did you get a chance to take some pictures? id love to see what this beast is capable of.

i sold my 1ds MKIII and am between the canon 1dx and the D4

my main use cases - low light photography, long exposures, the occasional F1/DTM/motorbike race and general fooling around bokeh shots

im hesitant for the reason that all my non nikon mount / non leitaxed lenses will have to stay on the 5d/nex7 which kinda sucks because none of the cameras i have right now are good performers in the high iso tasks

but this means giving some ZF.2 lenses a new home, plus decades of excellent nikon lenses that will (?) meter on the D4


PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2012 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hari wrote:
Hi mate,

did you get a chance to take some pictures? id love to see what this beast is capable of.


I am shooting two weddings this weekend and that will give me a better idea of how the D4 behaves in low light, for the past weeks I've shot all my assignments at low ISO using the D800. Take your time and read some of my initial impressions from this topic:

Here are the first high ISO shots I have taken with the camera.

http://forum.mflenses.com/d4-and-nikkor-50-1-2-ai-at-night-t49494.html

Cheers,

Vilhelm
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