Nikon D4 Simple Review – Why Do I Need a D4?
I met the delivery guy halfway. I knew what he had for me. The Nikon D4 had just arrived. I signed for it, brought it in the house, cut open the box, charged the battery, ran through the set up and then shot a few photos. (no I did not read the manual or the quick setup guide first – I’m a guy).
The 16.2 MP full frame FX D4 is Nikon’s new “flagship” camera. It’s targeted toward the action, adventure, sports photographer including commercial outdoor photographer, nature and wildlife photographer, and journalist. It’s a tough rugged camera made for using hard all the time. This is not a toy and not a camera I would recommend for anyone not using it to make money (there are cheaper alternatives) – unless of course you like the newest toys and can afford to spend a small fortune on a fun new gadget. For me, the D4 will be used for wildlife, some nature, people, and outdoor commercial, and journalistic photography. It will be my main outdoor photography camera from here on out.
I create images outside where temperatures range from -40F to 100 degrees. I often work in extreme conditions that include wind, driving rain and snow! It is imperative that I have a camera that can operate under extreme conditions. I also shoot indoors, some and often don’t have the time to properly light the area, so the low light ISO and focusing improvements will be helpful. The low light focus will also come in handy if I add a tele-converter and drop down to f8. So far, in all of my experience as an adventurer, wildlife and outdoor commercial photographer, I’ve never had a Nikon camera fail me in the field do to factory defects. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of problems and have a budget line item for repairs, but it’s never been due to harsh weather or bad field conditions that I’ve had to send in a camera body. Nikon cameras are, in a word, tough!
Here’s a single frame, shot @ iso 1600, unprocessed, straight from the camera, followed by a one-to-one or 100% enlargement of the eye, again no post processing (of course some processing is done by the computer and certainly the camera has to turn light into digital data and then into an image, so some processing occurs, but no “extra” processing was involved in these images, they were shot in NEF – Nikon’s raw format, and exported from Lightroom 4.
This is a "grab shot" I captured on the fly so to speak. Window light, nikon 50mm f1.8, D4, ISO 1600, 1/1600 @ f1.8, white balance 4900 - basically daylight color). NO POST processing. Exported from LR 4.0, with sharpen for screen set to low (to help reduce the compression artifacting and blurring associated with creating jpg's. Notice how creamy the oof areas are and there's almost NO noise.
This is a one-to-one or 100% enlargement of the right eye. Do you see any grain? Me either. And the skin tones are good considering I used sunny WB, and no post processing.
My first impressions, “the D4 is a new benchmark.” For a “test” shot, I purposefully shot the D4 indoors at iso 1600 with a 50mm 1.8 lens just to get an idea of what this new flagship dslr from nikon could do under those types of conditions. Often when shooting wildlife and people, we are nearly the margins of available light, so that’s where hi ISO and low light focusing come in handy. I snapped a few shots, loaded them on to my computer via Lightroom 4. I was very impressed with the files. They were clean and crisp right out of the camera – I’d say better than the D3s, and D700, Nikon’s two famous low light cameras that initially raised the low light shooting bar 5 years ago. Wouldn’t you think you should be able to notice a difference between a camera that’s been out for 5 years and one that just hit the streets? I would.
The auto focus seems snappier, and faster than previous cameras. The body is noticeably lighter! Whoohooo . . . I’m not sure how much lighter, but I can tell, just by holding it, that’s it’s lighter. How about if I just bullet point a few more things from hear on out. . .
Cool things:
* the buffer will handle 100+ raw images and 200 jpg’s . . . and shoot at 10 and 11 fps.
* 1080p video and a ton of other optional video settings (guys like Cory Ritch have been cranking out videos, here’s one)
* multi crop mode selections – FX – full frame, 4/5, DX – or 1.5x, and 1.2x or 30×20
* metering is unreal, I cant fool this thing . . . (I shoot manual all the time, so I’m going to explore the metering a bit more)
* modified shutter release angle to make it less stressful to shoot all day long, it’s for real, and it works;
* shipped with a 16 MB xqd card and reader – some say this was a bad move, I’m think it’s great when companies step out and push the limits in order to make their product the best in the world!
* new batterie – said to meet the higher demands of video – sad thing is it wont last as long, only 2000 plus shots . . .
* buttons light-up when it’s dark out
* you run the camera with an ipad – cool but not sure when I’m going to do that . . .
* auto focus works down to pitch black – almost bit it’s unreal how well the camera can focus in low light!
* great video options
* 400,000 click shutter – that’s 100,000 k more than the D3!
* compatible with the ipad and iphone – you can run this thing with the ipad!
* manuals are online and downloadable to your ipad or iphone – way cool!
Weird things:
* Cant use the older enel4 series batteries – have to buy a back up battery, they are $200 if you can find one (which I just did, it will be here monday).
* Extra xqd card not available yet.
* No built in Wifi yet – why my phone can do it, but not my is dumb, come on nikon. (in fairness you can spend another $900 and get the gadget that will make the camera wireless).
Final Thoughts – why I need a D4
Overall, this is a great new camera. I purchased it to replace other cameras that are at the end of their lives. . . The reality is, they may last a bit longer, but why chance it if I’m going to have to replace them within the year anyhow, and why wait till they break – as you know, they will always break right when you need them to work! I also wanted superrior video performance and this is the first pro level dslr that integrates both 1080p, and a fully weathered pro body into one camera. The D4 is not much of a revolutionary camera like the D3 was when it came out. The D4 is the workhorse with a some great new improvements most of which are really just evolution’s, not new species. But when you already created a completely new dimension in cameras with the D3 improving on perfection is still improving! For me, this is a must have camera. Your mileage may vary!
There are a number of much more indepth reviews on the internet (you can google, nikon D4 review, here’s one I like from Brian Tobey, and another from digital camera info) done by people who review stuff cuz that’s what they do. In this piece I tried to give you a snap shot of what I like about the camera and why, I choose to get one shipped before they were available to the rest of the consumer market.
Lets connect on facebook and twitter.
Cheers,
Tony
11 Responses to “Nikon D4 Simple Review – Why Do I Need a D4?”
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Tony -
Have enjoyed your posts both here and on linkedin. I have noted that you are in Montana and I was wondering, I have family there and will up that way starting around the middle of April, I would like to meet you and learn/pick your brain a little if that would be possible.
I know sounds a little weird, but of the other photographers that I read you are the most like me. Not much in the social media stuff like to talk the old fashioned way. If it is not something you feel comfortable about I understand.
I will be in Ekalaka to Cascade for business and traveling to photograph.
Regards,
Kevin Pack
Thank you Kevin. I’m glad that the tone is relevant in today’s busy, techno-world. If you’re in the area, shoot me an email and If I’m available, I’d be happy to let you pick my brain – but be aware, I’m not sure how much is in there . . .
Hey Tony,
Why did you opt for the Nikon D4 when the D800 has double the file size? Yea the D800 is not as fast or has the high end ISO range. But almost everything else is the same……keyword almost. $6k vs. $3k…. that was another deciding factor.
Thanks for posting the review.
Cheers,
Spencer
First, thanks for the question. It was an easy decision, it came out first – done, thank you, bye bye . . . LOL
But really, lets consider the real question what’s the D4 meant to do vs what is the D800 meant for? If you can have only one, and if you know what you need the camera for, it’s an easy decision. For someone like me who shoots action, sports, adventure, landscapes and commercial – and sometimes it’s all in the same shoot here are few things to think about. Number one, frame rate and buffer – both are critical for action, including wildlife photography – check out my recent post on shooting pintails – aint-gona happen with a d800. Imagine shooting any kind of action @ 4fps – ug, you might get away with covering an outdoor chess match but not birds that fly 45 miles per hour, broncs that buck 8 feet off the ground, wild elk and sheep that crash horns and antlers in an instant and so on!
Second, battery and overall build. The d800 is not equipped with a battery that belongs outside, it just isn’t, at least not for what I shoot. You could possibly fix that by adding a grip, but by the time you buy that, plus the new door, two new batteries, and the charger, you’ll be deep into $4k – the batteries are $200 each (upgrading to the enel 18 which should handle the cold as good as the enel 4a did) – you need two, the grip is $500 and the charger about $350 or more! Do the math. Build quality is not there either, in fact, with a shutter capable of 400,000 frames the D4 should be around longer than the d800 when your banging away with it every day . . .
Third, file size, I’ll make this easy, even though I’ve sold files for many billboards – some up to the size of entire city blocks, huge wraps for buses, and simple 60 foot highway billboards, the D800 file’s are huge! I shoot about 100,000 frames per year – almost 10k per month, there’s no way I could store that much data – and that’s not counting video. The quality of the raw material that goes into the D4 sensor is no doubt better. It’s like when the D2h came out, I made 36 in prints with it @ 4mp wow! The sensor and processor was that much better than anything in the consumer line.
Fourth, the D4 came out first – I got an early one because I’m a member of Nikon Professional Services and if you are too, you will get the D800 first as well. And finally, what makes you think I had to choose between the the two? Kick that one around for a bit . . .
The real questions right now are, what do you shoot, and what else is out there to compare to the D4? It’s not the D800 it’s something over in the canon line up, the D4 and D800 are different units meant for different applications. . .
I hope that helps . . .
Hi Tony,
Great review of the D4. I own a D80, and hope to eventually upgrade to a more pro-level camera in the near future.
Like Kevin posted before, would be great to meet you sometime and learn from you. Any chance you would ever offer some workshops? I’m taking a workshop with RMSP in May, but would also like to learn from someone who’s work I greatly admire. Also, like Kevin said, I relate to you better than other well known photographers. I love getting out in the wild and braving the elements to get some photos. Most of the enjoyment for me is just being outside, especially at altitude (I mountain climb too).
You mentioned video. Do you do much video work?
Anyway, really enjoy your blog entries and your incredible photos!
Mac
Hi Mac, thank you again for taking the time to comment. BTW, I’m still working on two posts, both about learning photography. The first is how I learned, the second is about inspiration. As for the D4, it’s a stellar tool . . . been shooting it about every day now and the more i shoot it the more i enjoy it. The truth is, you can have 3 of the same cameras, same model same everything and they all will act a bit different. Every camera I own gets better after about 10,000 frames. . . it might be due to my learning how to use the camera, but it might be the camera settling in. I’m not joking, every one has it’s own little idiosyncrasy’s.
I have offered some one or one or two on one workshops for specific purpose. I also tell people if they organize two or three people that all have similar needs or photographic interests, I will bundle them together and do a short course, or a couple days in the field addressing their specific needs. Spring can be a fun time, but weather is always a challenge . . .
Here’s a video from a fall bighorn sheep shoot I did . . . It was awesome, but this is the kind of thing I’d be willing to take a few guys out to do. The challenge is finding the guys that want to do it and getting them together . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6ViWp5y4e0
Thanks again for taking the time to comment and to express your needs. Feel free to share this blog with a link if you like, with others that you feel might find something valuable . . . See you on the mountain! Tony
Hi Tony,
Interesting about the differences (perceived or not) in the same make and model of camera. I imagine there are production tolerances in such a sophisticated device as a DSLR that the differences you’ve noticed could be attributed to that.
I checked-out the bighorn sheep video; would love to do something like that! Best of both worlds in my opinion: hiking/climbing and looking for wildlife to photograph! You can put me on the list for future endeavors.
No mention of a tripod in your gear rundown. Do you usually use one, and if so, what make, model, and ball head do you use? Any recommendations would of course be greatly appreciated.
Thanks much, and keep the great posts coming (when you have the time, of course)!
Mac
Oh, they are real differences, digital cameras, even within the same model, act slightly different . . . As for tripods, I could write a book on the subject. Right now, for the bigger lenses, I’m using the new, large Really Right Stuff legs and ballhead, with leveling base, and screw in carbide feet. RRS “l” brackets for all bodies. I also have leges from gitzo (glock), manfrotto (aluminum, basalt, & carbon), feisol (carbon), system pro (carbon), and more along with keiser, foba and Arca Swiss heads. I use a King Cobra for my Gimble head. For landscapes I use gitzo glock and a keiser ballhead. Hope that helps!
Oh yeah, and after market RRS feet on the long lenses… all arca swiss compatible. I also use a monopod when I have the light, and the cotton carrier camera system when I’m shooting “on the fly” or shooting multiple bodies and skiing or hiking cross country . . .
Thanks for all the tripod suggestions, Tony. I’ve decided to go with a Gitzo tripod and an RRS ballhead. Haven’t yet chosen specific models within these manufacturer’s offerings, but will be based on portability to a large degree, as I will be carrying them with me while hitting the back and high countries.
Mac
Update: About a month ago I received a new battery and new 32 gig qxd card. So far after 20,000 clicks I’ve not run into the lock-up issue. I do plan to upgrade the firmware which is now available through nikon.