Nikon D4 16 MP FX $6,000, Feb. 2012

Nikon D4
16 MP FX, 10 FPS, $6,000, Feb. 2012



The Nikon D4 is an update to 2007's Nikon D3.

The new Nikon D4 offers slightly higher frame rates, slightly higher resolution, an updated AF system that works better with teleconverters, Kelvin white balance settings in 10K increments, a virtual horizon that finally works properly with both roll and pitch, much higher ISOs than the D3 and D3s, and wow, video.

The Nikon D4 is aimed at full-time professional news, sports and action photographers – or videographers shooting Canon DSLRs.

For landscape, nature and portrait and wedding photographers, the Nikon D3x still has more resolution. For use in the field, the Nikon D7000 has the same resolution as the D4 with a lot less weight.

For most of us, the Nikon D4 is just a minor update to the D3, unless one of its features, like video or seeing in the dark at six-digit ISOs is a must-have for you. Otherwise, it's still the same camera as 1996's Nikon F5: there hasn't been any significant advance in basic ergonomics, shutter speeds, flash sync, metering or much of anything else for the past 16 years. (In fact, the Nikon F5's shutter goes all the way down to a timed 30 minutes all by itself, which I use and which no DSLR does.)

The D4 weighs about 3 ounces less than the D3, which is great news.

The D4 has only one CF card slot, and replaces the second with a slot for the new XQD cards. Great, now I have to buy new memory cards no one has ever seen just for backup!

Hallelujah, the buttons are now backlit, just like my 20-year old cell phone. The D4 also supposedly works with the good remote, the $15 ML-L3, and lets you have the camera vary its auto ISO shutter speed with focal length.

If you're a full-time pro, all these little things add up to make getting a couple of these a no-brainer. If you're not full time and the price of a new camera matters, then no, the D4 is nowhere near as innovative as the Nikon F4 was when it was announced. See Is It Worth It if you're undecided.

Read all of it here @ http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d4.htm