Nikon D4 Review



Nikon D4 with Sigma 50mm F1.4

I’ve been putting off my review of the Nikon D4 until now because I really wanted to put it through its paces and use it on some of my latest photographic assignments before I gave my verdict. Initially I wasn’t looking at buying a new camera body as I was already using the Nikon D3s and Nikon D200. It was while I was on a Wedding shoot in February that my Nikon D200 developed a fault. This in itself wasn’t a major problem at the time as I had the D3s, but I couldn’t afford to be shooting with only one body on any subsequent assignments, so a new camera was needed. I looked at the D800E and was very tempted, but after working with the ‘big’ Nikons and becoming familiar with their rugged construction and lightning reflexes, I was becoming more interested in the D4. Many people on forums were saying that if you already owned a D3s, a D4 wasn’t really worth the upgrade, but others were talking about the many small improvements that added up to make the new Nikon that little bit special. I also thought the files produced by the D800/E would possibly be just that little bit too big and I didn’t fancy buying a new computer just yet. I now shoot with the D4 and D3s on most shoots and these are my findings:

Nikon D4 rear view

Ergonomics. The D4 has a slightly more rounded shape and is arguably more aesthetically pleasing. The designers changed the shutter button/s position slightly on the D4, saying they would be easier to press and cause less fatigue on the trigger finger than previous models, especially on long shoots. But switching between the two cameras quickly hasn’t resulted in any discernible  difference on my part. The grip has changed slightly, and two little joysticks can now be found on the back of the D4, but again, switching between the two cameras hasn’t caused any problems and I don’t prefer one to the other. The new Nikon is slightly lighter than the D3s, but when attached to a lens like the Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8, you really wouldn’t notice. Having buttons that light up on the back of the camera is a really neat touch. In particularly, I recall a wedding last April where I was shooting late in to the evening. I had to manoeuvre the D3s under any light source I could find to see what I was doing. I know my way around the back of these cameras pretty well but having buttons that illuminated at the flick of a switch would have made the job so much easier.

Top: Buttons illuminated. Left: One of the two joysticks on the back of the D4. Right: New AF/M switch 



  

Picture Quality. The sensor is now 16 Mega Pixels (MP) on the D4 as opposed to 12MP on the D3s. As I have mentioned in previous posts, having more MP doesn’t necessarily make the camera better. I think Nikon have been wise here, as the MP count hasn’t increased by a great deal and they seem to have concentrated instead on quality, not quantity. The images are very sharp straight out the camera and they have a 3D quality to them. Viewed at 100% on a monitor, they look absolutely stunning. The auto white balance is spot on, and I haven’t noticed the green tint issue that some users have mentioned on the LCD screen; perhaps this was a problem on early production units or was addressed in firmware updates.

ISO and Dynamic Range. These two points in my opinion are probably the most important when comparing the cameras. Early suggestions put the D4 sensor as a stop better than the D3s in the high ISO stakes. DXO mark (www.dxomark.com) shows that the D3s has the slight edge. The latest forum searches and expert analysis show the two cameras to be performing very similarly. So, what’s my opinion? Looking closely at the images from both cameras at the same high ISO values, I would say that there is nothing between the two, both cameras exhibiting similar amounts of luminous noise from ISO 3200. However, I do feel the D4 retains slightly more detail at ISO 6400 and above, and it’s certainly able to capture more dynamic range than the D3s at these high settings. That’s one of the D4’s major selling points in my opinion, it really comes in to it’s own in low light situations where a scene contains large dimly lit areas punctuated by small pockets of bright light. It can capture detail throughout the image without introducing any colour or luminous noise. The dynamic range when shooting at low ISO values is equally impressive. It’s able to pull out so much detail from the shadowy areas of an image while holding on to the highlights, something that most other cameras just couldn’t do. It’s in another league in this regard to the D3s, but even the D4 lags behind the D800/E in this department, who’s dynamic range is nothing short of stellar and is class leading.       

Focus. The Auto Focus/Manual (AF/M) switch on the side of the D4 is greatly improved over the D3s. It allows for quicker selection between the two settings and offers far easier access to AF/Continuous and auto focus points. When selected, continuous auto focus is simply astonishing on the D4; it seems noticeably more sensitive than the D3s. My next blog post will delve into this in more detail. Auto ISO is also far easier to set on the D4. Even when selecting a custom function button on the D3s to handle this operation, the new Nikon is just slicker.

Storage. The Nikon D4 contains two memory card slots, one for the Compact Flash format and another for the new XQD system. I have yet to try the new format but have read that it is an excellent, fast storage system that should be adopted by more cameras in the future. The buffer on the D4 is much bigger than on the D3s and the write speeds to the card are much faster, resulting in a camera that has the ability to record 14 bit Raw files at 10 frames per second for 10 seconds, enough to cover the men’s Olympic 100m sprint final from start to finish. 

Summary

There are so many little things that add up to make the Nikon D4 such a remarkable bit of kit. So, Is it worth the upgrade? The Nikon D3s is an amazing camera and will continue to deliver stunning results for many years to come, it’s high ISO performance remains class leading, (rivalling the D4) but if you can afford the Nikon D4, and want the very best camera money can buy, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Ergonomics. Feels good in the hand and the controls are well laid out. Not much difference in feel to the Nikon D3s but the little touches like redesigned auto focus and ISO switches make a big difference in reality.

Performance. Exceptional image quality, dynamic range, responsiveness and clean high ISO results make this the camera of choice for Wildlife, Sports and Photojournalistic photographers, along with Canon’s 1DX. Its continuous auto focus capability is simply extraordinary as too is its proficiency at writing large quantities of data to a storage card without slowing down, especially when coupled with the XQD format.  

Value. Expensive, but built like a tank and with a shutter rating of 400,000 actuations, this camera should last a very long time.


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