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Nikon D4 announcement...

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7799914638/nikon-d4-overview/

Competitive to the new Canon in most of the specs I can see. Doesn't appear to have anything that leapfrogs it, which I would say is somewhat unusual but probably not unexpected given the relatively close release date.

I hadn't noticed that the Canon had a 100k pixel metering sensor until I noticed Nikon's 91k pixel sensor and went checking. I wonder if that will really improve metering/WB or if it's a marketing point? A 100-fold jump in the number of sensing pixels is pretty huge.

At the very least, it should help with subject tracking.
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
Have they actually said that that buffer demo was shooting raw? I'd be curious. 7.5 fps is pretty slow for a modern sports camera. Also, if that was jpeg they could easily smash the buffer with 150+ shots with a fast CF card. The older canon and nikon stuff already does that. If it was raw, that was one hell of a huge buffer.

The only real competition at this point will be low light sensitivity (and native ISO - does the d4 do 50 and 100 iso?) AF will be key, it's what sells cameras to sports photographers.

The WT5 is nice, but nothing revolutionary. I've been running remotes this way for 2 years now from my iphone, only kicker is the camera itself needed a netbook or ipad plugged into it to control it. Does it need to be on a wifi network? I am assuming it does (unless it can create it's own, which would be rad.) If not, it makes it pretty much just as awkward as the previous methods, (minus the netbook).

Definitely heading the right direction though. The canon transmitter has it's own built in ftp server etc (and has for a few years). If they can make one that works over the 3g network using a usb data stick or just a micro sim or even bluetooth like the new e6 from canon, I'd own one in a second.
 
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H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Have they actually said that that buffer demo was shooting raw? I'd be curious. 7.5 fps is pretty slow for a modern sports camera. Also, if that was jpeg they could easily smash the buffer with 150+ shots with a fast CF card. The older canon and nikon stuff already does that. If it was raw, that was one hell of a huge buffer
Shooting raw it'll do 100, with jpg "fine" it'll do over 150.
10 fps with AE and AF, 11 fps with AF lock on.

THAT IS INSANE.

The only real competition at this point will be low light sensitivity (and native ISO - does the d4 do 50 and 100 iso?) AF will be key, it's what sells cameras to sports photographers.
100-12,800 native, expandable down to 50 and up to 204,800

The AF is supposed to be "improved". Whatever that means.

The metering sensor sounds like the most crazy thing. 91k pixel RGB. That combined with the faster processor and the scene recognition system will make this thing a monster.

The WT5 is nice, but nothing revolutionary. I've been running remotes this way for 2 years now from my iphone, only kicker is the camera itself needed a netbook or ipad plugged into it to control it. Does it need to be on a wifi network? I am assuming it does (unless it can create it's own, which would be rad.) If not, it makes it pretty much just as awkward as the previous methods, (minus the netbook).
I think you can connect it to a phone or pad directly via wifi. Which is rad. I like that the interface is built into the firmware.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
You know what I like the most about this camera? The trickle down effect that will be in the middle of the Nikon lineup within a few years.

:thumb:
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
The new 1dx (and i think my mk4) do 12.5 FPS raw with no constraints. I'm not sure why Nikon has always lagged here? The big 100 raw image buffer is sick though, considering those images are pretty huge. Your talking 2-3gb buffer...

The 1dx is also doing a 100k pixel rgb meter. Pretty rad stuff. Improved in accuracy, and a lot probably has to do with the meter. The AF sensors rely on contrast (vertically and horizontally) to pick up AF. That ugly blue and yellow TLD medusa jersey is a photographer's friend.

WTF5 is cool if it worked over 3g with it's own sim. Otherwise, it's going to be cantankerous for sure. Too small to have any real sort of transmit/receive power in a network saturated environment (basketball backboard cam is the first thought that comes to mind... those arenas are a mess for wifi). The same goes for a world cup finish area for example. Timing systems, tv microwave and wifi, organizer networks etc.