Nikon D4S flagship dSLR
http://www.nikon.com/news/2014/0225_dslr_01.htm
This is a worthy upgrade to the Nikon D4, a professional grade dSLR. Notable improvements:
This is a worthy upgrade to the Nikon D4, a professional grade dSLR. Notable improvements:
- 5 AF-area modes, including a new "new Group-area AF" mode.
- New image processor, EXPEED 4, 30 percent faster than the EXPEED 3 in the D4.
- Standard sensitivities from ISO 100 to ISO 25600, vs standard sensitivities from ISO 100 to ISO 12800 for the D4. (Max ISO 409600, Hi-4)
- RAW S Small* (12-bit uncompressed) image size option, approx 4 MPix, 2464 x 1640.
- Improved battery life (shots).
- Improved video, 1080p60.
- 3 - video acquisition formats: FX-based movie format, DX-based movie format, and 1920 x 1080 crop. (1920 x 1080 crop mode has no image interpolation.)
- You can simultaneously record H.264 video to the flash card, and output uncompressed HDMI.
- Up to 6 WB custom presets.
- Spot WB (One source says this is in Live View only.)
- Shorter viewfinder blackout time.
- Full AF/AE at up to 11fps.
- Gigabit Ethernet, capable of 185Mbps transfer.
- The D4S can generate IPTC data in-camera.
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Comments
Lenses: Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR II | Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 | Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Lighting: SB-910 | SU-800
Ziggy, I am trying to find reference to 185Mbps in your bullet list. Where did you find that?
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
Taking that list a few specific comments:
>>New image processor, EXPEED 4, 30 percent faster than the EXPEED 3 in the D4.
OK, about 2 years - in 2 years you expect about more than that in any other computer system, wouldn't you?
>> Standard sensitivities from ISO 100 to ISO 25600
Now if that translates into a full stop improvement in ISO performance all along the way, that might be a significant one.
>> Video changes
Ok, some people care -- I don't. I never talk to anyone who does video, but I'm sure it is done.
>> Shorter viewfinder blackout time.
Useful only if it translates into better AF precision.
>> Full AF/AE at up to 11fps.
No increase? Well, a pseudo increase? With no sensor size increase, that's a bit of a letdown. I'd have thought they at least tried to match the 1DX.
>> Gigabit Ethernet, capable of 185Mbps transfer.
And what -- the 12 people in the world who tether by ethernet (vs. USB) now get to run faster, but still need a RJ45 wire instead of a built in wifi?
I'm sorry, I love my D4, really I do. I've got probably 130,000 images on it now. And I'll eventually buy another sports body. But to me this is all very under-whelming.
It's also for people wanting to transfer files during an event. I believe that you can make the camera's storage look like common storage to an external computer, using software on the computer to copy and process image files on the computer.
Look at this page at about 25 percent down the page and under the "Workflow" heading.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/nikon-d4s/nikon-d4sA.HTM
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
After seeing how soft the video was in the D4, I will hold judgement until I see an actual video clip from the D4s. It seems panasonic is the only DSLR that give true 1080p video resolution so far. Even the Nikon D800 doesn't do that (around 800p, canon 5D series even less).
http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCFilmmakersGroup
http://www.meetup.com/NYC-Filmmakers-and-Actors-Meetup-Group/
The shorter viewfinder (and AF) blackout time allows AF @ 11 FPS, the D4 can only shoot 10 FPS with AF.
Understood. But with no increase in the no-AF speed, it's not exactly something to write home about (that's why I said a "pseudo increase").
One of the issues I find with the D4 is that during bursts while focusing, it is a bit erratic about the focus. Even on a relatively stable target, in a burst of 5, you might find 1 or 2 pretty grossly out of focus, as though it grabbed focus incorrectly (mirror still moving, whatever). It's not very precise, in other words. It is quite accurate (very accurate indeed) when it does focus, but enough times it misses to be hopeful that the shorter blackout time may result in fewer of these bad frames.
But I guess only time and a bunch of users will tell.
For me and what I'm reading the biggest news may be (if it holds up) the higher ISO performance. No matter the glass, I still end up in venues (for sports) where the light is just not adequate, and every stop of improvement is really big.
perroneford@ptfphoto.com
Well Intel for example has traditionally increased their processing power about 10% overall from year to year. So that would be 20% over 2 years. More recently they've only been hitting about a 5% increase. So a 30% increase in 2 years is quite significant. It's somewhat of an apples to oranges comparison though.
Typically an increase in the upper native limit equates to cleaner imaging in the lower ISO range as well. Most people appreciate the lower ISO improvement over the increase at the top end.
I don't know about Nikon, but Canon has grossly exaggerated their high-ISO range for the past two generations of 1D bodies. The Mark III has a high ISO of 6400, which no one expects to be decent. Still, shooting at 2000 or a little above gives reasonable results. Then the Mark IV came along with a high ISO of 102,400, but anything above 3200 gets pretty noisy. Now we have the 1DX, which goes up to 204,800. I can shoot up to 6400 with decent results, but again things start to get ugly above that.
Again, don't know about Nikon, but I wouldn't take upper limit of ISO to mean very much about the high ISO capabilities of a given camera.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
That's a surprising number (5-10% per year). And in some brief searching it seems surprisingly hard to find, since clock speeds have been down while core count up, and how to compare.
I did find a CS5, 2010 benchmark and a CS6 2013 benchmark, where processing time went from 73 seconds for the then fastest desktop CPU to 47 seconds. That comes out to be just under 17% per year, which surprises me if representative, I would have thought it was more.
But it's interestingly close to the 30% for two years.
Guess I'm still living in the 80s when it increased faster.
It's faster than that, the current equivalent CPU's benchmark 80-100% faster than my W3540 from 2010.
There are many images from the D4s at Sochi. My friend shot it for weeks. His images showed about a half stop (by my estimation) improvement over what I'd seen with the D4. And the D4 was very slightly better than the D3s.
perroneford@ptfphoto.com
Considering how good the Nikon D3S and D4 are, that's pretty high praise.
WTG Nikon!
I'm hoping that the high-ISO improvements also translate into a slight improvement in dynamic range.
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