Nikon Announce the D4!

6 January 2012

It's here, the Nikon D4!

2012 is shaping up to be an exciting year in the world of professional photography, with the announcement of the much anticipated Nikon D4 this morning. We were lucky enough to get a pre-launch preview of Nikon's brand new flagship Digital SLR Camera. Lets take a look at the key features...

Specifications

16.2 megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor
ISO expandable up to 204800 and to as low as ISO 50
EXPEED3 image processing engine
Up to 11 fps (faster than any other Nikon DSLR to date)
Full HD 1080p movie capability
3.2" 921k dot resolution LCD screen
Two card slots: one for CF cards and one for the new high-speed XQD card format

The Nikon D4's dual card slots for both CF & the new XQD card

Living up to its "pushing the limits" tagline, the Nikon D4 boasts a standard ISO range of 100-12800 and for photographers working in extreme lighting situations it's also expandable to a mind-blowing upper limit of 204800 and down to a lower limit of 50.

A somewhat expected (yet very much anticipated) upgrade on the D3s is the presence of full HD 1080p video capability in the D4, which can be recorded at 30p, 25p and 24p and up to 29.59 minutes in length. Nikon have listened to feedback from the professional community and have also included a few additional features for video recording that will undoubtedly be well received: as well as the microphone input, the D4 is also equipped with an output for external headphones and for the first time possible in a DSLR camera, the capability to output uncompressed video (at 1080i) in live view to external recorders or monitors.

The Nikon WT-5 Wireless Transmitter

It's safe to say the D4 is much better connected than it's predecessor too, with file transfer by wireless or wired LAN becoming even easier with the release of the WT-5 Wireless Transmitter yesterday too.

Another feature that will be welcomed with open arms by sports and wildlife photographers is the D4's ability to maintain the power of its eleven AF sensors up to f/8 (combined open aperture), ideal for using teleconverters with telephoto and super-telephoto lenses.

Since the D4 can practically see in the dark, photographers will conveniently be able to use the D4 in the dark too with the addition of lights behind the rear buttons as well as illuminated top and rear control screens. As we saw in our brief hands-on with the D4, the illumination automatically turns off once the shutter is compressed and of course the function can be turned off altogether.

In Comparison: D4 vs D3x vs D3s

	D4	D3x	D3s
Megapixels	16.2	24.5	12.1
ISO range	100-12800	100-1600	200-12800
Max expandable ISO	50-204800	6400	100-102400
Image Processor	EXPEED3	EXPEED	EXPEED
HD Video Max	1080p	No	720p
Autofocus	51-point	51-point	61-point
FPS	11	5	9
Screen (dot resolution)	3.2" LCD (921k)	3.0" LCD(920K)	3.0" (921K)
Weight	1340g	1220g	1240

Sample Images

For a first look at what the D4 can do, we've sourced three sample images from Nikon (original source here or click through on the individual images). More sample images will be added here as they become available.