I took my Nikon D4 to the zoo. I didn’t go to take photos but went with my cousins who were in town and wanted to go to the zoo. I went with really minimal gear, a D4 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and I had a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens in a bag that I never used. First off I must say that I am really impressed with the feel and the layout of the controls on the D4. Nikon moved some stuff around slightly and added controls mainly for the video functions. Everything was exactly where I thought it would be and the camera felt really comfortable in my hands.
One of the most impressive things about the D4 is the Auto White Balance. The Polar Bear Plunge is a great place to photograph the bears but you have to shoot through the thick glass. Usually I have to adjust for the color tint of the glass but the images from the D4 are really close to natural without any tweaking at all.
The next thing that I noticed is that the focus is fast. Really really fast.
The metering seemed to be way more accurate in the mixed lighting and instead of shooting in manual mode, I set the camera to Aperture Priority, and kept the metering on Matrix.
I also gave shooting video a try… OK… I’m hooked. More on that later….
Thanks, I’ve been looking forward to some field reviews. Was the D4 an upgrade from the D3? If so, are you glad you made the jump? I haven’t had my D3s for that long, so I’m really curious to know if the new body offers sufficient improvements (aside from video) to warrant buying another body. I’m also debating whether to buy a D3x or wait for a D4x (should Nikon release one). Any suggestions there?
This was an upgrade form the D3 / D700 for me. If I had a D3s, I probably would not have made the jump.
99% of my shooting is in low light and while I love the D4, the D3s is really great. Now I did not have video on the D3 / D700 so that is a big leap and the video is amazing..
As for the D4x or D3x, I would personally go with the 36MP D800. Who knows when or even if the D4x will be announced.
Thanks Alan. I’ve not gotten into video, but if I do I may try a D4. Do I understand correctly that you’d recommend the d800 over the D3X?
I do not have a D800 or a D3X but I would go go with the D800 simply because it is newer and far cheaper.
Alan,I enjoy your work and you are in my photographer circle.
I just returned my D4 as I could not justify the 2000.00-2500.00
price increase over a used D3s. Nice features and a solid upgrade for D3 or D700 users. my two favorite D4 features were iso 100
and the joysticks.
Good luck with the D4
Don