D4 discussion and picture thread

[jerryph]

We already have a few separate threads about the new D800 and D800E but nothing much so far about the D4, so... since my D4 came in this afternoon, I thought I would start a little something here.

Obviously all I can offer at this time is mere first impressions, but here we go:

Let's start off with the bad... I must admit... I am NOT enjoying the sound this camera makes. With every shutter click I feel a small vibration throughout the entire camera and the sound, though quieter than my D700 by a good margin, sounds a little more tinny and whimpy. Not what I was expecting from Nikon's flagship camera.

Short of that:
- it is lighter than a D700 with grip, by a nice amount that is easily felt.

- the high ISO is amazing... ISO 6400 looks as clean as ISO 800 on the D700.

- the skin tones are more accurate and pleasant

- the focus is lightning fast and SPOT on

- don't laugh... the bokeh is much different using the same lens, it's just... how can I say... sweeter and smoother than on the D700.

- the 100% viewfinder is definitely affecting me more than I expected it. I was so used to the one in the D700 (which was less than 100%) and automatically compensated for it in my compositions. Right now, in the few shots that I took where I wanted to fill the frame and ended up having a composition that was looser than I wanted, which is kinda backwards... lol

- and here is an added surprise that I will mention... the Pocket Wizard ControlTL units work really well using the AC3 and adjust power levels accurately in both manual and auto modes. I've not done anything comprehensive nor even touched on all the features that they can do, but out of the box, they are totally plug and play and work well. Some people may think this is as it should be, but look at the Canon 5DmkIII and ControlTL units... all kinds of troubles and tweaks needed to be done by PW before they work as well.

No pictures so far... I'm really just playing and getting to know it over the last few hours, but I will take it out for a spin this weekend and get real comfy with it before introducing it to paid jobs.

Oh... what's getting a new camera if we cannot do an "unboxing" video? Here is mine :

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Edit: For those that noted that little hint about a "Sapido" in the video... I have a secret plan... lol The WT-5a wireless transmitter is well over $900 here in Canada (after taxes), and I have a plan that will give me a way to duplicate the wireless functionality for oh, under $150US. If that is something that interests you, stay tuned as I put it all together and test it out before posting.

[Greg Norrell]

Congratulations Jerry.

[jerryph]

Thanks... kinda feel like I am talking to myself here... 51 views, and not one comment besides yours... lol

Anyways, I have something new to add...

One of the very cool new features of the D4 is the WT-5 wireless transmitter and the D4's integrated FTP and HTTP servers.

One of the first things I wanted to try out was this feature, so I checked into the WT-5... and wow, over $900Cdn here after taxes! So much for that idea... until NikonRumors came out with a couple of cheaper solutions, however, they either needed an existing wireless network or they just did not last very long on their batteries or the units were weak security-wise.

What I found, I believe, is the best of all worlds... an 802.n wireless router and access point that is compatible with WPA-2 and runs for 6 hours off a couple of "AA" batteries that come with it... plus to extend the battery life, I bought an external battery pack that can either run this router alone and/or charge it's batteries at the same time, extending it's life to well over 12 hours!

The nicest thing? It pretty much fits in your pocket, though I intend to find/buy or make a small pouch that can sit behind me on my belt.

Total cost for the router/AP? $84us delivered to my door, and add $38 for the external battery pack... so under $125. Nice.

I've been on a YouTube rampage lately, so I made another vid on how this works and connects to my iPad2... so I can hand the iPad to someone and they can watch the photos come in from the camera, or I can use the iPad as a remote control device and trigger either photos or videos from the iPad interface.

Nikon scored a home run for me on this feature... it's not one of those "omg I cannot work without it" features, but it is an "omg, this is really fun and cool to play with" feature!

Video Player

[Dirk]

congrats on the buy Jerry have fun you shure will.
yeah i know my casio ex-fh20 thread in the compact camera forum isd read also many times without a single reply..

But he i'll gues most pc's only drag about the latest pro gear and how cool it is for them (not meaning you) but they sometimes forget that there are people on this planet that can't buy a d700, d600 or D3 etc.. because it is too expensive

cheers

[jerryph]

I don't want to drag on about how cool it is (at leas I hope this thread is not looking like that!)... and my wallet is still hurting from the price... lol

It's raining here today (dammit), so I'm not going out, but I'll take a few quick test shots and post here later on.

Last night I was kinda playing with the low light focusing abilities and all, and then my girlfriend said jokingly "if you keep taking pictures in the dark like that, you are going to need glasses... and those shots are probably not even very good...". At that moment I noticed how dark the room had become, as I did not turn on any lights, and noticed that I was shooting at ISO 51,200 and getting perfectly exposed shots, and no focusing hiccups or hunting from the camera... lol

[Greg Norrell]

The price of a new camera is always painful (yours more so than mine). But hey, at ISO 51,200, you can save on the electric bill.

[jerryph]

LOL... good idea!

Took a break from work and took a few fast pics with it on different lenses.

Sigma 105mm macro... at F/8 and ISO 3200.


Nikkor 85mm F/1.4, ISO 400


Sigma 15mm Fisheye... always good for a fun shot:


Nikkor 45mm PC-E (Tilt-Shift). There was talk here that the tilt-shift was not functional on the D4. Well, I am very happy to say that it does, and works wonderfully. The manual focus is accurate and it meters properly.


Now... back to my dungeon and work, where I shall place nose to grindstone for the rest of the day.

[jerryph]

Today I got a small $10 fanny pack, placed a 5600mAh portable battery pack beside the router and now have the ability to shoot wireless for 12-14 hours in a row when I want. The range is pretty impressive at around 50-60 feet.

Now, as easy as it was to make this thing work via HTTP, the FTP functionality was a bit of a bear, but it worked eventually. It was more of an issue with getting my 32-bit shareware FTP server application to work on Windows 7 64-bit and set everything up (I know, I could use IIS, but my laptop is only WIN7 Home... lol).

The reason I wanted to try that was to see if I could use it real world for situations where I could go from camera to FTP server directory and from there set up the Lightroom 4 feature called Watch Folder, where when LR sees a file come in to that directory, it moves it to another location and imports it straight into LR ready to get worked on... and this part works flawlessly.

The only obvious issue is that when dealing with large NEF RAW files, that transfer takes a bit of time and happens a little slower... around 1200-1500 kb/s, according to what I see on the FTP server screen. No biggie, because the camera buffers it all and you can shoot as much as you want, and it sends the next file when ready... all wirelessly.

It's really something to see, and is surprisingly very stable too. At one point I closed the laptop, closed the camera, then 5 minutes later opened the camera and laptop, just started shooting and the system internally just all connected automatically and started sending the files that I shot as the system was configuring itself.

All a ton of fun if you are a bit of a techno-geek!

[Erich1B]

Originally Posted by jerryph

Now, as easy as it was to make this thing work via HTTP, the FTP functionality was a bit of a bear, but it worked eventually. It was more of an issue with getting my 32-bit shareware FTP server application to work on Windows 7 64-bit and set everything up (I know, I could use IIS, but my laptop is only WIN7 Home... lol).

[jerryph]

Sorry Eric, did I get too techno-geeky?