Nikon D4 Owner Thread

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Will
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Hello all,

I have noticed there is no owner thread for those silly enough to break the bank on a Nikon D4.
So I have taken the liberty in creating one :D

Feel free to share hints, tips, opinions, questions, queries etc and hopefully we can make some use of this thread.

I for one think it is a fabulous camera and have had a great time using it so far. Especially with the video function. What does everyone else think?
 
I think you'll struggle to keep this thread awake and on page 1. Just too expensive, and too specialised. Only press, sports and some wildlife photographers and anyone who needs the speed are the only real customers for this. Over 4K is just too hard to justify otherwise.

I'm sure there are more than just you two in here though :)
 
I think you'll struggle to keep this thread awake and on page 1. Just too expensive, and too specialised. Only press, sports and some wildlife photographers and anyone who needs the speed are the only real customers for this. Over 4K is just too hard to justify otherwise.
Why, the 1DX costs £1,000 more and is produced only for press, sports, some wildlife and those who need the speed, there are literally several dozen owners on here, i know at least 8 personally.
 
Ok, I'll chip in.
Superb body. I find it to be faster at aquiring focus in low light and more accurate than my D3s was. Noise level is about the same. Which is fine. Do we need it to be any better than the D3s anyway?
Love the fact that it will focus my 200-400mm at f8 at a decent speed. Don't usually miss a shot.
I've not had green tinge problem or focus problem. (some said the D4 suffered from it.)
I wish it had 2 XQD cards. Love them. Super fast.
I just wish that I had kept my D3s as my second body. Should have sold the D300 instead.Maybe I should look at a D800.
One thing that I have noticed, is that I've had to reduce my preset sharpening settings on CS6 from when I used my D3s. The D4 images had the dreaded jaggies, using the old setting.Could just be that I've improved?
I'm sure I will think of more. It's early and I've only had about 4hrs sleep.

Kev.
 
Why, the 1DX costs £1,000 more and is produced only for press, sports, some wildlife and those who need the speed, there are literally several dozen owners on here, i know at least 8 personally.

Yes.. there are several owners on here... hardly a crowd. I just don't think there's enough to sustain a thread. No offence intended. Besides.. they got a thread bump. Be happy :)
 
kevshore said:
Ok, I'll chip in.
Superb body. I find it to be faster at aquiring focus in low light and more accurate than my D3s was. Noise level is about the same. Which is fine. Do we need it to be any better than the D3s anyway?
Love the fact that it will focus my 200-400mm at f8 at a decent speed. Don't usually miss a shot.
I've not had green tinge problem or focus problem. (some said the D4 suffered from it.)
I wish it had 2 XQD cards. Love them. Super fast.
I just wish that I had kept my D3s as my second body. Should have sold the D300 instead.Maybe I should look at a D800.
One thing that I have noticed, is that I've had to reduce my preset sharpening settings on CS6 from when I used my D3s. The D4 images had the dreaded jaggies, using the old setting.Could just be that I've improved?
I'm sure I will think of more. It's early and I've only had about 4hrs sleep.

Kev.

I agree it is fab. Do you find the XQD cards worthwhile? What's the actual difference you've seen instead of using a 60 or 90 mb/s card?
 
Hi all,
Just purchased a D4 from Mifsuds which I will be using to photograph airshows and low flying aircraft and I would appreciate any tips as to the best settings to use on the D4.

Also, what do people think about XQD cards vs 1000x CF cards? Due to the nature of the low flying photography I do, I wantto achieve the max number of frames at 10fps shooting rate before the camera 'chokes' - I am presuming from the figures that the XQD card is a better bet than the 1000x CF cards, but would appreciate comments from anyone with practical experience.

Regards
Pete

http://www.LowFlyMedia.com
 
Hi all,
Just purchased a D4 from Mifsuds which I will be using to photograph airshows and low flying aircraft and I would appreciate any tips as to the best settings to use on the D4.

Also, what do people think about XQD cards vs 1000x CF cards? Due to the nature of the low flying photography I do, I wantto achieve the max number of frames at 10fps shooting rate before the camera 'chokes' - I am presuming from the figures that the XQD card is a better bet than the 1000x CF cards, but would appreciate comments from anyone with practical experience.

Regards
Pete

http://www.LowFlyMedia.com

Do you still get the XQD card supplied with the camera body?
 
Hi all,
Just purchased a D4 from Mifsuds which I will be using to photograph airshows and low flying aircraft and I would appreciate any tips as to the best settings to use on the D4.

Also, what do people think about XQD cards vs 1000x CF cards? Due to the nature of the low flying photography I do, I wantto achieve the max number of frames at 10fps shooting rate before the camera 'chokes' - I am presuming from the figures that the XQD card is a better bet than the 1000x CF cards, but would appreciate comments from anyone with practical experience.

Regards
Pete

http://www.LowFlyMedia.com

I haven't tried those cards yet but the faster card will be better of course. Look up 1000x in mb/s on google and see if it's 125 mb/s or more.

The d4 has a huge buffer, you might not even reach that with a reasonable card.

Do you still get the XQD card supplied with the camera body?

I believe not. That was a promotional offer.
 
I must be one of those extremely silly ones , I have 2 ! ;)

Great bodies , love the way the camera just snaps focus .I haven't used the sony cards yet , quite happy with the SanDisk extreme pro.

The low light capabilities are great, and i find that in my style of shooting that this allows me much more flexibility. Still have a D800 and D700 as backups but find the D4's just a joy to use. I've not noticed any of the reported problems.

Initially, I believe the xqd cards were shipped with the bodies as a promotion but that has long expired.

At times the need has arisen to provide studio facilities at receptions and using the D4/wt5/shuttersnitch combo just makes the process that much more seamless.
I did have another workable wifi solution for £50 but found the whole wires dangling thing too much ....


G
 
My D4 was a 'Nikon Refurb' so no XQD card with it, although I did buy a 32GB card with the camera. The speed specs on cards generally seem to be 'wishful thinking' and I have long since ignored the claimed speeds, hence my asking if anyone has practical experience. I did read an article here which suggests the XQD card is better (72 shots in RAW before slowdown vs 66 for a Lexar 1000x CF card), so the official rated speeds of the cards do not seem to reflect reality.

Anyway - really looking forward to getting out into the welsh mountains for some low fly photography next week :)
 
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I totally forgot about this thread. :LOL:
I use the XQD as my main card. I have a couple. I haven't used the fastest of the CF cards that are out there. I've lots of the Sandisk 60mbs from the old days.
So for me, it's like day and night difference. The XQD writing speed is instant. No delay. I've done the usual play on constant high speed shutter and have been amazed at how both the D4 and XQD work together. No buffering or delay. They just keep going!
I just wish that the body had 2 XQD slots. I would happily move over to them permanently.
I must buy a faster CF card and compare.

But then again, I'm more likely to buy another XQD.

Kev.
 
I totally forgot about this thread. :LOL:
I use the XQD as my main card. I have a couple. I haven't used the fastest of the CF cards that are out there. I've lots of the Sandisk 60mbs from the old days.
So for me, it's like day and night difference. The XQD writing speed is instant. No delay. I've done the usual play on constant high speed shutter and have been amazed at how both the D4 and XQD work together. No buffering or delay. They just keep going!
I just wish that the body had 2 XQD slots. I would happily move over to them permanently.
I must buy a faster CF card and compare.

But then again, I'm more likely to buy another XQD.

Kev.

I use mostly 60 mb/s cards and I have one 90. I haven't found the 60 slow though.
How does xqd compare? Just able to take few more shots?
 
Keep it up boy and girls I am thinking of getting a D4 and find these threads very informative.
 
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I use mostly 60 mb/s cards and I have one 90. I haven't found the 60 slow though.
How does xqd compare? Just able to take few more shots?


It writes much faster Will. Also the images transfer to the pc very fast with the XQD reader. (y)
 
Ah that's probably the best bonus then. Hmm maybe I'll have to invest.

Not much of an investment, when you consider the price of the body mate. (y) I'm fighting the urge of the 600mm vr. :LOL:


Kev.
 
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Not much of an investment, when you consider the price of the body mate. (y) I'm fighting the urge of the 600mm vr. :LOL:
Kev.
Hi Kev,
I've been lusting over the 600mm VR too, however I already have a 300mm f2.8. That together with a TC-E20 III should autofocus beautifully on the D4 and is only 1 stop slower than the 600mm VR lens - so unless the 600mm is very much sharper than the 300 + TC combo I question the value (for myself at least) of investing £7000+ in the 600mm.

Would be interested in your views on the 300 + TC-E20 III combo.
 
Hi Peter. I actually had that combo. It worked great! I may very well, still buy another 300mm 2.8. I sold mine to force me to use the 200-400mm more.
Here is the thread I started on it. I will say now, that as the weather improved and my handholding skills improved, so did the images. This was on the D3s also. I would expect the D4 focus to be quicker.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=210774&highlight=nikon+converter

Kev.
 
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D4 arriving today so 1 more for the gang.
 
I love my D4. It is incredibly fast focusing and provides stunning high ISO photos. On top of that it delivers 10 fps...which is great for sports but also great for candid photos of politicians and other celebrities.

It also has great dynamic range plus more than enough resolution for landscapes and portraits.

It's pricey...and built like a tank!
 
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I'm quite happy w/ the D4. But TBH, I don't find it much of an improvement over the D3s... If I hadn't drowned it in a river I wouldn't own the D4. I do quite like the 10fps but I *never* use all 10. I'm also quite fond of the XQD, primarily because I have an express card reader in my MacbookPro so it's fast and convenient. I can't say I've noticed it being a huge improvement over fast CF via Firewire, but much more convenient... I don't think I've ever filled the buffer on a camera, not even the D7000/D800, so that's a non-issue for me.

BTW, the D800 is better for video if that's important to you.

I use a 400 2.8 +2x III all the time... more than any other combination.

A quirk I've found w/ the latest Nikon's (D4/D800/etc) is that if you use dynamic focus (it's faster w/ fewer points active) it's NOT using (starting with) the one highlighted focus point. It's using the highlighted point AND any of the 4 around it; whichever has the most contrast/easiest focus. It doesn't do that if you use single point...
 
Steven I think you may have hit the nail on the head. The D3s is so good that not as many felt the need to upgrade as those that have/had a 1D4.

From personal experience I find that the 1Dx is a big leap up on the 1D4.
 
I just got one tonight for my 30th! hired a 400 f2.8 for the week as well being delivered on Monday, so can't wait to get out and about!
 
Got mine this month too - after being skeptical about the benefit over the D3s for a long while I decided to take the plunge ... initial impressions are favourable with the A/F being a distinct improvement.
 
Glad you're happy with it Gramps! I definitely saw an improvement. The autofocus speed and being able to focus at f8 with a converter are what impressed me. It was a cheap way of getting 400mm - 800mm .
I'll be putting mine up for sale soon though. ;)
 
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