Nikon D4 Body

Perfect camera if you have used a d700, d7000,, d800 for quite some time. I don't recommend it if you are a beginner. It is a great all round camera despite the weight it is around 1.3Kg without a battery or lens. It is worth every cent.

Upgrading from a D90 straight to the top really opened my eyes to the versatility and quality of Nikon's flagship camera. I cannot make a fair comparison with the previous models nor any other full frame camera bodies as I am a virgin to the professional caliber of camera bodies. However, here is my take on the Nikon D4.

I have always loved the ergonomics of Nikon cameras and the D4 lives up to its reputation. Switching from a D90 was a breeze. It took me about half an hour to become familiar with the majority of the functionality it has to offer. The addition of the mini-controllers for both landscape and portrait shots are so intuitive one would wonder why no one thought of them before. The handling is superb. I can adjust all necessary settings on the fly without fumbling around.

The camera feels very sturdy in the hands and the neck strap feels good around the shoulders especially when flipped with the Nikon branding hidden from public so that the rubber grip is facing outward. Personally I would've liked the strap just a little longer so I can use it as a shoulder strap. The flip side to the build quality is that the camera is still quite heavy. Attach a 70-200 on this body and it will surely weigh you down. Oh well, I suppose no pain no gain.

Performance wise it is incomparable with the D90. The feel of the trigger and speed is unparalleled and motivates me to continue shooting anything that moves. The new XQD card performs as well as anything I've seen so far and with the EXPEED 3 processor long exposure shots are captured with a couple of seconds! However, I have found a small glitch where sometimes the playback becomes unresponsive upon review. This happens after shooting in succession for awhile and I go back to review my shots. I'm not sure if this is a firmware issue but I hope it does get rectified soon.

I have tested shooting under low light conditions and the Nikon D4 delivers excellent quality upto the ISO range of 3200. There is a slight graininess creeping in from the 6400 range but I am somewhat of a pixel freak. I love the range of colors it captures even in low light and focusing with my 24-70 is super fast and silent!

Also, I love the addition of the new Quiet mode. I had a chance to shoot a private event for a friend and this feature really came handy. As a photographer I try to remain as inconspicuous as possible and it helps to make as little noise as possible.

Alas, as with the case with all bleeding edge tech, this tool comes at a price. About 7k that is. It is a substantial blow to the bank account and will have you on an instant noodle diet for quite some time unless you're a professional photographer who I presume will earn that back and then some with this beast. On top of that, if you own an old version of Photoshop then you will need to upgrade that as well. The raw files are only supported by the latest version of Adobe's Camera Raw. This camera is not for everyone I suppose but I took the plunge and invested in this quality machinery so that I may be armed with the necessary tool to become a professional photographer in the near future.

Finally, there are plenty of reviews already on YouTube and other sites but none of them compares to actually trying it out yourself. If you consider yourself beyond the hobbyist happy snapper and have quite a bit of loose change lying around then I definitely recommend making this purchase.