Nikon D4 with new video features

[Brett Sherman]

The crop mode of my T3i is so handy for run and gun that I have vowed not to buy a large format camera without it. For the type of shooting I do, I simply do not have time for lens changes most of the time.

[Justin Molush]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Plakiotis

"A new multi-area mode has been introduced, which means that videos can be recorded in both FX and DX based formats, as well as in native full HD (1920 x 1080 crop), meaning that the same lens can be used to capture the same scene with different crop factors."

Wow - looks like Nikon is reading the online community much better than canon...

If they can introduce a camera with an iFrame codec, clean HDMI 4:2:2 out, lossless crop factors, that doesn't do any unnecessary line skipping to introduce moire into the shot, I think Nikon is producing a winner in the video department. However, they are a little late to the game and a lot of people have bought EF glass already for doing DSLR video.

If they offer a package that is as good as it sounds though, its going to be hard to ignore...

[Ted Ramasola]

D4 video features shown;

Dslrnewsshooter video: Nikon D4 - video feature run through on Vimeo

[Emmanuel Plakiotis]

The signal from the HDMI Out is only 1080i at least according to the European literature.
Well it has become a tradition, each manufacturer to introduce a fine product with a major inexplicable blunder in their specs.

Let's hope is a typo or something will change until release or it is firmware upgradable.
Just wondering if 720 is also i ?

PS. Did a bit of research on the subject, visiting various sites and it seems there is a confusion about the subject. Can someone with ties to Nikon, give us a concrete answer?

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Yeah, if the HD out isn't uncompressed in the professional sense of the term, it would have been a blunder to publicly announce it and then not deliver!

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Emmanuel Plakiotis

The signal from the HDMI Out is only 1080i at least according to the European literature. Well it has become a tradition, each manufacturer to introduce a fine product with a major inexplicable blunder in their specs.

That's not a blunder. It has to do with HDMI's standard features that offer the broadest compatibility. In 50i, you can combine neighboring fields to create 25p. In 60i, you can do an inverse 3:2 pulldown. The progressive signal is fully recoverable.

It's all good.

[Emmanuel Plakiotis]

"In 50i, you can combine neighboring fields to create 25p. In 60i, you can do an inverse 3:2 pulldown. The progressive signal is fully recoverable."

Jon,
If it is progressive delivered as PSF you are correct. If it is true interlaced, during a camera or subject movement, the fields might not correspond to each other and create artifacts during recombination.

Personally I think (and wish) is a typo, because otherwise it means it can't output 720p 50/60. In interlace it would have been 100/120i which is not a standard.

[Steve Nelson]

What do you guys think about the price? It's listing for $6k at B&H pre-order. It looks like a great camera for sure but I'm not sure I'd spend $6k on a DSLR for video when you can get a real video camera with a clean HDMI out like the FS-100 for a $1k less. Granted the FS-100 isn't full frame but outside of that I'm not sure of the attraction here from a video perspective. Beautiful camera though and the demo video was excellent. Just wondering what everyone else thinks about that.

[Josh Dahlberg]

The FS100 is certainly a nice camera, but (provided the HDMI output on the Nikon is usable and moire/aliasing are controlled) I'm not sure if it's that much more of a "real" video camera. Not for me anyway.

Video ergonomics are not exactly a strong point of the FS100 either (both cameras benefit from some kind of rig), and as it doesn't have built in NDs it also requires either screw on faders or a matte box. The FS100 does have better onboard audio, but either way I'd use an external recorder like the PIX220 with superior preamps, 24bit audio, all nicely embedded alongside video in ProRes.

The FS100 will have greater tweakability/custom control, and we'll have to wait and see if the D4 has a useful flat profile. However, the D4 has the potential to deliver greater dynamic range, a cleaner image, better low light performance (I have to say the FS100 is pretty good already!), and of course full compatibility with Nikon Glass (with the FS100 you're reliant on adaptors).

What's most attractive for a guy like me though, is that I shoot quite a lot of stills for clients on the side; I expect a lot of videographers do. Being able to take one kit along for both tasks is very handy, especially when travelling.

[Glen Vandermolen]

The FS100 certainly is a "real" video camera. It shoots HD video, no stills. Here's where the FS100 is a real video camera:
This weekend, I shot a lacrosse tournament. That meant hours of almost continuous shooting, over an hour of video recorded, in the warm Florida sun. Nat sound all the way. No overheating, no shutdown. No moire, no aliasing. Try that with any DSLR.

I'm sure the D4 will be an excellent DSLR, with a very capable video function. But it is not a camcorder.

[Josh Dahlberg]

Hi Glen,

I'm not disputing the FS100's credentials... it's a great camera. The "real" inverted commas are directed at the notion a camera like the GH2 (which I do shoot with all day in the sun without any moire/aliasing to speak of) is somehow not a proper video camera.

I have an XF300 too, a camera indisputably in the "real" camp, but these days it takes a back seat on the majority of video jobs to the GH2. The latter performs video tasks very admirably indeed.

With the functionality of cameras like the GH2 and the D4 appearing at the same time as large chip video cameras with unconventional form factor (FS100, C300 et al) this space is converging, and terms like "real video camera" become redundant IMHO.

Note that Nikon is marketing the D4 as a "multi-media DSLR" : we'll have to wait and see if it delivers in areas like moire/aliasing/overheating, but I'm optimistic.

[Jonathan Shaw]

It looks like a great camera, it will interesting to see how it performs in low light. The noise from Nikon's I feel always looks better than from Canon's

[Greg Fiske]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Shaw

It looks like a great camera, it will interesting to see how it performs in low light. The noise from Nikon's I feel always looks better than from Canon's

I thought this was changing with CANON DIGIC 5 release? The 1 dx samples, people mentioned the noise looked like film grain.

[Jonathan Shaw]

I just saw on another forum that the HDMI out is '8 bit 422 1080p24 or 29.97 but HDMI is 1080i so it's really PsF'

[Mark Kenfield]

Originally Posted by Steve Nelson

What do you guys think about the price? It's listing for $6k at B&H pre-order. It looks like a great camera for sure but I'm not sure I'd spend $6k on a DSLR for video when you can get a real video camera with a clean HDMI out like the FS-100 for a $1k less. Granted the FS-100 isn't full frame but outside of that I'm not sure of the attraction here from a video perspective. Beautiful camera though and the demo video was excellent. Just wondering what everyone else thinks about that.

4 years ago, when I picked up my D300 (my first digital SLR) to start shooting professionally, I had to laugh at the idea that $6000 was a reasonable price for a stills camera (the D3, 1DIII). But that you can now get a genuinely professional video camera thrown into the package for the same price? All of a sudden it hardly seems all that expensive.

Unless of course someone from Nikon is reading this, in which case it's outrageous and I won't purchase one until you lower the price.