“It’s been a busy couple of months for Nikon, during which the Japanese camera maker has announced two new models, the D4, a 16MP professional workhorse intended for hard use in a wide range of shooting environments, and the 36.3MP D800 – the long-awaited successor to the 12MP D700. With these two models Nikon has introduced some significant new technology to its high-end DSLR lineup, perhaps the most significant of which is a very impressive-looking video specification. Both cameras offer full HD video with live audio monitoring and the option to record uncompressed footage to a harddrive via the built-in HDMI port.
As far as the D4 is concerned, the improved video specification is arguably the most significant change to the spec sheet compared to the D3S. It gets a small resolution boost, from 12MP to 16, and improved high ISO performance but other refinements are relatively subtle. The D800 on the other hand (and it’s near-twin the D800E) breaks through a major barrier, offering a currently unmatched pixel count of 36.3MP for $3000 – half the cost of the D4. Despite the cost and resolution disparity though, the two cameras have a lot in common.
Following our announcement and preview content of these cameras, we wanted to get a feel for what professional Nikon shooters think. We asked four photographers, whose work and expertise spans a wide variety of genres to tell us what they think of the D800 and D4. Our own in-depth reviews will follow in the coming weeks.”