12 Reasons the New Nikon D4 Is the First All-Pro DSLR for 2012

Nikon_D4 image 1. The rumors bouncing throughout the photography world at the end of 2011 were correct: Nikon released its new Nikon D4 DSLR camera on January 6, 2012. It’s designed and built for professionals that want to shoot with the latest technology, so they can deliver a highly superior product to their clients.

Read real customer reviews of the Nikon D4 here.

2. That superiority starts at the core, with the combination of Nikon’s EXPEED 3 image processor and an FX-format, 16.2-megapixel CMOS sensor. This power pack virtually guarantees to give every image amazing tonality, color rendition and a level of sharpness found in very few, if any other, DSLRs.

3.    Just as the rumor mill has speculated about a 3.2-inch LCD on Nikon’s next major DSLR, the D800, the new D4 definitely has one. With 921,000 dots, early reports are that it is extremely sharp and includes a number of features that will pique any pro’s interest. One of these is the automatic brightness control, which reads the light of the shooting environment. It then modifies the playback for optimum brightness, so photographer and client can quickly and accurately evaluate images.

4.    Another LCD feature of note is its capability to enlarge images as much as a factor of 46, so there is never any doubt that they are crisply in focus.

5.    For the pros who shoot in the many unpredictable conditions of climate and location, the new Nikon D4 was manufactured with high-grade magnesium alloy parts. Add the weather sealing throughout the body and this DSLR is a dependable and tough workhorse wherever the pros may use it.

6. Nikon also built the D4 with an upgraded auto-focus system. The photographer is given two options to utilize the 51-point system. All the points can converge on a small area of a composition to ensure a precise focus, or they spread themselves like a web to cover the space in which a subject is moving to provide equally accurate image sharpness.

7. The D4 wouldn’t be near, or at the top, of every pro’s DSLR upgrade list if it didn’t have an outstanding ISO sensitivity range. Nikon knows pros want a camera that has the capacity to capture acceptable images in the widest-possible range of lighting conditions. The D4 delivers just that with a range that can be set as low as ISO 50 and as high as the equivalent of ISO 204,800.

8. As video grows in importance for pros who demand both capabilities in one body, the Nikon D4 offers the full array of high-end video tools. It records 1080p full-HD, broadcast quality video at 30 or 24 fps in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HD format, with maximum clip duration of 29 minutes, 59 seconds. The HDMI terminal allows for uncompressed video capture. Plus, clients and others can view a simultaneous Live View picture on external monitors.

9. Live View wasn’t short-changed on the Nikon D4 either. Photographers have two Live View shooting choices. Both Photography Live View and Movie Live View verify exposure, white balance, monitor hue, histogram, focus mode, AF area mode and focusing accuracy.

10. The Nikon D4 is packed with a broad palette of creative settings. From the separate Picture Control Button, photographers can select any of six presets: Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Landscape and Portrait. All can be applied to still or video work. Another nine settings are customizable, according to any pro’s exacting standards for spectacular color reproduction.

11. This is just the beginning of what makes the Nikon D4 2012’s first all-pro DSLR. Pros will want to examine thoroughly the camera’s time-lapse, face detection and scene analysis capabilities and the timesaving connectivity with Nikon’s WT-5A wireless transmitter to an FTP server or computer.

12. B&H Photo Video’s Web site states that the new D4 DSLR camera will be available for purchase on February 16, 2012, for $5,999.95 (body only) at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/838794-REG/Nikon_25482_D4_Digital_SLR_Camera.html.