Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

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rovin47
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p.1 #1 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

I'm looking for any info on how a D4 and a D800 performs coupled to either a F4 500mm or F4 600mm
lens. I would assume that there would be quite a bit better resolution with the D800, however, is it enough to offset the higher ISO and auto focus performance of the D4?

Jan 08, 2013 at 10:47 PM

BenV
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p.1 #2 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

I don't believe the D4 is that much better at high-iso/AF than the D800, so I'd say no. I don't know what your needs are, but the D800 has the cropping in its favor.

Jan 08, 2013 at 10:56 PM

rovin47
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p.1 #3 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

I'm looking mostly at wildlife and birds in flight.

Jan 08, 2013 at 10:58 PM

rovin47
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p.1 #4 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

I'm looking mostly at wildlife and birds in flight.

Jan 08, 2013 at 10:58 PM

mpwolfson
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p.1 #5 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

you will want the D4, no doubt about it. I have the D4 and D800 and use them for BIFs with a 500 and 600. The D800, while it does OK at BIFs, the D4 is much better, For still birds, if there is such a thing, the D800 is great.

Jan 08, 2013 at 11:09 PM

AndreasE
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p.1 #6 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

The combination of AF perf at high fps is D4 territory (shorter blackout times)

The optical perf of the AFS 500/4 VR and AFS 600/4 VR with the D800 at open apertures is very good.

D800E, AFS 500mm/4 at f4, full size D800E JPEG

This image is copyrighted by the owner

100% crop

D800, AFS 600mm/4 at f4, full size D800E JPEG

This image is copyrighted by the owner

100% crop

regards,
Andy

Jan 09, 2013 at 12:27 AM

lou f
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p.1 #7 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

what do you rate higher FPS or resolution? if there is a focus difference you'll soon adapt...

Jan 09, 2013 at 01:00 AM

Steve Perry
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p.1 #8 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

I have both and do BIF shots / wildlife all the time. For me, it's D4 all the way. It's fast, handles better, and has a huge buffer. The D800's buffer likes to fill pretty quick, esp if there's a lot of action going on.

Jan 09, 2013 at 01:03 AM

billsnature
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p.1 #9 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

I am running this experiment right now. I wasn't real happy with the results I was getting from D800E and either the 500mm VR or 600MM VR but I was using TC-14E II on both for Eagles in flight. I now know that the TC was the major issue as it requires a very large (-19) AF adjust on both lenses where they are near 0 adjustment without TC. Even adjusted, both camera are marginal with a TC and I would give Canon a huge advantage in the combination of big glass and accurately focusing TC's. I was very surprised to learn that Nikon requires seperate AF adjustment for lens with and without TC.

So if you lose the TC the issue is responsivness verses pixels

The biggest difference is the frame rate and apparent responsivness of the D4. I know the AF modules are supposed to be the same, but the D4 does seem to lock AF and release shutter much faster than the D800E. This is a real struggle for me though as I have become a real pixel junkie, and miss the cropability of the D800E.

I hope to get my answer soon as I either need to sell my D800 back up or re-sell the D4. I can't afford 3 cameras and 2 big lenses.

I will let you know what I decide.

Bill

Jan 09, 2013 at 03:55 AM

rovin47
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p.1 #10 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

Jan 09, 2013 at 03:06 PM

Gary Irwin
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p.1 #11 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

Personally, I value the resolution of the D800 over the speed of a D4. The additional resolution provides the "reach" that is so important when shooting wild birds. If Nikon ever releases a high-speed high-resolution D4x, I'd likely be all over it. But for now, I'm quite happy with my D800 which takes my 500VR+TC14EII quite well. Shooting BIF with the slow D800 can be tough to get a good wing position, but not impossible. If I owned both the D4 and D800, I'm quite certain that the D800 would be on my lens 90% of the time...which is exactly why I don't own a D4.

Here's a rather crude example.

actual shot...

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cropped with plenty of resolution remaining...

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Nikon D800 ,Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4G ED VR ,TC14EII 1/3200s f/5.6 at 700.0mm iso400

Jan 09, 2013 at 05:45 PM

douter
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p.1 #12 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

That is impressive Gary!
Douglas

Jan 09, 2013 at 06:23 PM

rovin47
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p.1 #13 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

It's certainly apparent that the resolution of the D800 is a major consideration. I'm tempted to wait a year and see if Nikon comes out with a D4x as it would be worth it and I'm in no hurry.

Jan 09, 2013 at 07:34 PM

billsnature
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p.1 #14 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

Thanks Bill, looking forward to your results. I too am drawn toward the the high pixel count of the D800 but not too sure if I want to pay for it with reduced AF performance and 50% of the ISO performance of the D4. These two items are outstanding issues with me.

Roy

Hi Roy,

Just to be clear, I don't think the AF preformance of D800E is worse than D4, but the shutter lag time does seem longer. I have tried to look up "shutter lag" for the two cameras, but I have struggled to find them to include in this post. As I understand it (and I could be wrong) the two cameras use the same AF modual, so performance should be similar. The one "speeed option you can use on the D800 (E) is the 1.2X crop mode which gets you 24MP at 5 frames per second. It does noticably reduce lag to second shot, but still seems a little less effective at reducing responsive time to first shot.

Bill

Jan 10, 2013 at 03:50 AM

NikonGuy221
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p.1 #15 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

Get the D4 battery for the D800. It ups the FPS to 6. I did this and I'm happy with the d800 as a backup for the d4 when I absolutely need that reach. It also helped that I didn't have to buy the horrendously expensive charger,

Jan 19, 2013 at 04:27 AM

John Skinner
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p.1 #16 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

Gary's shot is simply amazing FULL STOP.

I could have looked at that for hours.

Jan 19, 2013 at 12:54 PM

NikonGuy221
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p.1 #17 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

I shot D800 vs. D4 comparison images a few months ago, but never got around to doing anything with them. Your thread inspired me to write a blog post, so here are my thoughts...

http://www.sashdias.com/photo-equipment-techniques/nikon-d4-vs-nikon-d800--.html

Jan 20, 2013 at 03:49 PM

rovin47
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p.1 #18 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

Thank you for your input, it's much appreciated.

Jan 20, 2013 at 07:50 PM

Gary Irwin
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p.1 #19 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

NikonGuy221 wrote:
I shot D800 vs. D4 comparison images a few months ago, but never got around to doing anything with them. Your thread inspired me to write a blog post, so here are my thoughts...

http://www.sashdias.com/photo-equipment-techniques/nikon-d4-vs-nikon-d800--.html

Thanks for the post NikonGuy. There are many variables to these kinds of comparisons, but based on my examination of the "full rez" version's, the D800 wins as far as acuity goes. No surprise there. The D4's claim to fame is speed and ISO performance at the pixel level. But the D800 has the potential to clobber anything and everything when it comes to acuity (for lack of a better term...to me "resolution" doesn't adequately describe the differences). As a birder who's always looking for fine feather detail in difficult lighting conditions at distance, acuity is still the most important factor for me.

Jan 20, 2013 at 10:10 PM

billsnature
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p.1 #20 · Nikon D4 vrs D800 on Long Lenses

I thought this would be a "no brainer" going to the D800E, but it is not quite that simple. If you have a lot of cropping to do the the D800E is a no brainer. If the image actually allows you to use the whole frame without cropping, then there is just something slightly better about the contrast curves of the D4 that look slightly better to me.

Here are two samples. Ufonrtunately the bird moved about 1 ft, and th eexposure comp slightly different, but still representitive

2013 © billsnature

D800E full frame image downsized for web

Jan 21, 2013 at 03:40 AM

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