SoundHound wrote:
When i asked what was the hi ISO advantage of the D4 verses the D3s I was told 3/4 to a full stop by one Nikon CES counterman and, later, "more than a full stop" by another. I guess that averages out to one stop?
If a one stop hi ISO improvement over the D3s (that's two stops over the D3) with a 12 to 16 mp rtoo is the "Only" upgrade then that's a big thing for my work ... I have a D4 on order.
And if it turns out the counterman misled you and there is no high-ISO improvement over the D3S, then what? You're stuck with a cam you may not want. That's why I'm waiting to see what the comparison tests show once the D4 has been out a while.
I took the calculated risk (based on previos experience with the D3 and D3s) that Nikon's specs
are valid so I could get a first issue D4 body for my work. However, I am playing wait and see with the Canon 1Dx before attempting to trim my lens inventory.
D. Diggler wrote:
Anyone know what is Joe's relationship (if any) with the Nikon company?
From what I can gather, he doesn't have any particular relationship with Nikon. He's a Nikon shooter and a lighting magician with flash who probably knows more about Speedlites and CLS than Nikon!
He's also a phenomenally good photographer and very approachable/accessible, so I guess that's mostly why Nikon chose him to showcase their new baby.
gfinlayson wrote:
From what I can gather, he doesn't have any particular relationship with Nikon. He's a Nikon shooter and a lighting magician with flash who probably knows more about Speedlites and CLS than Nikon!
He's also a phenomenally good photographer and very approachable/accessible, so I guess that's mostly why Nikon chose him to showcase their new baby.
SoundHound wrote:
When i asked what was the hi ISO advantage of the D4 verses the D3s I was told 3/4 to a full stop by one Nikon CES counterman and, later, "more than a full stop" by another. I guess that averages out to one stop?
If a one stop hi ISO improvement over the D3s (that's two stops over the D3) with a 12 to 16 mp rtoo is the "Only" upgrade then that's a big thing for my work. That makes all my lenses 1 stop faster gathering light and advances my default indoor ISO to 12,800.
With the new 85mm F 1.8 the D4 felt very light. Small improvements such as a vertical hold joystick
are welcome to move the AF box. There are other tweaks that ownership will reveal. I trust Nikon not to do something stupid so I have a D4 on order....Show more →
The architectural "flaw" of the D3/D3s (if one could state that with a camera like the D3 series), was the design choice to do A/D conversion off the sensor chip which has a ton of consequences in the read noise category.
The better ISO improvement of the D3s vs. the D3 came from a better base sensor design and a reduction in shot noise. Read noise didn't improve that much, as they share the same A/D design (6 x Analog Devices A/D converters as separate chips) .
With the D4, Nikon finally managed to get the A/D conversion directly on the sensor substrate which potentially addresses quite a few read noise sources allowing a higher D/R. (soruce Nikon brochure)
Without pointing to the long discussion of Marianne Oelund, Bobn2, Iliah Borg and even Eric Fossum at dpreview on some leaked D4 RAWs, there seems to be expectation by this group that the D4 will have better read noise helping to increase Dynamic range and improve tonality in the "lower" ISO settings up to ISO 6400/12800. Above that level the larger pixels of the D3s seems to be better able to capture light.
Marianne indicated that the D4 might be able to use the analog gain up to ISO 6400 (vs. 3200 for the D3s and 1600 for the D3). Above that level, ISO performance is based on pure digital calculation.
