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Nikon D4 official specs leaked - analysis of new video features


Andrew Reid
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[img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/nikon-d41.jpg[/img]

The Nikon D4 will soon be unveiled and will jump the availability of the Canon 1DX by going on sale in February.

The camera has a 16MP full frame sensor and completely revamped video mode with some new features not seen before on a Nikon.

[url="http://www.eoshd.com/content/6713/nikon-d4-official-specs-leaked-analysis-of-new-video-features/"]Read full article[/url]

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EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
1920 x 1080 at 60p (without insane compression) produces a ton of heat.  Its the one thing manufactures are struggling to overcome with large sensor cameras atm. 

Notice how the Sony a77 turns off in body IS to reduce heat - and my friends NEX5n struggles in the Vegas heat (can't record more than a few minutes) when shooting 60p.

Even the $60,000 Arri Alexa (my personal fav camera for skin tones and DR) took a while to get high frame rate patches / firmware.

Notice what happens to the Red Scarlet when the frame rate goes up:

[url=http://i41.tinypic.com/35b5ekw.png]http://i41.tinypic.com/35b5ekw.png[/url]

The other thing to remember about new Nikon DSLRs shooting video (specs are rumors right now but we might know more Friday) is that there is little doubt that Sony makes the sensors - thus Nikon are somewhat limited to what they are capable of despite their Expeed and on chip converter tweaks.

I do think that Adobe Time Warp and Twixtor updates (even the new Sony Vegas does a good job) are getting better and better at creating slow motion from low fps files (though nothing does beat 60 or 120 or higher fps settings).

No doubt that 2012 will be a great year for video DSLRs - but I have a feeling (as I diid last year) that it will be up to hackers to get the best out of cameras like the GH3, Canon or Nikon DSLRs.

Shame the Sony 5n is so difficult to hack - that camera has TONS of potential if the bitrate was boosted - though again heat is a major issue with the Sony 5n.

Cheers and happy new year!
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Sara is right about heat, it is the main reason there's no 60p on the D4 or 1Dx in 1080p mode, and the EPIC has a huge heat sink and cooling to deal with faster frame rates, and a huge crop on the sensor too. 1080/60p on a full frame sensor would only be possible with taking liberties with the image, line skipping, etc.
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Final specs are out.

24mb/s video but uncompressed out. 

Hmmm.  Potential is there, but an external recorder (good one) isn't cheap and if that is required for the best quality then we are at half the price of a Red Scarlet package.

So I don't think the D4 will win over any video fans imo.  Bummer.

What am I missing here?  Would there be software to tether the D4 to a laptop for uncompressed out?  I love Nikon, someone? anyone?
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Here is the final specs for HDMI out:

" HDMI lets you view footage on an external monitor or record uncompressed 8-bit 4.2.2 footage directly to an external recording device. Even take 2MP stills simultaneously while filming. Attach the ME-1 Stereo Microphone and record high fidelity audio with minimal camera noise. On-screen audio level indicators and a headphone jack help you monitor and adjust audio in 20 incremental steps. "

Again potential is there....but the camera is also 6,000 dollars so.....hmmmm.

Is this enough or is the D4 the "dabbler of many, master of none."
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Simco thanks for posting that sample - it is soft and waxy (youtube perhaps...but then again I have seen sharper GH2 samples on youtube) - but interesting none the less.

As for the video modes, everything I read leads me to believe that HDMI out is really the only way to get a decent file from this camera.  I think many of us are spoiled with hacked GH2 units - GOP1, in camera recording, swivel LCD, the ability to use any lens.  Even these newer 6k DSLRs won't have many of these essential features.
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re: B-frames

Neither P og B frames is worse than I frames quality wise if the quantization level is identical.

All prediction in the encoder is done on the allready compressed frames, so there is no accumulation of the prediction error (which is what is stored for P and B frames).
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Nice call Sara, the Vimeo video looks a lot better.  There are some really nice production values on this video, wish I had access to huge cranes and helicopters for some of those shots!  I'd like to see how the picture grades, how useable is their uncompressed footage?  And of course how it compares to a hacked GH2.  If it's not so much better, then the GH2 is still the winner.
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How useful is the uncompress video on the D4?
If 30fps is suitable to your needs then yes very useful. However the people most likely interested in uncompress video from a dSLR are filmmakers who would largely shun 30fps so Nikon's decision to op for this frame rate seriously exclude its appeal  to the most important section of the market.
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It is WAY too early to dump on it. Come on guys. There's no solid info out there yet and the sample videos are highly compressed. My gut feeling is that Expeed 3 will downscale in a similar way to Expeed 3 on the J1 mirrorless so won't be as detailed as it should be, but again... we just don't know for sure.
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