Nikon D4 (2012)

Name: Nikon D4
Brand: Nikon

Nikon announced the D4 on January 6, 2012. It was the professional flagship DSLR and replaced the D3S. The body-only price was $5,999.95. The sensor is a full-frame (FX) CMOS measuring 36.0 x 23.9 mm, with 16.2 effective megapixels (16.6 million total pixels). The Expeed 3 image-processing engine handles the data.

The D4 pushed several specs forward for its time. Standard ISO ran from 100 to 12,800, expandable down to 50 and up to 204,800. The 51-point autofocus system has 15 cross-type sensors and was rated sensitive down to -2 EV. A 91,000-pixel RGB metering sensor with 3D Color Matrix Metering III backed it up. Full-resolution bursts ran up to 10 frames per second with continuous autofocus, or 11 fps with the mirror locked up. Shutter speeds went from 1/8000 to 30 seconds, with X-sync at 1/250 sec.

The D4 was also Nikon's early move into professional video. It recorded 1080p at 30p, 25p, or 24p using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression. The body is magnesium alloy with extensive weather sealing. The LCD is 3.2 inches and 921,000 dots, and the optical viewfinder is 0.70x with approximately 100% frame coverage. Power came from the EN-EL18 lithium-ion battery. Connectivity included a Gigabit Ethernet port with an optional wireless transmitter.

Little else is documented in the period record. The audio press of the era says nothing about the D4. The surviving High Fidelity (November 1983, p.90) pages from that time concern camera-store advertising, not Nikon's professional DSLR line. No production end date, dimensions, weight, or long-term reliability data have been located.