Nikon D4 official specs leaked - analysis of new video features

[Andrew Reid]

[html]

[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]

[/html]

[Amro Othman]

Quite interesting, but strange that they still have to scale down to 720p for 60fps

[Sara]

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!

[Andrew Reid]

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.

[Sara]

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?

[Simco123]

Question is how good is this uncompressed video? Nikon has a tradition of taking meanings out of context. At what stage is the uncompression occur? Will there be limitations? How good is the video?

[Simco123]

Here is a D4 video ;)

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZZMIo7Zfys#ws]Nikon D4 HD D-Movie - WHY ATHLETES [NEW][/url]

[Sara]

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."

[Simco123]

I notice D4 video FX mode is actually cropped at 91%. There is also a native video mode which is true FF. Is this uncompressed video for the cropped FX or native video mode or both?

[Sara]

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.

[Simco123]

Is'nt 91% crop like APS-H?
Canon's Cinema dSLR in development also has the option of 91% for 4k video. I suspect the 91% crop is needed for clean uncompressed video similar to GH2 video tele mode?

[EspenB]

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).

[Simco123]

1080p30 HD video at up to 24Mbps only with uncompressed video output. So if you are looking for other frame rates like the filmic 24fps or 25fps they will be compressed onto memory card the conventional way.

[Sara]

the uploaded vimeo sample is a lot better:

[url=http://vimeo.com/34666308]WHY - Nikon D4 Release Video[/url]

Enjoy!

[sandro]

video resolution "sucks". its the same quality canon has been offering since movies on dsrl. nothing to see here, only 20% more res maybe. big deal, do they do know what GH2 can do?

[nahua]

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.

[Simco123]

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.

[moebius22]

People are sure in a hurry to dump on this camera.

[sandro]

[quote author=moebius22 link=topic=127.msg1134#msg1134 date=1325911738]
People are sure in a hurry to dump on this camera.
[/quote]

I just understand what I'm seeing :)

[Andrew Reid]

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.