Nikon has announced the new flagship DSLR camera called Nikon D4S, which will go on sale from 6th March 2014 at an approximate price of Rs 4,03,500.
Nikon has announced the addition of a new camera to its DSLR range, the Nikon D4S. The new flagship full-frame DSLR is a successor to the venerable D4 and brings with it a host of improvements, including better autofocus capabilities, enhanced low-light shooting and a speedier data handling. The new D4S will be available from 6th March 2014 and while, Nikon has not yet announced the asking price in India, we reckon it will retail around Rs 4,03,500.
While, the two cameras, the D4S and the D4 have the same megapixel count and sensor size – a 16.2-megapixel full-frame (FX format) imager – the sensor tucked inside the D4S is a newly developed chip and the camera offers a newer image processor in the form of Nikon’s Expeed 4.
Aimed at serious professional photographers, the Nikon D4S has single-point AF, dynamic-area AF, 3D-tracking, auto-area AF and group-area AF. According to Nikon, this helps ensure not just smooth and fast auto-focusing, but also allows users to shoot at 11fps with AF and AE tracking.
The ISO range on the Nikon D4S is from 100-25,600. It has extended sensitivity for as low as ISO 50 to as high as ISO 409,600 in boost mode. In addition, it has improved viewfinder, a redesigned grip, 1000BASE-T support for wired LAN communication, and a RAW S Small setting for post capture editing. Furthermore, the new Nikon DS4 also sports standard, neutral, vivid, monochrome, portrait and landscape scene modes. The device features a 3.2-inch LCD screen which has a 170-degree viewing angle.
Video capabilities also get a bump up, although the D4S largely just catches up to the rest of the video-capable DSLRs in the field. The new camera shoots 1080p video at 60, 30, and 24fps in full-frame mode, as well as 30 and 24fps in a crop mode. The latter simulates an extended focal length for the lens. You can use the camera’s manual exposure controls in video mode, too.
One interesting new feature is the D4S’s “RAW size S” option, which captures 12-bit .NEF files that are half the size of Nikon’s regular 12-bit .NEF RAW files. They’re uncompressed 12-bit images, but they’re captured at a 4-megapixel resolution and designed for faster offloading and processing on a computer.
In addition, Nikon has also launched the beta version of its Capture NX-D software that will replace the current Capture NX 2. The free for download software will be available this week and in addition to editing RAW images, the software can be used to adjust JPEG and TIFF files too. Nikon has also announced that it will offer support to the current Capture NX2 software till the final version of the NX-D is released. It will be compatible with Windows version 7 or higher, and Mac OS X version 10.8 or 10.9.
