Nikon gets serious with video

It seems that Nikon is finally getting serious about competing in the HDSLR market. The release of the Nikon D4 is the most talked about news today after the arrival of the Three Wise Men.

We will have to wait to see real tests to evaluate the camera but for now we have the technical data. Here you can see the official note from Nikon that talks about the features of both photo and video. I will summarize the ones that interest us the most:

– Full frame CMOS photo sensor (the same size as the Canon 5D) with 16Mp and 1080p video recording. As the sensor resolution is much higher than the video resolution the camera allows not to use the whole surface for video, so the focal length is multiplied by 2.7, allowing super-telephoto. Supposedly the data download speed has been increased to avoid rolling shutter effects.

– H264 video recording at only 24Mb/s but allowing “clean” recording through HDMI output (possibly 422 8b 1:1) on external recorder type Ninja or similar. The maximum length of the clips is 30 minutes (which today is a delay).

– Multi-framerate: 24, 25, 30 (we will have to see if it is 30 or 29.97) and 50 (in 720p mode) Ideal for the operator to make a mistake one day and record at a different speed 🙂

– ISO in video configurable from 200 to 204800. Noise? who said fear?

– Manually configurable audio recording and monitoring via minijack.

– Autofocus in video mode in four different modes. Bien!!!!!!! (yes, I’m clumsy with the focus)

– Simultaneous monitoring via camera viewfinder and HDMI output. Possibility to zoom in the viewfinder for focus assistance.

– Time-lapse mode included and possibility through a remote accessory via wifi, allowing the use and monitoring on an Iphone or Ipad (Molaaaaaaaaaaa).

The price? It goes on sale in February and is estimated at about $6000, a bit pricey in my opinion.

As I said we will have to wait to see the real tests of the camera, since one of the great advantages of Canon today is its management of gamma curves (picture profiles) and reproduction of skin tones (and that is almost more important than time-lapse and the like) But in terms of technical features I do not know if it will be able to unseat Canon in its empire, when you enter a market that already has an owner and you are the second you have to offer MANY things that the other does not have at a lower price, and the D4 I do not know if it meets the requirements. Time and testing will tell what happens.