Now about that low-pass filter on the Nikon D800E – both the D800 and the D800E have low-pass filters, but they behave differently. Typical Nikon low-pass filters actually contain of 3 different layers, as shown on the top illustration below:

As light rays reach the first “horizontal low-pass filter”, they get split in two, horizontally. Next, they go through an infrared absorption filter (illustrated in green color). After that, the light rays go through the “second vertical low-pass filter”, which further splits the light rays vertically. This light ray conversion process essentially causes blurring of the details.

Now with the Nikon D800E model, Nikon took an interesting approach. We know that the full low-pass filter cannot be completely removed, because it would cause the focal plane to move as well; plus, the camera still needs to be able to reflect infrared light rays. Instead of making a single filter with one layer, Nikon decided to still use three layers, but with two layers canceling each other out. As light rays get split into two with a vertical low-pass filter, then through the IR absorption filter, those same light rays get converged back when passing through a reversed vertical low-pass filter. Hence, instead of getting blurred details as in the first illustration, we get the full resolution.

I am not sure if the above method is the best way to deal with the issue, but I suspect that Nikon decided to take this route for cost reasons. It would probably be more expensive to produce a single IR absorption filter layer coated on both sides, than continue to use the same layers, but in a different configuration.

The above information will be added to my Nikon D800 vs D800E article I posted last night.

Here is the official video:

Below are the links with all the latest information:

1. Nikon D800 NikonUSA Page
2. Nikon D800 Official Product Information
3. Nikon D800 Brochure (PDF File)
4. Nikon D800 Sample Images
5. Nikon D800E Sample Images

Official Nikon D800 Announcement from NikonUSA.com:

A new Nikon FX-format digital SLR camera with the world’s highest effective pixel count–36.3-million pixels–for noteworthy definition and image quality

TOKYO – Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce the release of the Nikon D800 FX-format digital SLR camera. The D800 offers the world’s highest* effective pixel count of 36.3-million pixels, and is equipped with the new EXPEED 3 image-processing engine and a 91K-pixel (approximately 91,000 pixels) RGB sensor for overwhelming definition and image quality. Nikon will be exhibiting the D800 at the CP+ CAMERA & PHOTO IMAGIING SHOW, to be held Thursday, February 9 through Sunday, February 12 in Yokohama, Japan. This exhibition is open to the public.

*Among interchangeable lens digital SLR cameras equipped with image sensors conforming to the 35-mm film size as of February 7, 2012

The D800, a new FX-format model offers an noteworthy effective pixel count of 36.3-million pixels. At its core is superior image quality equal to that achieved with medium-format digital cameras. The D800 is also equipped with a number of new functions for a high level of added value, all in a compact and lightweight body.

In addition to a new Nikon FX-format CMOS image sensor and the new EXPEED 3 image-processing engine, specifically optimized for Nikon digital SLR cameras, the D800 is equipped with a new 91K-pixel (approximately 91,000 pixels) RGB sensor that supports the Advanced Scene Recognition System with its noteworthy advances in scene recognition performance. The camera is also equipped with a number of new functions, including Multi-area mode Full HD D-Movie that enables movie recording using either the FX-based movie format or the DX-based movie format.

For users who demand an even greater sense of definition, Nikon also releases the D800E, a model that offers increased resolution for images with more dimension.

D800 Development Background

Reflecting Nikon’s efforts to respond to a number of demands, including those for a higher pixel count, better image quality, and a smaller and lighter camera, the D800 is a digital SLR camera developed to capture still images with the superior resolution and record movies with the true high-definition picture quality demanded not only by advanced amateur photographers but also by professionals.

Nikon is responding to the needs of users who demand more from photographs and movies with the recently announced D4, a flagship model that combines excellent definition and image quality with superior high-speed performance, and the D800, a model that offers the ultimate in resolution demanded for nature and studio photography.

D800 Primary Features

1. New Nikon FX-format CMOS image sensor
   The D800 is equipped with a new Nikon FX-format CMOS image sensor and the new EXPEED 3 image-processing engine for Nikon digital SLR cameras. This new image-processing engine is faster and offers greater performance. The camera also offers the world’s highest* effective pixel count of 36.3-million pixels. When combined with the sharp rendering of NIKKOR lenses, images exhibiting resolution equal to that achieved with medium-format digital cameras are possible.

   The D800 also responds to the demands of professional photographers with a standard sensitivity range of ISO 100–6400, and additional support for equivalents of ISO 50 (Lo 1) and up to ISO 25600 (Hi 2), for superior image and picture quality in dimly lit situations, such as just before sunrise and just after sunset, with shooting of still images as well as movie recording.

   *Among interchangeable lens digital SLR cameras equipped with image sensors conforming to the 35-mm film size as of February 7, 2012

2. New 91K-pixel RGB sensor for the more accurate Advanced Scene Recognition System
   The D800 is equipped with a new 91K-pixel (approximately 91,000 pixels) RGB sensor. When a human face is detected in the frame, 3D Color Matrix Metering III bases exposure control on the brightness of that face so that the face is optimally exposed even with backlighting. In addition, the superior resolution of the metering sensor, which makes full use of an incredible 91,000 pixels, enables extremely precise analysis of the scene for more accurate control over autofocusing, auto exposure, i-TTL flash control, and auto white balance.

   *There is no display in the viewfinder that shows when a face or faces have been recognized.

3. Multi-area mode Full HD D-Movie for movie recording using one of two movie formats
   The D800 records movies exhibiting superior resolution with optimal processing of information acquired from the 36.3-million pixel image sensor. Recording of 1920 x 1080p/30-fps full-HD movies is supported, and users can choose to record using the FX-based movie format or the DX-based movie format according to recording conditions. The FX-based movie format offers a shallow depth-of-field with an emphasis on blur characteristics while the DX-based movie format enables recording of movies that bring subjects closer when lenses with short focal lengths are used. The D800 is also equipped with a headphone jack and supports precise adjustment of microphone sensitivity. In addition, it supports simultaneous display of movies or the movie live view display in the camera monitor and on an external monitor. Further, the D800 responds to the needs of professionals who require uncompressed movie files with the ability to record movies directly to an external HDMI recorder in movie live view mode. The D800 also offers a time-lapse photography function that captures images at a selected interval and then combines the images to create a time-lapse movie that shows the changes in a particular scene that occur over time.
4. Viewfinder frame coverage of approximately 100% (*1) and a lightweight and durable water- and dust-resistant body
   The viewfinder built into the D800 supports a frame coverage of approximately 100%*1 and magnification of approximately 0.7x(*2). Adoption of a magnesium alloy for the body gives the camera the same level of durability as the D700 with a weight approximately 10% less.

   *1 With FX-format image area
   *2 With 50-mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, -1.0 m-1

5. Support for high-speed continuous shooting and a variety of battery types with the Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D12 (optional)
   The MB-D12 supports the Rechargeable Li-ion Batteries EN-EL15 and EN-EL18, common AA batteries, and the AC Adapter EH-5a/b (with Power Connector EP-5B). When the MB-D12 is mounted on the D800, high-speed continuous shooting at approximately 6 fps* using the DX-format image area is possible. The MB-D12 also offers the added convenience of controls, including shutter-release button, AF-ON button and multi-selector, for vertical shooting. What’s more, the same seals as those used for the D800 with its magnesium body offer superior resistance to dust and water.

   *When powered by the AC adapter, or AA batteries or Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL18 with the MB-D12. Measured according to CIPA guidelines.

6. Other D800 Functions and Features
   A 51-point AF system for improved subject acquisition and focus performance under dim lighting. In addition, 11 focus points (five at center with an addition three to each side) are fully functional when lenses with a maximum aperture of f/8 are used.
   A 3.2-inch, approximately 921k-dot LCD monitor with reinforced glass, automatic monitor brightness control, and wide viewing angle
   A virtual horizon that shows the degree to which the camera is tilted sideways (roll), or forward or backward (pitch) with display in the monitor and viewfinder
   A new shutter unit that has passed testing for 200,000 cycles and supports a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 s and flash sync speed of 1/250 s
   Continuous shooting at 4 (FX-format/5 : 4 image area) or 5 (DX-format/1.2x image area) fps*
   *When powered by a Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL15
   CompactFlash and SD dual memory card slots
   Support for SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0)

The D800E with specifications for even greater resolution with an effective pixel count of 36.3-million pixels

In-camera disabling of the aliasing and moiré pattern reduction operation performed by the optical low-pass filter built into the D800E allows light passing through a NIKKOR lens to strike photodiodes directly for even greater resolution. This makes this model optimal for landscape and artistic photography with which higher resolution and clear definition is demanded. With the exception of the modification indicated above, all other functions and characteristics are the same as with the D800.

* Aliasing and moiré patterns may be more noticeable in images captured with the D800E with some subjects, scenes or shooting conditions.
* Optical low-pass filter IR coating and anti-reflection coating performance is the same with both the D800 and the D800E.

This is phenomenal news, because Nikon is giving us one heck of a camera at the same price as the Nikon D700 when it was announced! Expect this camera to sell like crazy, so make sure to pre-order it as soon as possible. Pre-order links will be posted as soon as they become available! At this price, the Nikon D800 will be in huge demand and you might not be able to get one for a while.

Before the D4, Nikon had two flagship DSLRs for different photography needs – the Nikon D3s for low-light and the Nikon D3x for high resolution. The lower-end D700 camera had the same sensor as the original D3 and was never updated with the D3s sensor, because Nikon did not want it to eat up the D3s sales. Looks like starting from the D800, Nikon is now reversing the game, offering a high-resolution sensor on a lower-end body and keeping the single digit line for low-light work exclusively. By doing this, Nikon is following Canon’s strategy. The Canon 5D Mark II with its high-resolution sensor has been eating up the Canon 1Ds line for a while now and those expensive 1Ds bodies are not selling as well ever since the 5D Mark II came out. The same is true with the Nikon D3x – while it is quite popular among landscape, architecture and fashion photographers, it is just not selling well overall. The Nikon D700 sells better than the D3s and D3x combined. By introducing a lower-end high-resolution professional body like the D800, Nikon will most likely do away from its high-end “x” line, which would be a smart move on behalf of Nikon – keeping the D3x production line is expensive. At the same time, those of us that shoot sports, wildlife and various events that require good low-light capabilities and cannot afford spending $6K on the D4 will be left with only one choice of a high-resolution full-frame camera (unless Nikon releases a new product for low-light photography, which I doubt will happen anytime soon). I believe Nikon’s thought process is like this: Canon is selling their 5D Mark II as an all-in-one solution quite well, why not do the same? After-all, many wedding photographers do use the high resolution 5D Mark II and do not seem to be complaining much about its high resolution.

Will the Nikon D800 be a good wedding photography camera? Absolutely. Expect it to perform better at all ISOs when the image is down-scaled to 12 MP. And to those that are scared of down-scaling an image: don’t be – the process is pretty straightforward and it is built right into Lightroom’s export window, as shown in my “how to resize images in Lightroom” article.

And for all Nikon landscape photographers out there – this is the camera we have been waiting for. Finally, we have a high resolution camera that will deliver outstanding images with great dynamic range at base ISO of 100. And best of all, compared to medium format and other expensive cameras out there, it won’t cost us an arm and a leg!

Nikon D800 vs D700 Specification Comparison

Now here comes the big question – does a high resolution sensor mean bad low-light capabilities? If you look at a picture at 100%, then yes, a high resolution sensor always translates to more noise at higher ISOs. However, when the image is down-sampled to smaller resolution, those differences are significantly reduced. For example, when you look at a 12 MP image at ISO 3200 at 100% and then look at a 36 MP image at the same ISO at 100%, you will surely see more noise on the latter image. However, if you down-sample the 36 MP image to 12 MP, then the 36 MP image is actually going to come out cleaner than the 12 MP image. In addition, if you had a slight focus issue on both, the 36 MP image would look sharper when down-sampled to 12 MP. What I am trying to say here, is that you should not be scared of a high resolution D800, thinking that it will be in any way inferior to your beloved D700. I will provide an in-depth analysis between the D700 and the upcoming D800 when I have it on my hands, but I can say with confidence now that the D800 will give better results than the D700 when its image is down-sampled to 12 MP. Overall, we should be getting around a full stop of advantage noise-wise with the D800 compared to the D700. Think of it this way – you will be able to get superb 36 MP images in daylight and you have the option to down-sample images to lower resolution in low-light.

Videographers should be super excited about the D800, because they can record uncompressed videos at 1080p full HD for 30 minutes straight, with full exposure control. The uncompressed video is a big deal, because it can give production-quality results for film-makers that can now record videos to external devices. There is even a dedicated live view mode for recording videos that gives quick access to exposure control, including white balance. The Nikon D700 has no capability to record videos, so that’s a huge difference there.

I am personally very excited about the Nikon D800, definitely more than the D4.

Overview

This is an in-depth review of the new Sony SLT-A77 digital SLR camera that was announced together with the Sony SLT-A65 in August of 2011. I had a chance to test both cameras, along with a number of Sony / Zeiss lenses for the Sony mount, while reviewing the Nikon 1 camera system in late 2011. While I concentrate most of my gear reviews around Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses, I got really excited about these Sony cameras after seeing the press release and decided to try them out.

Sony A77

I have been enjoying shooting with DSLRs for quite some time now and while I am very happy with the cameras and lenses I use, I just think that we have not been seeing major breakthroughs in new DSLR cameras. New cameras pack more resolution, faster frames per second, better video features and other bells and whistles, but nothing innovative and revolutionary that changes the way we shoot. With Sony entering the DSLR market rather late in 2006 (after acquiring Konica Minolta), it was tough to compete against the long-established Canon and Nikon cameras. Sony introduced a few DSLRs with great features at a competitive price and secured itself the #3 market share spot in DSLR sales globally, mostly with lower-end DSLR camera bodies. With a rather slow adoption rate and a limited choice of lenses and accessories available, the company quickly realized that its only way to challenge the big two was to innovate. In August of 2010, Sony announced its first “Single-Lens Translucent” (SLT) cameras – the Sony A33 and A55. While the concept of a translucent mirror is not new (in fact, Sony calls it “translucent” for marketing purposes, because it is actually supposed to be “pellicle mirror”), Sony was the first to design it to work with an electronic viewfinder. Its first SLT cameras were a success, so Sony decided to embrace the technology and take it a step further with the new Sony A77 and A65 cameras. Going forward, we will most likely not be seeing any more DSLR cameras from Sony, since its management already expressed commitment to this new breed of cameras. We should be seeing more cameras from Sony with translucent mirrors, including high-end, full-frame models.

The Sony SLT-A77 was kindly provided by B&H – the largest photo reseller in the world that I personally use to buy my photography gear.

1) Sony SLT-A77 Specifications

Main Features:

1. 24.3 MP best-in-class resolution
2. 2nd Generation Translucent Mirror Design directs light to both the image sensor and the Phase Detection AF sensor simultaneously
3. World’s first OLED viewfinder with 2359K dots for amazing resolution and high contrast ratio for incredible depth
4. Rugged, magnesium alloy body
5. Three-way tilt/swivel LCD screen
6. In-camera HDR mode
7. Bilt-in GPS
8. 1200-Zone exposure metering
9. Built-in Flash
10. Continuous shooting at up to 12 frames per second
11. Full HD Movie modes at 60p, 60i, or 24p with full exposure control
12. Full-Time Live View in LCD or EVF
13. Multi-frame NR, Panorama and 3D Panorama Modes
14. ISO 100-16000 sensitivity
15. Upgraded BIONZ® image processor
16. In-camera image stabilization
17. 19-point AF with 11 cross-type sensors
18. AF Micro Adjust Capability
19. 3 inch LCD monitor with 921K dots
20. Dynamic Range Optimizer mode
21. Advanced sensor Anti-Dust Technology.
22. Face Registration and Detection
23. Up to 1/8000 shutter speed
24. Shutter rated for 150,000 actuations

Click here to download the above photograph in 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper format.

As you can see, the camera packs some very impressive features when compared to Canon and Nikon rival products. Not only does the Sony A77 have the highest APS-C sized sensor on the market today, but it also comes with great built-in features such as built-in GPS (without the need to use external GPS devices), in-camera image stabilization, a plethora of image capture and image editing modes, high-resolution OLED viewfinder and much more.

Detailed technical specifications for the Sony A77 are available on Sony.com.

2) Camera construction, handling and ergonomics

Unlike the square and flat design of the previous-generation Konica / Sony DSLRs, the Sony A77 features a brand new, modern look with a stylish design. The top of the camera is a lot more round and curved, giving a sleek look to the camera on the front, while the curvy back resembles some of the Canon DSLRs. Camera front has a simplistic layout with one preview button, lens release button and focus mode dial. A large AF illuminator (located on top, between the grip and the lens mount), along with an IR receiver (located on the grip) are also visible on the front of the camera.

Like other higher-end DSLRs, the Sony A77 features two dials, one in front and one in the back for controlling exposure and some camera settings. The design of the On/Off switch, along with the two medium-sized buttons located right next to it (exposure compensation and ISO), is clearly borrowed from Nikon DSLRs. Along with a few other buttons on the top, the camera also features a top-panel LCD, which can be illuminated at night by pressing the light bulb button to the right of the LCD. The typical PASM dial with a bunch of camera modes and presets is located to the left of the camera. The typical Sony Alpha hotshoe sits together with a silver microphone in the center:

Speaking of the hotshoe, I found the proprietary Sony Alpha hotshoe to be inconvenient and annoying. I do not understand why manufacturers feel they need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to simple things like this. While there is an adapter available to convert the Alpha hotshoe to a regular one, I did not get a chance to obtain this adapter and hence could not use the camera with my PocketWizard radio transmitters to trigger off-camera flash.

The back of the camera is loaded with plenty of customizable buttons, along with a joystick for menu and image navigation. To be honest, I found the button layout to be poorly designed. I had a rough time getting used to the buttons, even after two months of shooting with the camera. I am perfectly fine with where the Menu button is, but the rest are just all over the place. The joystick is another poor design choice in my opinion. I always had a rough time using joysticks on cameras – the joystick that Nikon uses on their camera grips is horrible and I never liked the joystick that Canon uses on its DSLRs either. I prefer Nikon’s big multi-purpose navigation button and Canon’s rotary dial. The design, layout and navigation of the Sony A65 are much better, in my opinion.

My negative experience with the button layout and the joystick, however, was compensated by the beautiful three-way tilt/swivel LCD and the stunning OLED viewfinder. The articulated LCD has a very unique design that gives the freedom to rotate the LCD pretty much any way you want. You could set the LCD up backwards for protection, or like a traditional LCD. You could tilt it to the side or flip it down or you could even set it up to display what you are shooting right in front of the camera. The camera is smart enough to flip the image on the LCD, so you won’t find yourself looking at yourself or at your subject upside down. As I have already pointed out, the OLED viewfinder is absolutely stunning. After being so used to an optical viewfinder that always shows the same thing with very little customization options, my experience with Sony’s high-resolution electronic viewfinder (EVF) was beyond positive. In fact, the OLED viewfinder was the very first thing that got me glued to the Sony A77 right after I got the battery charged. I have had some experience with electronic viewfinders before, but none of them even remotely compare to this one. It is mind boggling to think that this OLED viewfinder has 2.4 million dots – compare that to 921,000 dots used on the 3 inch LCD screen! But wait, it doesn’t stop there. The OLED viewfinder size that Sony used on the A77 has a 0.73x magnification; compare that to the 0.63x magnification on the Nikon D7000 or 0.70x magnification on the Nikon D3s. So not only do you get a beautiful-looking rending of live view and images inside the viewfinder, but it is also bigger than what most other DSLRs have.

The beauty of the electronic viewfinder when compared to an optical one is that you see everything live. With an optical viewfinder, as soon as you turn on live view, the viewfinder is blocked by the mirror. You look at the live and customizable data inside the viewfinder, frame your shot and take a picture. No loud mirror slap, no extra vibrations, you only hear the camera shutter. If you are used to a DSLR, this is a totally different experience. I won’t go into much detail about advantages and disadvantages of an electronic viewfinder and how it compares to an optical viewfinder (maybe in a separate article), but one thing I am confident about – electronic viewfinders are the future. Yes, there are some serious limitations with EVF today, especially when using them in low light situations, but I believe it is a matter of time until those issues are addressed.

Another key advantage of the A77, in my opinion, is built-in GPS. Instead of ripping people off like Nikon and Canon are doing with GPS-ready connectors that require cables and expensive external GPS devices, the Sony A77 has a GPS unit integrated into the camera. Although I often need the GPS functionality to save places I have been to, I simply refuse to use an external GPS device on my Nikon cameras. We have seen point and shoot cameras from both Canon and Nikon with integrated GPS and yet they are blatantly refusing to add it to DSLRs. We get it, they want to sell us more accessories that get frequently get lost and broken. But how long will it continue? Thanks to pioneers like Sony, not long, or they will start losing their customers. Some people say GPS drains batteries. True, it does. But if you do not want to use it, simply turn it off and the problem is solved. That is not an excuse for not including it in the camera.

Speaking of batteries, the 7.2V InfoLithium battery is rated at 470 images when used with the OLED viewfinder and 530 images with the LCD monitor. This is expected, considering how many more pixels there are on the OLED screen compared to the LCD. However, these numbers are quite poor when compared to the Nikon D7000, which is rated at a whopping 1050 shots.

The Sony A77 measures 142.6x104x80.9mm, which is bigger than the Nikon D7000 that measures 132x103x77mm, however, it only weighs approximately 650 grams, which is 40 grams lighter than the D7000. The camera is fully weather sealed and has a solid magnesium alloy body protecting the front and the back of the camera (top is plastic). As for external camera connectors, the Sony A77 has plenty of them, from flash sync to USB and HDMI.

3) Camera Sensor and the new BIONZ Processor

As of January, 2011, the Sony A77 has the world’s highest resolution APS-C (23.5 x 15.6mm) sensor. With a whopping 24.3 Megapixels, its pixel density is very high, with a pixel size of just 3.89 microns. A high resolution sensor is generally a good characteristic of a camera, because it can resolve a lot of detail, but high pixel density equates to small pixels, which ultimately result in more noise, or low Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). Now this last sentence is subject to heated debates among the photography community lately. I have written a detailed article on the benefits of a high resolution sensor, explaining why small pixels are not necessarily bad. In summary, if you were to take two cameras, one with a high resolution sensor (smaller pixels) and one with a lower resolution sensor (larger pixels), the former might look very close to the latter in terms of noise, once the image is normalized to the same resolution or print size. That’s because noise is reduced during the down-sampling process, as explained in detail here. While the camera with a lower resolution sensor has higher ISO sensitivity modes, the high resolution camera has sharper images when down-sampled (assuming the lens can resolve enough detail). The pros and cons list expands to many other areas such as file sizes, processing speed, storage requirements, etc.

So, where does this all put the 24.3 MP Sony A77 sensor? Is it truly advantageous to have such a high resolution APS-C sensor, or did Sony make a mistake by reigniting the megapixel war? My initial reaction to the high resolution sensor was rather negative, because I knew that it would impact the low-light performance and the speed of the camera. At the same time, I could not wait to try shooting 24 megapixel landscape images at ISO 100. After a detailed lab and outdoors analysis, along with comparison to other cameras, I came to the conclusion that the sensor performance is surprisingly good. True, high ISO shots do look very noisy at pixel level above ISO 1600, but once you down-sample images to around 16 MP (which is what Nikon D7000 has), noise is significantly reduced and does not look bad. It is still noisier than the Nikon D7000 at 16 MP, but not much worse. This is something I expected to see, because Nikon has a lot more experience with noise reduction at high ISOs and its image processing pipeline is clearly superior at anything above ISO 800.

The real advantage of the A77 sensor, however, is its low ISO performance. Images at ISO 100 look stunning, with plenty of details, colors and dynamic range to play with. As long as you are using good lenses that can resolve so much detail, you will not be disappointed with the sensor performance. With so much resolution, this is the camera that will make landscape and fashion photographers happy.

Please note that I only shot RAW with the Sony A77 and processed all images in Lightroom and Photoshop, with the latest version of Camera RAW. I noticed that Sony applies some heavy noise reduction on JPEG images that results in detail loss, so I switched to RAW pretty much from the start.

To make the crazy 12 FPS speeds possible with the 24.3 sensor, Sony had to beef up its image processor. The A77 ships with an upgraded Sony BIONZ image processor that not only does a great job in keeping up with such enormous throughput needs, but also allows for in-camera image processing and tweaking of final output. You can even combine multiple exposures for HDR and 2D / 3D Panoramic effects. Furthermore, the BIONZ processor is fast enough to cope with 1080p high definition video at 60 frames per second – something neither the Nikon D4, nor the Canon 1D X can do, being top-of-the-line DSLRs.

4) Ease of Use

I have never used a Sony Alpha before and I did not know what to expect in terms of the learning curve. To my surprise, despite some functional differences and slight annoyances here and there (like the direction of the front and rear dials is reversed compared to Nikon and cannot be changed), I found the Sony A77 quite easy to use and operate. Its default settings were already good enough for my photography needs and aside from changing image format from JPEG to RAW and playing with a couple of other settings, I was quite happy with the results. The menu system has a horizontal structure like Canon DSLRs and there are only a couple of sub-menus to deal with. Everything in the menu is descriptive and easy to understand, nothing like the cryptic menu system on the Olympus E-PL3.

The camera responsiveness is good, although I had a few occasions when the menu system, image playback and EVF to LCD switching were lagging behind a little. Although updating camera firmware helped with the lag a little, it did not seem to completely eliminate it. Quickly rotating the dials on the front and the rear of the camera is still rather laggy.

5) Autofocus Performance and Metering

With 19 focus points and 11 cross type sensors, the Sony A77 autofocuses quite well in most situations. I tried a number of different Sony and Zeiss lenses on the camera and all (except one Sony lens that had a severe back-focus problem) seemed to perform reliably well when photographing portraits and landscapes. Phase-detect AF was mostly quick and accurate, even in some low-light situations. I occasionally got out of focus images here and there, but the hit/miss ratio was not anything excessive; I would say on par with what I typically get with Nikon DX cameras. I found the implementation of continuous AF and subject tracking quite poor, on the other hand, especially when compared to Nikon DSLRs like the Nikon D7000. I tried to take some pictures of my kids running around in a park in AF-C (continuous) mode and the camera had a tough time keeping focus (using 50mm and 85mm prime lenses). Many images came out blurry and it felt like the camera had some sort of a focus lag when photographing fast-moving subjects. I have never experienced this sort of erratic autofocus behavior with any Nikon DSLRs, including entry-level models like Nikon D5100. Other than that, AF seemed to be more reliable in continuous mode with slower subjects.

With an amazing speed of 12 fps, you would think the Sony A77 could challenge the big guys like Nikon D3s. Well, note quite. You can only get 12 fps when shooting in Continuous Priority AE mode, which puts some limitations on lens aperture. For continuous AF to work at 12 fps, lens aperture needs to stay wide open or the phase detect sensor might not receive sufficient light. On a traditional DSLR, lens aperture is always wide open and the lens only stops down right before taking the picture. This is a necessary measure, especially when shooting at high frame rates in continuous mode. The same applies to the Sony A77, except it cannot quite keep up with such fast speeds and therefore the lens aperture must stay wide open. If you want to shoot continuously without this limitation, then you could either switch to AF-A / Manual Focus modes, or you could switch to Standard Continuous mode that is limited to 8 fps. On top of this, unlike DSLR cameras that let you see the action through the optical viewfinder in between shots, the Sony A77 blocks the view inside the viewfinder by playing back previous images. This is problematic for high speed action photography, so sports and wildlife photographers should be aware of this limitation. Still, 8 fps with continuous AF is a very impressive speed.

Now let’s talk about one more factor that impacts the performance – camera buffer. With huge 24.3 MP files and high frame rates, it would be difficult for the camera to maintain those high speeds due to the sheer amount of memory that is required to hold so many images. Even the best SD cards today are not fast enough to keep up with such speeds. When shooting in RAW at 12 fps, the buffer fills up in a little over a second and then crawls to extremely slow speeds, roughly 1 fps. It then takes about 12-15 seconds for the buffer to transfer all the images to the card. Switching to smaller JPEG files and slower speeds helps, but it is still pretty clear that the buffer size on the camera is too small for such high resolutions and fast speeds.

As for metering, I had a mixed experience with the A77. When it comes to matrix metering, one great thing about Nikon DSLRs is their exposure consistency, even in changing light conditions. Consistency is a key word here, because the Sony A77 does not seem to have it when photographing people. I had a few cases when I shot the same subject with the same background twice in multi-segment metering mode (which is equivalent to matrix metering on Nikon) and ended up with two different exposures (one good and one underexposed). I did not see the same problem when photographing landscapes though – multi-segment metering did a pretty good job and I rarely had to resort to exposure compensation.

6) Built-in Image Stabilization

One distinct feature of the Sony Alpha cameras that differentiates them from Nikon and Canon DSLRs, is their in-camera image stabilization. I won’t go into details on advantages and disadvantages of in-camera image stabilization vs lens image stabilization, but one thing for sure – it works well, especially when using fast aperture prime lenses. Canon and Nikon DSLRs only offer lens image stabilization, so you have to watch your shutter speed when using non-IS lenses like Nikon 50mm f/1.4G. You do not have to worry about that when using any lens on the Sony A77. Sony calls its image stabilization technology “Steady Shot” and it can be turned on or off for capturing images or video through the camera menu system. The in-camera image stabilization is silent and you do not hear the same hum you normally hear on Nikon lenses when image stabilization is engaged.

7) Movie Recording

The Sony A77 has very impressive video features that will definitely appeal to videographers. With a high-quality 1080p full HD video, the camera is capable of recording videos at 24p, 60i and 60p modes in AVCHD / MP4 (MPEG-4 AVC H.264) format. There is a separate “Movie” silver video record button on the camera used for starting and stopping video recording. Movies are limited to 29 minutes and the battery should last for up to three hours of continuous movie recording. Full exposure control is available in movie control mode, but continuous/full-time autofocus does not work in that mode. If you want full-time autofocus while shooting videos, then the only option is to use one of the PASM modes instead, at which point the camera takes over the exposure control of videos.

8) Sweep Panorama Mode

While I personally would not trust the camera to take panoramic shots for me (I do it manually through post-processing and panoramic software, as detailed in my “panoramic photography tutorial“), I tried using the sweep panorama mode on the Sony A77 and I was surprised by how well it worked. It took me a few tries to successfully do a full panorama, but once I figured it out, it was an easy process to follow. Images were stitched well and I did not see any major artifacts or stitching problems in the final images. Here is a sample panorama taken with the camera:

Looks like the sweep panorama mode is not designed for serious work, because the resolution of the panoramas is limited to 12416×1856 in wide mode, 8192×1856 in standard mode (for horizontals) and 2160×5536 in wide & 2160×3872 in standard (for verticals). That’s pretty low, considering the native resolution of 6000×4000. On top of that, panoramas are also captured in processed JPEG format, limiting the options for tweaking the image output in post-processing. I prefer to shoot my panoramas frame by frame in RAW format, then use panoramic software for stitching. That way not only do I get more control over panoramas, but I also get a lot more resolution in the final image. In one case, I was able to stitch 11 vertical images in one row and got a massive panorama with a 22450×5890 resolution, which is almost twice bigger than what the automatic sweep panorama can deliver.

9) Built-in GPS

The built-in GPS on the Sony A77 works very well. I had it turned on at all times when shooting outside and it provided accurate GPS results on every image. If you are interested in seeing exactly where each image in this review is taken, the GPS data is available as part of EXIF data. Latitude, longitude, altitude, direction, GPS timestamp and other related GPS data is automatically embedded into each image as part of metadata.

In my opinion, all cameras should have the GPS capability. It is always nice to be able to go back and locate the exact spot from where the picture was taken. Sometimes I look at some old pictures and want to find where I took them, but because I did not put any notes on exactly where I physically was, I cannot travel back to find the location. In addition, with all the GPS-ready applications such as Lightroom and photo sites like Flickr, Picasa and others, GPS data is getting more and more useful. Some websites even provide a Google map of where the photo was taken when a picture is uploaded.

10) Lens Compensation

Another very useful feature for JPEG shooters out there, is the ability to reduce lens issues such as chromatic aberration, distortion and vignetting right from the camera. This is a very similar feature as Lightroom’s Lens Corrections module. The camera stores profiles of lenses in camera firmware and when a new lens is released, Sony will push the lens profile via a firmware update. If you shoot RAW and use third party software like Lightroom, chromatic aberration and distortion corrections will be discarded upon import, because the data is stored as metadata (similar to Nikon’s RAW/NEF files). However, if you enable vignetting correction (Sony refers to vignetting as “shading”), then those corrections are done at the image processing pipeline, which means that corrections are directly written into the RAW data. Considering that Adobe releases lens profiles for Sony cameras and lenses, this sort of irreversible correction on RAW level might not be a good idea – you do not want vignetting to be corrected in two different places. Therefore, I would keep “shading” correction off.

11) Dynamic Range

At ISO 100, the dynamic range the Sony SLT-A77 offers is very good. Although I did not perform any scientific tests to measure the dynamic range, I tried to recover some shadow details from a high contrast RAW image sample and results were comparable to what I got with the Nikon D7000. DxOMark ranks the Sony A77 at #10 among all cameras with 13.2 EVs, putting it ahead of many medium format cameras like Phase One P40 and P65 Plus (with Pentax K-5 and Nikon D7000 topping the chart).

Don’t forget that dynamic range decreases as you increase ISO, so if you want to be able to recover the maximum amount of details, you should be shooting at ISO 100. This is especially important for HDR photography – always shoot at base ISO of 100 and use a tripod.

The built-in Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO) is very similar to Nikon’s Active D-Lighting – it only applies to JPEG images. Since I shoot RAW, I had DRO turned off. If you shoot JPEG, it is probably best to keep DRO on for the best results. As for the HDR tool, I personally did not use it either, since I believe that HDR should be properly done through HDR software instead. HDR effects can only be applied to JPEG images as well.

Let’s see how the camera performs at low and high ISOs, click the next page of the review.

ISO Performance

Camera Comparisons

Conclusion

In summary, when the size of aperture is large (a small F-number like f/2.8), light rays reach dust particles that are sitting on the sensor filter from different angles. Remember, although I refer to this as “sensor dust”, dust actually never touches the sensor, because there is a thick filter (actually, more like a number of filters packed together to form a single filter) that sits in front of the camera sensor. Therefore, by the time light reaches the physical sensor, it is spread out on a very large area, making dust appear as a large blob with a soft ring. When using very large apertures like f/1.4 on fast prime lenses, these blobs might be so washed out that they might be practically invisible to your eye. That’s why portrait photographers notice dust less often than landscape photographers!

Now when the lens is stopped down and aperture is significantly smaller, say at f/16, light rays coming from the lens diaphragm are perpendicular to the sensor filter. Because the angle is more or less straight, dust specks also cast direct and defined shadows on the sensor. That’s why dust shows up in images much smaller, darker and with more defined edges at small apertures.

Big thanks to Frank for sending the illustration!

Pixel Size, Pixel Density, Sensor Size and Image Processing Pipeline

OK, this topic is rather complex if you do not know anything about pixels and sensors. Before you read any further, I highly recommend to read my “FX vs DX” article, where I specifically talk about pixel and sensor sizes and their impact on image quality.

As you may already know, pixel size, pixel density and sensor size all contribute to how well a camera deals with low-light situations (high ISO performance) and how well it sees range of light (dynamic range). Pixel size is a very important attribute of a sensor’s overall performance – typically the larger the pixel, the better the overall performance. Pixel density is closely related to the pixel size – larger pixels equal lower pixel density, smaller pixels equal higher pixel density. That’s because pixel density is measured by the number of pixels per inch. There is a fourth, very important attribute that very few people mention when talking about pixels and sensors that also plays a huge role; it is the software algorithm run by the image processor that analyses the data from the sensor and runs a series of image processing steps to reduce various artifacts, reduce noise, apply sharpening and more. This is commonly called the “image processing pipeline”. All four of these factors significantly impact the overall image quality and are closely related to each other. A good camera should have a good balance of pixel size and pixel density, sensor size and image processing pipeline.

Let me give a few examples to clarify this a little more. If you have two identically sized sensors – one with small pixels (hence higher pixel density), and one with large pixels (lower pixel density), everything else being the same, the former should generally produce lower quality images than the latter, especially when it comes to noise. The Nikon D3s, having much larger pixel size performs much better at high ISOs than the Nikon D3x (when viewed at 100%), which has more pixels / resolution and smaller pixel size. Makes sense, that’s why Nikon makes two different cameras for different needs.

Now let’s take another example. If you take two cameras with different sized sensors, “A” being the one with a larger sensor and “B” being the one with a smaller sensor, which one would perform better? It would depend on pixel size and density and the image processing pipeline – the other important variables I talked about above. If the image processing pipeline is exactly the same and the pixel size on camera “B” is the same as in camera “A” (hence “B” has less total resolution), then we should see very similar pixel-level performance. Now what if camera “B” has the same resolution as camera “A”, but has a much better image processing pipeline? Pixel size on camera “B” is smaller, which technically should make camera “B” produce more noise, but its image processing pipeline is superior and hence it compensates for the difference. When comparing images from both cameras, despite variances in sensor sizes, you might see very similar noise performance (I am obviously excluding depth of field and other differences for simplicity purposes). I explained this in more detail in my Nikon 1 V1 Review. While having a much smaller sensor than the competition, the Nikon 1 V1 shows impressive high ISO performance due to a much better image processing pipeline. When people first saw that the Nikon 1 V1 high ISO images look clean, many claimed that Nikon was “cheating” by adding noise reduction at high ISOs even on RAW files. What they don’t realize is that Nikon has been doing it for a while now and it is by far not the only manufacturer that does it. Everybody is doing it nowadays; otherwise images would look too darn noisy! There is absolutely nothing wrong with this sort of noise reduction, as long as the manufacturer knows how to properly apply noise reduction without losing too much detail.

Lastly, let’s take two different cameras with identical sensors with the same pixel size and density. One might perform better than the other in terms of noise. How? Again, better in-camera image processing. Sony manufactures most of Nikon’s sensors and uses those same sensors in their Sony Alpha DSLRs. And yet due to Nikon’s better image processing pipeline, Nikon cameras show better overall image quality, specifically at high ISOs. Same sensors, different output.

There are other important variables such as overall quality of sensor, bayer and anti-aliasing filters that also contribute to overall image quality, but I am not adding them to the mix for simplicity purposes.

Nikon’s Change in Strategy

So why did Nikon all of a sudden decide to reverse its game and go with a high resolution sensor on a lower-end full-frame body like the Nikon D800? Because it makes sense for Nikon. Canon realized this a while ago, which is why it introduced the Canon 5D Mark II with a 21 MP sensor. Nikon started out with its flagship Nikon D3 line, then came up with a lower-end D700 body that used the same sensor, same AF and other specifications, including the image processing pipeline. As expected, the lower-end Nikon D700 started to heavily cannibalize the D3 sales. Demand for the D700 skyrocketed, while D3 was not selling so well anymore. Then Nikon released the D3x as its flagship “high resolution” camera. With the pricing strategy Nikon chose, it killed the potential D3x sales and made it out of reach for most people out there. By then, Nikon D700 was selling strong and both D3 and D3x were suffering badly. Then came the Nikon D3s, which offered significantly better low-light performance. The flagship product was back in the spotlight and sales figures started to look better – those who needed the best camera would get the D3s, while everybody else that had budget constraints had to live with the D700. D3x continued to suffer, despite the drop in price. Meanwhile, Canon was doing really well with its two cameras – the Canon 5D Mark II sold like crazy, while pros that needed better low-light capabilities got the 1D Mark IV (if only it was not for the plagued AF issues on the 1D series, the camera would have sold even better). What happened with Canon 1Ds sales? That’s right, just like the D3x they also plummeted. Canon 5D Mark II has been the best selling Canon camera among most photo enthusiasts and pros. Differences? Canon 5D Mark II appeals to all kinds of photographers from wedding/events to landscape and fashion photographers, while the D700 mostly appeals to wedding/events and sports/wildlife with the MB-D10 battery pack. The last part is where Nikon made a mistake. With the MB-D10 and the right batteries, the Nikon D700 can be almost as fast as the original D3, sharing mostly identical features and costs much less. Nikon D3s was late in the game – D700 sales were still very strong even after D3s came out. We all anxiously waited for the Nikon D700s with the same D3s sensor, but it never came out. Then we thought we would get a D700x, which also never materialized. If Nikon released a D700s, it would have killed D3s sales. If it released a D700x, it would have buried the D3x forever.

Now we are about to see a significant change in strategy, with a new breed of a lower-end D800 pro line with a high resolution sensor. Do the same thing Canon does – high resolution, low FPS, perhaps less features here and there to differentiate it from the D4 line, so that it does not cannibalize the D4 sales. Sports and wildlife photographers spend tens of thousands of dollars on expensive 600mm lenses, so they clearly can afford to buy the D4. Everyone else that cannot, has to live with a camera that would appeal to a large group of people – from landscape, architecture and studio photographers to event photographers that do not seem to mind a high resolution camera. Canon released the 7D to compete with the D300s and recently introduced the 1DX to compete with the D4, why not bite them back with something that can challenge the 5D Mark II?

But revenge and larger market capture are not the only reasons why Nikon decided to go with a 36 MP sensor on the D800, in my opinion. There are two more key factors here – high resolution sensors are cheaper to make in the long run for Nikon than low-light sensors. Sounds wrong, but Nikon spends a lot of R&D money on its noise reduction algorithms. And after spending all that time and money, it is painful to see something like the D700 cannibalize its flagship line sales. Do you know that both Nikon D3 and D3s have almost identical sensors? The difference between Nikon D3 and D3s is mostly software – the same image processing pipeline changes I have been talking about. That’s why you do not see any improvements at low ISOs – the Nikon D3s only looks better above ISO 800. With Sony making high resolution sensors for Nikon, it is better to just go with the flow than continue the same trend. Put the primary focus on the flagship line, make it super attractive for all that need it and can afford it and introduce a lower-end pro line for everyone else that wants a high-resolution but slow full-frame camera. Increase the price on the latter so that it does not eat up the flagship sales and the problem is solved. Nikon knows that Canon abandoned its 1Ds line, so why bother with two flagship products? Most likely we won’t be seeing a D4x in the future.

This is my analysis of the current Nikon situation. I might be wrong, so we will see – time will show.

The Benefit of a High Resolution Sensor

By now you have probably read about the “megapixel myth” and have probably heard this phrase a number of times: “camera resolution does not matter”. It sure does. Now before rotten tomatoes come flying my way, let me first finish the sentence: depending on what you do with your photos. If you only publish your photos for the web, or print on your small printer at home or provide pictures to your wedding/event clients, then you would rarely need more than 10-12 megapixels. But if you are a landscape or a fashion photographer that wants to sell large prints then you need a high resolution camera. Even many wildlife photographers choose to shoot with a DX camera for the “reach”. If I could get my hands on a 36 MP sensor and have the ability to crop my frame to what I can get with a DX camera today for the same “reach”, I would be a happy camper. There is a reason why there is demand for high-resolution cameras like the Canon 5D Mark II. If digital Medium Format cameras were affordable, those 40-50 MP cameras would be in huge demand. Yes, most of us can easily live with a low-resolution camera. In fact, considering what most of us end up doing with our pictures, even the compact mirror-less cameras would suffice for 90% of our needs. However, there are many photographers out there that would hugely benefit from a higher resolution camera.

The megapixel myth is true, but it works both ways. The need for a high-resolution sensor is as much of a myth as the need for a low-light sensor. I own the Nikon D3s, which has been the king of low-light photography until D4 came out. How many really high ISO images above ISO 1600 do you think I have delivered to my clients, compared to low ISO images? Not that many. Why? Because to get the highest quality images, I avoid shooting at very high ISOs when possible. Except for some extreme situations like shooting wildlife at dusk or dawn and maybe shooting in dim churches, you will find yourself rarely using extremely high ISOs. If you don’t believe me, open up your Lightroom and do a quick count of images below ISO 800 and above ISO 800 for the last year. You will be surprised to see the numbers (unless you have no idea how to shoot your camera and have your D3s permanently set to ISO 3200 :))

My point is this – a good general-purpose camera should have a good balance of sensor resolution and low-light capabilities. So, extremely high resolution is bad, because image processing algorithms won’t be able to cope with that much noise today. And at the same time, you are not getting much out of a low-light sensor if it has too little resolution.

Finally, what is the benefit of a high resolution sensor? The true benefit of a high resolution sensor when compared to a low-resolution / low-light sensor, is that you have the option to down-size/down-sample your images in post-processing. Why would you want to do that? To reduce the amount of noise, of course. With a high resolution sensor, you have the option to shoot really big images and you can down-sample their size in low-light situations to reduce the amount of noise. With a low-resolution low-light camera, you can shoot good quality images right out of the camera, but you can never effectively increase its resolution. You would be surprised how little of a difference you will see when taking an image from the D3 at ISO 3200 and comparing it to an image from the D3x at ISO 3200, down-sampled to 12 MP. Now I am not here to say that D3x and D3 have the same high ISO noise, because it depends on how you look at it. At 100% pixel size view, the Nikon D3 is obviously going to look better. But when both are viewed at 12 MP, meaning the D3x image down-sampled to 12 MP to match the D3 image, then the images will look similar in terms of noise. Don’t believe me? Head on to DxOMark, put D3 and D3x side by side, then look at the SNR chart under “Measurements” in “Print” size:

Those noise levels look about the same to me. If Nikon D3x came out after D3s, we would have probably seen similar results in the above chart when comparing the two.

Is 36 MP an overkill on a full-frame sensor? Given what Nikon has been doing with its noise reduction, then no, it is not an overkill. If my projections are right, we should be seeing at least a 1 full stop improvement over the D700 when the D800 image is down-sampled between 12-16 MP. What this means is that at ISO 3200, the Nikon D800 should look about the same or better than Nikon D700 at ISO 1600, when the D800 image is down-sampled to 12-16 MP. And you should end up with a sharper D800 image on top of that (due to resizing). Nikon’s built-in noise reduction, along with Photoshop/Lightroom software image reduction algorithms should make this happen.

Don’t be scared of 36 megapixels. Remember, the pixel size on the D800 will be the same as on the current D7000. If you find your lenses to be working well with the D7000, they will work equally well on the upcoming Nikon D800, with the exception of corners – that’s where you might see differences. That’s because D7000 hides the corners of full-frame lenses due to the smaller sensor, while the D800 will expose them in full. But you can work around those problems in the field. Crop the corners a little more if your lens has bad corner performance – you will have plenty of pixels to work with.

A high resolution sensor would obviously have its own disadvantages as well. More resolution equals bigger files, hence slower FPS (I know some might say slower post-processing as well, but it is debatable, because computers are very fast nowadays and should be able to easily cope with higher processor and storage requirements). On top of that, even a large memory buffer would clog up pretty quickly, so shooting continuously at 4 FPS for more than a few seconds is out of the question. But that’s what the D4 is for. Need to spray and pray? Get a D4. And if buffer or image size are such a problem, shoot away in DX mode. You will have that option on the D800.

What are you thoughts on all this?

Before I get into the camera specifications comparison, let me first talk about these two cameras. The Nikon D4 is a high-end DSLR targeted at news, sports, wildlife and action photographers. It is Nikon’s new flagship low-light king with very impressive high ISO capabilities and extremely fast speed, both in terms of autofocus and camera frame rate. To allow for such impressive low-light performance, Nikon had to keep the pixel size large, which translates to lower resolution (by lower I mean 16.2 MP). The upcoming Nikon D800, on the other hand, is aimed at landscape, architecture and fashion photographers that need high resolution for large prints.

Before the D4, Nikon had two flagship DSLRs for these needs – the Nikon D3s for low-light and the Nikon D3x for high resolution. The lower-end D700 camera had the same sensor as the original D3 and was never updated with the D3s sensor, because Nikon did not want it to eat up the D3s sales. Looks like starting from the D800, Nikon is now reversing the game, offering a high-resolution sensor on a lower-end body and keeping the single digit line for low-light work exclusively. By doing this, Nikon is following Canon’s strategy. The Canon 5D Mark II with its high-resolution sensor has been eating up the Canon 1Ds line for a while now and those expensive 1Ds bodies are not selling well ever since the 5D Mark II came out. The same is true with the Nikon D3x – while it is quite popular among landscape, architecture and fashion photographers, it is just not selling well. The Nikon D700 sells better than the D3s and D3x combined. By introducing a lower-end high-resolution professional body like the D800, Nikon will most likely do away from its high-end “x” line, which would be a smart move on behalf of Nikon – keeping the D3x production line is expensive. At the same time, those of us that shoot sports, wildlife and various events that require good low-light capabilities and cannot afford spending $6K on the D4 will be left with only one choice of a high-resolution full-frame camera (unless Nikon releases a new product for low-light photography, which I doubt will happen anytime soon). I believe Nikon’s thought process is like this: Canon is selling their 5D Mark II as an all-in-one solution quite well, why not do the same? After-all, many wedding photographers do use the high resolution 5D Mark II and do not seem to be complaining too much.

Nikon D4 vs D800 Specification Comparison

Now here comes the big question – does a high resolution sensor mean bad low-light capabilities? If you look at a picture at 100%, then yes, a high resolution sensor always translates to more noise at higher ISOs. However, when the image is down-sampled to smaller resolution, those differences are not that big (generally at ISO levels below ISO 3200). For example, when you look at a 16 MP image at ISO 3200 at 100% and then look at a 36 MP image at the same ISO at 100%, you will surely see more noise on the latter image. However, if you down-sample the 36 MP image to 16 MP, then you might see little difference between the two. In fact, if you had a slight focus issue on both, the 36 MP image should look sharper when down-sampled to 16 MP. Now don’t get me wrong – I am not saying that the 36 MP sensor on the D800 will give you better results when down-sampled to 16 MP than what the D4 can do right out of the box. Don’t forget that the D800 won’t be able to go past ISO 6,400, with ISO 25,600 being its maximum upper limit. The Nikon D4 can do native ISO 12,800 and can be pushed all the way to ISO 204,800 without having to resize anything – something a high resolution sensor would not be able to deliver. What I am trying to say here, is that you should not be scared of a high resolution D800 when it comes out, thinking that it will be grossly inferior to your beloved D700. I will provide an in-depth analysis between the D700 and the upcoming D800 when I have it on my hands, but I can say with confidence now that the D800 should give better results than the D700 when its image is down-sampled to 12 MP. Overall, we should be getting around a full stop of advantage noise-wise with the D800 compared to the D700. Think of it this way – you will be able to get superb 36 MP images in daylight and you have the option to down-sample images to lower resolution in low-light. If you are a wedding photographer, I would set a target resolution when delivering images to your customers for consistency purposes. Otherwise you will be burning a lot of DVDs (that’s if you shoot and burn, of course)…

I am personally very excited about the Nikon D800, definitely more than the D4.

First, let’s talk about differences in camera body design.

Nikon D4 vs D3s Camera Body Design Comparison

As expected, the Nikon D4 went through rather significant changes in camera body design. The overall shape of the camera has been completely changed and it now looks more curved than the D3/D3s/D3x models. Let’s start from the front of the camera, which went through the least number of changes. The only major change I see on the front is the C/S/M focus lever (bottom left side of the camera) that has been modified to adapt to the same switch we see on the Nikon D7000 DSLR. This was a good design change, because it will prevent accidental changes to autofocus when you pull the camera out of the bag. Now the switch only has two options – AF for autofocus and M for manual focus. The button on top of the switch replaces the AF mode switch on the back of the camera. Now you can switch between the different AF modes (single, dynamic and 3D) by pressing this button and rotating the camera dial. Oh and it looks like the grip is shaped a little differently, which should help with handling the camera a little more.

Now on to the camera left side:

There are some noticeable changes to the camera connector panels – the Nikon D4 has everything separated out by groups, while the Nikon D3s has a more consolidated look. The top left round connection is for the new WT-5a wireless unit. The bottom connection on the D4 shows Ethernet + HDMI connections. The Nikon D3s does not have an Ethernet port.

The top of the camera went through significant design changes:

Let’s start from the left, the camera dial. The front of the dial is fully closed and only the rear of the dial is exposed. The dial modes are the same, but there is a change on the top buttons – the useless “Lock” button on the D3/D3s/D3x has been replaced with a metering mode button. I really like this idea, because the metering mode switch on the right side has been eliminated as well! Now that I see this change, I started to realize how much I hate the old metering mode switch on the D3/D3s cameras. Pressing the button and then rotating the metering mode dial was never comfortable. I am glad that this annoyance has been finally taken care of. The right side of the camera has also been redesigned. The shutter release is now located at a lower angle for comfort and the camera mode and exposure compensation buttons have been moved up a little to make room for the new and small video recording button.

Now let’s talk about the back of the camera, which went through the most number of changes:

There are things I really like about what Nikon did with the D4 back layout/design and things I don’t. Let’s start from what I believe are good changes. Compared to the D3s, there is one extra button on the back of the D4. Finally, Nikon adapted a similar layout as the D700, which is the ability to zoom in out by pressing a button. I remember when I first held the D3s on my hand, I could not figure out how to zoom in. I then realized that I have to press the zoom button and then use the dial on the back of the camera to zoom in and out. What a pain! Now this pain goes away, because you just press the zoom in and zoom out buttons without having to rotate any dials! The lock/help button has been moved up right under the Menu button, which I would rather have on the bottom, because I never use it. In addition, all the new buttons are back-lit, which is great news for those of us that shoot in low-light or at night.

Let’s move to the LCD. The new LCD on the back of the camera has the same 921,000 dot resolution as the one on the D3s, but is now a little bigger in size (by 0.2 inches diagonal). While Nikon says that they always individually calibrate these screens, it is still the same old LCD technology we see on all other cameras. We are in 2012 now, come on, why doesn’t Nikon use higher-end screens on their new cameras? OLED is not cheap, but it uses a lot less energy than LCD and it lasts forever.

The button placement under the LCD, also went through some changes. While the ISO / QUAL / WB buttons are still in their respective places (come on Nikon, that QUAL button is evil! – see my Nikon D3s Review why), the audio record button has been moved to sit together in the same group. I don’t really care about this button, because I never use it. The Live View button has moved a little to the left now and has a lever for selecting between photo and video live view modes.

The vertical grip should now be a lot more comfortable, because the AF-ON button has been moved deeper into the camera body. This is great news, because the old AF-ON placement was never good to start with – I kept on accidentally hitting it while shooting horizontally and had to constantly turn it off when I was not using it. AF-ON should have been where it is now on the D3/D3s/D3x models.

Finally, let’s talk about the rest of the buttons to the right side of the body and LCD. Similar to the Canon DSLRs, we now have two joysticks (the joystick is borrowed from the MB-D10 grip) – one to use in horizontal position and one to use in vertical position. The top joystick replaces the customizable AE-L/AF-L button (still wondering where it went). I don’t know about others, but I hate joysticks. If we have to use a joystick to move the AF point now, what is the purpose of having the bigger dial? Is there there now to move around while viewing pictures? I very much hope that I can still use the big dial to select AF points. Joysticks are the reason why I do not like the ergonomics of many Canon DSLRs. It is sad to see Nikon trying to copy Canon in that regard.

OK, let’s move on to differences in camera specifications. The below specifications comparison only shows differences between the two cameras – identical information has been intentionally removed.

Nikon D4 vs D3s Specification Comparison

Something in favor of the D3s is its battery life. I understand that there are some new battery requirements in Asia, but it is sad to see D4 have almost half the battery life of the D3s. This is a serious disadvantage, especially when shooting in cold environments where batteries die quickly. The new wireless WT-5a wireless transmitter also draws power from the camera, so expect to have even worse battery life with the WT-5a attached.

You can find more information on the Nikon D4, along with my thoughts on its features in the Nikon D4 article I posted earlier. A comparison between the Nikon D4 vs Canon 1D X is also coming.

So, what does the Nikon D4 bring to the table? Here is a summary of its features:

1. Sensor: 16.2 MP FX, 7.3µ pixel size
2. Native ISO Sensitivity: 100-12,800
3. Boost Low ISO Sensitivity: 50
4. Boost High ISO Sensitivity: 25,600-204,800
5. Camera Buffer: Up to 100 12-bit RAW images, 70 14-bit uncompressed RAW and up to 200 JPEG images in continuous 10 FPS mode with XQD card
6. Processor: EXPEED 3
7. Dust Reduction: Yes
8. Shutter: Up to 1/8000 and 30 sec exposure, self-diagnostic shutter monitor
9. Shutter Durability: 400,000 cycles
10. Camera Lag: 0.012 seconds
11. Storage: 1x Compact Flash slot and 1x XQD slot
12. Viewfinder Coverage: 100%
13. Speed: 10 FPS, 11 FPS with AE/AF locked
14. Exposure Meter: 91,000 pixel RGB sensor
15. Autofocus System: Advanced Multi-CAM 3500FX with 51 focus points and 15 cross-type sensors
16. AF Detection: Up to f/8 with 11 focus points (5 in the center, 3 on the left and right)
17. LCD Screen: 3.2 inch diagonal with 921,000 dots
18. Movie Modes: Full 1080p HD @ 30 fps max
19. Movie Exposure Control: Full
20. Movie Recording Limit: 30 minutes @ 30p, 20 minutes @ 24p
21. Movie Output: MOV, Compressed and Uncompressed
22. Two Live View Modes: One for photography and one for videography
23. Camera Editing: Lots of in-camera editing options with HDR capabilities
24. Wired LAN: Built-in Gigabit RJ-45 LAN port
25. WiFi: Not built-in, requires WT-5a and older wireless transmitters
26. GPS: Not built-in, requires GP-1 GPS unit
27. Battery Type: EN-EL18
28. Battery Life: 2,600 shots
29. Weight: 1,180g

I only took the most important features from a very long list of detailed features presented at NikonUSA.com. While I will provide a separate comparison between the Nikon D3s and the Nikon D4 in a separate article, I would like to talk about some of the new features on the D4.

Let’s first talk about resolution: I believe Nikon made a wise choice with a 16 MP sensor. I know that many of us long for a higher resolution camera to do it all, but don’t forget that the D4 is a low-light camera. Cramming more pixels would have an effect on noise at high ISOs, which Nikon did not want to do. Nikon wants to retain its flagship low-light camera as the low-light king in the market. We all know that nothing came even remotely close to the D3s that dominated the low-light market for two straight years, until Canon announced the 1D X. Now we have the Nikon D4, which should give us even better low-light capabilities than the D3s. Judging from what Nikon did in the past, I suspect the Nikon D4 will have at least a full stop advantage over the Nikon D3s, with more megapixels. What this means, is that we should see ISO 6400 on the D4 look as good as ISO 3200 on the D3s. Once the 16 MP image is down-sampled to 12 MP, this difference should add another 2/3 of a stop of advantage. This means that the difference between the D4 and the D3s should roughly be the same as between the D3s and the D3 – about 1.5 of difference total. So those of you who are skeptical about the native ISO 100-12,800 sensitivity, do not assume that ISO 12,800 on the D4 will look the same as ISO 12,800 on the D3s – it won’t. Another important factor to keep in mind, is that the Nikon D4 now has ISO 100 as its base ISO. This translates to much better dynamic range results (the Nikon D4 will most likely take the #1 spot in DxOMark’s camera sensor ratings).

Now let’s talk about the camera speed. While 10 FPS over 8 FPS on the D3s does not sound like a huge improvement, Nikon more than doubled the camera buffer on the D4. It is insane to think that we can capture 100 RAW images non-stop at 10 frames per second! That’s 10 seconds of non-stop shooting. Change the image size to JPEG and you can double that to 20 seconds. On the negative note, the camera will require the much-faster XQD cards to achieve those speeds, but that’s understandable, because even the fastest Compact Flash cards just cannot handle that much bandwidth. A rather serious design flaw, in my opinion, is the fact that Nikon is providing us with one CF and one XQD card slot. This is bad, because I use the dual card slots in backup configuration when shooting important events. Now I would have to get expensive and rare XQD cards to be able to do that. I think Nikon jumped on XQD too fast – with only Sony making 16GB and 32GB XQD cards right now, the price is rather steep. Nikon should have either done two CF slots (my preference) or two XQD slots, instead of giving us this “transitional” option.

Nikon also completely redesigned the metering sensor on the D4. We now have a 91,000 pixel RGB sensor, which, compared to the 1,005 pixel RGB sensor on the D3s is supposed to deliver outstanding results in 3D Matrix mode. And I am sure it will, because that’s a huge difference in metering sensor technology! Nikon incorporated advanced face-tracking from the V1/J1 cameras into the D4 and the camera will automatically adjust its exposure when it sees a face, whether you have a strong backlight or not. I am sure the Nikon D4 will nail exposure like no other Nikon camera to date.

Another huge plus of the D4 is its revamped AF sensor. While the number of focus points stayed the same (51 focus points), the new AF sensor is much more sensitive to light, allowing us to autofocus with f/8 lenses. This is great news for wildlife photographers, because we can now use our f/4 lenses with the TC-20E III teleconverter with fully functional autofocus. Yay to 600mm f/4 + TC-20E III! And that’s with 11 functional focus points (5 in the center, 3 on the left and 3 on the right). And if you have fast glass, your AF accuracy should be even better now, so event photographers will also be very happy with its low-light AF performance.

Videographers should be super excited about the D4, because they can record uncompressed videos at 1080p full HD for 30 minutes straight, with full exposure control. The uncompressed video is a big deal, because it can give production-quality results for film-makers that can now record videos to external devices. There is even a dedicated live view mode for recording videos that gives quick access to exposure control, including white balance.

There is more! The Nikon D4 now packs a wired gigabit LAN port to hook up the camera to your network in studio environments. And the new WT-5a wireless transmitter is super compact, yet very functional compared to the older generation WT-4a. Now you can fully control the camera from any device wirelessly. Imagine using your iPad in a studio, making changes to camera exposure and adjusting focus and not having to be by the camera. Videographers will also love this feature, because they could record videos without needing assistants.

There are many more features and options to talk about, including changes in body design, but I will leave that for the upcoming Nikon D4 review. Yes, I will be receiving a D4, as well as the Nikon 85mm f/1.8G the day it becomes officially available. I am very excited about the D4, because I believe it is yet another innovative camera from Nikon that brings a lot to the table. While its steep price of $5,999 makes it a very specialized camera just like its predecessors, I believe that many pros will see immediate benefits from using such camera for their work.

B&H is now taking pre-orders for the Nikon D4.
Adorama is also taking pre-orders for the Nikon D4.
Ritz Camera is also taking pre-orders for the Nikon D4.