The Nikon D4 is Out and What to Expect in 2012

Nikon D4

The new Nikon D4 is officially out today, Friday, Jan 6 worldwide. It is the flagship of Nikon DSLR at this moment, a professional camera with full-frame 16.2 MP sensor. It only took 2 years for the preceding Nikon D3S to last, but it’s worth the wait.

Nikon equips The D4 with capability of full-HD video recording. The D4 is also armed with an extended sensitivity of ISO 204,000. The top-of-the-line Nikon D4 is bundled by USD 6,000 price tag which will be available in store by end of February.

There is a close head-to-head competition betweeen Nikon D4 and Canon EOS-1D X. The Canon’s flagship EOS-1D X was introduced to public on October 18, 2011. In Indonesia, Exposure has had Canon EOS-1D X prototype in-hand and reported that it will be available in store on March 2012.

The D4 has less resolution than the 1D-X with 18.1 MP sensor. It was an issue when Canon introduced 1D-x, as the preceding Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III has more resolution with 21.1 MP sensor. But now the map of the megapixel war is clear.

We may talk about the other features such as image quality, drive speed and AF-points and accuracy. But after both major brands released their newest top-of-the-lines cameras then we may predict the direction of the future of digital camera.

It is noticed that Sony is also standing in the front of digital photography technology. On August 2011, Sony released Sony SLT-A77 and Sony Alpha NEX-7. Sony SLT-A77 is not SLR, it is Single-Lens Translucent camera, with EVF (electronic view finder). While NEX-7 is a rangefinder-style ILC (interchangeable lens compact), also with EVF. Both cameras share same 24.3MP resolution of APS-C-size sensor.

These latest improvements in digital photography technology have made clear the path of the future. It is not a megapixel war anymore. Future digital camera will be more compact, armed with full-HD video recording, faster drive and a sensor resolution less than 20MP.

People is getting more critical, and photography becomes more and more popular. We may consider that development of bigger format camera, such as medium format and digital back, era has come to an end. They are big, hard to handle and extremely expensive.