I'm ready to move to the Nikon FX line. Is the D4 image more nuanced and lively than the D800?

No.

Just to add what the previous poster said. No.

"Nuanced and lively?"  And, by that you mean...??

Is the D4 image more nuanced and lively than the D800?

Sorry? And no. No it is not...

Is it more piquant though?

I see that your main work is wedding photography. In this case, you certainly dont need the extra resolution of a D800, and maybe neither the extreme rugged D4 body with faster AF. For a 1/3 of the price, your best bet may be the Nikon D600, it is a beast already and beats the D4 and D800 in terms of video (D4 videos are quite soft, D800 videos quite noisy). It is your choice, but I would strongly advice you to go to your local store and try out the 3 cameras. To me the Nikon D600 has a prefectly balanced sensor : high resolution, great high ISO, clean video files. For extra battery and vertical portraits, you can always ad the 300$ grip.

Just to make it really clear. No.

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Good points, but be careful recommending the D600 for video. It has a cropped off black border around the image and other problems...I think they are trying to sort it. Currently you have to upscale the video about 5% to actually get 1080.

no, sorry, but the video output on memory sticks is 1080P, with no black borders at all. You only get those if you try the clean HDMI output via an external recorder. I am a film maker myself and compared many Nikon DSLR cameras (D5100, D3200, D800 and D600), the D600 offers by far the best and cleanest files from all. The D5100 is second but lacks of full manual controls. The D800 becomes quite noisy after 1600 ISO (croma and shadow noise) and the D3200 files are simply crap at high ISO, with shadow blinking all over the place. So yes, the D600 is the king of Nikon DSLR video. Nikon just announced that they will fix the live view aperture bug (you have to switch live view off to set the aperture, if using an AF-S lens) and will probably fix the HDMI output very soon too.

Okay, well you cannot deny the oil problem, widely becoming known. I have several folks I know with the issue. It's like a chip pan back there on that sensor.

And yes hardly king of video - you cannot even change aperture in live view without going out and coming back in LOL. Yeh they are going to fix it I hear...lets wait n see if they actually fix it. They are only just fixing the autofocus issue that's plagued the D800 for months so excuse me if my confidence in Nikon is at all time low (for more reasons than I state here).

The thing that is annoying is why do they release stuff with these obvious idiot flaws? Who would think the aperture "fixing" in liveview is a good idea? Are you seriously telling me they didn't realise people would hate that? And the damn black borders on monitors? I mean serious Nikon what are you up to these days?

All cameras have oil problems, this is due to mechanical lubrication. Canon video, even on high end cameras such as the 5D Mark III is far not as sweet looking as Nikon files. Nikon motion is way more organic and sharper natively. Now, maybe you should stop complaining and go shoot, this may help.

Wow. Just wow.

The amount of stuff people spread on these forums and claim to be the truth is quite amazing, and unfortunately a lot of people believe what they read here.

The 12-15 pixel wide border around the image is only an issue when using HDMI out which is a somewhat specialist use of the camera and not something most people will encounter. If you record in-camera (like 99% of users probably will) you get 1080p without any problems.

One does lose faith in humanity ever so often these days; I was so lucky to be visiting Grand Canyon in October and heard someone say to his large bunch of friends (which all agreed and oooh'ed by the way) that this would be the time to have an iPhone 5 since it can do panorama shots... That's the average Joe for you; of this large group of people not a single one knew that 1) iPhone apps for this use have been available for along time and 2) Other cell phones have had this functionality for 2-3 years already...

I come back on this forum less and less (only to provide advices to nice people or people who try to improve their skills) and decided to give dpreview a try again, because I just purchased the D600 and wanted to share my joy. But some members here just make this place a useless dumpster of crappy deformed information.

For the HDMI "issue" and the live view aperture control, some film makers and myself took part of a petition sent directly to the main technical department of Nikon USA. They took the matter very seriously and a new firmware is on the way. If the gear heads or trolls were really concerned by those issues, they would have participated to such a petition instead of wining on dpreview, but hey, some people just have time and energy to lose.

Besides, the D600 video files are just beautiful, the best I have ever seen on ANY DSLR camera.

Cheers,

FTH.

That ol D4 certainly likes to party it up on Friday nights while D800 goes to bed early. Don't know what's with all these "No"s ....

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Peter

Sigh. I'm apparently the only one here that knows what the OP means, so let me spell it out. The D4 is a lot livelier, it can Charleston, jitterbug and lindy hop with the best of them. By comparison, the D800 does a stately chaconne or tepid waltz, Leica's M9 likes to goose step ("qvaak") and Fuji's old DSLRs are renowned for their lethargy. How slow you might ask? Hokey Pokey slow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO3zEeusKWU   [Sir Charles]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G861C3J9ms   [Sly]

No, but the Cabernet Sauvignon I am currently imbibing might be described as such.

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Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels

No idea what you mean by lively and nuanced but based on DPR's noise samples, the D4 produces cleaner images from ISO 100 ~ 1600 (i.e. the ISO settings used most often). So while it may not resolve as much detail as the D800, it may provide you with cleaner looking shots and those shots may end up being just as sharp after sufficient NR is applied to the D800s files, to achieve a similarly clean look.

What I'm still trying to figure out is, how in the world has the biggest online camera review site, not reviewed Nikon's Flagship DSLR (D4) many months later? Makes me think there's something they want to write up about it, but which Nikon won't be happy with. I can't think of another reason why such an important camera would be left off "the roster" by such a respectable site.

At any rate, with a good piece of glass and good skills both the D4 or D800 will produce superb images. You can't go wrong so just go with what your budget likes best.

Oh come on. Nikon released an unfinished product and you protect it like a good Nikon fanboy. I see you own a D600, it will be great when they give you the firmware update I have no doubt. But it shouldn't have been released with a very obvious video flaw. Well I own a D800 and to me it's just a camera that I attach lenses into - although it is away being repaired for a broken 10 pin terminal.

Just admit that the aperture thing was idiotic at best and should never have been released this way. Also, why the black borders round the image on a monitor; explain to me what's good about this function. I do shoot, alot - I'm glad you care. Get the firmware update and be happy; I can tell you are eagerly awaiting it...

Firstly, don't cry - I made a slight error it only appears on HDMI monitors, okay. Secondly, if you are using the camera professionally for video, like people used the mark 2 canon then you would be using this function - and therefore it's a dumb function. Explain to me why it would be good to have black borders on your monitor? Aperture locked during video? How can these be good functions? It has an evident oil to sensor issue, more apparent than any nikon. Just like people denied the AF issue with the D800 this will come out.