Nikon D4s

At 25,600 ISO, 11 frames per second and continual autofocus, this one is a nocturnal beast

The D4s is an upgrade of the Nikon D4, but most of what has been tweaked is inside its magnesium alloy body. A brand new 16 megapixel full-frame CMOS processor, backed by the original Expeed 4 processor, gives you a much higher ISO rating at 25,600 and faster shooting speed of 11 frames per second with a continual autofocus, making this camera a low- light master. The camera can capture scenes lit just by candlelight, and it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call it a nocturnal beast.

Like the D4, the D4S retains the XQD and the CF card slots, but the D4S has deeper grip, assuring you a better handle on the camera, and the D Pad has been improved, giving you better control and feel.

The D4S is great if you like to shoot subjects in motion, as its autofocus system is accurate and fast, and it acquires and tracks subjects with ease. A fifth autofocus mode—Group-Area AF—of the D4S automatically focuses at four points above and around your central point of focus, thus giving you a sharp image as well as better auto exposure and autofocus tracking.

Nikon has also taken its user feedback seriously, loading a gigabit Ethernet on the camera for faster file transfers to a computer. It also has a small RAW file option that allows faster shoots in burst mode without generating big files.

The D4S supports movie recordings of a frame size of 1,920 x 1,080 with a frame rate of 50p or 60p; the picture quality is sharp and clear. Whether it is a home movie you are shooting or a time lapse, its quality will impress you. But then, there are a few downsides too—the D4S cannot record full-length movies, and, while you can adjust its audio level, you cannot do any ‘focus peaking’ while you shoot a film.

CandlelightISO ratingXQD