The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

New Nikon Pro Body Coming Soon ?

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Nikon Rumors reported that Nikon Japan has temporarily suspended production of the new Df to build inventory on a new Pro body (D4 Variation ) . The speculation is that it will launch before the Olympics on Feb6 . Makes sense and is consistent with past history ….my guess its a D4S and not the D4X .

Makes me wonder if the Df doesn t have a variation of the original D4 sensor ..it seems to have better color …but who knows ..the new baby is always pretty.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Hi Roger
From what I've seen of the Df colour it's back to the bad old days of acid yellow.
Jono, there is one Nikon, and one Nikon only. It's called D2Xs and it makes photographs with beautiful, cool colours. I will take photos with mine all weekend and I seriously consider buying one more, getting rid of the "acid" D300.
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Any information (speculation) on the number of megapixels?
I am just reacting to the Nikon Rumors blog post . They have no detailed information beyond the obvious change in production at Nikon s main plant in Japan . Thom Hogan also reports that Nikon follows a pattern of introduction around the Olympics for their PRO bodies .

It seems likely that they will either slightly improve the D4 with an D4S model or release a D4X with higher MP s . Maybe the D800E sensor in a Pro body . We hope for a break thru new 50+ MP sensor but I am getting used to a slower evolution of the sensor technologies .
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
I am just reacting to the Nikon Rumors blog post . They have no detailed information beyond the obvious change in production at Nikon s main plant in Japan . Thom Hogan also reports that Nikon follows a pattern of introduction around the Olympics for their PRO bodies .

It seems likely that they will either slightly improve the D4 with an D4S model or release a D4X with higher MP s . Maybe the D800E sensor in a Pro body . We hope for a break thru new 50+ MP sensor but I am getting used to a slower evolution of the sensor technologies .
Actually all the big boys are expected to release their new high end pro models before Olympics 2014 ....
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Cannot agree more!
This is heavily dependent on the lenses used ,your approach to WB ,the raw conversion software and your efforts to profile your camera . Thats just to get a converted file ..then you factor in any presets used to establish your personal aesthetic .

Prior to the newer G Nano coated lenses ..most Nikkors produce a warm (yellowish bias from the coating ) . I have had a devil of a time getting the yellow out with the 135DC for example . The G Nano coated lenses render neutral .

My approach to WB (when I am being careful ) is to use an Expo Disc …this typically results in a cooler WB than Nikons AWB . This is a matter of taste as many Pro s used a fixed Cloudy WB (6500) .

The conversion software makes a big difference in “straight out of the camera “ color with the D4 sensor . Capture NX2 ( not a user friendly software ) produces very nice neutral color …..LR5 ….can produce the “acid” Jono speaks too unless you tune it out . Look forward to hearing from the Capture One users as they take up the new Df .

Finally the Camera calibration using a Passport Color Checker works well to further standardize and neutral set color in LR .

Carry this further and use a Film Emulation preset and I think you can obtain an aesthetic free of any bias (other than what you intend ).

Having used essentially all of the Nikon sensors over the past 3-4 years …I totally agree that they have a yellow -green bias . I shoot baseball,polo and surfing in the winter and grass can be difficult as well as keeping the water blue enough . Last year I calibrated my D800E bodies and cleaned up my workflow …was pretty happy with the color . We will see with the Df ?

The D600 (with the Sony 24MP sensor ) is pretty great right out of the box in Aperture (which my wife uses) . I ve been surprised at the lack of take up in the D600/D610 as the prices have fallen to just above $1500 .
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
The conversion software makes a big difference in “straight out of the camera “ color
+1 -- and with EVERY camera IME.

LR is most notably bad (IMHO) as re out of cam color and generally needs a Passport tweak if you're particular.

C1 is exponentially better on out of box color than LR (again IMHO). But still, I generally use a preferred preset WB on import to get the overall balance I want. With C1 I can further tweak this by making a custom camera profile; this is a real icc profile made for C1 via the advanced color tool.

So far, I have not seen "acid yellow" but admittedly have only worked a few hundred Df files so far, so will reserve further comment until I have personally experienced issues. Or not. ;)

As re lenses. I have heard the 135DC is overly yellow from several shooters. I have the 105DC and it is slightly more yellow than my G lenses, but nothing that bothers in me; and in fact I feel it gives the lens part of it's "older rendering" character. That said, it is my most yellow rendering lens out of all my non-G glass, including the 28/1.4 and 50/1.2.
 

D&A

Well-known member
As expressed by Roger Jack and others, the older non G lens Nikons, both Af and MF, generally produce a warm somewhat yellowish image that biases the reproduction of greens and blues, not to mention skin tones. The 135mm f2 DC lens is notorious for this as well as the 105DC to a lesser extent. The 200 f4 micro as Jan pointed out as well a large # of manual focus Nikkors are prime candidates. A good many older Sigma lenses (especially some of their older wide angle zooms) were big offenders.

Although some Nikon DSLR's can be implicated (since use of some neutral non Nikkor lenses produced warm images with certain Nikon bodies but not when mounted on Canon's, some of the non G lenses were often the greater offending candidate as compared to use of certain Nikon DSLR models.

Interestingly as Roger noted, out of camera D600 files are particulary more neutral that a great many other recent and past Nikon DSLR's (most of which I've used fairly extensively). Again as pointed out, conversion software, camera calibration and particularly use of the original Expo Disk can easily tame this bias towards warmth. Use of the Expo disk in WB I've found balances out exceptionally well, the bias towards yellow when used with offending optics since use of the original Expo disk (as opposed to their portrait model), renders an exceptionally cool temp. file when used with neutral lenses such as the G lenses.

With that said, I often like the end of day light rendition of outdoor portraits taken with the 105 and 135 DC lenses on their own, especially in what is obviously cool rendering winter scenes.

Dave (D&A)
 
Last edited:

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
The bias toward yellow and green is most problematic in anything that has large areas of green grass. A baseball field for example will almost “glow” from yellow luminosity …so its more than WB. This unfortunately requires a good camera profile to obtain a decent starting point in LR . If you use NX2 you can avoid this almost entirely .

But for most everything else I have not been bothered much by the sensor bias.
 

robsteve

Subscriber
I find the colour pretty decent on the D800E, though I use Capture One rather than Lightroom for the conversions. I haven't tuned the colour in Lightroom, but the stock Lightroom conversions are a bit garish.

Speaking of new pro level cameras, I have found the file sizes of the D800E are killing my work flow when shooting sports. I spend hours editing because the previews take to long in order to check focus. Setting the D800E to 1.2x crop helps with the file sizes but you loose a bit on the wide end.

I was starting to think one of the Pro Nikons with a lower file size might suit me better for sports. If a new D4 equivalent comes out, it might make the older D4 a bit more affordable.
 

bradhusick

Active member
When I shoot my D4 for pro sports when the photos are for online use only, I dial it down to 8 megapixel JPEGs. I shoot about 1000 frames per game, so this makes a big difference in processing time. I do love the D4 - it must have artificial intelligence in the focusing system. I have never used a camera that is better at AF than this.
 

robsteve

Subscriber
When I shoot my D4 for pro sports when the photos are for online use only, I dial it down to 8 megapixel JPEGs. I shoot about 1000 frames per game, so this makes a big difference in processing time. I do love the D4 - it must have artificial intelligence in the focusing system. I have never used a camera that is better at AF than this.
I am not familiar with the D4. Can you dial down the to 8 mega pixels and still shoot NEF? I am shooting my kids, so I shoot raw so I have more room for exposure and colour balance error if I happen to get the perfect shot.
 
Top