Nikon announces D4S flagship DSLR

Nikon has finally announced its latest flagship DSLR, the D4S. The camera was shown off a while back at CES while it was still in development but it is now finally official launched.

With the D4S, Nikon has taken a page out of Apple’s book by taking their current flagship camera, the D4, and making it faster and adding an S to the name instead of making any dramatic changes.

Speed has been given a priority and everything on the D4S is now faster. The autofocus is improved so that the camera now focuses faster. There is now a faster EXPEED 4 processor inside, which means time to process images is 30% shorter and you can also take more shots per second in burst mode, 11 fps to be precise, with autofocus and autoexposure. The faster processor also allows the D4S to shoot 1080p videos at 60 fps.

Another improvement is with the ISO range, which now goes up to 409,600, twice that of the D4. While you don’t necessarily have to shoot at that ISO, you will see the benefits of the higher sensitivity even at lower ISO levels, with the D4S being able to give more usable results at lower ISO levels that the D4.

Other than that the D4S has a new 16.2 megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor that maintains the resolution of the previous D4. On top of that is a 51-point autofocus system and 15 cross-type sensors in the center to detect contrast data in both vertical and horizontal planes.

Nikon has introduced a new RAW SIze S setting that allows shooting in 12-bit uncompressed Nikon NEF files that are roughly half the size of traditional RAW files, thereby speeding file processing and saving time even further. The D4S also supports Gigabit Ethernet for faster file transfers,

The D4S can output 1080p60 uncompressed videos through the HDMI out for broadcast or recording to an outboard digital video recorder. It can also simultaneously output via HDMI and record videos to the internal dual CF/XQD card slots so you don’t have to choose one over the other. Lastly, a bigger battery and more power efficiency means the D4S also lasts much longer than the D4.

Overall, there are quite a few changes to the D4S across the board. Probably not enough to justify upgrading if you already bought the D4 but if you’re looking for a new high-end professional DSLR then the D4S seems like a solid option.

The Nikon D4S will be available starting March 6, 2014 for $6499.95 (body-only).

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