The Nikon D4 is a professional level camera announced by Nikon back in 2012, and measured in terms of technical development, this is really a long time ago! A lot has happened to the cameras in terms of video capability, computing power and the notorious move to mirrorless cameras.
Within the professional series of Nikon cameras, the D4 is now several generations old. So it is a bit up-hill for this trusty old DSLR. And to make it worse, the D4 was replaced by the D4S with even better specs, but of course the D4S comes with a somewhat higher price tag. You can find my reasons for choosing the D4 over the D4S right here (yes, I am cheap!).
Convincing build quality
When you hold the Nikon D4 for the first time, you will notice the size of the camera! It is huge and heavy! My Nikon D700 plus a battery grip is also big and heavy, but the D4 is just a little bit more bulky. When I add my 70-200mm f/2.8 G lens, the combo becomes crazy heavy. If you are an event shooter that needs to hand-hold the camera throughout the day, make sure you try the camera with your lens of preference before you invest.
You have a feeling that the D4 can roll down a mountainside and the only thing that will happen is that the mountain will be hurt! Jokes aside, it is a very convincing camera in terms of its build quality. But if you don’t like a heavy camera, stay clear of the Nikon D4. It is the biggest camera I have ever owned! The D4 body is 1.2 kilos!
The feeling of top level quality continues when you hit the shutter: it is a heavy sound that shutter makes! If you put the camera in continuous mode, the sound is like a machine gun! I am not a camera engineer, but just from using it, I am left with the impression that this camera will last for years and years. Specs say the shutter will last 400.000 actuations, but IRL the shutter will probably last much longer.
The D4 was built for speed with especially sports and wildlife photographers in mind. For it’s time, it can move a lot of data from the sensor to the buffer and stay at 10 FPS. The buffer can hold up to 100 RAW images. You may think that I am crazy getting the Nikon D4 when I have no need for the speed really, but I simply had to try one of the professional level cameras, and the D4 was the most affordable without being antique.
Ergonomics
I’ve got big hands, and the D4 is a wonderful camera to hold, despite it’s significant weight! Across the D700, D750, D7500, D5600 and Z6ii that I have tried, the D4 has the best ergonomics of them all.
The button layout of the D4 reminds me of what you’ll find on a Nikon D700, but there are some twists. It seems that Nikon constantly try to improve the shooting experience, and hence makes little tweaks from one camera generation to the next. One of the things many love to hate is the joysticks to move the focus point around – they find them too small, to flimsy and report that they simply fall of the camera after a while. I am happy to report that mine are still around, and serve me well, but if you have small hands, you may find it a bit difficult to get your thumb to reach the joystick as you have to get passed the command wheel!
The rear LCD works really well, but forget about a a tilting or an articulating screen – this one sits in the camera body and stays there! Also, if you have gotten used to zooming in and out by pinching and zooming on the screen, you will need to re-learn to use the + and – buttons in the left side of the camera. The screen will ignore you otherwise! So here the cameras age starts to show. But then on the other hand you get a pro level camera where the buttons are backlit (!) which when shooting at night / low light is an absolute blessing that I wish Nikon would bring to their enthusiast level cameras.
The expected battery life of 2600 shots seems absolutely mind-blowing! This I got from the spec sheet, but in real life the battery life is impressive, actually so impressive that I often forget to charge the battery on a regular basis! There is no need! Be aware though that if you shoot in Live View a lot, then the rear LCD will drain the battery a lot faster.
The D4 of course comes with 2 card slots, but be aware that one is an XQD slot, the other is a CF (Compact Flash) slot. The XQD card type never really caught on and for that reason only few vendors produce the card today, which drives the prices upwards, unfortunately. Add the price of a good XQD card to the price of the camera before making the purchase decision, in case the XQD card is not included.
Video
The Nikon D4 does decent video (1080p), but if you look at what a modern hybrid mirrorless camera can do in terms of resolution and FPS, then the D4 cannot keep up.
The D4 is well connected with ports for HDMI, network, USB, microphone and headset. WiFi or bluetooth or other similar wireless options are not built into the camera, and again the age starts to show.
I must admit that I have not used the D4 for video as my Nikon Z6ii is so much more capable with more resolution, more FPS, IBIS, etc, and I think most hybrid shooters today will find that the D4 is a tad too old to serve as their camera.
Image quality
The image quality of the D4 in one word? Outstanding!
I know that many will wrinkle their nose when they in the spec sheet read that the sensor has “only” 16mp resolution and wonder if that will ever suffice. Many entry level cameras today have 24mp and the number seems to go up and up. But be mindful that the camera producers are very aware that this is one of the parameters buyers can relate to and are looking for – so it is a competitive parameter more than it has to do with image quality. Just like an amplifier for your stereo equipment does not get better the more watts it can output, the same way your camera body’s quality is not directly correlated to the resolution of the sensor.
The images that the D4 produces are stellar, and I am particularly fond of the colour rendition. Many praise the D700 for being a special camera with a special sensor, but when it comes to colour rendition, the D4 IMHO is the best camera I have ever seen across all the different Nikon cameras I have tried. This can of course be related to my copy of the D4, what I shoot or what I look for, but I am still convinced that the D4 is some of the best I have ever seen.
If you want to see with your own eyes, go to flicker or the like and find images shot with the Nikon D4. I can provide a few examples via this link.
I think you will be positively surprised by the performance by this 10+ year old camera, despite it’s relatively low pixel count and the sensor having no IBIS or BSI or whatever is the latest fashion.
Auto focus system
Being frustrated with the focus system on the mirrorless cameras (like the Nikon Z6ii), I am happy to say that the focus system on the D4 works like a charm. It is professional grade stuff and for my “catch a bird in flight” once in a while shooting, I have never met the limits of the AF system. It appears to me that the AF system of the D4 is blazing fast and rock solid.
Be mindful that the performance of an AF system is always a co-operation between the lens and the camera. Slow lens and fast camera does not really cut it. I have primarily been shooting with my beloved 70-200mm f/2.8 G series lens, and it co-operates with the D4 beautifully.
Summary
When the D4 was new, the price was around 6.000 USD. We are now approaching 1.000 USD used. You get a very good used professional level camera if you go for the Nikon D4.
My main concerns on your behalf is the weight. It is a heavy camera. Also, the ergonomics are probably betters suited people with big hands. So try the camera before you buy.
You will have to live with a few dated features: the video capabilities is not up to par with a modern camera, there is not articulating screen, the camera is noisy, etc. So for me it is a photography only camera. But if you put some good glass in front of it, you will have a reliable workhorse at your disposal many years to come. Be aware though that servicing of the D4 has probably come to an end, so when the camera stops working, it is probably the end of it – unfortunately – unless some non-Nikon workshop can fix it.
Video links
Related reading
Why the Nikon D4 and not the D4S?
Nikon D4: Manual exposure, how to