Congrats! The D4s will blow the socks off the D90, a massive improvement.
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I shot a D4 for a number of years and delayed upgrading to a D5 (which I have now), because I did not believe the D5 AF could be that much better than the D4. Turns out that it is, but I had so much confidence in my D4, I didn't believe it. I kept the D4 as a backup in case something should happen to my D5. I would not hesitate to use one.
Congrats! The D4s will blow the socks off the D90, a massive improvement.
Most of the sightings I get around here are in snow covered fields hunting. By Spring they're hungry and get a little bit bolder and come out of hiding. Occasionally I'll get them in and out of the brush but I'd say it's 4 to 1 snowy fields.Awesome!!! I loved the photo of the fox! How difficult is to find and shot them? It is in my wishlist photograph foxes.
In 2013, with the nikon D90 and the kit lens (18-105mm) I try to capture our fox, but she was kind of lazy! lol (It was the first time that I go out to shot wildlife, I don't knew it any techinque)
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View attachment 26285
Most of the sightings I get around here are in snow covered fields hunting. By Spring they're hungry and get a little bit bolder and come out of hiding. Occasionally I'll get them in and out of the brush but I'd say it's 4 to 1 snowy fields.
YupDont regret having a D4s, i mean its spectacular love it to bits especially on good glass...........its a sharp fast accurate pro camera..........only for me i find the D850 suits me more for what i do.
The D4s is simply a super forgiving camera to use amazing quality and value.
I used to just shoot manual, 3200/4000 ss, floated the iso -07 ev F4 or F8 set and forget, i could nail everything and anything just point and shoot.....in lower light conditions i would peel the ss back to suite.
Oz down under
View attachment 26441
D4s 28-300 hand held on the run. Full speed. Taken as Jpeg Fine.
Its all i had on me walking around doing a lighting reconnaissance in preparation for the open bull events.
The original image is super sharp and look...........no auto eye tracking LOL
This image has been reduced to 72 dpi and cropped heavily.
View attachment 26442
DF (has D4 Sensor) 16mp 50mm 1,4 D hand held taken as JPEG fine, Ok the DF to many is a toy, top me, its a D600 carcass with retro top with manual dials and a tweaked D4 sensor, its weird but sorry like most owners it delivers just amazing image files, just love this toy LOL.
View attachment 26443
D4s 150-500 Sigma with broken VR taken as JPEG fine, massively cropped and down sized to 72 dpi.
View attachment 26444
D4s 24-70 2.8 G hand held JPEG. Cropped and downsized 72dpi.
Only some examples of old snaps from the versatile D4s and 16 mp sensor.
The D4s has a beautiful sensor better than the D4, although the DF with the D4 sensor has been tweaked a little.
The D4s is amazing versatile, super fast sharp and accurate camera as long as you can take the sensor to the subject.
Its large pixels really harness so much light. I have had excellent results to 8000 to 10000 iso also on the Df.
The 28-300 on the D4s had steam coming of the lens LOL.
Enjoy your D4s i did very much, but for me I now use the D850 very hard to let go of.
Oz down under
I am not in the market for a D4S but I just wanted to mention that I agree with everything you said about Ray Hennessy. Huge fan of his work!Ray Hennesy’s Photography, to me he is an artist, he makes his photographs not just takes them.
The excellent use of negative space shows the environment that all adds to the story yet the eye still is drawn to the key subject, the composition is very artistic and beautiful, there is a story, an evoking of emotion for the viewer, his work is natural peaceful relaxing and the type of art you would like to hang on your wall at home or in a commercial environment.
His style of photography art is 95% him, i mean if he only stopped using the D4s a year ago says it all, while many people are running around paying thousands for the latest gear and still take mostly only record shots.
If your coming from a D90 to a D4s its going to be insanely brilliant.
I would look at B and H camera store Used department, for safety sake. A D4s i think currently used with low use should be around $2000 $2200 USD ???
Lenses............... you have some very good glass already, many will say differently.
I photograph sports action, wild life, models, street photography, landscape, sea scape, commercial, architecture, photo journalism etc etc and I remind myslef of a simple principal...........
A camera only uses Time Light and Speed to record what you see, light is a photon, a photon is made of red green and blue colour, so get the combination right for perfect exposure, before all that comes focus, if its not in focus nothing else matters. The photo should be a picture a work of art like Ray Hennesy’s ..........
I run ............
14-24,
24-70,
70-200 fl,
200 500,
300 2.8 VR II,
16mm 2.8 fish eye,
100 F2 Ziess macro,
50mm 1,4 Ziess,
50mm 1.4 D (Made in Japan)
two D850 units with optional genuine grip and D4s Batteries.
DF i love for fun and street photography, its unobtrusive, discrete with stunning image files.
Anything else i hire/borrow.........like 600mm F4 etc D5 D6......lighting etc........
If i travel its with the 14-24, 70-200 fl 200 500 1x D850, the D850 for me adds 40-50% more reach through excellent crop ability, with the Df (having the D4 tweaked sensor) as back up. This sensor being 16mp having super large pixel pitch tolerates TCs much better in my experience as did the D4 D4s.
What i mean about the Df sensor being Tweaked is that the algorithms or what ever you want to call the magic is, the camera is fully optimized for stills as there is no Video...........
so I have been told by some Nikon technicians.........for what its worth. Reviewers bag it as they have to but they all conclude there is something special about that image file.
Love the D4s/ Love the D5..........again I sold them for the D850 as 9 fps was plenty for me and i wanted the crop ability, the newer sensor, dynamic range and colour accuracy, and
above all i really wanted (now standard on all cameras) was a tilt screen for laying on a rock almost at water level for landscapes.
Any way thinking about the D4s has taken me down a wonderful memory lane, good luck, enjoy.
Oz down under
View attachment 26441
D4s 28-300 hand held on the run. Full speed. Taken as Jpeg Fine.
Its all i had on me walking around doing a lighting reconnaissance in preparation for the open bull events.
The original image is super sharp and look...........no auto eye tracking LOL
This image has been reduced to 72 dpi and cropped heavily.
View attachment 26442
DF (has D4 Sensor) 16mp 50mm 1,4 D hand held taken as JPEG fine, Ok the DF to many is a toy, top me, its a D600 carcass with retro top with manual dials and a tweaked D4 sensor, its weird but sorry like most owners it delivers just amazing image files, just love this toy LOL.
View attachment 26443
D4s 150-500 Sigma with broken VR taken as JPEG fine, massively cropped and down sized to 72 dpi.
View attachment 26444
D4s 24-70 2.8 G hand held JPEG. Cropped and downsized 72dpi.
Only some examples of old snaps from the versatile D4s and 16 mp sensor.
The D4s has a beautiful sensor better than the D4, although the DF with the D4 sensor has been tweaked a little.
The D4s is amazing versatile, super fast sharp and accurate camera as long as you can take the sensor to the subject.
Its large pixels really harness so much light. I have had excellent results to 8000 to 10000 iso also on the Df.
The 28-300 on the D4s had steam coming of the lens LOL.
Enjoy your D4s i did very much, but for me I now use the D850 very hard to let go of.
Oz down under
Ray Hennesy’s Photography, to me he is an artist, he makes his photographs not just takes them.
The excellent use of negative space shows the environment that all adds to the story yet the eye still is drawn to the key subject, the composition is very artistic and beautiful, there is a story, an evoking of emotion for the viewer, his work is natural peaceful relaxing and the type of art you would like to hang on your wall at home or in a commercial environment.
His style of photography art is 95% him, i mean if he only stopped using the D4s a year ago says it all, while many people are running around paying thousands for the latest gear and still take mostly only record shots.
If your coming from a D90 to a D4s its going to be insanely brilliant.
I would look at B and H camera store Used department, for safety sake. A D4s i think currently used with low use should be around $2000 $2200 USD ???
Lenses............... you have some very good glass already, many will say differently.
I photograph sports action, wild life, models, street photography, landscape, sea scape, commercial, architecture, photo journalism etc etc and I remind myself of a simple principal...........
A camera only uses Time Light and Speed to record what you see, light is a photon, a photon is made of red green and blue colour, so get the combination right for perfect exposure, before all that comes focus, if its not in focus nothing else matters. The photo should be a picture a work of art like Ray Hennesy’s ..........
I run ............
14-24,
24-70,
70-200 fl,
200 500,
300 2.8 VR II,
16mm 2.8 fish eye,
100 F2 Ziess macro,
50mm 1,4 Ziess,
50mm 1.4 D (Made in Japan)
two D850 units with optional genuine grip and D4s Batteries.
DF i love for fun and street photography, its unobtrusive, discrete with stunning image files.
Anything else i hire/borrow.........like 600mm F4 etc D5 D6......lighting etc........
If i travel its with the 14-24, 70-200 fl 200 500 1x D850, the D850 for me adds 40-50% more reach through excellent crop ability, with the Df (having the D4 tweaked sensor) as back up. This Df D4 sensor being 16mp having super large pixel pitch tolerates TCs much better in my experience as did the D4 D4s.
What i mean about the Df sensor being Tweaked is that the algorithms or what ever you want to call the magic is, the camera is fully optimized for stills as there is no Video...........
so I have been told by some Nikon technicians.........for what its worth. Reviewers bag it as they have to but they all conclude there is something special about that image file.
Love the D4s/ Love the D5..........again I sold them for the D850 as 9 fps was plenty for me and i wanted the crop ability, the newer light sensativity of the sensor, dynamic range and colour accuracy, and
above all i really wanted (now standard on all cameras) was a tilt screen for laying on a rock almost at water level for landscapes.
Any way thinking about the D4s has taken me down a wonderful memory lane, good luck, enjoy.
Oz down under
The alternative is to use a Z6II and seems to be a very good option but it means using an adapter for your existing glass and that's ok, i don't know if teh 80-200 2.8 D works on the adapter i think it dose ?? buying all new glass not so ok.
Ray Hennesy in his Q and A section says he is using the Z6II more than ever before and loves it but for just fast action and fast focus acquisition he still prefers the D4s, i can relate to his findings.
The D4s is clean to 6400 iso the Z6II goes further with even more pixels, it is a completely different camera yet similar in price range to a used D4s.
I think the Z6 II is very underrated and defiantly got some advantages.
It will be interesting to see what the Z9 and family of drill down technology brings.
Oz down under
I really like the Z6II, it's a very capable camera. Morten Hilmer uses one, in extreme conditions, and produces excellent results.
But for me, it's out of question, since all my lens wouldn't do AF with the adapter. Thats why I still stay on the DSLR, but I very curious about the Z9 as well.
Maybe in the future, when Nikon was very updated on the mirrorless tecnholigies (in AF, more specific) I have enough money to do the transition.
I mentioned earlier that you have nice lenses that may be a stumbling block to move to the Z system . I feel its the case for so many people including myself as i don't want to spend $30k AUD building a new system when the FX Dslr dose nearly everything i need or want, Yes hiring a Z9 may be the case on occasions when and if needed but gee if you cant nail shots with a D4s D6 1DX D850 going Mirroless may be the answer as you really don't need to many skill sets with an A1 R5 Z9 ? but you may need a Univerty degree to drive the massive software features LOL
I am more interested in enjoying photography from a compositional and technique perspective, i want to keep/preserve my skill sets, yes their are so many little advantages of mirror less and their will be more in each new model release, and ist the future etc etc but equally their are still very capable cameras and lenses out their in FX.
Enjoy what you have, remember 90% of the result comes from you.........for now.
Recently my girlfriend and i were on the beach at a surfing competition, she is not a photographer and has no idea how to use a pro camera, my friend for fun said have a go on this thing, its a A 1 Sony, she said where do i push the button and am i holding it right, yes my friend said, she pointed at some gulls flying towards her, people walking, pelican landing, and gave the camera back and said thank you but this is boring, she took her surf board and said I am off to catch a few waves.
Well each shot was a money shot technically eye in focus the whole lot..........this is amazingly the future for camera manufactures, converting unskilled or less skilled people into pro level photographers with added video capability.
I am not against Mirroless in fact i am very pro mirror less just not yet.
Enjoy what you have, Ray Hennesy’s a clear example of what i am saying............
Only an opinion Oz down under
Sorry for my late reply, I was travelling for work and I had no free time and no internet connection.
I couldn't agree more with you. I love the mirrorless technology, I really think the neu AF system and the EVF was good improvement in the photography gear, but like you said, 90% of a good photo, came for the photographer. If you are unable to do good photos with basic equipaments (like a smartphone) wouldn't be the most expensive camera that will do this for you.
There is going to be a lot of D850 units hitting the market in the near future.
A great transition from the D4s would be a D850............its a path i took and have absolutely no regrets, the dynamic range colour accuracy and crop ability is amazing.
If you keep a d4s battery and get an after market charger and grip you get 9fps......i have used a D4s since and love the focus attacking speed but if i had to live with one camera that just dose everything well hands down its the D850. But yes I love the D4s stunning, fast sharp accurate.........but after living with the D850 its a compromise worth making.
Oz down under