More Details on the Nikon D4's Video Features, and the Clean HDMI Feed in Action
Since the official announcement, more details of the Nikon D4's video features have emerged. Given Nikon is deeming it a "multimedia DSLR," how will its features compare to its chief competitor, the Canon 1DX (both camera are high-end DSLRs, priced at $6-7k)? First up is a video by DSLR News Shooter's Dan Chung, who got a hands-on look from Nikon's James Banfied:
Nikon also answered questions as part of a Q&A at Imaging Resource, which has been summarized in video blog format by some dude sponsored by Pepsi (just kidding, I think):
That's Nathan Pawluck from LV Photo, to be precise. In response to the question as to whether the D4 is 8-bit video, the Nikon rep had this to say:
8-bit is correct, 4:2:2 is a standard digital video format. The numbers refer to the sub-sampling of the various channels (Luminance, and two chroma channels). 4:2:2 subsamples the chroma channels 2:1 along each line vs the luminance channel. The subsampling is only along each horizontal video line; there's no sub-sampling between video lines.
Does this mean we're going to run into aliasing problems -- "no sub-sampling between video lines" -- or am I misreading that statement? While I didn't notice any aliasing on the first D4 footage, the Canon 1DX will supposedly eliminate or at least drastically reduce the pesky aliasing problem. If the Nikon exhibits significant aliasing or moire, then they'll be back where they started -- lagging Canon in the video department. Time will tell! More details in the Imaging Resource Q&A below.