Wednesday, May 5, 2010

My Nikon D4 Wishlist

I've had this conversation with a couple of my friends now and it's always the same. There are a few things that I would love to see on the next iteration of Nikon's flagship camera. Without further ado:

-Focus points on the frame's extremes. I'm big on tack-sharp focus so focus-recompose often just doesn't cut it especially at larger apertures. At f/2.8 @200mm (on the 70-200mm f/2.8G) I'm looking at millimeters of depth of field. Recomposing loses so much sharpness that I usually have to scrap the frame. Focusing with the nearest focusing point however doesn't provide me the proper composition for the frame. Hence, I would love love love to see Nikon give me some focusing points on the edges of the frame so I don't have to focus-recompose. Or give us Hasselblad's True Focus system!

-Better autofocus in low-light situations. I shoot in the dark some 90% of the time these days and it's frustrating when the camera can't acquire a focus-lock on the model's face. This ruins the tempo of the posing which is unacceptable.

-Better wireless tethering capabilities. This includes writing to the CF card in addition to sending files to the computer, potentially an integrated wifi card, or at least just an SD slot like the 1D series so I can use an Eye-Fi card!

-At least 24 megapixels. I don't think this is too much to ask!

-A larger LCD screen. How about 3.5-4" so I don't have to tether to a computer?

-Zoom-histogram capability. I don't always need the histogram for the whole frame, how about a histogram that varies with the magnification when I'm zoomed in on my subject on the LCD?

-Built-in wireless strobe triggering (not from a pop-up flash). At least for the Nikon CLS system, but ideally for all systems via RF. Of course this would never happen because Nikon doesn't have RF strobes.

-Sensor shaker. Not really that useful from what I've heard but the other cameras have it and it would prolong my having to swab my sensor.

-Firewire 800 port.

-GPS geotagging.

Basically we're headed where no 35mm has ever been before. We're encroaching upon the limitations of the sensor size and I would love to see us overlap into medium-format territory. That being said, I don't know if I can wait that long!

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