Tommie - I have found that both the D4 and D800 (same AF sensor) do not focus as well on vertical lines as they do on horizontal ones. I think that most of the AF sensors are vertical with far fewer being cross type. You can test it easily by taking the same test pattern in relatively dim light and shooting it in both a horizontal and vertical orientation. Try this one:

@ jonnyapple still laughing.....this could, of course, be embarrassing if my D400 announcement prediction of September 18 at 7:00 PM, Photokina proves to be true......

But of course if this were really true, NIKON Global would be cleaning my D4 sensor....ha, ha, ha

Just because I happen to have one sort of before some others means nothing....:-)

I don't think any of us needed persuading before she arrived actually Jonny. LOL! Most of us have had NAS for years.

Overheard conversation between "msmoto" and her superiors at Nikon Global:
mm: This scheme to infiltrate NRF is working beautifully. I post D4 photos on this forum and now all the members want one.
NG: Excellent. Let us know if you need us to send you any more exotic teles.
mm: Get this: they have even made me a moderator.
NG: Mwu hah hah hah hah hah hah. Everything is proceeding as I have forseen it!

Tommie, I hope they're giving you a fair cut for any D4 purchases by NRF members. ;-)

Have fun, golf!

OK, let's get a grip, golf. Just because you have a new toy....well....the shots are extremely impressive...1/10 sec at 70mm and tack sharp. Have fun...

Ok...so I have been playing with my new toy and OMFG. I have never been able to shot at ISO 10,000 hand held....let me say again hand held @ 1/10....yes 1/10 on my 24-70 2.8 and get a clean fully usable shot. Hence the shot below.

@msmoto...you are right I'm blown away...should I get to high...someone please catch me when I fall.

D4 24-70 2.8 1/10 ISO 10000 @ f/6.3 Hand held!!!

D4 14-24 2.8 1/40 ISO 10000 @ f/2.8

D4 is available right now on NikonUSA.com store.

enigmeow said:
Interesting you would say this. I feel shooting at any angle other then horizontal makes the focus issues worse. I went climbing with my daughter and the only pictures that even remotely turned out were when i was on the same level as her. If I was above or below her, the focus was a disaster

My theory is that possibly the whole focus assembly is lose in the camera? If I angle the lens down and shake slightly, you can hear something moving. I assume it is just the mirror moving?

--josh

D4/70-200

Josh,

Nothing is making noise in my D4. As a matter of fact,it appears that when it can't acquire focus, it freezes like a computer would. I can almost imagine the timer coming on in windows or the pinwheel on a mac. The D4 is completely unresponsive even if you release the shutter and recompose. Ironically, most times you can use the vertical focus button even when shooting in normal orientation. I will send it in to Nikon after I shoot a wedding next weekend.

D4 is now available on NikonUSA.com store.

djb663 said:
I just received my D4 four days ago. This evening I could reproduce a problem with troubling regularity. With a 24-70 2.8 mounted, pointing straight down at a flower or leaf, or the floor when inside the house, the D4 sometimes does not even try to focus...

Interesting you would say this. I feel shooting at any angle other then horizontal makes the focus issues worse. I went climbing with my daughter and the only pictures that even remotely turned out were when i was on the same level as her. If I was above or below her, the focus was a disaster

My theory is that possibly the whole focus assembly is lose in the camera? If I angle the lens down and shake slightly, you can hear something moving. I assume it is just the mirror moving?

--josh

D4/70-200

acon said:
Interesting thread. I thought I was nuts until I searched and found this. My D4 seems to have a very slight front focus issue on 3-4 lenses which seems easily corrected with a +1 to +4 fine tune adjustment.

However, my 70-200mm VRII is way out of focus on my D4...

I just shipped my D4 and 70-200mm VRII back to Nikon in hopes they can address the focus issue. I felt it was unusable...

@Thomas R....Oh, now I understand.... when I use my D4 with the Elinchrom units, I set the shutter to 1/160th, in manual program mode. Then flash the units using the Skylite trigger. I read the f/stop off the meter and then adjust the f/stop in the Manual exposure mode on the D4. I guess that is what you are talking about. The flash is set to "front curtain synch". Does this make sense?

Thomas R, the D300 and D700 both have build-in flash units. It's the build in flash's mode that you are setting in the Bracket/Flash menu.

The D4 has NO build-in flash unit so there is no adjustment for setting its mode.

Just set whatever flash unit you use to manual mode.

I am not an expert but hope that helps.

msmoto said:
I am not certain what you mean when you say "manual". On page 191 of the D4 user's manual the flash instructions begin. There are many options, but I cannot figure which one might be called "manual".

Maybe checking in the book will help. You will be able to download it at http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17724

If you have a D300 or D700, the Bracket/Flash menu allows you to chose Manual, TTL or Commander Mode Flash. I use manual since I meter my lights and adjust the exposure on my camera accordingly. I cant figure out how to do this on this D4. My D4 will be my new studio body until the D800e shows up, so, I'd like to have it fuctional in the manual flash mode.

Thomas R said:
Does anyone know how to set your Flash Mode to Manual on this camera?
I've been hunting for it for 2 days.

I am not certain what you mean when you say "manual". On page 191 of the D4 user's manual the flash instructions begin. There are many options, but I cannot figure which one might be called "manual".

Maybe checking in the book will help. You will be able to download it at http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17724

Does anyone know how to set your Flash Mode to Manual on this camera?
I've been hunting for it for 2 days.

It must be some type of problem which is in the software. And I actually do not see it as a difficulty now, as I do not try to make it focus on thin lines. And it seems to work well almost all the time.

There must be some type of problem that NIKON is no doubt working on, yet they have a lot of issues with trying to get cameras built and it may be several months before the software is fixed, if ever. The D4 is so fantastic in all respects, I can hardly find fault in one little area.

msmoto said:
QUESTION OF PROBLEM NOTED... focusing the 16-35mm f/4.0VR.... it will not focus at times on a vertical or horizontal line. Even very sharp ones. It is as if it needs more of a width to focus. What one sees is the two arrows in the finder ▶◀ which blink on and off and no further effort is made to focus. Occurs in all areas of the single point, static focus mode. Yet if the focus area is moved over anything which has some width or an angle, the autofocus works very well.

I do not know if this is a problem, and I rather doubt it is. The particular situation is easily rectified as one would rarely if ever be shooting a photo of a single corner of a smooth wall.

If there are others who have had some similar focus issues, maybe they can speak up.

SERIAL NO. 200XXXX

I just received my D4 four days ago. This evening I could reproduce a problem with troubling regularity. With a 24-70 2.8 mounted, pointing straight down at a flower or leaf, or the floor when inside the house, the D4 sometimes does not even try to focus. I thought it may be due to lack of contrast, so I pointed at my white shoe lases on my black sneakers, still no focus effort. Reset the camera (iso and wb buttons for 3 seconds) and after a little while, reproduced the problem. Of note, this only happens with the shutter release, not the af-lock.

I've never experienced any nikon (d70, d200, d300, and d700) not attempting to focus. Anyone else?

Interesting thread. I thought I was nuts until I searched and found this. My D4 seems to have a very slight front focus issue on 3-4 lenses which seems easily corrected with a +1 to +4 fine tune adjustment.

However, my 70-200mm VRII is way out of focus on my D4. I was not gettting any good shots that were taken withing 10-15 feet of my subject. I have had to make a significant AF Fine Tune adjustment to bring it back into focus, however I think it was -14 rather than +14 for my camera. I am very uncomfortable with such a large adjustment. I do not recall making such an adjustment with this lens for use with my D300, but I will go back and check.

My D4 serial # is 2007***

QUESTION OF PROBLEM NOTED... focusing the 16-35mm f/4.0VR.... it will not focus at times on a vertical or horizontal line. Even very sharp ones. It is as if it needs more of a width to focus. What one sees is the two arrows in the finder ▶◀ which blink on and off and no further effort is made to focus. Occurs in all areas of the single point, static focus mode. Yet if the focus area is moved over anything which has some width or an angle, the autofocus works very well.

I do not know if this is a problem, and I rather doubt it is. The particular situation is easily rectified as one would rarely if ever be shooting a photo of a single corner of a smooth wall.

If there are others who have had some similar focus issues, maybe they can speak up.

SERIAL NO. 200XXXX

One of the other threads made mention of a D800 production issue and a delay. Yet another one said half of the sensor was out of focus.

Looks like Nikon may have sped up it's production a little to fast to try to meet demand. Either that or it was made on Friday at 4pm. At least you didn't find a beer can in the door. :)

spraynpray said:
As an owner of a low end Nikon ;-) I find that I can help the camera figure focus hugely by half depressing the release button while pointing it at the track where I want the vehicle to be when I make the exposure. Track surfaces can be around 18% grey too which helps the manual shooter.

I understand exactly what you are saying, except for me, the lens has to follow the moving vehicle as I am shooting four or more exposures so as to get one which has the proper point in focus, all of the vehicle in the fame, and the angle and effect I want. Sometimes the cars are lifting a wheel, belching flames front the exhaust, etc., and the only way to capture this, I have found is to shoot lots of exposures. And as the vehicle is going by, the distance is always changing. The D90 was fairly good, and the D200 as well. Now, the D4, well it has shown on some things to be pretty darn good.

And, the problems I was having above may have been because I was using an old Nikkor AF lens, the ones with the manual f/stops one has to lock out. I think this creates problems for the D4 and will pursue this further.

As an owner of a low end Nikon ;-) I find that I can help the camera figure focus hugely by half depressing the release button while pointing it at the track where I want the vehicle to be when I make the exposure. Track surfaces can be around 18% grey too which helps the manual shooter.

OK, mine is a 2001xxx. The only problem I have had is in accidentally pushing one button while attempting to adjust something in the menu. Last night I was trying to get the ISO down from 200,000 where I was doing a test for someone, and the camera kept jumping back to the higher ISO. I may have had something else set incorrectly, but I have also found the vertical release button needs to always be off when not being used as I tend to hit this sometimes with strap, hand, etc.

Next week the 400+2X will be fully. This summer the combo will get its real check w/ the autofocus put to the extreme. Oncoming vehicles at 180mph down to about 60mph into a corner. The software has to figure the rate of changing speed i.e., deceleration into its calculations to assist the lens in predicting where it has to go. We will see how it all works.

welshie said:
Hi Guys, Girls just to point out that i am having big problems with a Focusing issue , D4 with 400 2.8 plus conv 1.4 ( brand New)not sharp in fact well out , also just to add the body has had to have a dial in off +18 to pair up with my 70-200 , not good , you really should not have to pair lenses up these days
Final problem 2 days ago the LCD screen went out off action total shut down along with the Video along with no focusing of any kind hmmm ,Back to Nikon it goes , my other D4 seems fine at the minute, one gripe not always happy with exposure can just about cope with that though....will keep all updated .

Just a thought calling all Nikon D4 photogs ,if you have problems main one being focus issues serial numbers may help , my one starts 2000.... My other one starts 200....... ( that one seems ok)