D4s vs D500

bandit993

Senior Member
I am wondering about the D4s as a wildlife camera. I have a D500 and have been interested in trying full frame. I know for wildlife the D500 is one of the best cameras for that, partly because of the crop factor. Other than the crop factor are there any reasons that the D4s would be a good choice. I know that full frame has better iso capabilities than crop sensor but based on the age difference is that still true. I do find the 16mp a little small for any cropping too. Thanks
 

wev

Senior Member
Contributor
The d850 is easily twice the full frame camera over the old d4 in all ways. It is also twice the price. Personally, looking at WL images, I see no reason to go full frame at all or abandon my d500.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
A lot depends on what you mean by "wildlife". If you're talking birds then you need to think about PPB - "Pixels Per Bird". When you go from cropped to full frame and you stick with the same sensor resolution you're putting fewer pixels on a bird and therefore losing potential detail. Take a look.

Here's an uncropped image straight out of a full frame camera overlaid with a grid representing sensor resolution (shaded area shows the difference between full and cropped):

D53_7325---FX.jpg


You have approx. 15 boxes on the bird.

Now lets look at the same image and we'll make the cropped portion the same resolution...

D53_7325---DX-v-FX.jpg


Now you have approx. 25 boxes on the bird. If you need to crop in alot then you're going to want to have those pixels, even if you're only uploading to the internet.

For bigger critters it's less critical and the choice becomes more about low light performance, but for smaller things it's all about PPB. You can make up for that with longer glass but that can get expensive fast. As a wildlife photographer who shoots a pair of D500's if I were to ever go to FX I would never go down in MP's, and honestly would look for something that gave me something close to the 20.9MPs I get with the D500 in the cropped area.

The D850 will do that as would the Z7ii. The added bonus of the Z7ii is that it will give you tack sharp focus with a TC provided there's enough light. So if you've got a 500mm on the D500 you can almost get the same framing on the Z7ii with the TC1.4ii added - AND more pixels. I have the Z6ii which has 24+MPs and with the TC on there it's almost a pixel for pixel match. That said, the D500 still outperforms both as you get more fps and the focus slows significantly using the FTZ adapter with F-mount glass.
 
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