Nikon D4S review – White balance and colour
If you have used a Nikon DSLR, you will be familiar with the colours produced by the D4S. Personally, I prefer the blues and greens rendered by Canon cameras when in their standard setting, but I do think that Nikon’s colours are slightly more realistic.
Although I had little reason to switch from the D4S’s standard colour setting, I did also use the vivid mode on occasion. This adds a good level of punch to the colour saturation without going too over the top.
The automatic white balance also works well, and once again there is a choice of two tungsten options, depending on whether you want to retain or remove the warm colours that are characteristic of this lighting. If you regularly shoot in particular lighting conditions, or use the white balance setting for special effects, such as making a sunset extra vivid or an early morning appear cold, the there are now six customisable white-balance settings available.
Although colour may seem trivial when most enthusiast photographers shoot raw, for a pro, the ability to produce a good JPEG is crucial. The smaller file size makes the them easier to transfer, and it can be quicker to edit JPEGs than raw files. This is why it is vital for the D4S to have excellent colour and contrast out of the box – and it does.
