Why I chose my Nikon D4 over my D750

Nikon D750, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art Lens, ISO 200, ƒ/4, 1/500

While in Florida at a family reunion all of a sudden we were in the backyard watching our kids enjoying Go Karting.  I started shooting this with my Nikon D750 with a Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art Lens. Very quickly I realized the performance was not what I was used to with my Nikon D4.

Nikon D4, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM, ISO 1250, ƒ/2.8, 1/2000

I went back to the car and got my Nikon D4 and Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM. I immediately went to the "Shooting menu bank" and picked what I saved as my sports settings.

Next I went to my "Custom menu settings" and picked the setting which I saved as my sports settings.

Lastly I put the shutter release on continuous high.

Now to see what each of these settings are on my Nikon D4 you can read this earlier blog post on my Sports Settings for the Nikon D4.

There is a good possibility that the Nikon D750 could have performed much better, but the point of this blog post is how important it is to concentrate on the action when you need to capture a moment and not your camera.

The one major advantage of the Nikon D4 over the D750 was 11 fps. The focus tracking and 11 fps gave me more moments to choose my best shot from. The buffer is bigger so you can shoot more frames before the buffer fills as well.

The best thing to know is that if you need to get the shot you need to know that you have maximized your camera settings. You don't do this when you need a shot, you do this when you take your camera and go and just practice. Maybe you go by a busy road and practice shooting moving traffic so you can tweak your focus settings. After you get that set then you move to another setting to set.

Once you get all the settings just right then save them. My Nikon D4 gives me 4 different memory banks to save my settings.

Nikon D4, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM, ISO 1250, ƒ/2.8, 1/2000

The payoff for taking the time to maximize my cameras settings is having a moment like this to remember my daughter and her cousin having fun.

You will pick the camera you are most comfortable with to get the photo you need, so take the time and calibrate the camera for the situations you will shoot.