Nikon has finally come clean with its new flagship DSLR, the D4. as you’d expect from a flagship, the D4 is quite a monstrous hunk of magnesium, glass, and silicon with weather-sealing and everything else a working pro needs to prolong the life of their gear. While there’s no major leap forward to be found like there was with the D3, the D4 does improve its metrics everywhere you look.

Of highlight, the FX full frame sensor is now up to 16.2 megapixels, and is tied to a new generation EXPEED 3 processing engine. The autofocus system is still the same 51-point cluster tied to the 3D active matrix metering, to do things like detect colors and shapes underneath the focus to aid in focusing for faces and in tracking focus, but it’s actually a new focus module with improved performance down to f8 for legacy lenses and teleconvertors (and not just f5.6 like the previous model), and the 3D matrix is up from a 1,005 pixel unit to a whopping 91,000 pixel one. Continuous shooting comes in at a reliable 10 frames per second. Native ISO continues the recent trend of starting at 100 finally, and extends natively all the way up to 12,800.

But, perhaps of biggest note is the D4 is the first model out to support the new XQD card format. XQD is a new not-CF not-SD protocol developed by Sandisk, Nikon, and Sony that uses PCI-Express (the same protocol that lets high-end graphics cards talk to computers) as its connection interface. They currently have theoretical performances up to 500mb/s write, 125 mb/s read, and over 2 terabytes of storage. But, since the market’s not exactly flooded with those yet (Sony has announced one, we’re going to try and get them), Nikon continues to support good old CF in the second slot until you can get upgraded.

So, now that the basic introductions are over, just how does the D4 compare to its predecessor, the D3s? Let’s consult the table:

Whew, that’s a lot. If I didn’t cover anything else you were wanting to know, why not peruse the press release after the jump? or, go to our PREORDER PAGE and read the full manufacturer specs?

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So, just because the D3000 got updated waaaaaaay back in August, we’re not going to say the D5100 has been due for a little while now. No sir. We’re above that here at Roberts. But, the high-end entry level D5000 has now officially seen an update, called, yes, the D5100.

So, what’s on offer here? Well, the megapixels are from 12.3 to 16.2, for starters. which puts another Nikon camera playing around up there at that resolution, a move they’ve been slow to make. And to go with it, the native ISO range is now 100-6,400, a 2-stop increase (one up, one down). Push ISO will carry you all the way out to 25,600, a number so big I have to double-check it every time I use it. All of which is probably due to the Expeed 2 processor, instead of the older Expeed of the D5000.

The video mode is now up to full 1080 HD finally, and it’ll be a bit better (I feel) for being pumped through a proper, side-swinging tilt-swivel LCD (instead of the D5000′s oft-criticized bottom hinged one.) The resolution on the LCD is up to 921,000 dots, which should pretty much guarantee that your pictures never look as good on your monitor as they did on the camera. Oh, and they added contrast-detect AF in live view mode. Nifty.

Otherwise, 11 points of autofocus, 4 frames per second, a 3-shot HDR mode, and a foray into Olympus’ world with a new “Effects” position on the mode dial, for such fun options as selective color, color sketch, miniature, and night vision. I hear these work in both still and video, for all your artistic vision needs. For you shooters without a bag full of AF-S lenses, the body still doesn’t have an internal focus motor, so your older glass will work, but focusing will be the old-fashioned way (with your hand).

It’ll be available body only ($799), or as a kit with 18-55mm ($899). Press release and images after the jump.

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