Canon EOS 5D Mark IV vs Nikon D810
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| CanonEOS 5D Mark IV | NikonD810 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | September 2016 | July 2014 |
| Image and sensor | ||
| Camera type | DSLR | DSLR |
| Sensor format | Full frame | Full frame |
| Sensor type | CMOS | CMOS |
| Sensor dimensions | 36 × 24 mm | 35.9 × 24 mm |
| Effective resolution | 30.4 MP | 36.3 MP |
| Largest image | 6720 × 4480 | 7360 × 4912 |
| RAW recording | Yes | Yes |
| Standard ISO range | 100–32000 | 64–12800 |
| Sensor detail | Approximately 30.4 million effective and 31.7 million total pixels; 36 × 24 mm CMOS with fixed low-pass filter and integrated sensor cleaning | FX CMOS with 36.3 million effective pixels USA/global or 36.35 million Japan, 37.09 million total; no optical low-pass filter. Image Sensor Cleaning and Image Dust Off reference data; FX 7360 × 4912, 1.2× crop 6144 × 4080, DX 4800 × 3200 and 5:4 crop 6144 × 4912 |
| Image formats | 14-bit RAW, M-RAW, S-RAW and Dual Pixel RAW; JPEG and simultaneous RAW plus JPEG, including different formats to separate cards | 12-bit or 14-bit NEF RAW, uncompressed, lossless-compressed or compressed; Small RAW fixed at 12-bit uncompressed. TIFF RGB, JPEG Fine/Normal/Basic with size-priority or optimal-quality compression, simultaneous RAW/JPEG; Flat and adjustable/custom Picture Controls |
| ISO detail | Standard still-photo ISO 100–32000, expandable to ISO 50, 51200 or 102400; movie sensitivity depends on resolution and exposure mode | Standard ISO 64–12800 in one-third, half or whole stops; Lo expansion down to ISO 32 equivalent and Hi expansion up to ISO 51200 equivalent; automatic sensitivity control |
| Image processor | DIGIC 6+ image processor | EXPEED 4 |
| Lens and shooting | ||
| Lens mount | Canon EF | Nikon F mount |
| Stabilisation | – | Optical lens stabilisation |
| Maximum continuous burst | 7 fps | 5 fps |
| Lens detail | Canon EF mount; EF-S and EF-M lenses incompatible; photographed with EF 24-105mm F4L IS II USM, whose specifications and weight are separate from the body | F mount with body AF coupling and contacts; G/E/D, other AF and AI-P lenses with restrictions; non-CPU AI lenses usable in A/M, DX lenses use DX crop. Non-AI, IX and F3AF lenses excluded; USA's G/H exposure-mode notation conflicts with Japan's A/M specification |
| Autofocus | Dedicated 61-point phase-detection system with up to 41 cross-type points, including five dual-cross at f/2.8; up to 61 points and 21 cross-type at f/8 depending on lens; Dual Pixel CMOS AF for live view and movies | Advanced Multi-CAM3500FX phase detection with 51 points, 15 cross-type and 11 f/8-compatible points; -2 to +19 EV at ISO 100, 20°C. AF-S/AF-C, fine-tuning, single-point, dynamic nine/21/51, 3D tracking, group-area and auto-area. Live view uses contrast AF-S/AF-F and face/wide/normal/tracking areas; USA's AF-A label conflicts with its own live-view AF-F table and Japan |
| Shutter | Electronically controlled focal-plane shutter, 30–1/8000 second plus Bulb | Electronically controlled vertical-travel focal-plane shutter, 1/8000 to 30 seconds, Bulb and Time; electronic front curtain available in mirror-up mode. X-sync 1/250 second, up to 1/320 with reduced flash range |
| Burst detail | Approximately 7 fps with AF/AE tracking, or 4.3 fps live view with AF tracking; maker claims unlimited JPEG or 21 RAW under specified UDMA7 CompactFlash test conditions; exposure, card, scene and settings can reduce speed and buffer | Approximately 5 fps full FX or 5:4; 6 fps DX or 1.2× crop on EN-EL15. DX reaches 7 fps with optional MB-D12 using batteries other than EN-EL15, or qualifying AC power; 1.2× remains 6 fps. Quiet continuous approximately 3 fps. Japan buffer table gives 100 Large Fine JPEGs or 28 lossless-compressed 14-bit Large RAW files at ISO 100 using SanDisk SDCFXPS-016G-J92 CF, with specified settings; USA FX CL wording omits the upper 5 fps value |
| Stabilisation detail | – | VR depends on attached lens; no sensor-shift stabilisation |
| Flash | External EX Speedlite E-TTL II support, hotshoe and PC terminal; sync 1/200 second | Built-in i-TTL pop-up flash, guide number approximately 12 m at ISO 100, 20°C; commander mode, hot shoe, PC sync terminal and compatible Auto FP Speedlights |
| Exposure controls | Scene Intelligent Auto, P, Tv, Av, M, Bulb and three custom modes; 150000-pixel RGB+IR metering sensor and 252-zone evaluative metering; up to ±5 EV still-photo compensation | P/S/A/M; 91000-pixel RGB matrix, centre-weighted, spot and highlight-weighted metering; ±5 EV compensation, exposure/flash and white-balance bracketing; two-exposure HDR, interval timer and dual-axis virtual horizon. Japan spot range 2–20 EV differs from current USA's 0–20 EV |
| Video | ||
| Highest video resolution | 4096 × 2160 at 29.97 fps | 1920 × 1080 at 60 fps |
| Video detail | DCI 4096 × 2160 up to 29.97 fps using internal Motion JPEG, 8-bit 4:2:2 at approximately 500 Mbps; cropped 4K sensor area; Full HD up to 59.94 fps and HD 1280 × 720 up to 119.9 fps slow motion; normal clips up to 29 minutes 59 seconds; HDMI outputs Full HD rather than 4K | FX- or DX-based 1920 × 1080 at 60p/50p/30p/25p/24p and 1280 × 720 at 60p/50p; MOV H.264/MPEG-4 AVC with linear PCM. Full HD 60p/50p limit 10 minutes high quality or 20 normal; other modes 20 minutes high or 29 min 59 s normal. Simultaneous card/HDMI output, zebra highlights, Flat Picture Control, manual-mode automatic ISO and exposure-smoothed time lapse; USA's general 20/29-minute wording omits the shorter 60p/50p limits, while Photography Blog's 1920 × 1280 caption and additional 720p rates conflict with maker specifications |
| Audio | Built-in monaural microphone; external stereo microphone/line input and headphone sockets | Built-in stereo microphone, external 3.5 mm stereo input and headphone output; adjustable sensitivity, wind-noise reduction and wide/vocal frequency-response settings |
| Screen and viewfinder | ||
| Viewfinder | Optical | Optical |
| Screen size | 3.2″ | 3.2″ |
| Screen dots | 1,620,000 | 1,229,000 |
| Touchscreen | Yes | No |
| Tilting screen | No | No |
| Display detail | Fixed 3.2-inch Clear View LCD II capacitive touchscreen with approximately 1.62 million dots and reinforced glass; separate illuminated top status LCD | Fixed 3.2-inch RGBW TFT, approximately 1229000 dots, 170° viewing angle and approximately 100% coverage; colour and brightness adjustment, top status LCD, BM-12 cover, live view and split-screen display zoom. Photography Blog's 1299k-dot wording conflicts with Nikon's 1229k specification; USA lists an ambient-brightness sensor while Photo Review says it was removed |
| Viewfinder detail | Optical pentaprism with approximately 100% horizontal/vertical coverage and 0.71× magnification with a 50 mm lens at infinity | Pentaprism with OLED information display; approximately 100% FX coverage, 97% DX/1.2× and 100% vertical/97% horizontal 5:4. Approximately 0.7× magnification with 50mm f/1.4 at infinity, 17 mm eyepoint, grid and depth-of-field preview; Photography Blog's 0.72× differs from maker's 0.7× |
| Connections and design | ||
| Wi-Fi | Yes | – |
| Battery life (maker's claim) | 900 photographs | 1200 photographs |
| Body weight | 800 g (better) | 880 g |
| Release detail | Canon Camera Museum records first marketing in September 2016; no exact first-sale day inferred | July 2014 release month; Nikon Japan records actual sale on 17 July, with global announcement dated 26 June. The regional day does not establish earliest worldwide sale |
| Recording media | One CompactFlash Type I slot supporting UDMA7 and one SD/SDHC/SDXC slot supporting UHS-I; no CompactFlash Type II or Microdrive support | One Type I CompactFlash slot with UDMA and one SD/SDHC/SDXC slot with UHS-I; overflow, backup, RAW/JPEG split and copying between cards |
| Ports | SuperSpeed USB3.0; mini HDMI Type C, external microphone/line input, headphone socket, N3 remote terminal, hotshoe and PC flash sync | USB 3.0 Micro-B, mini HDMI Type C, 3.5 mm microphone and headphone sockets, PC sync and 10-pin remote/GPS terminal; wired LAN requires optional UT-1, rather than Photography Blog's claimed built-in Ethernet port |
| Wireless connections | Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n at 2.4 GHz with Dynamic NFC; built-in GPS, GLONASS and QZSS geotagging; UK maker states FTP/FTPS removed from units shipped from August 2025 and removable by optional firmware for earlier units | No built-in Wi-Fi or GPS; optional WT-5 with UT-1, GP-1/GP-1A GPS, WR-R10 with WR-A10 adapter or WR-1 remote |
| Battery life detail | LP-E6N supplied, LP-E6 supported; maker CIPA viewfinder claim approximately 900 photographs at 23°C or 850 at 0°C; Camera Museum live-view claim approximately 300 at 23°C | EN-EL15, approximately 1200 CIPA shots; optional MB-D12 takes EN-EL15, EN-EL18/EN-EL18a with BL-5 cover or eight AA cells |
| Charging | Supplied LC-E6E external battery charger; optional AC adapter and DC coupler | External MH-25a charger; optional EH-5b AC adapter with EP-5B connector |
| Dimensions | Approximately 150.7 × 116.4 × 75.9 mm (width × height × depth) | Approximately 146 × 123 × 81.5 mm |
| Weight detail | Approximately 800 g body only or 890 g with battery, CompactFlash and SD cards; photographed kit lens is not included | Approximately 880 g body only; 980 g with battery and SD card, excluding body cap |
| Materials | Maker specifies dust- and water-resistant construction | Dust- and water-resistant sealing; magnesium-alloy body described by both reviews |
| Colours | – | Black |
| In the box | – | EN-EL15, MH-25a, UC-E22 USB cable, AN-DC12 strap, BF-1B body cap, DK-17 eyepiece, USB/HDMI cable clips and BM-12 monitor cover (Japan package) |
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