Nikonrumors has translated a Nikon France Q&A about the D4 and D800 . . . this one answer jumped out at me:

Q: Are there significant advantages to use stabilized lenses with D800 36Mp sensor to reduce micro-shaking (like 24-120 f4 instead of AF-S 24 -70 f2.8) ?
A: To reduce the micro-vibrations, the shutter is equipped with an anti-vibration system.

My simplified version:
Q: "Does VR help with 36MP?"
A: "VR is built into the shutter."

I am reading a lot into this one comment, and it is an imperfect translation. I'll read this in French after another cup of coffee, but has anyone ever heard of an anti-vibration system in a Nikon DSLR body?

tim

I would be pretty certain they mean the shutter mechanism is designed so that the amount of vibration it causes is reduced.

Brian
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the way I interpret it is that the shutter anti-vibration is not a form of VR in that it is just reducing the mirror and shutter caused vibrations. It is not an active system like VR that tries to counteract the vibrations.

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Gary, Brian,

I certainly read that as well, but in order to accept that explanation you have to accept that he really didn't answer the question, not even close. The subject of his answer has nothing to do with the selection of lens - VR vs non-VR - to deal with 36MP.

You may well be right, and he just did not want to open himself up for the "when will a 24-70 f/2.8 VR lens be available" question and so dodged the question.

But instead of dodging to a general "need good technique" answer, instead he mentioned an internal anti-vibration system (to deal with 36MP?), which made me wonder.

Okay, I'll give it up, maybe I should go and work for Nikon Rumors. I am reading everything very closely as we wait for more information on the D800.

In any case, I will conclude that Nikon has no history of in-body VR, and so likely this is nothing.

tim

I agree with Brian and Gary. Whatever the shutter may be equipped with, it would have zero chance to counter-act lens or camera vibrations (the target of VR), since the shutter is OPEN during exposure, so it can't do anything good to the light passing thru and the image being recorded. The only thing the shutter can do to the image while open is to cause blur by vibrating. What this guy described is probably the dampening system which prevents this.

Tom
Bay Area Nikonian

http://www.tkphoto.me/