Currently, the D200 is a big sale at Nikon. However, people already started speculating about its future successor that everybody (except Nikon) seems to have named D300.
Let’s try and summarize the little information/rumours that are available.
Release date
Nothing has been announced yet, but Ken Rockwell stated November 2007, which is copied in many other web locations.
Let’s look at the timeline for Nikon digital cameras:
| 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| range | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 |
| pro | D1 | D1X | D2X | D2Xs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| high-speed | D1H | D2H | D2Hs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| prosumer | D100 | D200 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| consumer | D70 | D70s | D80 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| entry-level | D50 | D40 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On such a table it is quite clear that the end of 2007 could be a reasonable time for Nikon to replace the D200. Does that mean that a D300 will appear then? Your guess is as good as mine, but there is an obvious market pressure for regular model replacements.
Sensor
Here is the highest amount of rumours about the D300. Mostly, it seems that people are just fleshing up their dreams. But there seems to be two main approaches to the issue:
- Bigger resolution APS-size sensor: Natural tendency of the market for the recent years, this would lead to a 12.8MP sensor.
- Full frame sensor: All the industry is still wondering about the future of Full Frame (FF) sensors as seen on the Canon 5D. The big question is then “will Nikon introduce a FF sensor on the D300?” In that case, the resolution could be around 15MP. The full frame sensor idea has already been debated some time ago…
In any case, the main background issue seems to be: “What sensor would be available to feed this sensor frenzy?” For the time being, we did not see anything very precise here. Has somebody any internal news from Sony about the next generation of sensors (Nikon D200 has a Sony sensor that contributed greatly to its success and both companies partnered deeply to get it working early).
Other issues
As much as people would like to ponder more details, it seems that nothing precise is coming up here. 50-3200 ISO from (Ken Rockwell), faster shooting (5+ FPS).
More to come
As Thom is saying, don’t base today’s buying decisions on these yet. There is still a lot to come and if you plan to buy some camera now, don’t use rumours to orient your decision.
But we will keep reporting about what information may come up from time to time.