Archive for the 'Nikon' category

Now, it is official. But the details comes right from today’s Press Release.

Nikon FX-format digital SLR - exceptional performance combined with superior mobility and functional versatility to provide serious photographers with outstanding value

TOKYO - Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce the introduction of its newest FX-format digital SLR, the Nikon D700.

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So, the tiger is out of the cage and we know most of it. The Nikon D700 has been seen today with various photos and sources.

The French post on pixelistes.com

Nikon D700 (full scan from Profifoto magazine)

Here it comes! The German photo magazine ProfiFoto is just out in the stands (with a little delay probably designed to ensure compliance with the Non-Disclosure Agreements -NDA- about the Nikon D700) with a this description of the new Nikon D700:

• Nikon D3 sensor: Full Frame, 12 MP
• Dust cleaning on the sensor
• 200-6400ISO
• From 1/8000s to 30s (flash synchro at 1/250s)
• 5 frames/seconde (8fps with MB-D10)
• Virtual horizon?
• Viewfinder a little more limited than on the D3, with 95% field coverage
• Integrated flash, NG11
• Batteries: EN-EL3e
• Compact Flash cards
• Weight: 1076g
• Price: 2599€ (about the price I estimated previously, but for the more expensive end of the FF market)

Source: An email from a German Internet user.

I have been asked by some people about the price of the upcoming Sony Alpha 900 flagship digital SLR camera. The problem is that there is no information filtering down from Sony. The only thing that we can say is that there is a body of indirect evidence that points to some pretty serious competition figures.

Nikon Rumours affirmed last week that the Nikon D700 (or D700 FX) will be priced just under 3000 USD. It has been said that the Canon EOS 5D MkII should arrives around 3500 USD, but the Canon EOS 5D is already sold under 2000 USD now. And the Nikon D3 (already previous generation camera) is still near 5000 USD, except in some very small on-line shops whose reputation is a bit low.

Not taking into account the actual performance and exact features of each, I would say that Sony will be able to position itself around 2000 USD which is the price point that Canon is setting for all the others. But keep in mind that there is a large body of amateurs enthusiasts that are ready to pay much more than the usual 600-1500 USD price tag for a digital SLR, but the competition is heating to bring Full Frame capability to the masses.

Your guess is as good as mine, but I would say that the tendency is to prepare to a very low price point. 2000 USD will be considered a turning point (notice how Canon is letting the price of the EOS 5D plummet down). A camera willing to position itself as top-quality Full Frame will probably aim at $2500 (I think the price of the Canon EOS 5D MkII or a possible Canon EOS 6D could climb there, not even speaking of a possible Nikon D3x in 2009 with a stratospheric price), but a product aimed at a larger market would have to start around $2000 and preparing for a street price going under this limit (this should be the case of the Nikon D700 -the name is referring more to the D300 than to the D3/D3x pro family- and of the Sony Alpha 900).

There is so much uncoordinated turmoil on the Internet and all around the world (at Nikon, at distributors, at vendors) that it seems now warranted that the Nikon D700 -a sort of Full-Frame-sensored Nikon D300 or affordable Nikon D3- will be launched early next week.

For once, here is a realtively good photo of the future Nikon D700 SLR camera. It could be a fake or a god Photoshopped image, but I doubt it. It looks a lot like a shot from a photo phone on a corner of a table in bad conditions.

With all this talk about existing Full-Frame photo cameras (Canon EOS 5D, Nikon D3) and about possibly upcoming new ones (Sony Alpha 900, Canon EOS 5D Mk II or some other similar name, etc.) many photographers happy with their existing digital equipment are wondering: “What’s all the fuss about?”

And it’s a good question to ask, but the answer goes with some of the comments about sensor resolution. About the same people who noticed that resolution is not all that counts (despite what is said or implied by some of the major brands on this market) also understand that going Full Frame is a possibly very important decision for the attentive digital photographer.

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While it is difficult to find any ground for these speculations, people keep repeating that Nikon is about to announce simultaneously a Nikon D700 high-end DSLR camera and a lower-end Nikon D90 to provide an able DSLR for most photographers.

It seems that most of the original information comes from Thom Hogan’s web site and is fed by countless comments on web forums. However, we saw recently Chasseur d’Image supporting this rumour within its own Nikon D700 rants.

The most common set of characteristics and features seems to be:

• 12 MP sensor in APS-C size (x1.5 crop factor)
• 14-bit A/D conversion and image management
• dust-cleaning sensor
• 3″ LCD with LiveView
• 5 fps shutter bursts

But it looks a lot like a mere marketing evaluation of what Nikon needs to put in its SLR camera range to fight on the current market and to make it fully able to cover all kinds of photo customers. Everybody seems to expect this to be the feature list of a $1300 camera to reach under the current D300 (or the upcoming D700).

Will this be part of an launch event that Nikon seems readying for the very first days of July (maybe 1st of July)?

Surprisingly, the information collected about the upcoming Nikon D700 digital SLR camera seems to have been confirmed indirectly by several sources.

French magazine Chasseur d’Image went to the extreme of reporting about it “as a rumour confirming the information they already have”.

And a Nikon representative said that the manual pages that were used to base the disclosure were taken from the printing agency in charge of producing the actual manuals.

We will not get more, but it seems that 99% of what was told about the Nikon D700 is true. But, possibly, the name of the D700 will be actually Nikon D700 FX to clearly reflect the presence of the Full Frame sensor in a near-D300 body.

Nikon may have succeeded in surprising a lot of people with the next arrival of a Nikon D700 (and not the still-expected Nikon D3x), new digital single lens reflex camera for the high-end stopping in between the Nikon D300 (very nice semi-pro SLR camera) and the Nikon D3 (first great Full Frame SLR from the yellow brand).

The Nikon D700 would be, according to Nikon Rumours [1], a Full Frame D-SLR with a 12.1 mega-pixel sensor taken from the Nikon D3. This means that instead of pushing the resolution, Nikon decidedly wants to keep focusing on image quality with big pixels able to collect as much light as possible. So, this is quite normally leading to the maximum sensitivity of 6400 ISO (and even 25600 ISO in extended Hi2 mode). If the D3 is representative of the result on the D700, the images will be absolutely superbly stunning - and the image management is in 16-bits after a 14-bit A/D conversion.

Interestingly, the camera would be able to use the DX lenses (obviously cutting the image down to a limited frame siwe, which is still a very good solution to use existing cheap lenses; But the buyer of such a beast will probably be willing to attach much more serious glass).

Apart from that, this is really a high-end camera product: 51-zone Auto-Focus (incl. 15 cross-type) coming from the Nikon D3 (this is going to be a competition-ready type of AF), light metering with a 1005-pixel matrix, Flash system borrowed from the D3. On the opposite, there would be a LiveView mode integrated with a contrast detection AF.

Unfortunately, the images are still lacking (remember, this is not confirmed by Nikon) and nobody seems to have the camera (or the NDAs are very tight). However, NR tells us that the price would be $2999. Still expensive (too much for me anyway, even if I was not equipped with Sony), but this “baby D3″ is announcing the Full Frame for all…

OK! If it was not enough to expect a couple of major announcements from Canon and Sony for the tough market of high-end digital cameras, there is another competitor appearing in the image.

According to Amateur Photographer, Samsung is preparing a Full Frame D-SLR camera to compete with Canon EOS 5D (or future 5D Mk II), with Nikon D3, with future Sony Alpha 900. We know that Samsung has a very good technology (shared with Pentax) and that the high-end market is calling for Full Frame sensors.

Nothing is certain, and we will probably have to wait until 2009, but things are moving fast in Korea too.

I found the user manuals of several Nikon SLR cameras on the web:

• Nikon D300
• Nikon D3