What are Nikon up to? EOSHD takes a speculative look at the current rumours and leaks concerning Nikon.
Nikon Full Frame
Nikon have a major announcement at the end of August just as Sony do. We know about the mirrorless that is coming, Nikon have spoken about it in vague terms, but we’ve seen the patents and a photo of the lens mount (above inset). Now Thom Hogan says the D3s and D700 replacements will be announced on August 24th.
The D700 is currently out of stock in all major US retailers and is almost 3 years old. Time for a replacement. Not so sure about the D3S, it hasn’t been out very long. Maybe the D3 successor is coming instead – that came out in mid-2008.
I think we can expect a D5. The Japanese have a habit of skipping an isolated number 4 in model names since it means ‘death’. I also think a D800 is near. These are both full frame, the D5 with 18MP and exceptional low light performance but with an updated video mode, and the D800 which could share a similar sensor to the Sony A77 but Nikon optimised.
With full frame sensors like Nikon are capable of expect the 5DMkII to get some serious competition here.
However I wasn’t too impressed with the new Nikon image processor Expeed 2 released with the D7000. This needs an update already.
It doesn’t do as clean 1080p as the GH2, live view is really clunky and video feels very much like a last minute bolt on and not at all integrated.
Nikon Mirrorless
Nikon have a new mirrorless but it has a sensor that sits between a compact and Micro Four Thirds for size. Not very impressive, but it could give a similar aesthetic to 16mm film.
From patents already leaked you can see the proposed specs of the body and lenses. Nikon’s new mount doesn’t have a lens release button and last year there was a strange leak that showed a Nikon presentation with a red cross where the lens release button usually is on a circular lens mount, making it look like the letter Q. Since that leak, Pentax have brought out a Pentax Q mirrorless with an even smaller sensor and body than Nikon. All very strange.
C-mount lens adapters will have to find a way to mimic Nikon’s lens release button, which is on the lens itself. The system is very small with a small flange-back distance so in theory 16mm cine c-mount lenses will work on it. Some manual Micro Four Thirds lenses may also adapt like the Voigtlander Nokton 25mm F0.95. However the system is likely to be a compact step-up for consumers and not very pro-orientated.
The crop factor is approximately 2.6x.
