Wow- I mean I love the body and lens but this is a bit much. Maybe I could get a tattoo of the 58mm Noct or the F3 body…

Nikon House- Ginza Tokyo

This year’s big trip ended up being Japan- I went to Kyoto and Tokyo. Kyoto has too many temples and Tokyo’s got cameras- or at least that’s how I saw it!

We stayed in  the fashionable Ginza district- you should think of it a lot like Japan’s version of shopping in Manhattan.

Within easy walking distance of the hotel Dai-Ichi are:

• Nikon Salon and Service Center (google maps)
• Nikon House
• Leica Boutique

I’ll get into the Nikon Salon in a different post because it actually pales in comparison to what can be found at the Nikon House (google maps).

What’s There

The most minty collectibles- I saw F3’s in near-perfect condition. They had all of the range-finders I knew about and every SLR I’m aware of (excluding whacky variants). For good measure- they’ve got Leica bodies.

But what blew me away was, I saw two of these:

Nikon House- Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 Noct

If you’re not familiar with the spectacular night photography results this lens achieves, Ken’s got a good overview, and here is a great article by Nikon about the more technical aspects of the lens’s lack of sagittal coma flare. Nikon provides a nice example of sagittal coma- compare the Noct to a non-Noct and look at how the cars’ brake lights smear into oblong blobs on the non-noct.

Hey, notice that price? That’s only $3,822 at today’s terrible exchange rate- but they’ve been going for ~$3200 the last time I checked on ebay– IF you can get one and if you’re spending that much on a 30+ year old lens, do you want to trust some random internet guy? I once saw a person offering -5- of these for sale on Ebay, all in different auctions- all the same seller, same picture, same description. I wrote him asking how he could have 5 for sale and flagged it fraudulent and it was down the next day.

If I could blow the cash, I would have bought it- I may still kick myself for not buying one- I’ll probably never see one in person again and Nikon will never make one again (it’s clear due to the dearth new FX primes that they just don’t care to offer the breadth that they once did- nobody who buys a D5000 is going to buy any… Get your 200mm f/2 now, is my advice).

Here are some more examples (click to get a much larger version):

Nikon House- Minty F1

If that minty F1 doesn’t get your heart going, cameras may just not be for you. I think I’m now kicking myself for not grabbing one of those minty black F1’s- I’ll never see another that good probably.

Nikon House- Minty F3's

Nikon House- F5's

Nikon House- D200's

Prices

If you want to know what your used D200 is going to fetch, be prepared for tears. My F5, that I paid a whole paycheck for in ‘98 dollars is now worth even less than I thought. The reality is that the prices were higher than what we can get in the US- but let’s get serious- the dollar’s weak, Tokyo real estate is crazy-expensive and how many other places have -2- 58mm f/1.2’s on hand for you to try out?

They DO take credit card and they’ll hassle you for a passport- this is because they want to have you avoid paying the 5% Japanese sales tax

Getting There

Here’s the exact spot. I highly recommend that you find a map with the Sony Building in Ginza on it- the Ginza Metro had maps with stores on it and so did the street maps and many places are referred to by the building name as opposed to addresses. Closest subway’s where either Ginza (on the Ginza Line- 1 stop from the Tokyo station), or Shimbashi (like 2 stops from the Tokyo metro).  That’s all you really need- it’s Japan, but the area is pretty small, find some map with the Sony Building on it and go there, it’s across the street.

No Photography! This is a Camera Store!

So I spent some time outside getting establishing shots and marvelling, then I go inside and get some shots of the items in the display case like the F1’s above and I hear “NO PHOTO!” Huh? “Oh, ok…” It’s a camera store that only uses clear glass- I can take shots of the inside from the outside and the entire outside storefront is one glass display case. I can’t figure this out- I guess they don’t want idiots on the internet hassling them for mint collectibles.

Nikkor 85mm f/3.5g Micro

• £499.99 / USD ?
• 52mm thread

Not a heck of a lot to mention here- it’s a DX lens, unfortunately, and it’s smallish aperture should be fine in the studio and help keep price down.

It’s not a huge surprise that they’re still cranking out cheaper DX lenses- this would imply that they don’t see going full-frame with the lower-end cameras any time soon, and the consumers, even pro-sumers aren’t likely to notice the difference. There are still a good number of people who should know better who still think that the 1.5x crop factor means their 18-200mm zoom is now really a 27-300mm zoom!

Apologies- as soon as I got back from Japan, I got a flu that put me down for several days. Unfortunately, that didn’t work well with Nikon’s release schedule. If I’ve missed anything, please mail me.

Nikon D3s Annnounced

This camera was expected to land tomorrow, but it’s dropped a day early!

Here are the specs that stand out:

• Features a redesigned 12.1 megapixel sensor that has standard ISO’s from 200 to ISO 12800 and CAN get to 102,400 (not a typo) in Hi-3 mode.
• Seven stop ISO range of 200 – 12,800
• Movies: 720p/ 24fps in motion JPEG with stereo sound using an input jack!
• Crops modes: 5:4 (30×24); 1.2x (30×20); and DX (24×16).
• New Quiet shutter release mode
• Extra Active-D lighting modes: Extra High, High, Normal and Low
• Buffer is twice the size of the D3
• Focus appears unchanged
• Same battery
• Same LCD

Here’s a very brief hands-on. Here are some sample movies- complete with low-light examples!

We’ve also got an external mic jack:

There’s also a new lens- more to come.

No D700x?

A poster at dpReview says that Nikon Austrialia has told him there will not be a D700x:

‘Just talikjng to Nikon in Sydney Australia, (I think that’s where they are, its a 1300 number..), and the technical guy said “We’ve just heard, there will be no D700x!”.

Oh well..

Can you trust this report from RandomInternetGuy(tm)? No, but I think it would be surprising for Nikon to launch a D700x when I’m sure the D3x is selling at around expectations.

Nikon S1000pj's Delayed

Engadget finds an article on the Japanese Impress site that says that the S1000pj’s have such strong demand that they are delaying the shipments from September to October:

…[Demand] significantly exceeded the expected number of orders from the original quantity, [Nikon] can not provide a sufficient number…

I wonder if that’s the actual reason though- how are they gauging interest- pre-order channel sales? It would seem to me that you’d release the initial shipment and then head into round 2- that’s what we’ve typically seen with hard to get new items in the past.

Capture NX 2.2.2 Update

No doubt, just to give me a reason to post an update, Nikon has released an update to Capture NX.

Basically, the update adds D300s and D3000 support and fixes a crash.

From the press release:

USA Here

Euro-Land Here

Nikon D5000 Recall #2

Unfortunately, there appears to be yet another snag with the D5000’s. The Euro’s appear to have gotten a batch that need an extra special repair and some of you that sent them in got it in before the enhanced procedure started to be performed.

Apparently, it’s the same issue as before though- your D5000 may not power up.

We’re now on the latest version of WordPress- this update was made necessary due to a recently found bug that allows really easy pwnage. Remember- always validate user input…

I’ll be upgrading this site over the next few days. During that period, you may experience random oddities, crashes, downages, dry mouth, and headaches.

If your problems persist more than a couple days, please see you doctor.

Nikon S1000pj - Projector Camera

Nikon’s finally decided to inject some zazz into their point and shoot category. Instead of getting  another lame CoolPix from their intern’s product comparison write-up,  out of the back of the freezer, they’ve gone and done something interesting by inserting a projector into the front of the CoolPix.

This camera could be a lot of fun- something I’ve thought about periodically is getting a computer hooked up to a projector so that I could get precisely the color of light I wanted instead of using gels. I wonder if I could create “pictures” of color in PS and then put them onto this camera, then project them to get rid of gels. It’s likely not going to be a strong enough light, but might do.

Basic specs: 12.1mp, SD card, ~$650 $430 or so supposedly, available next month.

More info and a quicky demo here.

I’ve had to yank the serial number code post because there’s some sort of issue with IE where it prevents the right hand side links (and ads!) from being displayed.

Which explains why the few pennies I normally get per day has dropped to -0-. Big brother has not asked me to take it down, let’s not start a silly rumor.

If you want the code, please mail me.

Some of the rumors were true. Here’s a round-up of the announcements:

Overviews: Endaget, dpReview, etc.

Bodies

Nikon D3000

Official Nikon D3000 site

dpReview D3000 specs

dpReview D3000 quicky hands-on

Nikon D300

Official Nikon D300 site

dpReview D300s specs

dpReview D300s quicky hands-on

Lenses

New Nikkor 18-200mm

Official Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II site

dpReview 18-200mm specs

New Nikkor 70-200mm with VR II

Official Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II site

dpReview 70-200mm specs

“Honey, I’m hungry, have we got any crow around?” In truth, I’m partly wrong, partly right. So let’s call it:
D3000: I Predicted: Not soon, if ever. Reality: Announced today, due November.

D300s: I Predicted: “Questionable”, not 1080p HD. Reality: Announced today, due November– 720p.

New Nikkor 70-200mm: Prediction- not this year. Reality: Announced today!

New 18-200mm: Prediction- “no reason not to update it”. Reality: it’s here. Admittedly, my prediction is squishy, so I’ll only claim partial credit.

D700x: Prediction – not likely. Reality- still not announced. Since every other item announced is due in November (as I predicted, for Christmas), I’m doubting it’s forthcoming this year, if ever.

Nikkor 24-135: Prediction – “Who knows, who cares.” Reality- still not announced.

Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 AF-S: Prediction – if this year, ready for Christmas. Reality- still not announced.
Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-S: Prediction – Possibly, but doubtful this year. Reality- still not announced.

Nikon VL1 - 50 Megapixel Super-Rumor

We’ve seen rumors like this before, this one adds in the whole ‘modular digital nikon’ concept:

Supposed specs:

• 50 megapixel
• Integrated SSD holding 250 fullsize RAW shots, can be upgraded
• Removable sensor (back?)
• Built-in Wifi- capable of transferring files as quickly as it is to write to the SSD?
• Eye-tracking AF system
• Entirely new, super awesome-o software to handle it all.
• new line of lenses to take advantage of it, new lens mount?

Supposed Release: September 15, 2009. $10k.

I’m calling big bullshit on this. Even at rev. N wifi speeds, it’d be too slow and this just seems like a wish-list drawn up by fanatics, not like a plausible system designed by Nikon and, apparently, already functioning.

In addition- if they continue to write software like CaptureNX, then this thing will be a pain to deal with unless you’re using LightRoom or something.

Plus, again, there’s 0 reason to launch it in this economy.

Nikon D300s/D3000 Roadmap Rumor Roundup

Lots of rumor about tomorrow and future dates. I’ve been called out for not placing my bets on legitimacy, which I disagree with, but I’ll place my bets. I absolutely guarantee at least a 0% accuracy rating:

D300s: Engadget, Nikon Rumors, et al are reporting (with images) a possible Nikon D300s. Changes? Possibly an SD card and some histogram changes?

D3000: Similar reports of a Nikon D3000.

New 18-200: They sell a lot of this just ok lens- but what’d you expect in a zoom range that extreme. Amateurs love the huge range, no reason not to update it- they’ll sell a ton.

Coolpix’s with a project built-in?

The Nikon Roadmap

I’ve seen this rumor reported a bajillion places and I’m calling bullshit. The chance that the hermit camera kingdom has a corner and decided to get all “open and transparent” is about as likely as a digital Holga. Also, while some of these project may be planned, there’d be 0 reason to release them in this economy. It also has that whiff of some dork’s (like me) wishlist. What’s more, there’re lots of posts in various places stating that this started out as a foreign language gag post to a list that then was translated and lost the “joke” portion of the post.

But here it is:

2009 Nikon Roadmap (Bodies)

Nikon D3000
12.3MP, 7 AF points, ISO 200-3200 extendable to 6400, 3.5fps, Video ?

Prediction: What’s the point- these specs are way too similar to the D5000. This model may exist at some point, but I don’t see it soon.

Nikon D300s
12.3MP, 7fps, HD video (1080p .mov h.264, 24fps), CF and SD cards slots, 920,000 pixel LCD screen

Prediction: Questionable. Maybe a rev’d D300 will come out, but I’d be very surprised if it did 1080p h.264- that takes a lot of horsepower and I don’t see it happening at this price-point.

D700x
24.5MP, 5fps, HD video (1080p .mov h.264, 24fps)

Prediction: I’d bet my minty D2x that the highest cost item in the D3x body is the sensor due to its probably low yields and I get the feeling that the motivation behind this rumor is that people would love to have a smaller, cheaper D3x body. But what’s in it for Nikon? The D3x is still expensive and likely very profitable, plus if you need it, you can afford it. So- I predict unlikely.

2009 Nikon Roadmap (Lenses)

AF-S Nikkor 24 to 135 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR: Who knows, who cares? Variable aperture lenses are not on my shopping list- I’ve had it with doorstop lenses- well, maybe they’d be fine on that digital holga…

AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II: This will happen, I doubt it’ll be this year, they’re already selling plenty of lenses and I doubt they’re going to dedicate R&D + production capacity to this. When it comes out, I’m expecting a $200-$300 increase to come with it. If it’s 2009, I’m guessing ~ Christmas release.

AF-S Nikkor 35 mm f/1.4G (FX): This will happen, I’ll be surprised if it’s this year, if it is, I’m guessing Christmas again.

AF-S Nikkor 85 mm f/1.4G (FX): A given, possibly this year, but I’m also doubtful.

2010 (Bodies)

Nikon D4
15.7MP (more sensitive and with less noise), Up to 16fps with “double exposure”, ISO 200-12800 (plus extended range), 61-point AF, 1080p video at 30fps, CLS control (although no flash is mentioned)

Prediction: Quite possibly, I doubt 16fps, and hey, if we’re doing 30fps all full HD 1080p (which I doubt), then wtf do I only get 16dfps? While I’d love to get some more focus points out toward the edge, I wonder if that’ll actually happen.

Nikon D400
13.8MP (more sensitive and with less noise), 8fps, Up to 12fps with “double exposure”, ISO 200-6400 (plus extended range), 61-point AF, 1080p video at 24fps

Prediction: I don’t see 1080p, but maybe. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this before the D4 comes out though.

Nikon D4x
30.2MP, ISO 100 – 6400, 6fps, 1080p video at 30fps

Prediction: Hey, wtf not. Doubt it’ll be 2010 though.

D5000 Service Advisory Serial Number Range

This is very early, I haven’t double-checked these by hand, but here’s what I have so far.

I’ve tested increments of 100 from: 3,015,209 to 3,515,500 and here are the results- remember that “positive” means your body DOES have the problem, “negative” means that it’s fine. Also, I haven’t bothered checking numbers except at intervals of 10. For example, 3032295 has the problem, 3032296 does not, but I won’t bother checking every single number.

3015209 – 3026100: Positive (has the defect)

3023300: Negative

3023400 – 3026200: Positive

3026300: Negative

3026400 – 3029200: Positive

3029300: Negative

3029400 – 3030000: Positive

3030100 – 3030200: Negative

3030300 – 3032200: Positive

3032300: Negative

3032400 – 3048000: Positive

3048100: Negative

3048200 – 3054100: Positive

3054200: Negative

3054300 – 3073600: Positive

3073700: Negative

3073800 – 3084200: Positive

3084300: Negative

3084400 – 3085200: Positive

3085300: Negative

3085400 – 3112300: Positive

3112400: Negative

3112500 – 3114300: Positive

3114400 – 3515500 : Negative- End of run?

D5000 Service Advisory Serial Number Ranges- Start at 3,015,209

I’ve done some poking around and the lowest serial number that appears to work is 3,015,209.

If you’ve got one that’s lower than this and it works, please mail me, I’d like to get a complete list.

I do not yet know the upper bound.

[Update]

The serial number checker is available here. There does not appear to be a specific range, or at least they’re not telling us, and since no link is apparently, I presume that if it says your body is affected, it’ll give you a link to further info an provide you with the 2 day shipping label, etc.

If you’d like to talk to them about this issue: (USA) 800-645-6678, 8am to 2am (Eastern), 7-days-a-week.

A FAQ is here.

[/Update]

You hit all the right buttons on her body, you perform all the right moves, you charge her up, you even tell her the things she wants to hear, “Yeah baby, I’m gonna buy you that 200mm f/2 VR you’ve wanted for so long! I’m gonna get you so hot, your SB-900 will melt!”

But, nothing seems to consistently work. Then you realize, it’s not you, it’s not your moves, it’s her- she’s got some flaw.

Nikon has put up a service advisory on the D5000 explaining that sometimes it won’t turn on even when the battery is fully charged and it won’t turn on sometimes even when the AC adapter is plugged in.

This is not good. So here’s what you need to know:

• On July 23rd, they will have a serial # checker to let you know if your body is affected.
• The fix requires you to send in your body, they’ll start accepting bodies on July 23rd- the website (?) will have a label generator for you to use.
• Shipping both ways will be paid for by Nikon and will be 2-day shipping to minimize inconvenience

Check here for updates.

Kudos to Nikon for taking responsibility and working to make it easy on you to get fixed.

What’s interesting is that this must be a hardware issue since they’re requiring you to send it in, normally, you’d expect software. Also interesting that it’s only some serial numbers- this implies a design change (or manufacturing snafu?) which makes you wonder if they swapped a part or supplier in the middle of the run.