Nikon Watch

[Note: zoetmb  rightly points out in  the comments that these are overall Nikon Corp numbers, not specifically related to camera revenue. I hope to get the chance to review the entire filing over the next few days to attempt to glean some more information from our hermit company.]

Nikon Corp’s 1st quarter results are in and no one’s going to get a bonus.

Net income dropped to 18 billion yen ($166 million) in the three months ended June 30, from 23.4 billion yen a year earlier, Tokyo-based Nikon said in a statement today. Sales climbed 6.4 percent to 237.9 billion yen. …

Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, declined 21 percent to 28.7 billion yen.

The yen appreciated 17 percent against the dollar in the year ended June 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

They’re projecting that sales will go up a bit, but overall profits will go down. Maybe if they put out 10 more Coolpix’s…

[Update: I CANNOT find a picture of the ethernet port- has anyone seen one?]

Whee! New point and shoots and Coolpix’s- we apparently didn’t have enough.

But I’m actually happy to know the P6000 is real- on occasion, I have a pang of guilt when using a Canon- but you can’t argue with results and I love my G3 and would be happy to get a G9.

Here’s the rundown in order of the press-release, meaning that this is the order of items that the Marketing-droids think will most make you want to buy it:

• 13.5 mp
• Built-in GPS for geo-tagging
• added wired LAN support via a dedicated Ethernet port built into the camera. Users can upload their images and data directly from the P6000 with an Ethernet cable to the secure Picture Bank service on my Picturetown
• MyPictureTown easy uploading
• PSAM shooting modes for creative control
• Raw mode via “all-new” NRW format (wtf?), ViewNX updates due in October to handle it
• Some custom button functionality
• Adding even more synergy between D-SLR cameras and compact COOLPIX cameras, the P6000 incorporates a pop-up flash, optical viewfinder for easy composition and the added bonus of system expansion with an optional convertor…
• Plays nice with iTTL and the CLS
• features a quality finish and a front panel constructed of solid Magnesium alloy

P6000 will be available nationwide beginning September 2008 at a MSRP of $499.95.

So what’s notable: GPS included, new NRW raw format, contains the most synergy of any Coolpix.

First: SYNGERY?! Did Nikon invent a time machine capable of taking us back to 1993 to mine corporate-speak?

But even more- OM.F.G- another proprietary raw format. Maybe we’ll be lucky this time- the whole damned file will be encrypted instead of just the white balance.

An ethernet port! My heart flutters- can anyone tell me if I can ONLY upload to MyPictureTown (does anyone use that?) via Nikon software are does the camera show up as an FTP/HTTP server or something? Any clue which speed? (PLEASE 100mb…) 100mb would be on par with fast USB, 10mb would not be a good replacement for a USB card reader.

Nikon’s announced the new Coolpix S710- a 14.5 megapixel noise machine targeted at people who have $350 to buy a camera with.

The only standout feature is the incredibly high ISO settings for a point and shoot which uses pixel-binning to get to 6400-12800 iso’s.

I’d really love to see some low-light images with this thing, but can’t seem to find any and I really don’t expect to be wowed when I put its output next to my D3… or D2x… or, say, my Holga with 400iso Tri-x.

Nikon has also announced the Coolpix S560, for people who have $250usd and need an adequate but largely undistinguished point and soon.

From the beginning with the D3, we’ve noticed that 9fps quickly bogged down depending on which settings you had.

Nikon’s noticed and now they’re providing a buffer upgrade service for $500 starting yesterday.

Highlights:

Fee and Return
The cost is $500.00 plus your state tax. Customer is responsible for all shipping costs. Please allow up to two weeks time for the Buffer Memory Expansion service; should more time be required, the user will be informed.

Fill out this form before sending.

Performance: FX raw 14bit standard is 16 shots, upgraded to 36.

$500 is kind of pricey though- thankfully I don’t need high FPS that much.

Nikon has put out a new picture control (changes the colors, etc) for the D3, D700, and D300 that they claim will make nice vivid land and cityscapes! I haven’t tried it yet- I’ll let you know when I do.

If only I could get (for free) the look of Velvia and (my personal favorite of all time) Provia 100iso with a polarizer.

Here are the installation directions- basically, extract it to a card, tell the camera to load it via the menus.

I think I’m a couple days behind on this one, but thanks to Dexter for reminding me about it.

Thanks to Alberto on dpReview for pointing this out:

…At 32-nm, Nikon has reportedly won the entire lithography business within Intel, leaving ASML out in the cold, source said. The multi-million-dollar order represents Intel’s initial scanners, based on immersion lithography. Up until now, Intel had been using ”dry” scanners for wafer processing within its fabs.

At 45-nm, Intel has been using a combination of 193-nm dry tools from both ASML and Nikon for the so-called ”critical layers,” sources said. For the non-critical layers, Intel has been exclusively using Nikon’s 248-nm scanners for use in processing wafers at the 45-nm node, sources said….

I’m not a hardware guy, so I can’t speak with any authority, but from what I understand- the features on chips below 45nm are really hard to get right with the typical lithography where the image is projected through gases onto the chip. So they’re moving to projecting the image into liquid which modifies how the light hits the chip and makes it much more likely to get decent yields.

The article says that cost was a major deciding factor in favor of Nikon over ASML.

I just realized we got absolutely no leaked sample D700 shots, like we did with the D3… anyway, you’ll be happy to know that the D700 is capable of taking nice shots of hot chicks (but if you shoot them this close, you might have to have them shave first):

A little birdie sends the inside scoop on D700 pricing (directly from a page dump):

D700 D-SLR BODY

Description:
Supplied with:

• #25444 D700 Digital SLR Body;
• EN-EL3e Rechargeable Li-ion Battery;
• MH-18a Quick Charger;
• UC-E4 USB Cable;
• EG-D100 Video Cable;
• AN-D700 Strap;
• BM-9 LCD Monitor Cover;
• BF-1A Body Cap;
  BS-1Accessory Shoe Cap;
• Nikon Software Suite CD ROM

Product #: 25444
List Price: $3,260.00
MAP: $2,999.95 [ed: Minimum advertised price- if you want to sell for less, you have to do a ‘click to see the price’ deal]

So thankfully, despite the deplorable value of our dollar right now, we’re not going to set as badly soaked as or Euro buddies.

• D700 Quick Review and D3 / D300 Comparison
• SB-900 Official Page
• PC/E 85mm f/2.8
• PC/E 45mm f/2.8

European English

• Europe in English

 French

• France

(the rest, I’m sure you can figure out which Nikon site to go to)

As far as I can tell, there isn’t anything that we didn’t know about in the last few days, do we know the price in USD yet though? I’m kind of wondering where this fits relative to the D3. If it’s only about $1000 less, then its placement would appear to be as simply a smaller D3 with less battery (btw- which battery is it using? I’ll have to look).

With respect to the PC/E (tilt/shift but not at the same time) lenses, they were already previously announced, iirc.

The SB-900 is relatively new news and after a quick read of its specs, it looks like it’s about the same but detects FX vs DX, KNOWS if there’s a colored filter over the flash (!), talks to the body more, allows firmware to be upgraded via the body. I can’t tell yet if the menus are at all changed / made simpler or easier, I don’t see any called-out changes to the CLS, no RF, and wtf can’t I use a Nikon camera body battery for the flash? They appear to have made it more energy efficient so that it’ll recharge with 4 batteries in the time it took the SB-800 to recharge with 5, but with even a smaller body battery, we could have shot forever…

I guess we’ll have to wait for Photokina for primes (oh God, please? I’m starting to think this is hopeless… time for more Zeiss maybe) and the D3.

Nikon has updated their lense guide (thanks for everyone for pointing it out) and you can read about them all here:

PC Micro-Nikkor 85mm f/2.8D

85mm medium telephoto lens with tilt/shift mechanism and macro capability
• Wide tilting and shifting range (tilt: ±8.3°, shift: ±12.4mm)
• 1/2 life-size macro shooting capability (at 0.39m/1.3 ft.)
• ±90° lens revolving capability for versatile tilt/shift effects

PC-E NIKKOR 24mm f/3.5D ED

High-performance wideangle lens with Perspective Control
• Wide shifting and tilting range (shift: ±11.5mm; tilt: ±8.5°)
• ±90° lens revolving capability for versatile tilt/shift effects
• Maximum reproduction ratio of 1/2.7 (at 0.21m/0.75 ft.)
• Three ED glass elements, and three aspherical lenses
• Nano Crystal Coat reduces ghost and flare for clear images
• Nine-blade rounded diaphragm
• Auto aperture control with electromagnetic diaphragm (with D3 and D300)

PC-E Micro NIKKOR 45mm f/2.8D ED

Normal lens with Perspective Control and macro capability
• Wide shifting and tilting range (shift: ±11.5mm; tilt: ±8.5°)
• ±90° lens revolving capability for versatile tilt/shift effects
• Maximum reproduction ratio of 1/2 (at 0.253m/0.83 ft.)
• ED glass element
• Nano Crystal Coat reduces ghost and flare for clear images
• Nine-blade rounded diaphragm
• Auto aperture control with electromagnetic diaphragm (with D3 and D300 )

They finally announced upgrade pricing for CaptureNX 2: $69.00 $109.95.

Is it even worth it? Leave a comment…

Right on time, it’s here!

You can download the American trial version here (and the manual).

Global versions can be downloaded here.

What’s new? Not sure yet, I’ll see what I can find and post it later.

Is it for sale yet? No clue, I can’t seem to find a “buy” or “upgrade” link, but I’m sure it’s somewhere.

“This is an ex-parrot!” “She’s dead, Jim.” (For my foreign friends who may be reading this via translation software, these are silly ways of saying something is dead.)

For a screenshot (in case it’s yanked), click here.

Well, discontinued in Australia, but we’ve seen items like this before. The 17-35mm was discontinued in Belgium, so I guess they tend to do this when their stock is depleted and they aren’t expecting any more shipments.

Please, please, please,  let some wonderful primes be on their way!

Paul reminds me (can you tell I’m checking my email again?) that Nikon’s running some promo’s on consumer-grade lenses when you buy a D3, D300, D200, or F6.

Seems kind of odd to me because if you’re buying a D3, I’m betting you’re not too interested in a variable aperture 70-300mm, but I’ll leave that decision to you. I’m not going back to variable apertures for all the Ashton Kutcher’s in the world. What would I go back for, you ask? Kate Moss, definitely, sign me up. 18-19mm f/22-48 zoom, doesn’t accept filters? Yup, I’m ready to go.

There’s $150 off the 70-300mm VR until July 6th.

If you buy a D40, D60, or D80, you can get $100 off a 55-200mm f/4-5.6G, 55-200mm f/4-5.6G, or 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G.

In case anyone’s interested- Nikon’s apparently delighted to ship another Coolpix variation- the S52c:

It actually is pretty cool to have wifi integrated into the camera- I can’t see why it is that a $250 camera can have integrated wifi and we can’t get something like this built into the pro bodies. Most of the time, I want to send a couple of shots to a computer right away and worry about others later, I don’t need the full WT-4.

Also- does anyone want to tell me why I need the SU-4 to remotely control speedlights if a $250 camera can have integrated wifi? Why can’t get get wifi built into the pro bodies and get wireless radio communication with our speedlights via adhoc networking mode? Maybe Nikon could siphon off some of the money that would normally go to PocketWizard? Typical wifi latencies of 1-2ms would allow a sync of 1/500 - 1/1000th of a second if my calculation are correct.

Via  PhotographyBay and Gizmodo-

Nikon is the owner of a US Patent Application Publication No. US 2008/0084484  (you can read the whole thing on uspto.gov - just do a search for the application number), which details an invention whereby a small display screen is visible through the optical viewfinder.  The photographer can switch back and forth between the optical image and the digital display for a variety of purposes.  According to the patent, one of the most prominent uses will be to enable a wide viewing angle when zoomed in tight on a subject.

Hopefully it doesn’t replace the optical image, but it looks like it does. I’d must rather have an overlay- show me the analog TTL image in the viewfinder and give me an digital overlay in areas so that I can see a real-time histogram get the areas where a channel’s blown out- basically like a live-view through the viewfinder.

Hey- remember when you had to mail your camera back to the manufacturer in order to get its software upgraded?

Yeah those days sucked, so thankfully, we can now just install new firmware every time someone pulls an “oopsie”- which is the technical term that Software Engineers use to describe situations like the recent problems involving corrupted images in high-speed burst mode using 14-bits.

Thankfully, Nikon was really responsive and offered a quick patch.

I haven’t been able to play with it yet, but no one seems to have seen corrupted images yet (it’s been out close to 24hours now).

–

Also- I’ve read (but not double-checked) that the “D3x” strings are no longer in there! Hmmmm

Roll it back, boys, it corrupts images, kudos to JayPike for spotting this.

It’s always sad when you have to do this, but it happens to the best of projects.

Let’s point out that you probably should never update your firmware early (give it a couple weeks at least), and always keep the older firmware versions on your drive in case you need to rollback- I presume this is possible on the D3, but I’ve never had to try…

Termination of D3 Digital-SLR Camera Firmware Ver. 1.10 Download

On April 15, 2008, an announcement was made on the Nikon website that the Ver. 1.10 firmware update for the D3 digital-SLR camera was available for download. However, it has been confirmed that when the following settings are applied with the updated firmware, image data may, in some rare cases, be corrupted. Therefore, we have terminated the firmware update download. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.

• Release mode: Continuous high speed (CH), or Continuous low speed (CL) with Custom Setting d2 set to 9 fps
• Image area: FX format (36×24) or 5:4 (30×24)
• Image quality: NEF (RAW) or NEF (RAW) + JPEG fine/normal/basic
• NEF (RAW) recording>NEF (RAW) bit depth: 14-bit

  *The issue related to NEF (RAW) recording>NEF (RAW) bit depth may occur regardless of the option selected for NEF (RAW) recording>Type (Lossless compressed, Compressed, or Uncompressed).

If you have downloaded the D3 Ver. 1.10 firmware update but have not yet updated the camera’s firmware, please do NOT perform the update. If you have already updated the D3 firmware, please do not shoot with the combination of settings indicated above. This issue does not occur with other combinations of camera settings (for example, when NEF (RAW) bit depth is set to 12-bit, or when shooting in continuous low speed (CL) release mode with Custom Setting d2 set to 8 fps or lower.)

The download version of the revised firmware update is expected to be available in late April. For more information regarding this matter, please contact Nikon Customer Support.

Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. We hope that you will continue to choose Nikon for your photography needs.

Vignette Control
“Vignetting” is a drop in brightness at the edges of a photograph. Its  effects vary from lens to lens and are most noticeable at maximum  aperture. A [Vignette control] option has been added to the shooting  menu to reduce vignetting for type G and D lenses (excluding DX, PC, AF  14 mm f/2.8D ED, AF Fisheye 16 mm f/2.8D, AF 20–35 mm f/2.8D, and AF  24–85 mm f/2.8–4D lenses). Choose from [High], [Normal] (the default  setting), [Low], and [Off ].

Vignette Control

Depending on the scene, shooting conditions, and type of lens, TIFF and JPEG images may exhibit unevenness or variations in peripheral brightness, while Custom Picture Controls and Nikon Picture Controls that have been modifi ed from default settings may not produce the desired eff ect. Take test shots and view the results in the monitor. Vignette control does not apply to multiple exposures, DX-format images, or images created with [Image overlay]. The eff ects of vignette control can not be previewed in live view and are not visible when NEF (RAW) images are viewed in third-party software. Use ViewNX or Capture NX to view NEF (RAW) images created with vignette control.

The nikon site’s search isn’t so hot…  you can find it all here.