Nikon Watch

My buddy PMG points me to the Photography Bay which reports that Thom writes:

August 18–Nikon’s next scheduled press conference is August 27th. I’ve already noted that the D90 and 18-105mm lens will be introduced shortly, so I think it likely that those two items are on the schedule for that meeting…

…It now appears that my 2008 pro body predictions were backwards. I predicted the D3x would appear and that the D700 would be pushed to a 2009 ship. I’m now thinking that I must have misunderstood my original source and got the products reversed. Even if a high resolution body is announced soon, I don’t see any of the indications I look for showing that it is ready to ship.

So a decent SLR body and an ok consumer-grade lens, nothing to get too excited about really. And he’s indicating that the predictions bandied about by many including the concept of 4 new bodies was just nuts, as I expected.

D3x next year- I’m betting. New lenses at Photokina- and I’m starting to doubt decent AF-S primes, but I’m still hoping I’m wrong- I’ve been hoping for their announcement for more than  a year now though.

Nikon Rumors appears to have a shot of a Nikon D90’s LCD in video mode.

Also- PGM points out that Amazon and BHPhotoVideo are now buying google Adwords for D90.

Photography Bay has a shot of a posssible Nikon D90. It looks good to me, but I’ve been fooled before- there are some really good PP guys out there.

They’re also reporting the following specs:

* 14 bit A/D conversion (compared to 12 bit currently);
* live view;
* the EXPEED image processor;
* self-cleaning sensor;
* 3? LCD (up from 2.5?) with higher resolution; and/or
* 5 fps (up from 3);

The Following Are Guesses:

Notice that it doesn’t mention movies- but looking at the picture, it’s got a microphone grill over the D90 logo. There’s no reason at all to put the mic grill in the front if it’s for recording memos with a shot like on the Dx series, so I’m guessing it’s to record sound with movies (duh).

We’re also seeing a Manual / AF switch on the body, why? Because it’ll be able to use the screw-drive lenses like the 50mm f/1.x and 85mm f/1.x and older lenses– you don’t need that switch on the AFS lenses!

Interestingly, this might also mean that we will NOT be seeing 50mm and 80mm AFS Nano primes - but that’s a toss-up.

There also appears to be a GPS plug-in port, rather than integrated, which continues to be baffling given that the P&S cameras have GPS built-in now.

I continue to think it’s amusing that people are reporting that cameras have the eXpeed chipset in them.

Engadget reports that the Nikon D90 is now in their stock system too- at $1299.99. So apparently, the sellers know what’s happening but, as usual, Nikon won’t bother telling anyone for a while.

That price, btw, is WITH the kit 18-105mm lens, same as with Circuit City as reported yesterday.

But- the last time I went to Best Buy and asked them to pull up something on their inventory system, I was told, “We might have that…” then after determining that they didn’t, and they didn’t know when they would have it, I was told that I could order it- which is pretty crappy. So I don’t trust their inventory system, but this at least appears to confirm the Circuit City system.

The UPC Database also seems to confirm the UPC that’s shown in the picture.

Wake me when the D3x or something like a digital rangefinder finally shows up.

David Busch of Nikon Digital Field Guide fame (? I’ve never heard of him- I use the Magic Lantern series when necessary) has some commentary and conjecture on the upcoming (? Nothing but rumors so far) D90:

12 megapixel resolution.  To be honest, the D80 had great image quality with its 10 MP sensor, and you probably shouldn’t expect a huge difference with the 12 MP Nikon D90. …

Video recording.  I’ll be interested in evaluating the video clips produced by this camera.  …

PS compatibility.  With GPS features built into point-and-shoot cameras and cell phones, many dSLR owners will come to expect at least the ability to connect a GPS location tagger to their cameras.  If you go this route, you’ll never wonder where you shot your vacation pictures again….

He also has some conjecture on the Nikon D3x, but honestly, if you read this site, there’s probably nothing public that you don’t already know about all of this.

Seems to be way more solid than it had been, so I’m guessing we’ll hear an announcement soon enough.

In any case, that Nikon site that reports any rumor it can find appears to have a scoop submitted by a guy who works at Circuit City.

I’m starting to see more and more reports of the Nikon D90 and thanks to everyone to pointed this one out (Can anyone translate it?):

Nikola writes:

See the link below (this is official Slovenian Sigma dealer and also DSLRs dealer) and you can find a D90 marked as NEW, listed in the price list.

There is no price yet, but it is written that we can expect it this fall.

easyRobin says that you can get 8fps on your D700 if you don’t use the battery grip with a simple, easy procedure:

If you want the higher than standard FPS without the vertical grip, do the following:

First, make the following custom setting adjustments:

e5: Flash only
e6: Flash only
f4: Button press - Bracketing burst
f4: Button + dials - Bracketing mode

Set exposure manually. Activate bracketing with the Fn + Command dial and set 9F (9 frames). Set your shooting mode to single-shot (S). Do not use flash. Then hold the Fn button and when you are ready to shoot, press the shutter release and continue holding the Fn button. The camera will fire up to 9 frames at 8 fps.

To continue shooting after 9 frames, you will need to let up on the shutter release and depress it again. If you fire fewer than 9 shots, you will only be able to shoot the remaining exposures in your 9-frame burst if you continue shooting again, without letting up on the shutter release again.

Since you have set auto bracketing to apply only to flash, your non-flash bracketing burst is fired at your manually set exposure — it is not bracketed.

Have fun, it really works!

Can anyone confirm this?

Mason at Adorama is making some predictions for Photokina 2008. None of them are interesting except:

8. At least two digital rangefinders will be introduced. I’m putting my money on Nikon and Olympus to unveil interchangeable-lens rangefinder cameras based around DSLR sensors. Olympus has already laid the technical groundwork with its announcement of the Micro Four Thirds system, which allows for smaller camera bodies and no room for optical mirror prisms. While the obvious direction is EVFs (see item #3, above), they could drop a bombshell and create a digital rangefinder and a few fixed-focal-length, manual-focus lenses for a lot less than the $5K Leica M8. What do I base my Nikon prediction on? Nothing…I just like to dream.

“Nothing“?! Why must he play with our heart like this? I’m guessing we either won’t see a rangefinder or similar camera or we won’t see it for a long time. I see more P&S cameras like the rumored P6000 to take on the Canon Gx series (like the G9)- My G3 is a gem of a P&S.

A poster on dpReview says:

…[sensor got dirty and] I had Nikon Service in Missassauga Canada clean it and the fee was substantial!

When I picked the body up from service, I was told that a more robust shutter is available and that while I’m still under warranty I should have the work completed. I was told that there isn’t anything wrong with my shutter, but that a “stronger spring assembly is available” which was not installed on my D3 because it is probably an earlier unit.

I’m really hoping that this is spurious. I won’t hit a high number of shots any time soon (too much work, I’m afraid), and don’t care to pay for a new shutter in a few years that could have been replaced now.

Since Nikon is always unnecessarily tight-lipped, we’ll never know which range of serial numbers could be affected- IF this is true.

Thom writes, Engadget et al report:

…Curiously, at a casual glance the only thing that most people will notice different from a D80 is the presence of a much bigger color LCD on the back…

So what is a D90? Well, a 12mp, ~4.5 fps DSLR, basically. On paper those seem like modest boosts from the D80. In practice, they are a distinct notch forward in performance. The big news, however, is that Live View now has a twist that other DSLRs can’t currently claim: it can record video (thus the microphone grill).

We also get a new lens for kitting with the D90: the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR. Modest in size (67mm filter size), … Essentially, this is a 28-150mm equivalent. Not truly superzoom, but a good compromise between size and reach. This new lens also plugs the VR hole Nikon had in the DX lens lineup (essentially no VR in the kit lenses if you wanted more than 55 but less than 200 at the long end).

To my knowledge, Nikon hasn’t scheduled a press conference for product introduction yet…

Movie mode! So- I suppose they’re dispensing with the physical shutter when used in that mode. I wonder how good the image quality of the video will be- if it was good (I doubt it, but maybe), then maybe there will also be a single-shot totally silent mode…

[Update: No clue when, no clue where, no clue what.]

Oh who knows? We get so many reports of this kind… Maybe a D3x will be announced, maybe some more bland, pointless Coolpix’s will be announced (”This one’s in blue! These go to 11!“), maybe there’ll be something that knocks our socks off- trying to predict it is pointless.

I don’t know if it’s true but here it is anyway: Nikon will have a new annoucement this coming Wednesday, August 6, 2008. I have no idea what they will annouce. Might be a new D3X or maybe a new D90 or some other camera or lenses. Let’s hope it’s true and some new equipment is coming.

[Edited for poor proof-reading.]

I’m starting to see D90 rumors flying (thanks to everyone who sent them in). Don’t know if they’re really D900 rumors or if there’ll be a D90 and a D900- but I’m thinking that would just confuse things for now.

In any case, from Thom (if you believe it):

Technically, Nikon has been a bit behind on that. In the consumer market, sensor cleaning and ubiquitous VR (via the sensor) and live view all got established by competitors well before Nikon did it. That’s going to shift a bit with the D90, I think, but the D60 is an example of Nikon NOT doing the above. And in the higher lineup, of course Canon beat Nikon to the punch with FX, affordable FX, pixel counts, and high ISO capabilities. It’s only in this current design cycle that we see Nikon now trying to do what you suggest.

In-body VR would be great– if it worked well. I remember way old Sony digicams that would do VR by cropping your sensor and then as you moved the camera, they’d just use a part of the chip that had been cropped until you had moved it-so basically selectively using part of the chip.

Also- Gizmodo and other sites are reporting a possible Sept 3rd Nikon conference, to maybe announce something new like the D90 or maybe D3x… who knows?

I got a report that Nikon may be BUYING FujiFilm. No I can’t substantiate it, no I can’t find anything but periodic reports of this going back for years. I’m not actually sure what Nikon would get out of it- possibly some sensor patents from Fuji like the one for using different sized pixels in their sensor to get better dynamic range.

Though I think it’d be smarter to simply license any patents Nikon would like, rather than buy Fuji wholesale. Also, Nikon seems to be doing fine in the sensor-design category itself…

Remember this story from a while back where Nikon got a patent on a non-Bayer sensor?

Well, a birdie sends a pretty picture of its layout and writes:

- A new type of pixel/micro-lens arrangement allows hexagonal elements (pixels) and a cartesian (x-y) read out.

-Maximizing efficiency (capture area) of every ray of light goes though the micro-lenses.

-There is limit on the smallest size of each micro-lens (due to the mirrors), hence resolution of this type of sensor may limit to the pixel pitch of 10 micro-meters. Still, enough for 135 film formats to deliver nearly 10 million pixels with true R-G-B each.

Of course, this birdie wouldn’t tell me where he gets his info from- so I can’t tell how much credence to give this one…

After chatting with him a little more, this means that the sensor would be roughly 7.2*3=21.6mp equivalent if you try to evaluate it in Bayer-sensor terms:

You can say that. Since the interpretation of pixel counts is quite confusing right now, just say it will provide same if not better detail as the 20mp bayer-sensors, with much more accurate color pattern reproduction.

Strange item from a Nikon list:

>[When the D4 comes out]- Will this be when
>a “mirrorless” viewfinder is developed?

When I asked a very senior Nikon person from Japan this same question last year, the answer was that we would be seeing a mirrorless dslr “sooner than you think”.

This is kind of strange, I’m not even sure what “mirrorless dslr” means. I’m really hoping that it doesn’t mean that we get an electronic viewfinder instead- with liveview (finally), I’m not sure what the point would be.

Maybe they’re bringing back the pellicle mirror concept like they had on the F3H- here’s a good shot of the pellicle mirror.

More guessing- if we have great noise-free images at higher ISO like we have on the D3- then the light falloff from the pellicle mirror is no longer an issue- and we have a sensor that can either shut itself off (so we don’t need a moving shutter) or use an LCD or similar to electronically prevent light from hitting the sensor, then we could have a VERY high-speed, camera that is nearly silent!

[Update: Confirmed per the Strobist. See the next post.]

This thread on flickr is stating that the SB-900 flash has a thicker shoe than the SB-800 and similar flashes and apparently, this is causing trouble for people who try and mount the flash directly to various accessories.

The SB-600 not only drops a pin into a hole like David Hobby mentioned, but also raises two (very) small clamps from the level of the metal base, e.g. to prevent falling out of non-Nikon accessories.

It looks like it’s the same for the SB-900 …

I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else, however, some I’m filing it under Rumors for now.

I’m having a hard time believing that it’ll be 24.4mp- I’m think it’ll be a bit larger, but:

Although the rumors were strong for an announcement of the 24MP D3x/4 around end of august early september, it looks like its a no show.

I was contacted by an old friend who works for nikon, and even though the 24.4MP camera is going around and will be at the olympics (from what i understood still only as an early prototype), there is no intention of bringing it into production until after the end of 2008.

When I asked him repeatedly if he was sure, he insisted in a very confident matter, that if nikon was going to announce something that big in the time frame given he would have known. I insisted that there had to be some truth in the august rumor, and this time he said: “if its true, then they will surprise everyone, including official dealers - the only thing to come next is the full range of new coolpix cameras” …

Yeah, I also thought August was super unlikely- just too close to the D3 and D700.

A little birdie says:

After the D700, the D900 will be on the way with more megapixels.  This is a rumor from a friend who has connections to Nikon office in my country.

So maybe the D900 will end up being the “halfway” megapixel camera with ~18mp- halfway between the D3’s/D700’s light sucking 12mp and the (presumably) 24-28mp D3x’s not-quite light sucking sensor.

But who knows? There’s a lot of wiggle room between 12mp and 24-28 or so.

It’d also be interesting to see two body styles from now on- really fast, huge  pro body- D3 and the half-sized, same sensor, not quite as fast prosumer body like the D700.

A little birdie writes:

Nikon shows us having 2 D700 bodies on pending release. That usually means
they will ship any day so expect them to hit the market in the next few
days.

It’s nice to see that Nikon appears to be good about keeping this retail channel!