Travel Photography - Nikon D4 and D400 apparently coming in August

According to Nikon Rumors (http://bit.ly/mEH3u4), Nikon will announce the D4 and D400 cameras in August.

It is speculated (http://bit.ly/ieGxqs) that the full frame D4 will feature a 32 MP Sony sensor and the APS-C D400 will have a 24 MP Sony sensor.

Nikon Rumors gives this announcement a 70% probability, so the chances are pretty good.

Anyone wanna buy a used D300?

Cheers,
T.

Interesting. Those are the same rumored specs as Canon's 1DV, 5DIII, and/or 7DII, depending on who you believe. Or even the long rumored 3D. Dates are anywhere from August to next summer. Maybe a Nikon move will accelerate it.

I thought the MP wars were ending, so while 32MP on FF sounds OK, 24MP on APS-C seems like overkill at the cost of sensitivity. That's a pixel density that would equal a 61MP FF sensor. I'm quite happy at 18MP, and another stop or two of sensitivity at the same resolution would be better than 33% more pixels at the same sensitivity.

Interesting. Those are the same rumored specs as Canon's 1DV, 5DIII, and/or 7DII, depending on who you believe. Or even the long rumored 3D. Dates are anywhere from August to next summer. Maybe a Nikon move will accelerate it.

It would be surprising if either Canon or Nikon had anything technologically *fundamentally* different in similarly priced cameras released in the same time frame. But the new Nikons certainly would be welcome.

Cheers,
T.

It would be surprising if either Canon or Nikon had anything technologically *fundamentally* different in similarly priced cameras released in the same time frame. But the new Nikons certainly would be welcome.

Cheers,
T.

As I have said before I don't do the whole Nikon vs. Canon thing as they both make great products but after Nikon essentially created the pro caliber DSLR segment with the D1 Canon owned the high end until the D3 and Nikon has since then trounced equivalent and contemporaneous Canon models in terms of the technology used in their pro cameras as the D3x is fundamentally better in terms of resolution and the D3/D700 was and D3s is fundamentally better in terms of their low noise/low light capabilities.

Who knows what this next round will bring but any simultaneous parity between the two has only really ever existed at the mid to lower levels.

Personally I hope that Nikon doesn't use a Sony senor and continues to develop their own in-house FX sensors as I don't think that relying on another sensor manufacturer for so many different parts is a smart long-term strategy.

Perfect timing - I was just starting to lust after a D3s over my kick-a s s D700. :)

That's nice, but my D90 still takes just as excellent photos as it always has, and it's capabilities frankly exceed mine as a picture taker. So a pair of newer, more expensive, higher resolution, faster, heavier, Nikons won't be altering my use of my D90.

AFAIK Nikon has ALWAYS used Sony sensors and then tweaked them. I am about 99% positive Nikon doesn't run any chip fabs, so worst case scenario, they could be having their designs produced in someone else's fab, but as specialized as chip equipment is, it's pretty unlikely they would be able to do anything significantly different than the native chip.

AFAIK Nikon has ALWAYS used Sony sensors and then tweaked them.

I think that this overgeneralizes the issue and understates Nikon's role, particularly in regards to their pro level cameras.

Of course Nikon uses Sony's or some other existing chip fab. Building their own dedicated fab for the relatively small number of sensors they need would be prohibitively expensive.

But while Nikon no doubt uses some of Sony's off-the-shelf sensors for their lower end cameras I think that it is also the case that Nikon have Sony build senors for cameras such as the D3x to Nikon's own design and to Nikon's own higher QC specs.

The significant, indisputable, and objective superiority of the D3x over the Sony A9xx can not be explained completely by Nikon's Exspeed processing - as excellent as that is.

Hmm, wonder how I should go about getting approval for a new body. I find it hard to believe that my wife will accept me owning a D80, D300s and a D400..

Maybe it's a good time to sell off all the DX equipment and move up to full frame with a used D3s.

A bit more speculation, this time from a Japanese magazine via Nikon Rumors:

D4:
full frame 18MP CMOS sensor (8 MP when cropped to APS-C)
usable ISO 51200
11fps
flexible LCD monitor
built-in WiFi
51 point all-cross AF point

Nikon D900 (i.e. an apparent successor to D700):
full frame 18mp CMOS sensor
usable ISO 51200
8fps, 10fps with grip
4″ LCD screen
dual SDHC slot

The original post can be found here (http://bit.ly/kuiGhm).

Cheers,
T.

I'll be more excited about the rumored Nikon mirrorless system. It should make the DSLR like cameras credibility.

http://nikonrumors.com/2011/05/05/rumor-nikon-mirrorless-camera-will-come-with-three-lenses-and-2-6x-crop-factor.aspx/

That rumor has been around forever, and not so much as a prototype.

With 2.5x crop, you will need super fast (<f/1.0) lenses to have any control over DOF.

A bit more speculation, this time from a Japanese magazine via Nikon Rumors:.

Drooling ...