Nikon D900 Rumors

3 comments

Posted by Patrick on Jul 28, 2008 in 2008 Photokina, Cameras, Rumors

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Rumors on a Nikon D900 instead of D3x. This seems unlikely to me based on the firmware leak a ways back that specifically mentions a D3x.

Nevertheless, Thom doesn’t seem skeptical at all, via photographybay::

I’m going to go a different direction: no D3x. Yes, a 24mp FX body, but it’ll be the D900. This allows them to use the Sony sensor and bring it downscale to compete with the A900/5DII.

And I’ll add more from Thom here:

Really? Why? Consider a 24mp FX sensor in the D700 body at the D700 price. There’s nothing really wrong with the D700 body from a pro standpoint (though 100% viewfinder would have been nice). If Nikon uses the Sony 24mp sensor as expected, they have to compete with the A900, which is likely to be at that lower price point. And that 24mp sensor is not particularly fast (no 8 fps, though perhaps if Nikon does their high-speed DX crop thing with it they might get close at 12-bit). The question is this: do we REALLY need a 24mp sensor in the D3 body? What does that gain? Okay, I just thought of one thing: those two card slots come in handy with more pixels. But is that enough?

Consider that Canon comes out with a 5DII that’s, say, 16mp. If Nikon has two US$2995 cameras at 12mp and 24mp they’ve effectively bracketed the 5DII. The 12mp camera provides better high ISO performance, the 24mp camera provides more pixels.

This talk dates from a while back, but even recently in the forums discussions has centered around talk of modular type camera (sensor swapping) and Thom doesn’t seem to by shy about talking about those possibilities:

modular approach gives you a little more flexibility. Things that aren’t broke (the basic body, shutter, controls) don’t need to be redesigned every cycle just so they look different. Things that iterate the fastest (sensor) can be replaced as fast as you can engineer new iterations and are a natural sell to your existing customers. You save you big design twists for major disruptions, like the changeover from Bayer to three-layer.

In one respect, DSLRs are already modular: lenses are separate from body. But another level of modularity would allow a more flexible design approach: lens, body, electronics.

And it ain’t just Thom folks, Michael J. McNamara discussed at length his thoughts on Inside Digital Photo. The discussion again centering around a modular type camera, with swappable sensor, that he feels is likely before Photokina, and based on conversations with engineers at Nikon.

I dunno though. It seems unlikely that a camera with this flexibility( and clearly presumed technological advances) is coming so soon. I’d still bet on a D3x over a modular system, it just makes more sense based on what Canon is offering (1Ds mark III). We’ll see.

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3 Responses to “Nikon D900 Rumors”

Ian says:
September 21, 2008 at 7:33 pm

I myself had merely mused on the idea of a D900 with a higher megapixel count (the google search for which led me to this page in the first place) This was just based on what I had seen happening with the launch of so many new Dnubers on the nikon role call and the obvious need for that extra 12mp. But at no point had I considered a modular system because it just seems such and out of left field idea. I suppose it is this fact that makes me so excited about the idea. It would be a while before I could justify the expense, having just splashed out on a shiny new D300. But it would most deffinitely be justified eventually. What a world of possibilities that would open up. Would it be likely that this modular camera would follow the more obvious road of a medium format style modular system, or would they be more likely to do something else out of left field and have a smaller sensor housing attatch to the back of a more traditional SLR style body?

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ventidin says:
October 4, 2008 at 7:24 am

Secondo il mio modesto parere l’argomento è molto credibile, anzi possibile dal momento che 12 MP sul formato FX sono circa l’equivalente di 7-8 MP sul DX, ecco che il rapporto MPixel-qualità torna senza smentite, cioè, 24 MP sul formato
FX sono circa 14-16 MP sul dormato DX,
un buon carico di qualità per le reflex attuali.

ora et labora

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Patrick says:
October 4, 2008 at 9:04 am

Ian, a modular system would be exciting, but is so speculative, I can’t even begin to guess as to the format, although all I can imagine is the modular medium format style as you mentioned

ventidin, I, uhhh… don’t really know how to respond to your comment?

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