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.