Nikon D400

NikonRumors has shaken our little world of Internet digital photography by presenting what could well be Nikon’s marching order for the coming year (and a little more). Hold on! There are a lot of details for a single post on a Czech forum:

August 4, 2009

• Nikon D3000
• Nikon D300s with Full-HD movie 24 fps, improved AF, self timer + mirror-up, cf + sd-slot
• AF-S DX 17-65/3.2-4 G VR with 72(!) mm filter

October 15, 2009:

• Nikon D700x with 24.5 MP, Full-HD movie 24 fps, improved AF and self timer + mirror-up
• AF-S Nikkor 24-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (The FX-dream-walk-around-lens?)
• AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II (What everybody waited for! 82 mm filter, 1530 g)
• AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G
• AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G (No VR?)

Q1/2010:

• AF-S Nikkor 14-28mm f/3.5-4.5G ED
• AF-S Nikkor 120-450mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR II (Replacement for 80-400? 82 mm, 1480 g)

Q2/2010:

• Nikon D4 with 15.7 MP, improved 1 EV, Full HD-movie 30fps
• Nikon D400 with 13.8 MP, improved 1 EV, Full HD-movie 24fps

Q3/2010:

• AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4G VR (On the waiting list for many!)
• AF-S Nikkor 400mm f/5.6G VR (Have been missing a long time!)
• AF-S Nikkor 70-240mm f/3.5-4.5G VR (The missing medium size telezoom!)
• AF-S Nikkor 105mm f/2G DC (A small surprise. No VR?)
• AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm f/4G VR
• AF-S DX Nikkor 60-95mm f/2G VR (The DX dream-telezoom!)
• AF-S DX Nikkor 17-60mm f/2.8G VR (Replacing 17-55 with addition of VR)
• Nikon Coolpix P1DX with DX 12.3 MP stabilized sensor, 28-85/3.5-5.6 zoom (comparable to FX, actually 18-56), 2.9 inch 920k-display, movable upwards for macro.

Q4/2010:

• Nikon D4X with 30.2 MP with 1 EV improved sensitivity

So, is it for real? Is it a leak? Or is it merely a tediously built list of relatively good expectations/wishes? Hard to say. I would just remind you that this is clearly classified as a rumor.

As always, I recommend not to make your purchase decisions based upon rumors, but based upon the existing cameras and lenses. The best equipment is always the one you use (compared to the one you dream about). Your dream does not produce photos, but your camera will.

Thanks to Mash.

Without being able to show the exact contents, we can tell that the next news press conferences organized by Nikon will happen on July 30, and August 4. I wouldn’t believe they are ready to predict Lottery results. So, you can figure out what is coming.

It’s on an official Nikon US web site that this image appeared.

Nikon D300s

Supposedly to describe seemingly independent techniques, the article used (this has been changed now) what appeared to be screen copies of the LCD back screen of the Nikon D300s which is still unannounced. Many people expect that under this name (or under the name of Nikon D400) this will be the first camera from Nikon to sport dual Flash cards slots (Compact Flash and SD/SDHC) as was expected from the Nikon D700 body which shows the possibility. It should be a nice replacement for the successful Nikon D300.

Notice the large display. It looks like a 16:9 wide LCD screen. It would be quite nice to ensure that the picture is well preserved while displaying histograms alongside.

Nikon D300s via Nikon Rumours.

I am so uncertain about this rumour that I will not even copy the details here. Nikon Rumor is telling us that there will be an upgrade to the Nikon D300 under the name of Nikon D300s. Honestly, how would Nikon add HD video to an existing design? That would be the smallest increment to a really excellent design, but I doubt they would be doing so small a redesign, even under the current recession times.

It is always difficult to be sure about rumours like that, but a German website has a leak of a few details about the upcoming Nikon D400:

• 16-18 MP image sensor
• New EXPEED II processor
• HD movie function with stereo audio
• Tilt LCD display with some continuous AF capacity in LiveView (same as Sony?)
• Some new lenses announced simultaneously

Orange is presenting the new Nikon D400 SLR as “invité d’honneur” to the Cannes Movie Festival.

Nikon D400 at Cannes

Totally fake, but somewhat fun.

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• Nikon D400

Upon a recommendation by Gérard Pandolfo, I have checked the Google Trends for the upcoming Pentax K7D.

It is interesting to notice that Japan is clearly the country where most of the attraction for the Pentax K7D appears.

While I’m here, let’s notice that the author of a book about the Nikon D400, recently apologized on his web site about the use of a non-existent product name (for a non-existent book). It seems this (and the arrival of recent Nikon new products) is the death of a rumour.

DigitalRev shows the latest news in terms of rumours about the future SLR cameras from Nikon (to be named, Nikon D400 and Nikon D750). You’d expect more transparency: They gorgeously present them as if they were real products, while it’s only nice colours and pictures for the basest rumours of the moment (the name of the Nikon D750 is even less sure than the Nikon D400).

Curiosité : on nous dit que, comme le Nikon D5000, le Nikon D750 aurait un écran LCD articulé.

Nikon D750

Reminder: These are really rumours and graphic reconstructions of what these cameras could be. If they exist in the future.

Everybody says so, everybody repeats it: Nikon will announce its new SLR photo camera, the successor to the D300 in a press event organised on the 14th of April. Let’s try and stay quiet for a week, we’ll see if this is a rumour or a scoop.

One participant to the forums of Somethingawful otained a full collection of pictures taken in Croatia during the shooting of a commercial where we can see a guy handling an SLR camera. On some images, it is possible to notice that it’s a Nikon and that it has a tilt-and swivel LCD display.

Tiltable LCD?

If the photos are usually quite clean and do not look like “discreetly stolen”, it is difficult to say if this is an accidental leak, an organised leak or a sophisticated hoax.

Or, was it the shooting of a commercial film for the upocming Nikon D400, Nikon D5000 or Nikon D65 (or anything else)?

Beware: I only provide the more interesting picture. The others are provide more information about the actor than about the camera.

Nikon started to issue invitations for a press event on April, 14th. While there is no indication on which product will be included, some are reading between the lines and offering that this would be the official launch of the long-awaited Nikon D400…

Even if the Nikon D400 (successor to the Nikon D300) is supposed to be much more expensive than the Canon 500D (successor to the Canon EOS 450D), Google Trends shows that the public’s interest is significantly higher for the Nikon D400.

Nikon D400 vs. Canon 500D

A reader from Nikon Rumours claims he has spotted a partial update of the German Nikon web site showing the Nikon D400.

Nikon D400 spotted

Since this is unconfirmed -even by NR… It may be anything, starting with a possible hoax.

Partial specification:

• 15.3 mega-pixel DX APS-C CMOS sensor
• Sensitivity: ISO 200-6400
• Continuous shooting: 6fps
• HD video capture mode

The “correct” or “corrected” page no longer showing the Nikon D400.

Since the next SLR camera from Nikon is still unconfirmed from the Yellow Brand, we were left with rumours and assumptions. But, thanks to Nikon Rumours and the information collected around a book by author Michael Gradias and titled Nikon D400, we are now sure that there is such a camera upcoming, probably before Summer 2009.

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• Nikon D400

The nearly-arrived new entry-level SLR camera from Nikon would not be named Nikon D65, but Nikon D5000. This is what seems to become the common consensus. It would be a strong contender with:

• 12.3 MP (possibly the same sensor that comes with the Nikon D300 and Alpha 700, in its simplified version)
• No built-in AF motor
• A new built-in flash
• A tilt-and-swivel type of LCD screen (possibly the feature that everybody will be showing this year)
• Video mode(s)
• LiveView

Along with it, people expect to see the Nikon D400 that we discussed several times here on YLovePhoto.

And a price list from Nikon Japan shows the existence (soon to be official) of a possibly great new lens: AI AF Zoom-Nikkor ED 80-200mm f/2.8D. Nice!