Nikon D900

Christian Fletcher is a landscape photographer who has grown very attached to his Full Frame Canon equipment (read: Canon EOS 5D MkII). Interestingly, he seems informed of upcoming pro photo camera(s) which will be sufficiently more attractive to push him into Nikon’s arms.

Hot Nikon (Full Frame) news

What will be this super-Nikon camera?

Origin: NR.

A correspondent from Taipei transmitted me some very amazing information. Looking for information about the Nikon D700, he was informed that the shop no longer was stocking it in preparation of an upcoming Nikon D900. I would classify this in the “very low probability” folder since I cannot believe that the Nikon D700 is already reaching end of life. It could be either a message from the future or a bad excuse from a shop owner basing himself upon a possible upcoming announcement, but let’s wait for a confirmation.

Update: This is unconfirmed.

During quite some time it had been rumoured that there would be a Nikon D900 (or a Nikon D800) to replace the Nikon D3. Quite obviously, the simultaneous development of the Nikon D700 and Nikon D3x led many observers to misinterpretation of the inside signals they were getting in the Nikon naming game. Who really expected to see two Full Frame 35mm digital SLR cameras from Nikon in a few months only?

Now, people are left wondering what Nikon will be preparing next. The obvious move is to complete the Nikon D300 with some new camera that would allow to grab some more market after the still green D300. This should be the… Nikon D400 (no surprise, eh!)

But the D3x (with its out-of-Earth price) and the D700 with its emphasis toward high ISOs (at the expense of high pixel counts) leave a clearly open path for a new camera that would be a direct contender against the Canon EOS 5D MkII and the Sony Alpha 900. Give Nikon a D300 body to cram a 20+ mega-pixel sensor and you should get a… Nikon D800/D900.

I would expect these two cameras to be arriving around mid-2009, possibly in Fall to leave some time to launch an entry-level camera before Summer.

Nikon D3

Let’s make a summary of the current status of the information that is available (for real or as rumours) about the next SLR camera from Nikon.

Plenty of people actually expect it to be the replacement of the Nikon D3 camera. I have to admit that there is a lot of rumours and convergent thinking that leads to the launch of such a pro SLR camera in the beginning of 2009 (probably just before the PMA fair).

Actually, nobody (out of Nikon; and even there…) really knows the future name of this camera. Most experts (including Thom Hogan) think that it should be Nikon D3x, some people say that it will definitely be named differently, and I even see a convergence of Nikon D900. But this last one seems totally weird since it would lead Nikon to breaking the marketing message dropping the pro-SLR camera family into the prosumer D200/D300/D700 family.

Nikon rumours repeatedly pushed rumours telling us that this would be happening in the beginning of next year, in the end of 2008, in 2009, or on.. November 20th, then December 6-7th, or December 1st. Let’s say that they don’t know anything at all.

But there is definitely something coming before the end of 2008. I would suggest that some people should start looking at the low end of the market.

Nikon is preparing a replacement for the Nikon D60 (currently covered by some cash-back offers). And there are only two possibilities:

• Either it will be launched before Christmas 2008
• Or it will be ready only in Spring 2009

But I don’t think that the Nikon D3x (or Nikon D900 ) will not be arriving in December.

This is all over the Internet rumours now. People think that Nikon is going to unveil a new 35mm Full Frame SLR camera at around 24MP. Let’s summarized what has been popping everywhere:

• The Nikon D3 is getting more difficult to find (this would be a signal that its replacement is coming)
• Announcement is scheduled for November 20th (but nobody seems to have any details and is just repeating the same tired old news).
• People speak about a Nikon D3x or a Nikon D400 (the latest fad), but nobody really knows its name, though. Even, the guy who sent poor photos to Nikon Rumours earlier this month.
• A German Nikon web site has been seen using a D3_2 name for a folder to store firmwares (could mean anything).
• But most interestingly, the Sony sensor guys revealed that they no longer intend to sell their 24MP sensor to outsiders. This is a major change compared to the previous deals between Nikon and Sony that led successfull cameras like the Nikon D200. That probably removes most of the fuel from the previous rumours of 24MP sensor size. Nikon would be ready to use any size as far as it is larger than the one from the Nikon D700.

Did I say BIG?

I would not be much surprised if I saw a really large pixel count… Stay tuned.

Thom Hogan seems to be the only one who is seriously refering to this possible camera. But, as he really is a reference in the Nikon world, we must take this into account. For him, there will be no Nikon D4 ‘or nikon D3x), but Nikon is going for some kind of intermediate named Nikon D900. Whatever the name, it’s supposed to be the replacement of the Nikon D3 (not really old) and to use the 24.6 mega-pixel Full Frame sensor borrowed from Sony.