New Nikon Info Finally Released

Phyxius

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8742-9085
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8742-9083
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8742-9084

Phyxius

D300 sounds nice. Wish it was coming out before the shootout. Oh well! I think I found a good deal on a D80. It's low enough that I wouldn't buying it and then reselling later.


I can't imagine how cluttered that viewfinder would be with 51 focus points.

So, c'mon comments? Thoughts?

Besides this of course --->

thegridrunner

I like that new 24-70 f/2.8 lense. I will hopefully pick that up soon (It fills a nice gap in nikons lineup)

Harryb

It leave me with a lot of decisions to make. Go with the D300 or the D3? I love the specs on the D3 but I hate to lose the reach by going to full frame.

The D300 will retain the reach of my D2X and D200 but I don't think it will handle noise as well as the D3. Of course I could keep my 2X for my second body and still have the same reach I now enjoy.

The pricing on the D300 is great and will be a much easier sell to Linda (aka SWMBO).

Decisions, decisions.

Then one has to consider that Nikon will probably release its flagship body in the first half of next year. Maybe go with the D300 for the moment and wait for next year to make my final decision.

Another consideration is that I will have to go over to Capture NX when I get one of the new bodies. :twitch

pyrtek

Harryb wrote:

I love the specs on the D3 but I hate to lose the reach by going to full frame.

Are you sure you're losing reach? Have you compared the pixel densities of
the two cameras? You might even be gaining reach with the D3.

kygarden

Apparently this is a D2H upgrade, not an upgrade to the "flagship" D2X. Thom Hogan mentioned something about a D2X upgrade coming next year. So it's going to get even more interesting than it already is! Nice that they're keeping the D200 and not ditching it for the D300. So that means you can expect a price drop on the D200, already a good price anyway. The Deathstar is charging.....

HarveyMushman

kygarden wrote:

Nice that they're keeping the D200 and not ditching it for the D300. So that means you can expect a price drop on the D200, already a good price anyway.

Being broke, that was my first thought.

patch29

Some cool features.

CF card double slot accepts two CF cards.

I like that more than Canon's CF/SD, so there is not need to have both types of cards.

High-definition (920,000 dots), 170° viewing angle, 3-inch VGA LCD monitor with tempered glass.

I think Canon tops out at 230,000 pixels. I would like to see the difference.

ISO-equivalent 25,600.

Anyone seen any high ISO shots? That will be the real telling feature vs Canon for me.

Phyxius

patch29 wrote:

Anyone seen any high ISO shots? That will be the real telling feature vs Canon for me.

Haven't seen test shots yet...but I'm sure DPrivew will have some soon. Here are the previews.

D3

D300



And a little more lens info
Three Telephotos

Harryb

patch29 wrote:

Anyone seen any high ISO shots? That will be the real telling feature vs Canon for me.

I haven't seen any yet but Rod Galbraith in his preview wrote:

"Larger-pixel sensors tend to have better signal-to-noise ratios than smaller-pixel ones, and based on a look at ISO 1600 - ISO 25,600 frames produced by prototype D3 bodies, including a handful we shot ourselves, the camera looks like it will produce low light photos that are both massively cleaner and more usable than the D2Xs and in the same ballpark as Canon's EOS-1D Mark III (which is the D3's primary competition). Nikon promises a dynamic range bump of 300%, and we suspect that this claimed improvement is almost entirely because of the lower noise characteristics of the sensor."

kygarden

These are just personal observations with no scientific test involved, but this veteran posted a comment on another forum about the noise from his own test shots while looking at the camera during the Japan news confernce:

"The new D3 has high-ISO performance beyond what anyone could imagine possible. I could hardly believe my eyes. "

That was Bjorn Rorslett, professional nature photog saying that.

I can't wait to see the real tests Should be interesting.

Lee Massey

kygarden wrote:

I can't wait to see the real tests Should be interesting.

Me too! The D3 looks sweet. Definitely out of my price range, but very, very nice...

Lee

kygarden

Yikes! The more I read about the specs of the D300, the more I just can't believe it! - for the price. They even threw a magnesium alloy grip in the mix! No more plastic battery grip like the D200 got. AND it has a multi-selector on it too!!! Now you can reach the selector to adjust focus points right there on the grip.

Lee Massey

I agree... As much as the D3 looks like a great camera, I believe that the D300 is going to "steal the show", especially for the price. It is definitely an attractive feature set for the price.

Not too mention that the D200 should become more attractive in price too...

Either way, more competition between Nikon and Canon is a good thing for us consumers. However, after just buying a D200 last year, I will be out for buying a new camera any time soon. But I am still envious of these new cameras and lenses...

Lee

kygarden

Lee Massey wrote:

I agree... As much as the D3 looks like a great camera, I believe that the D300 is going to "steal the show", especially for the price. It is definitely an attractive feature set for the price.

Not too mention that the D200 should become more attractive in price too...

Either way, more competition between Nikon and Canon is a good thing for us consumers. However, after just buying a D200 last year, I will be out for buying a new camera any time soon. But I am still envious of these new cameras and lenses...

Lee

Same here - new D200 last year. but I'm still going to try to find a way to talk my live-in accountant (you know the deal) to let me buy a D300 near the end of next year. Maybe for Christmas Anyway, I think the D3's target is pro news, sports and photojournalists. The D300 is just like the D200...sort of out there in it's own little world. Not quite total pro, but no where near consumer grade. That's one heck of a camera and features.

Zanotti

Do you think that the price points that Nikon has announced will make
Canon react on the pricing for the 40D, 5D, and Mark III?

Canon has in the past priced new cameras fairly high, then quickly reduced actual selling prices in the marketplace.

Look at the 5D - its dropped by half (?) I seem to remeber Andy paying much more for his than the street price is today.

Z

In2Photos

Zanotti wrote:

Do you think that the price points that Nikon has announced will make
Canon react on the pricing for the 40D, 5D, and Mark III?

Canon has in the past priced new cameras fairly high, then quickly reduced actual selling prices in the marketplace.

Look at the 5D - its dropped by half (?) I seem to remeber Andy paying much more for his than the street price is today.

Z

One thing it might change is the amount of the rebates they usually offer during the Christmas season.

UT Scott

While it's probably not the most important feature, something I noticed from the D3 pictures is the new 10 pin cap. It's now rubber and attached to the body! I'm sure I'm not the only one who's lost their 10 pin cap!

Ok, and the fx/dx stuff is pretty cool too.

claudermilk

Wow. Looks like Nikon hasn't been completely asleep. All the gear looks really interesting. The specs on the bodies looks really good--I'd love to see some sample shots & find out if Nikon finally makes up some ground on Canon's high-ISO noise advantage. Even so, the MkIIIs and 40D have some serious competition.

Prices on the bodies looks good, beats the Canon pro stuff and slots nicely between the 40D-5D, just about where the capabilities seem to put the D300. The lenses, however. Ouch! And we Canon shooters thought our glass was pricey (e.g., Canon 24-70/2.8L $1100, Nikon 24-70/2.8 $1700).

zigzag

I held off buying a D200 because of two things: I wanted better high ISO and a dust cleaner (I knew they'd put one in eventually).

Consider me sold on a D300. Anyone up for buying a used D70 in November?

epetti

Now how long would you guess the wait will be until this filters down to the lower end models? 6 months, a year, longer? It's a sign of what's to come down the whole line.

D.Rodgers

Whoo hoo I"m so glad the rumors were true..
Now I need to wait and see how long before a d300 makes it to a Canadian retailer.barbclap
Thank you Nikon Gods...

jonh68

It leave me with a lot of decisions to make. Go with the D300 or the D3? I love the specs on the D3 but I hate to lose the reach by going to full frame.

I made have misunderstood the specs, but I THINK if you use a DX lens, it will go back to the ratio of the D200 and D300 so you don't lose the reach.

kygarden

Was just reading a bit on a cam review site and saw this note from one of the guys at the press confernence:

"After the disappointment of the D2H, I have to say I was taking Nikon's claims of low noise at high ISOs with a rather large grain of salt. When I saw the aforementioned prints though, I was literally flabbergasted. The D3 didn't just surpass the 1D Mark III, it far surpassed it. Well, that may be a little strong; the Mark III is a fantastic camera, but the difference between its images and those from the D3 was anything but subtle. As I say, I'll remain a skeptic until we can test a production sample of the D3 ourselves, but if the images shown had any basis in reality (and Nikon would be foolish to have doctored them in any way), it looks like there's a new leader in the high-ISO / low-noise derby, and it's the D3."

http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1187901361.html

Uh oh...so you mean (if this remains true after the official camera tests/reviews are done) we can finally get rid of all the whining about no full frame on Nikon and worse noise at high ISO? Lord I hope so. Man...if this turns out to be all the camera people are saying it is after the first impression/quick on-hands playing...wow...Nikon hit the jackpot.

Harryb

Thom Hogan has some initial comments about the D3.

From all the reports I've seen the D3 appears to be a breakthrough camera. The inital production is going to be 8K a month (60K for the D300). These are going to be very, very hard to get. I'm going to try to place a pre-order tomorrow for the D3.

ziggy53

Harryb wrote:

Thom Hogan has some initial comments about the D3.

From all the reports I've seen the D3 appears to be a breakthrough camera. The inital production is going to be 8K a month (60K for the D300). These are going to be very, very hard to get. I'm going to try to place a pre-order tomorrow for the D3.

Good luck Harry. Does that mean new glass too?

ziggy53

jonh68 wrote:

I made have misunderstood the specs, but I THINK if you use a DX lens, it will go back to the ratio of the D200 and D300 so you don't lose the reach.

That's what I read too, but the resolution drops as well, so it's not a perfect answer but has some application.

HoofClix

jonh68 wrote:

I made have misunderstood the specs, but I THINK if you use a DX lens, it will go back to the ratio of the D200 and D300 so you don't lose the reach.

With the D200/D300 being around the 11-12 MP zize on a DX sensor, which is about 23.5mm, using a 200 mm lens, you have all of that reach spread over all of those pixels....

With the D3's stated 12MP spread out over a 35mm sensor, you will definitely lose reach with your current set of lenses if you go with the D3. In the "DX crop mode" it says it is about 5MP, Which means that it is effectively less reach and resolution than the D100!

I look forward to these two cameras to finally get rid of the noise so I can do more indoor work, especially the stage work that I do on the side. The D200 is doing well enough, but maybe now with either of these, we Nikonites will be in the Canon arena in this regard! The D300 sounds like the deal, and now a couple of D200 backups for me sounds like it's going to be affordable!

Shane422

Harryb wrote:

I love the specs on the D3 but I hate to lose the reach by going to full frame.

The D300 will retain the reach of my D2X and D200 but I don't think it will handle noise as well as the D3. Of course I could keep my 2X for my second body and still have the same reach I now enjoy.

By "reach" are you talking about the infamous 1.5X crop factor where supposedly 300MM = 450MM and 50MM = 75MM?

I thought we were making it out of the confusion that a crop factor sensor is contributing anything to magnification. It only determines field of view. It would be more accurate to think of the D3 as gaining you field of view over the D300 since you are not actually losing or gaining any magnification by changing sensor sizes.

Phyxius

I pre-ordered the D300 from Ritz. I'm number 18 : They got the SKUs around 5pm EST and I called at 6. I've already seen some people saying they've pre-ordered the D3.

I think they hit live on the website tonight at midnight. I ordered via phone.

Harryb

ziggy53 wrote:

Good luck Harry. Does that mean new glass too?

Thanks Z and I'm going to hold off on the new glass for now but the 14-24 has caught my eye. I already have the 500mm F/4 and don't have a need for any long glass right now.