Nikon 14 MP Digital Camera Body

Hello All

 

Would someone please chime in and notify us if the rumors of a 14MP

Digital Nikon Body are fact, or fiction. A French website stated such

a body is planned and currently undergoing testing, and that it would

cost 10,000 Euro's. No release date.

 

Sincerely

Hugh

They're probably referring to the new Kodak DSLR that has a 14 Mp CMOS sensor in a Nikon body <p>You'll find more info <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/articles/photokina2002/page3.asp#kodak">here</a>.

Probably the French are rumoring about the Kodak 14n camera,

which is a hybrid of the F100 + N80 + proprietary Kodak parts

and technologies. (I've handled it : it feels like an F100 chassis

but the controls seem N80 based, with a back and camera base

that is pure Kodak. Kodak reps also says the rubberized shell

which is injection molded over the magnesium frame is also a

pure Kodak feature).<P>It is very likely that there is a 14 + Mp

camera on the horizon, probably more based on the F100 or the

F5 chassis and body.<P>Isn't the the euro about 1 to 1 these

days with the Us dollar/ if so I really , really doubt that this

hypothetical Nikon will cost anywhere near $10,000. Canon

really got their ass handed to them with the announced $9500

list price of the EOS D1s, since the Kodak 14n will have a street

price in the $4,000 to 4,500 range.<P>If you are not a sports

photographer, the Kodak 14n is going to be the camera to beat.

"....fact, or fiction."<p>

 

Although numerous circumstantial evident do point to Nikon working on some type(s) of 10+ MP body, most of the "specific information" circulating out there about the details of that body is probably fiction.

Yeah, the Kodak DCS-14n has set the price range for any new fill-35mm-frame ~14M-pixel DSLRs. Even though any new Nikon may be slightly better than the Kodak such as having better AF and/or metering systems, it cannot be much more than US$4000 or they won't be able to sell very many of them.

 

Moreover, the Nikon F5 is an over-6-year-old design. Any "F5 based" design shouldn't be the state of the art any more. If it weren't the popularity of DSLR's, an F6 should have been just around the corner by now. Any new top-of-the-line DSLR should have features that are beyond the F5.

Hi there,

 

I was talking to a guy at Nikon Pro services a few weeks ago. He

said that the new DSLR will come out about 2 years after the

D1X was announced. That is the prevailing cycle.

 

He also said they will introduce at least one more "F" series pro

film body.....maybe a film/digital hybrid???

 

db

The F5 still seem to be state-of-art. In the level of the EOS 1V, the camera that the 1Ds is based on.

Good and welcome info on the upcoming pro body possibility, Daniel. Hopefully, it will be smaller/lighter than the F5, but with the same build quality, a detachable power booster/motor drive - and offer the option of a digital back. A camera like <I>that</I> I would want to buy. And I'm sure a great many others will, as well.

I seriously doubt that there will ever be an F6. Virtuanlly all news reporter types have switched to digital; the market for any film-based top-of-the-line F bodies will be very small in the future. Moreover, what are the major improvements that will justify an upgrade from the F5? Most of the recent advances in camera bodies are in digital technology.

 

Any hybrid film/digital body also doesn't make any sense. There will be so many compromises that it won't do either very well. For example, you are inviting to have a lot of dust collected on your CCD/CMOS if somehow that part can be swap out for a film back.

 

IMO, a D2 with ~14MP, faster AF than the Kodak DSC-14n and perhaps a full-35mm-frame sensor makes more sense. But of course, not everything in this world makes sense. A lot of products that don't make sense have been produced and their manufacturers have lost a lot of money.

You could be right, Shun - about the F5 being the swan song for flagship film cameras from Nikon. But I disagree that the F5 can't be improved on. If our hypothetical F6 differed from its predecessor only in having a detachable power booster, and in being lighter and smaller (on the order of the F3) - that would be improvement enough. <P>

 

But if we could add to this, an optional, digital back: the resulting alchemy would open a lot of wallets (while closing a great many mouths). Can't be done? Well, of course, it is being done already in medium format. And while I realize that is by no means the same thing, I think the issue of dust in the censor is easily dealt with via some sort of engineering fix. In other words, if they wanted to do it, they could. <P>

 

None of the PJs I know has yet gone to digital - but that could just be because we're behind the times here. And in any case, I realize digital is inevitable for the PJ world. All the more reason, then, to put a digital back on a film camera. As for why it should still shoot film as an option? Perhaps nikon studies indicate that film will still be widely used for the next 10-15 years? It may well end up that film and digital will diverge and be used concurrently for quite some time.

Doug, by no means I am saying that the F5 can't be improved. The F5 isn't a perfect camera and in general just about any product can be improved.

 

The question is which major improvements Nikon can put on the F6 and do they have a big enough market to keep the F6 in production for another 8 years or so, which is the typical product cycle for the F series cameras. If they can't, it'll be very difficult to recover any R&D investment in any F6.

 

A hybrid doesn't make any sense to me. For those who want to use both film and digital, you are much better off with separate bodies. I currently use an F5, F100 and a D100. But this is merely a transitioinal period. I just heard in the news that Canon is predicting that the lower-end DSLRs will be around US$1000 in 18 months. Expect massive transition to DSLR by then, and higher-end DSLRs will like $2000 to $3000. There'll be very little reason for remaining PJ's to stay with film. Only some traditionalists will continue to use film and any potential F6 will have a very narrow market by the time it is introduced. Some of those traditionalists don't even like electronics and AF; that is why Nikon makes the FM3A. Those people are not buying any F6 either.

 

Moreover, given the tough competition in the SDLR market, can Nikon afford to divert any R&D resources to any F6?

"can Nikon afford to divert any R&D resources to any F6"<p>

I think Nikon can afford to make the minimum R&D investment needed to come up with a a minimum update of the the F5 and call it F6, It will probably be essentially an F5 with next generation autofocus and metering systems developed for next generation DSLR, in much the same way Canon updated the Elan IIE and came up with the Elan 7E.