Nikon D2Xs

[william_john_smith]

You guys are a little slow today! http://www.robgalbraith.com/

[mawz]

It was announced June 1. We talked about it then.

[ShunCheung]

Last Saturday I talked to a Nikon rep about the D2Xs. Officially, it is supposed to be available on June 29 in the US. However, he himself suggested that date is not firm.

[akira]

FWIW, Nikon's Japanese website says that D2Xs is due out on the 29th of June. It also says that Nikon has already run out of the stock of D2X.

[savagesax]

Anyone know what the advantages are with the new D2Xs? Does the "s," stand for more stuff?

[ShunCheung]

Thom Hogan has a list of the differences between the D2X and D2Xs on his home page: http://www.bythom.com/

 

However, that page will be updated in the future so that the list will be moved to the archives. IMO, the differences are relatively minor, as in the case of S type upgrades, e.g. N90 -> N90s, D70 -> D70s.

 

Incidentally, are there any info on whether there will be any firmware upgrade for the D2X to make it more like the D2Xs, for those features that can be upgraded via firmware?

[basarab]

According to info found at dpreview.com and also at http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-7895-8338 it seems that the main add-on will be the viewer masking feature when cropping in camera. The larger LCD seems a nice touch also as well as the beefier batteries.

 

All that said it seems that the D2Xs is going to be a slightly cosmetized version of the current flagship which is already out of stock in Japan before the upcomming D3X/S hits the market. Doing the math one will notice there have been almost 2 years between the time the D2X was announced and the D2Xs (sept 16th 2004 to june 1st 2006). When looking at the D70, D70s & D200 succesion one will also notice that the timeframe is not all that off (Jan 28th 2004, Apr 20th 2005 & Nov 1st 2005 respectively) which gives us 14 months between D70 and D70s and 19months between D70 and D200. That may lead one to conclude that the upcoming D3 is going to be here around january next year; possible before Xmas 2006 but I kinda doubt that since the pro cameras are tools and not consumer items.

 

We'll see.

[basarab]

Sorry Shun!

 

It seems I missed the info about firmware updates. No news so far though. I guess we just have to wait a bit more.

[ShunCheung]

No need to say sorry while you are providing useful answers. Thanks.

 

Apparently Nikon is changing the release cycles for DSLRs to roughly every 18 months, similar to Canon. You get a minor S type upgrade after 18 months and then a major one after another 18 months. At least for me, it is just fine to upgrade every two cycles. Hopefully those 4-year cycles from the D1X to D2X are now history.

 

There are all sorts of rumors about a 24x36mm "full frame" Nikon DSLR. I just hope that its/their price range will meet most of our needs. Otherwise, the complaints will not end. :-)

[ilkka_nissila]

Some of us need/want a FF DSLR and if the price is initially high, it will come down with time. It'll go down as manufacturing technology improves, just as with Canon. I'm sure the Sony engineers are no less competent than Canon's. And Sony is about to join the DSLR market, though we don't know if they're interested in the high end.

 

Just look at the D200: maybe 85% of D2X with 35% of the price. And it's smaller, lighter, and with better high ISO capability. This is probably what Nikon will do with FF: first an expensive pro model for those who can afford it, and then a mid-grade FF for those who couldn't pay for the first wave.

[david_h._hartman]

Oh Lord, won't you buy me<br>

a D2Xs<br>

My friends all drive D200(s)<br>

I must make amends<br>

<br>

Ya! Save camera settings to a CF card and reload them!

[Richard Williams]

Random thoughts:

 

I wonder if the new viewfinder masking will one day re-surface as a means of using DX lenses on a 24x36mm body..?

 

It's been suggested elsewhere that Capture 4.x will not be upgraded to handle the D2Xs. I wonder if the EXIF 'model tag' hack will work as it did for the D70s? (removing the 's' from the appropriate tag made D70s file compatible with anything that could handle D70 files). OTOH, will the firmware upgrade for the D2X mentioned on Thom's site, which might include new colour mode options, break compatibility with Capture 4.x? (the D70 firmware upgrade that added D70s features didn't change the file format or EXIF Model tag, so in this case there was no effect on compatibility).

[brandonhamilton]

A firmware update for current D2X cameras has been confirmed, and will include all upgrades that the D2Xs has, that is not a hardware upgrade, i.e battery and D200 LCD. Firmware is supposed to be available around the fall.