Speculations (wishful thinking/predictions)

[eitanwaks]

Hi,
after many years of restraint I just purchased my first digital camera.  It is a Nikon D200.  I purchased it because the price of purchasing slide film and developing it has become outrageous and I can no longer justify it.  I chose this camera because I have a large amount of Nikon glass.  I do have some problems with the camera before I even got it in my hands.

First and foremost, I love shooting wide-angle shots.  My bread-and-butter lens on my F100 is my 20 mm 2.8.  I love getting my subject and the background together in the same frame.  I shoot almost always with prime lenses, but not because they are supposed to be of higher quality.  It is because I'm disabled and prime lenses weigh much less than zooms.  I would love to be able to use the professional zooms such as the 17-35, 24-70, 70-200 but unfortunately I can't so I use 20, 28, 35, 50, 85 mm primes.  I do this because the majority of my photography is done handheld.  When I do use my tripod I use either my Sigma 20-40 2.8 or Nikon 80-200 2.8.

Eye-opening bore you I hope I did not bore you all to death with this introduction but I think it is relevant for the following very short question.

Do you think Nikon will come out with a full frame camera that doesn't weigh as much as a brick?  If so, when?  I would love to have a full frame camera that weighs around 500 to 700 g.  This is even lighter than my F100/D200.

I understand that nobody has any real information about this, and like everybody else I hate rumors that spread on the net with no substance however, I would love to hear what people think are the chances of such a camera coming out.

Sorry for starting one of these dreadful threads but I felt I had to.

[DarkPenguin]

No way to predict.  We only have 1 FF data point in the nikon world and only 1 relatively light FF camera in the 5D.

It wouldn't be horribly expensive to buy the older set of canon EF primes and the 5D.  Not sure if that is of interest.

Have you considered something like the D60 and 3rd party zooms?  Tamron makes some great lightweight lenses.

[AWeil]

Eitan,
Have you considered the wide angle lenses for Nikon?
such as:
AF-S DX 10,5mm/2.8 GE D
AF-D 14 mm/2.8
AF-D 16mm/2.8 Fisheye (de-fished later in software)
AF-D 18mm/2.8
And as a zoom lens, but not as large and heavy as the other zooms:
AF-S DX 12-24 mm, 4, G-IF ED

Angela

[eitanwaks]

AWeil,
now that I've bought my digital camera I am actually looking into buying those lenses.  Or at least some of them.  I understand that the D200 has a 1.5 crop factor.  I usually do not shoot anything wider than a 20 mm frame on a 35 mm sensor size.  I guess that would mean that a 14 mm would be the widest lens that I would need.  Too bad that it cost so much.  Also, it's not the lightest lens there is.  The former was referring to the Nikon brand.  I have actually seen reviews that indicate that Sigma has a 14 mm lens that is pretty much on par with the Nikon brand.  It is also much lighter.  I am looking into that.

I don't want to have to deal with 'de-fishing' a lens for software after-the-fact.  It seems like a hassle.  Not to mention the fact that one I would be looking through the lens on my camera I would be looking at a scene as if it were a fisheye.  It would be very difficult to compose a scene.

The 18 mm lens is also an interesting prospect because it would give me a 27 mm prospective with regards to 35mm film.  I might end up purchasing that.

The most important thing is, I will try to find someplace that I can rent a 12-24 mm lens.  Maybe I can handle it.  Hopefully.  I understand that Sigma, Tokina, Tamron also make lens in that zoom range.  They might also be worth a look.

Thank you for the suggestions.