Official News on New Nikon DSLR Sensors

[d2frette]

That's great news...though I don't own any Nikon equipment.  It's still only 4 Mp, so I wonder how it will compare to the 1Ds in terms of image quality.  

Or will it?  Is it supposed to compete in the 10D market perhaps, as opposed to the 1Ds/14n market?  Can a 4 Mp image be high enough quality to produce the large prints a 1Ds can?  I would think not!

It would be great for us photographing animals (and sports) to have a full-size sensor that could produce 8fps like Nikon claims the LBCAST can!!  So we can add that to our wish list!

Furthermore, I wonder how this sensor will effect the relationship Nikon has with Kodak.  Kodak's 14n, though half the cost of a 1Ds, is about half the camera from what I've read.  And now Nikon is releasing what appears to be a cool new sensor (we'll have to wait and see) that's only half-size and won't be released into production cameras until "this fall."  Seems like only a half step forward.

[sergio]

What I don't get is why Nikon is doing a camera that is actually competing to a 3 or so year old camera as the Canon EOS 1D. Canon is a lone runner. No real competitors in its class.

[d2frette]

Dan, I agree that the news sounds like it's aimed for sports photographers.  

So how hard can it be for a camera maker to add a larger memory buffer?  Mermory technology is so far advanced...

Speed I could see as a much larger hurdle.  But Nikon already does that well.  I think that Canon could do much better at write speeds (to CF Cards and to the buffer)!!  

Perhaps Nikon and Canon really are setting their future in different directions.  I've thought that Nikon would surprise us with a great camera that would attempt to close the gap between the 1Ds and anything else.  But, I may to be wrong.  It seems that Nikon will let Canon take all the market for his-res photos (unless they actually hope the 14n will catch up) and it will take the sports and military markets.

[BJL]

Canon made a 4+ mpx designed for sports or photojournalism like 3 years ago. I am just very curious (and somewhat dissapointed) with Nikon. I feel they are really way behind Canon which is no good for both market users.

Sergio,

   if the D2h now matches the 1D (and clearly exceeds it in some features), then Nikon is no longer three years behind; they would have, in that "action photography" market, more or less caught up.

I suppose your underlying thought is that "if Canon could produce the 1D three years ago, they will soon be able to introduce something far better", but for now at least, that is only speculation; there are not even any strong rumors of such a product. It might be, for example, that resolution/frame rate trade-offs are now hard to improve; after all, the far newer 1Ds is not any faster than the 1D or D2h, in that all three write to their buffers at about the same "32 million pixels per second".

Shouldn't we wait to write off Nikon at least until Canon announces their "D2h killer"?

[Marshal]

Very interesting article published today:  

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0307/03071802nikonsensor.asp

[BJL]

I probably should just say nothing for one day, waiting to see if Nikon reveals all tomorrow as is hotly rumored. But for the impatient amongst us, I wil mention that the most natural interpretation is that this 4MP, 8fps "hot-rodded CMOS" chip is to be used in the expected successor of the 1Dh, a camera aimed at the same sport/action photography market as the Canon 1D and not really a competitor of the 1Ds at all.

If the main advantage of the LBCAST technology is shooting speed, Nikon might even go for a different technology if and when they challenge to 1Ds.


By the way, the Nikon press release talks about achieving size reductions, pointing yet again at their stated goal of doing everything in DX format (16x24mm frame): I wonder how many times and in how many ways Nikon will have to pledge and evidence their commitment to DX before some people start believing it. I am not referring to comments in this thread or even on this site, but to the widespread "net wisdom" that Nikon will go to 24x36mm frame size in a year or two, even though that would annoy the <bleep> out of all its DX lens customers.

[Dan Sroka]

Not to get involved in speculating. However, a 4MP camera the rumor pages are describing does not sound like it is designed to compete with the 1DS, or the D100 for that matter. It sounds like it is designed for sports photographers, who need speed and huge buffers more than extra resolution.

[sergio]

I meant the 1D. Canon made a 4+ mpx designed for sports or photojournalism like 3 years ago. I am just very curious (and somewhat dissapointed) with Nikon. I feel they are really way behind Canon which is no good for both market users.