Mounting SLR lenses on a rangefinder doesn't make sense to me. SLR lenses are designed around the compromises required by the reflex mirror. Get rid of the mirror and you can redesign and get better lenses.

Anyone who has shot with Leica M's or the Contax G2 can see the difference. The lenses are smaller and simply better.

I'd rather see someone use the existing design of the G2 lenses and build a camera around them. Nikon can't seem to release SLR lenses as we need them.

Nikon has a patent out for a new lens mount - a very cool design with diaphragms that close on the lens and camera when the lens is disconnected. I suspect this will be the new, native lens mount for the Nikon DX-based mirrorless, electronic viewfinder camera (EVIL). You will not be able to natively mount DX lenses onto a DX-based EVIL camera because of the change in the distance between the lens mount and sensor, you will need to have a micro-DX lens mount to make the most of the new design (just like 4/3 and m4/3 have different native mounts. HOWEVER, Nikon would be silly not to sell a microDX - DX/FX adapter.

I'm hoping for a November release for this one. :)

Here is an idea or 2. The Nikon DX with a DX image sensor in "rangefinder" styling. And the Nikon FX, a true digital rangefinder with the D3 and/or D3x image sensor.

The "FX" would need to be compatible with Nikon's old range finder lenses, and Nikon would need to release new ranger finder lenses though...

I think the last Rangefinder Nikon made for 35mm was the 35ti from 1993. A superb camera with a terrific lens.

In my mind a rangefinder camera has a small window with frame lines above and to the side of the lens.

"Electronic" viewfinders are never part of the equation.

I didn't mean you NSX, I was talking about some of the comments on the blog page and how people in general tend to refer to the word rangefinder when talking about the new mirrorless compacts.

Nikon made a "new" SP rangefinder back in 2005. It was very limited edition and extremely expensive, oh and it was still just a film camera :^) Why not a digital version?

I didn't say the EP-1 and GF1 were rangefinders. I just wanted something slightly different from Nikon. Obviously they won't be making the SP rangefinder again, so a digital one for a niche market sounds cool. I wouldn't mind if they shoved a D3 sensor into it.

Umm....

Words escape me. Does it come kitted with the Lecia lens? LOL ;)

Nice find Niko. Maybe it will make Admin's "Rumors I didn't Post" section.

Ahhh—make it go away! I won't go to canon.com again, I swear!

That thing scared me!

Could this be the first picture of the Nikon APS-C compact? ;^)

http://www.photographybay.com/2009/09/16/nikon-aps-c-compact-camera-leica-x1-clone/

I'd be happy with D90 handling, sensor and control, a 24-90 or 105 (equivalent) zoom, VR, f2.8-4.0, good rangefinder, a hot shoe and water sealed/water proof. I'd give up interchangeable lenses for weather sealing.

Sign me up for one of these, but I have to ask, why stop at DX? If the big selling points of FX are wider angles, and better low light performance, then those are two things I'd like to have when indoors. My $100 Cannon point and shoot gives me great results when I'm outside in broad daylight (shutter lag aside). Where it falls woefully short is for use in dimly lit bars (where, as it turns out, I spend most of my time).

I don't mind lugging around my tiny D40 on a long hike. My body will tire from lugging around my (*ahem*) considerable frame (*cough*) long before that extra pound or two of camera makes a difference, and my 35mm f1.8, if not a pancake, is certainly no more than a short stack.

Indoors, even my tiny D40, screams "Photo-Dork". Never-mind that I'm not the guy at the loud table blinding the entire bar every 10 seconds with his point & shoot's annoying repeating flash. Somehow its the DSLR guy that stands out.

Indoors, wider is generally better, unless the doors you are in are the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, but then you will be to busy watching for deflected footballs falling from the jumbo-tron to worry about photography. FX gets the advantage indoors. I don't want Nikon's answer to the EP1, and the GF1... I want Nikon's answer to that OTHER tiny camera that everyone keeps talking about... You know, the one that's going to drag KR back into the digital era.

People seem to confuse a rangefinder and a mirrorless camera as meaning the same thing. The EP1 and GF1 are NOT rangefinders. The Leica M8 and M9 are true rangefinders. What people want from Nikon are two very different cameras.

A digital Nikon rangefinder has been wished upon for many years even before the M8/9 and the GF/EP1. This camera will be priced like a D3 or even a D3X. So Nikon will be praised and booed at the same time when they announce it.

A Nikon COOLPIX with an APS-C sized sensor with either a fixed or interchangeable lens will be priced like a D5000 or D90. The Leica X1 cost $2000USD! so Nikon's version won't be a rebadged X1. An Fmount COOLPIX is a stretch because it would take sales away from the entry level DSLR but would be a big seller. I think a fixed lens APS-C COOLPIX would make more sense but would be less popular unless it was priced like a D3000.

If they manage to keep the F-mount but just lose the mirror box, it would be pretty cool- a digital rangefinder. Not a EP-1 or a GF1 piece of crap. :D

The 35mm 1.8 in pancake form with a F-mount would be an awesome kit lens.

Ah, I can always dream. :D

Wow NikoDoby I just check out the blog on the X1, people sure have some wild ideas on which camera they would like to have made, mostly would not even be all that compact, large viewfinder, fx etc

Maybe there could be market for both a X1 style fixed lens Nikon and a digital Nikon SP style rangefinder both with APS-C sensors, I would prefer the rangefinder kind

Pete

Yes that kind of camera would be great, but it has to be a retro look Nikon, like a black X1, the nikon SP rangefinder looks great also

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/htmls/rangefinder.htm

Pete

That's exactly why the COOLPIX line needs a camera like this!

Oh and before Gentoo gets up in my grill, I have to clarify that the X1 has a 12.9 mp sensor which is NOT the same as on the current D90. So maybe a D90S/X is in the works?

not the coolpix... that brand is tainted IMO

So this is a very hot topic on the Blog and I'd like to hear what the forum thinks about such a camera. I've always said a compact DX camera with interchangeable DX lenses would be AWESOME and would solidify the DX lens future! But if Nikon gives us a Leica X1 fixed lens compact (P7000?) I'd be happy too.

Either way there's a new Nikon APS-C camera coming. Not that that's a total surprise, unless the D90 is about to get updated/replaced? Would you guys start a Nikon riot if the next new camera isn't a D700S/X but a D90S?!

Here's the link to the original rumor source.
http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2009/09/15/leica-nikon-to-announce-aps-c-sized-sensor-compact-/

Only Ashton Kutcher knows for sure :^)
Let the opinionating begin