where there’s smoke there’s fire

After spending almost an hour trying to translate the few cryptic sentences I received, the final word on the lenses release date is “in few days”. We know for sure that Nikon has a press events scheduled in multiple countries on February 3rd, 2010. We also know that the new Coolpixes will be announced on that event. This means that all Nikon websites will be updated with the new products around midnight on February 2nd (tomorrow). I am still not sure if this will be the event for the new lenses or there will be a separate release date – the time frame “in few days” doesn’t tell us much (unfortunately, I do not have any contact info on that source).

Anyway, the lenses are coming for sure before PMA.

Sorry, I am on the road and those updates are coming from my iPhone.
The two new lenses will be released in few days (Google translation sucks). Tomorrow is a “Coolpix day”. As previously expected, Nikon will have two press conferences. Not sure about the exact day. I will know more later.

Nikon will have only one press conference on February 3rd, 2010 (the actual announcement could be on February 2nd, depending on your time zone). I never got any information about a second press conference (like they did last year). It is now also too late to schedule one. This could only mean that Nikon doesn’t have much to show. They will never announce a major DSLR product together with the Coolpix cameras. Look back at previous Nikon announcements – when was the last time they announced a DSLR body (FX), several lenses (FX), few Coolpix cameras and maybe even teleconverters all at the same time? I’ve said that few times before in the comments section and now I will say it on the main page:

No new Nikon DSLR prior to PMA!

I really hope I am wrong this time. If they pull one out, I can assure you that nobody outside Nikon’s headquarter knows about it. There is just no information out there, nothing, zilch.

This is my final word on what we will get next week based on the information I have so far (unless I get something new in the last moment):

• Four new Coolpix cameras: Coolpix S3000, S8000, P100 and Coolpix L110 | [NR] possibility rating: 99%

• Two new FX lenses: AF-S 24mm f/1.4 prime (this link is for the patent application) and AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR zoom lenses | [NR] possibility rating: 95%

• Teleconverters: TC-14E III and TC-17E III | [NR] possibility rating: 80%

That’s it. I can say that this announcement has been the most difficult to gather information for, maybe because the expectations were very high.

I also do believe that Bob Krist was shooting with the new Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 lens, so expect to see some promotional photos from Miami when this lens is announced next week. That’s about the only real leak we got so far.