Nikon at PMA 2009 (recap)

PMA starts in a week. For our not-so-regular readers, here is a recap of the PMA Nikon rumors:

  • D400: the one thing we know for sure is that the D400 will be released by July 2009 – this is when a Nikon D400 book will be available in Germany (the book was confirmed by multiple sites in Europe).
  • New entry level Nikon DLSR – it should be similar to the D90 but without the built-in AF motor and the top LCD screen (Nikon D40 is now officially discontinued and Nikon has to release a successor):
  • New Nikon flash SB-700. The SB-400 will be discontinued, since the new entry level camera will have something similar buitd-in. If this is true, it will leave Nikon with 2 flash models: SB-700 and SB-900 (and of course the close-up and commander models), which makes complete sense.
  • Lenses? That’s always the tough one and I have nothing worth reporting. We should know more in the next few days. I expect something to be announced on Monday, March 2nd (personal opinion only).

Nikon Corp. President Michio Kariya was named to PMA Hall of Fame – I hope this will be worth it and he will have something good to show us…

Posted in Nikon D5000| 59 Comments

Not again

Ritz Camera filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. Nikon is among the largest unsecured creditors with $26.6 million (source).

Circuit City’s debt to Nikon was $14,926,445 – not sure what % of that was recovered.

Posted in Other Nikon stuff| 64 Comments

Is RED working with Nikon?

logo

I received an interesting email from a reader – I could not find any links connecting Nikon with RED, so this remains a speculation for now:

“AF-S 24-105/2.8 VR:
No I don’t came up with this just because I think it might be a nice lens, I actually found a hint where I would not have guessed.
RED, the manufacturer of digital movie cameras, hat announced a 35FF camera that uses a 24×36 mm sensor. The sensor has aprox 24 mp. For that camera they also announced a few AF lenses. This is something new to cinematography. So far there have not been any AF lenses as we have them for our SLRs.
The lenses they announced are a 15-25/2.8, a 70-200/2.8 (stabilized), a 300/2.8 (stabilized) and 1.4 & 2.0 extender. Those lenses sound very familiar to SLR lenses and the 15-25/2.8 actually looks very very much like Nikon’s 14-24/2.8. RED is most likely working together with Nikon for those lenses. It is a known fact that Nikon has provided the design and glass for most Panavision lenses in the past. So it is not something new that Nikon has been working with a movie camera manufacturer.
Now here is the interesting part. Among those lenses RED announced is one that Nikon does not have: a AF 25-100/2.8 (stabilized).
Considering that fact that is very likely that Nikon is working together with RED this could be a hint that Nikon is developing a lens like that (and is also licensing that one to RED).
There is no way to be sure, but considering all these things I think there is a good chance that we will see this lens sometime this year. 
if you go to RED’s web site you can see the details yourself. 
Why 25-100 and not 24-105? For movie productions, quality is way more important than a little more range. I assume the lens is developed as a 24-105 but RED prefers to stay away from the extreme ends for quality reasons.”

The question is: does RED design their own lenses?

Thanks David.

Posted in Nikon Lenses| 42 Comments

Sea & Sea MDX-D700 underwater housing for the Nikon D700 coming soon

Very nice and very expensive:

  • MDX-D700 will be available first week in March.
  • Part # SS-06148
  • MSRP: $3995
  • Details: 60m/200ft
  • 2 Fiber Optic Cable Ports, 1 YS Converter Sync Port, 1 5-Pin Nikonos Sync Port

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683605198

Posted in Other Nikon stuff| 27 Comments

New Nikonians Lighting book now in stock

New book from NikoniansPress is now in stock @ Amazon The Nikon Creative Lighting System: Using the SB-600, SB-800, SB-900, and R1C1 Flashes:

nikonbook

Posted in Other Nikon stuff| 17 Comments

Nikon ViewNX 1.2.1 now available for Mac

Download link

The latest Windows version is 1.2.2.. Apple & Nikon relationship is just fine – a reader noted that on Macworld back in January, Apple used a Nikon P6000 in their iLife 09 presentation (because of GPS tagging).

Posted in Nikon Software| 4 Comments

Second price increase from Nikon UK now official

What was a rumor over a week ago is now official:

Press Release

“Nikon UK will be introducing a second price increase on the 1st March 2009 which will affect Nikon’s Imaging and Optics products.
The price increase is due to the relative weakness of Sterling and the continued strength of the Yen. A range of product groups will be affected however the Coolpix series and selected digital SLRs will not see an increase.
An updated Recommended Retail Price (RRP) list will be available to view on the 
Nikon website from 1st March 2009. Nikon will continue to review its pricing structures.”

Posted in Other Nikon stuff| Tagged | 23 Comments