New Nikon D60 “Black Gold” confirmed (updated)

New Nikon D60 “Black Gold” body only confirmed!
Screenshot of Ritz inventory system:
My guess: cosmetic change only, no new features, announcement @ Photokina, available October 15th.
What say you?
Posted in Other Nikon stuff| 56 Comments

Megavision and Nikon

Another one from dpreview:
“It’s now an open secret that Megavision will be unveiling some interesting new cameras at Photokina that are FF (11 and 16 megapixels), with EVF and a Nikon F mount.”

Anyone knows more about this “open secret”?

Posted in Other Nikon stuff| Tagged | 2 Comments

Chasseur d’Images is pouring Leica rumors (updated)

Update: got email from someone that has the magazine: no Nikon rumors.

The latest Chasseur d’Images is pouring Leica rumors (see here and here). It is suppose to be #307 page 12? Can someone check for any Nikon news? Please?

Posted in Nikon D3x| 8 Comments

New Nikon D60 “Special Edition”? Already? (updated)

Reading this dpreview post:
“I work at a retail camera store and noticed a new stock number pop up last night. It was for “Nikon D60 Black Gold Body Only.” It listed the Nikon part # as 25459. It was not ‘shielded’ or ‘hidden’ as stock numbers sometimes are before announcements. The price was listed at $649.99, $50 more than the standard D60 body.”
Black gold? Curious to see how this one will play out. Suggested changes from the comments section:
  • weather proofing
  • live view
  • larger screen
  • new lens combo
Nikon D60 kit currently sells for $599 @ Amazon.
Anyone working in Circuit City or Best Buy, can you please check the inventory for some “Black Gold”?
Posted in Nikon D90, Nikon Humor Rumor| 29 Comments

Nikon to respond to Sony A900?

I am getting some buzz that Nikon will be releasing some leaks/rumors/official news in the next few days as a response to the freshly released Sony A900. It makes sense to use the momentum of A900 and throw us some bones (Sony and Nikon are sharing sensor technology). Canon has already been teasing its fan base for the past few weeks.

Army of NR readers – keep your eyes open (I will do the same)!

Posted in Other Nikon stuff| 75 Comments

One bad and two good news


Anonymous message to NR:

“Please be advised that the “Otoji” concept as you refer to is no longer current. Although accurate, the project in this form was abandoned over a year ago. It was deemed to be too complicated for deployment. However, selected components and concepts are being introduced in a new system which is set for release in March ’09. This info was also correct.
As others have correctly observed, some new lenses have a larger image circle than needed for 24×36.
You should carefully assess the upcoming newly to be released (prime) lenses and realize they cover more than strictly needed. As for form factor, think E-2 but sleeker and compacter. There will not be a separate line of lenses, rather a select few that fill a dual purpose exceedingly well.”

If the above is true, the good news is that something new and different is still coming in March 2009, the bad news is that it is not going to be Otoji. I am not sure about the reference to E-2: there was an old Olympus E-1
but there was no E-2 model and I am sure the comment was not for the Sanyo E2. Any ideas?

We have to watch the new primes at Photokina! I guess this is the second good news.
Those are the latest Nikon rumors. Peace.
Update: the reference was for the Nikon E2 model – I was not sharp enough to get to that model before.

Posted in Nikon Lenses| Tagged , | 20 Comments

MX may just mean Multi Format

I have to be very careful how I report this information, so here we go…
Somewhere, at some point of time, someone that works for an unidentified company talked about:
  • the bulk of the camera body, especially the vertical grip. The remark was that a certain company had considered a square sensor, so that the user would not need to rotate the body. Shots could be processed later to result in vertical or horizontal final images.
  • the fact that a pixel density and efficiency level would be reached in a roughly 6×4.5 sized chip of near 100 MP. When you look at some of the smaller pixel sized cameras, and how they perform, the capability is already there, though perhaps the failure rate has kept them off the market. Anyway, if you scale a roughly 100 MP 6×4.5 chip to nearer 36mm square, then somewhere in the realm of 40MP seems about the upper practical limit.
  • MX may just mean Multi Format
The above info may or may not be related to the Otoji project (more info on Otoji can be found here, here and here). Of course all this could be just a plain product discussion that will never hit the production line, but this information somehow got to me and I decided to share it.
Posted in Other Nikon stuff| Tagged , | 11 Comments