You'd think that in 50 years of dealing with the printed press that someone at Nikon would know how to do embargoed information right by now, but the German magazine Foto Digital has managed to jump the gun and get issues to readers with information about next week's Nikon DSLR and lens announcements. Since the information could have only come from Nikon, you have to wonder if anyone at Nikon checked to see when the magazines they were releasing information to actually went to press. It's not the "on sale date" that matters, Nikon, it's the "off press date." I'd actually argue that it's the "on press date" that should be looked at, as that's the first date that someone who hasn't directly signed an NDA starts to see the material.
So, the D3100 is mostly official at this point: the newer 14mp Sony sensor (with HD video support and Live View), new EXPEED 2, AF during video, and some much-needed menu changes.
More interesting are the lenses. In order from least expensive to most:
- 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX. Appears to be slotting in between the 55-200mm and 70-300mm.
- 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S. The return of the superzoom to FX territory.
- 24-120mm f/4G ED VR AF-S. The long-needed replacement for the old, underperforming 24-120mm, this time with a fixed aperture (bravo).
- 85mm f/1.4G AF-S Nano. Surprisingly, no VR, though Nikon patended one design with VR.
This, of course, is an odd bunch of things to announce together, and, on examination, even odder than at first glance. We get a DX telephoto zoom with more reach, okay that everyone can understand: keep it smaller, lighter, and less costly, but give us more than the 55-200mm. Great call (assuming it lives up to expectations optically), though it seems like it should have waited for the D90 replacement announcement.
The 24-120mm f/4 also makes sense, as the D700 has long needed a "standard zoom" that better matches it in performance and cost. But, of course, the D700 is pretty long in the legs at this point, and due for replacement itself. It's the 28-300mm that raises eyebrows. This indicates that either Nikon thinks the D700 and D700 followup target user is decidedly consumerish, or there's a consumer FX body down the pike. I vote for a third: they saw that Tamron sold a number of FX superzooms after Nikon left the market (the very short-lived 28-200mm). These lemmings, they just keep following each other. Fortunately, none has gone off the cliff yet ;~).
And the 85mm without VR seems like a redesign that wasn't necessary. The old non-VR was fine for its intended purpose (mostly handheld portraits and low light use). It really only needed Nano coating and VR, and it only got half that. It'll have to have some incredible optics or else the market for used 85mm's is going to be hot.
Nikon's nowhere near done with their announcements (of course not, they haven't made any yet! ;~). But what I mean is that next week's D3100, four lens, and Coolpix announcements are only the tip of the iceberg. We've got another set of announcements that will hit just prior to Photokina at the end of September. And I think one more smaller announcement after that before the end of the year. Thus, we'll have plenty to talk about when I get back from Africa. (And before anyone starts speculating: no, Nikon hasn't given me any new equipment to try in the wilds of Africa.)
I'll have more to say about the D3100 and the lenses when the official announcements are made. Then I'll be silent for awhile (my annual month long break). Then Nikon will announce some more goodies and I'll be back with more comments.