With the P6000 replacement being announced in the next two weeks I was fiddling around with my P6000 to get reacquainted with it when I noticed something: the P6000 body size is almost exactly the same as the NEX5. Oh dear.
The rumor is that Nikon is still stuck on the 1/1.7" sensor in the upcoming replacement (and downsized to 10mp), yet here we have a DX sensor sitting in a competitor's body of the same size (and remember, the P6000 was the smallest of the "luxury compacts" I tested over a year ago). Technically the P6000 is ever so slightly taller and not quite as wide as the NEX5, but the differences are small enough that they're not meaningful. Without a lens, the NEX5 fits perfectly in the leather case Nikon supplied with the P6000 kit the sizing is so close.
Of course, where the difference comes is in lens size, as DX needs a bigger imaging circle. Still, I can imagine (in fact partially designed) a lens solution for DX in the P6000 body size without a big lens bulge. Still, I think you can guess which camera is headed to Africa with me this time. If you guessed the one that has an I in its name, you guessed wrong.
For those of you playing along, here's the scorecard of things to watch for to see if Nikon got the replacement design correct:
- Dropped the proprietary Ethernet port or made it useful for connections other than myPictureTown. Bonus: switched to WiFi.
- Goosed up the battery so the GPS doesn't wind it down faster than you can fill a card.
- Either dropped the optical viewfinder or made it useful.
- Aligned the tripod socket and hot shoe with the center of the lens.
- Upgraded the LCD and made it positionable.
- Dropped the NRW nonsense and just gave us NEF (DNG would be better, but that seems out of the question to "it has to be proprietary" Nikon-think.).
- Finally realized that a lens hood is a useful thing.
- Made the on/off control a switch instead of a button next to the shutter release.
- Did a better job of controlling chromatic aberration.
- Gave us something wider than 28mm equivalent at the wide end.
Thing is, serious photographers would want all of those changes. My best guess? Nikon gave us none of those changes. So let's hope that they didn't mess up the good things about the P6000 (image quality, most of the controls, size/weight, etc.).