Nikon's New Offerings
August 19th, 2010
So Nikon just announced the D3100.
Yawn, so who cares?
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="250" caption="Nikon D3100 setiing the stage for things to come?"]
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I do, even though I don't care about the D3100 by itself. I care about the features of this camera, which no doubt will percolate upwards to the slowly due upgrade of Nikon's Dxxx and Dxx series.
So what do I see?
- An upgrade to a 14MP sensor
- 1080p instead of 720p video
- Permanent Video AF (sorely needed feature)
- (I hope it will finally be possible use manual settings with video)
- SDXC Memory supported (Dxx), makes sense for Video
- I hope there are no more limits to video shooting time which sure is a PITA with the D90.
They left the mono sound! Yuck!!!
It's not really THAT much goodness, so I hope there will me more goodies underneath the hood which are not apparent from the spec-sheet.
Now that Sony has their VG10 Camcorder, the uniqueness of DSLR Video is dead in the water, because you finally have a REAL camcorder with the DOF-capability of a DSLR.
The upgrade to 14MP IS a big deal, because the goodness of Nikon's uniform 12MP DX and FX sensor resolution will be shattered, which will translate into an upgrade to a D90+, the D300+ and the D700+.
So what about the Nikon D4?
Strategically, I'll guess they'll omit the low-resolution (12-14MP range) sensors altogether and stick to the higher sensor-density models, bumping up their ISO-capability to current D3-levels.
