Official Nikon D3X specs. It's here, folks!

Update, 1st December 12pm GMT: 

For what they're worth, my opinions of the spec / price issues raised by the D3X are here. Feel free to pitch in...

Scans in my original post were playing havoc with my bandwidth, so they've been removed. However, you can find scans of the Nikon Pro mag here and here. Thanks to Lutz for the links.

Welcome to my little corner of the web. News of the D3X follows; but first, a little background. This site was the first blog or news site to break the news of the new camera's specs (although I was pipped to the post by postings on a couple of forums and discussion groups, including this one). This was a big surprise, not least to me. I'm not a professional blogger; I'm a professional cycling photographer based in the UK and this is my personal blog. I have a few hundred regular readers scattered throughout the world who share an interest in bikes and / or photography. I only mention this because the response to my D3X post has been astonishing - I've received as much traffic in 24 hours as I normally do in a year.

This massive surge in traffic hasn't been without its problems, and I've had to make some changes to prevent the blog from wilting under the strain. You're most welcome here (and please feel free to browse around ;-)), but please understand that bandwidth restrictions have forced the removal of some images from this post.

Thanks for reading...

The rumours surrounding Nikon's launch of its much-anticipated high-res follow-up to the D3 have reached the usual intensity on the web in the past few days, as we approach the 1st December launch date. Well, the wait is over: it's here. My copy of Nikon Pro magazine dropped on the doormat this morning with an unexpected surprise on page 6 - full details of the new flagship dSLR, days ahead of the official launch. 

Here's the deal:

- same body design, AF, metering and main functions as D3

- 24.5mp FX sensor

- 5:4 and DX crops

- 5fps at full resolution; DX crop shoots 10mp images at up to 7fps

- ISO 100-1600, extendable down to 50 and up to 6400

- 16 bit EXPEED processor

What's surprising about this spec list is, perhaps, that there are no big surprises. The conservative ISO range hints at the levels to which Nikon have gone to squeeze as much image quality as possible out of the new camera, but photographers expecting a modular design, brave new format or at least built-in video are going to be disappointed.

More importantly, it's late to the party. Canon's venerable 1DSIII has offered 21mp and 5fps for over a year, and the new 5DII and Sony's range-topping Alpha both skew the bucks-per-megapixel ratio in favour of the photogapher. The new Nikon, whilst subtly 'better' in all sorts of subtle ways (a few more pixels, crop modes, higher shooting speed in DX crop, better screen) is going to have to offer visible benefits over the Canon to persuade anyone to switch.

There is, of course, one more potential ace up Nikon's sleeve, and that's price. Canon has had the high res 35mm frame market to itself for far too long, allowing the 1DS series to sell at prices that, to these photograher's eyes at least, have always looked rather ludicrous. Nikon has long had a policy of delaying 'full frame' until they felt able to do so without compromise and at a price equal to or below the original D1 price - which, here in the UK, was £4000. 

Now that the D3 has dropped in price, the question is whether the D3X will retail under £4000? If it does, and it betters the 1DSIII in output, there's still a chance that Nikon will get away with their tardiness. If it doesn't, and it isn't... hey, let's not go there.

Here are shots of the Nikon Pro feature (prize for originality in headline choice not pictured...). 

Comments

[Jon Read]

More scans and a full article text here:

http://www.nikon-d3x.com/

J

[Joe]

As a Nikon shooter for 25 years who jumped to Canon for digital in '04 due to Nikon's disappointing 'tardiness', it's good to finally see Nikon at the full-frame table.
They'll make up for undercutting Canon's MkIII pricing by having doubled the price of their new tilt-shifts over Canon's three T/S offerings.
And because Canon's wide-angle lenses all pretty much suck (and I still own all my beautiful old Nikon glass), 'jumping' back to Nikon is not far-fetched when the useful life of these $8k DSLRs is only about 2 yrs these days before their practical obsolescence.

[SP Amalot]

Approx £5500.00 according to this http://tinyurl.com/66yqlb

[David Kilpatrick]

I am not attending the press launch on Monday but as a magazine publisher, I have the artwork for the D3X ads here already. This means I know the price, but I'm under a strict embargo not to reveal it. Although we have had info on the D3X's likely launch timing on photoclubalpha (due to the connection with the Sony Alpha 900) since the summer, Nikon has been very tight about it (but my son purchased a D3 from them, as a photo mag journalist, and he wasn't even told there would be a D700 two weeks after he forked out!). I am surprised the Pro mag escaped. Maybe they assumed that Pressstream 2 always rakes 2-3 days as stated. I know it doesn't, it can take from 1-7 days... there is no guarantee that the standard magazine mailing contract will NOT deliver the copies next day.

[Amounter]

Enjoy the SONY A900 sensor!

[Seb Rogers]

Thanks, David. I've seen it suggested that the arrival of Nikon Pro today was a deliberate ploy, but I'm inclined to agree that it's more likely the delivery time was overestimated.

As for price, I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest that £5500 is a guesstimate based on little more than the 1DSIII's street price. I think Nikon would struggle to justify a £2k+ differential over the D3, particularly since the new model's sensor seems likely to be a variant of the much cheaper Sony.

Nope, my money's on £4000 still. Nikon didn't wait this long with a high-res full frame model to not shake up the market a little...

[FRANCIS T.]

Way to go SEB ROGERS! Thanks a million!!! you deserved a credit for this...

[Bernhard]

The real thing should be the 16 bits. If it's real I'd be more than happy.

[Matthew Saville]

"Quite so. Getting upset about some aspect of the brand of camera you use has always seemed to me a spectacular waste of time and energy..."

I tend to agree, but when it comes to harping on Nikon in an effort to see them change just a couple things, namely the STUPID grip rubber that they've used un-successfully for YEARS now, I feel that no amount of energy spent getting up set and making a scene is wasted...

=Matt=

[Jason Heller]

Underwater photographers have been waiting for this for a while as well. Why didn't I getthe Nikon Pro mag on my door step this mornig ;)

We just put up a post, and thanks for the scoop Seb!

Jason Heller
www.divephotoguide.com

[Grad Blogger]

Any new lenses w/ this new body release?

[Denie S.]

wow.. never expected that it will launch so soon
if possible.. can u post the high-res scans of the article?
thanks

[Seshu]

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing more full-frame sensor Nikon cameras come into the market. All my prime lenses that are not meant for the DX format will not get their day in the sun. Thanks for breaking the story. Traffic is going to be nuts. Good luck!

[Jon Brooke]

Just got here via Strobist Seb - fame at last!

[Stacy]

I am very much surprised that Nikon's site is not even mentioning D3X anywhere. I hope they will put up all the information on 1st December.

And according to Engadget they did display the cam for some time and then removed it. What's the deal ?

[Bob Bowen]

Not quite Seb. Think I beat you by a couple of hours on nikond2.net

[Seb Rogers]

I stand corrected, Bob!

[Kevin Weinstein]

At this stage of digital photography, a few more megapixel and a tad higher ISO range is not going to convince me to switch back to Nikon. Ditching an entire system costs a crap load of money.

I know. I went from Nikon to Canon 4 years ago.

One MAJOR thing Canon still has, that Nikon does not even come close to, are the lenses.

Show me a 85mm 1.2, 50mm 1.2, 35mm 1.4, 24mm 1.4, to name a few.

Digital photography is pretty solid all around right now. While there is room for a lot of improvement, Nikon does not have lenses that I could justify switching back to.

[Mike]

UK price appears to be £5500 - bottom of page here http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=PON08K000096&Prod_name=Nikon%20D3x%20deposit%20only.%20Available%20soon!&Cat_Code=

[Aleksandar Dunkic]

Nikon D3X sample photos: http://www.aleksandar.dunkic.in.rs/images/d3x/index.htm

[Klouza]

Too many MPix. Totally useless resolution that only is disadvantageous. More than 12 MPix sucks! No way.

[common Japanese words]

I was hoping for pictures. Though the camera is very nice