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

[xavez]

Hey, show us a scan of the magazine!

[V]

Yes, scans please. Thanks!

[Seb Rogers]

Scans of the text are on their way. Will be up in the next 30 minutes or so.

Patience, people...

:)

[MikeD]

"...going to have to offer visible benefits over the Canon to persuade anyone to switch."

I can't believe that anyone working with this level of kit would even consider switching one way or the other, but presumably they do ;-)

[Lutz]

You'll be in trouble...

[Seb Rogers]

@ MikeD: I hear plenty about disgruntled former Nikon users who've jumped, so it must happen. Pure speculation on my part, of course ;-)

@Lutz: more likely someone at Nikon Pro will be in trouble for mailing the mags out too early...

[TomP]

Hey Seb, does it mention anything about new lenses? Thanks.

[Seb Rogers]

Hi Tom,

Nothing to get excited about beyond the 50mm f/1.4 AFS...

[Elja Trum]

Looks like a great camera, thanks for sharing the info!

[Peach]

I've heard plenty about disgruntled former Canon users who've jumped too, so it goes both ways!

Nikon's presence in the sports world keeps growing.

Both great camera manufacturers, both capable of making art in the right hands......

[Seb Rogers]

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...

[Rames II]

Thanks for the scanning...
But do u have higher resolution pictures ?

[Seb Rogers]

The scans are downsized to preserve my bandwidth (currently running out at an alarming rate...). So sorry, no.

[Interwebz Wanderer]

Just FYI: your bandwidth is going to suck even more REALLY DAMN QUICKLY since you are about an hour away from the front page of Digg, ArsTechnica is crafting an article right now, you are already on the FRONT PAGE of Engadget, and word is Gizmodo is seeking a second copy of the magazine to verify....

[Interwebz Wanderer]

Oh, and get yourself some ads on this site; jump your bandwidth immediately though :P

[Interwebz Wanderer]

Why not take high res scans, put them over @ imageshack.us, photobucket, or (if too big): filedropper.com

Then, post the link in the OP :)

[Mirror]

.... you guys should prepare a single, static page and get ready to send users there instead of this page; that page should have a link to a mirror that "can take the heat" if you can't.

[Scott Fillmer]

great scans, always interesting how Nikon get new info out these days (i.e., doesn't seem like they control it very well for a big grand opening thing).

[Seb Rogers]

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I'm in over my head here, to be honest. I didn't intend to be amongst the first to break this news - it happened by accident. I don't have the time, know-how or resources to direct vast volumes of traffic in such a way that this site won't crash.

I'm a full-time pro photographer; this is my blog; I was amongst the first to break the D3X story more or less by accident (as a friend commented to me this morning, 'you got the hits because you could be bothered')... d'you see where I'm going with this?

The extra traffic is welcome, until the point at which it becomes a burden for me to deal with.

The story's out there and there are other sites better equipped to handle the volume. If that's what it takes, I'm happy for them to take the strain...

[Mirror]

Put a note in your main article to NOT LINK THE STORY directly.

Also, when the "digg effect" hits, you will get ~ 30,000 - 100,000 hits an hour for ~ 8 hours. Might break a million readers today alone.

[R3ap3R]

Email high quality scans to [email protected] & I will host them for you.

[R3ap3R]

Oh, and in regards to "Mirror" about the Digg effect: he's right, you know.... sometimes more than that (I have seen 2mil+ hits in a day before)

[Lutz]

Why not host the scans at imageshack if you need to care for the traffic? Now that the cat has been let out of the bag, they won't get the files removed from the internet anymore.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/9981/nikonpromagd3xpage1ne2.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/9198/nikonpromagd3xpage2kt8.jpg

[Andy]

Wow! All very exciting.

Hope your server holds up under the load Seb.

[Seb Rogers]

Thanks for sorting that out, Lutz. Links up at the top of the page now.