Nikon unveiled its Z6 mirrorless camera back in August, and now it has finally announced an availability date: November 16. Once tomorrow rolls around, buyers in the US will be able to purchase Nikon's new full-frame mirrorless offering, giving them a pro-tier alternative to bulky DSLRs.
Some camera makers have more or less conceded defeat to smartphones, shifting their focus and products to professional DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. Others, however, are trying to get back at smartphones by taking advantage of one of the biggest trends in the mobile market: photography. Nikon is one of those and its D3500 is a clear example of that strategy. Dubbed as its lightest and friendliest DSLR, Nikon is positioning its new camera as something for those who want to take their photography to the next level with a quality that smartphones simply cannot match.
Nikon is late to the full-frame mirrorless camera game. Not as late as Canon, who has yet to unveil its new darling next month. That said, fans of the camera maker might forgive its tardiness after Nikon pulled no punches in promising photographers the best it could offer in this department. With two new Z cameras to cover both tiers of the market and a very compatible new mount system, the Nikon Z7 and Z6 could give even Sony reason to worry.
Nikon mirrorless camera details were revealed by the company for the first time this week. They've not quite told ALL the details just yet, but the first wave of the oncoming storm is officially here. Nikon revealed that they are, for real, developing a "next-generation full-frame (Nikon FX-format) mirrorless camera and NIKKOR lenses featuring a new mount." Because everyone wants and loves new mounts, right?
While the smartphone market is preoccupied with Samsung Unpacked and then IFA, the photography world is no less busy. There’s Photokina at the end of September but even before that, Nikon might have something big prepared soon. According to reports, the camera maker is finally embracing modern times with its first mirrorless full-frame camera. While that may still be a month away, some details are already keeping Nikon fans on the edge of their seats.
Smartphones may be nibbling away at camera makers’ bottom lines, but there are still a few things they can’t do. One of those is what photographers lovingly call “superzoom”. Only possible with a not so discreet lens, this remains one of the selling points of dedicated digital cameras. And when it comes to Superzoom, the new Nikon COOLPIX P1000 possibly takes the cake with is 125x optical zoom that will bring almost anything right up to your nose.
It's no secret that most people prefer using their smartphone's camera rather than a dedicated digital camera. That reality has put a big dent in the compact point-and-shoot camera market, so much so that many major camera companies have had to make big changes in the past few years to stay afloat. Nikon is no exception, as the company will soon shutter one of its factories in Asia. The reason, it seems, is increased competition with smartphones.
The testers over at DxOMark have been very busy lately, it would seem. Just yesterday, DxOMark awarded the Google Pixel 2 its highest rating ever for a smartphone camera, and today, the Nikon D850 sensor is setting a new record for DSLR cameras. With so many records changing hands, you have to believe this is a pretty exciting time for DxOMark.
While camera makers like Sony, Fujifilm, and Olympus have found varying levels of success with the mirrorless camera format, Nikon has been more conservative, limiting its offerings to devices that are closer to the point-and-shoot market. It looks like that's going to change soon, as Nikon has said that going forward, all of their mirrorless cameras will be full-frame.
The digital photography market has become fiercer the moment smartphones jumped onto the scene. It took some time for camera makers to regain their bearing and their confidence, take stock of their options, and forget a new path ahead. For Nikon, part of that is appealing to an even more hardcore crowd for which even the best smartphone camera won’t enough. For them, Nikon is finally launching the full-frame D850 DSLR, who is a heavyweight in features but a speedster in performance.
Admittedly, not everyone is obsessed with smartphones or what will be taking place in the coming weeks. Some, particularly photographers, might be more interested in what may take place as early as this week. While Nikon has indeed confirmed that the D850 full-frame DSLR is coming, it never really said when. Based on a leak internal slide, however, that could very well happen this Wednesday already. That or at least get the ball rolling on the Nikon D850’s launch.
It's official: Nikon is developing the model D850, a DSLR camera it says will be a full-frame offering with other high-end features. The camera is targeted solely at professional, serious photographers (it will, no doubt, be priced in the thousands of dollars, lenses not included), and it'll be the successor of the current Nikon D810 model. We don't know the release date yet, but Nikon has revealed some of the camera details.