Will there Be a Professional DX Body From Nikon?

PB_PM

@PB_PM I do agree with what your saying, but one thing that you haven't included in your equation is hand holdibility. My self and many of my fellow bird photographers prefer to shoot handheld. The 500 F4 is at that upper of limit at 8.5 pounds for the lens and my camera weighs three with the battery grip. It is a very hefty package and that extra 1.5# is substantial as you are hiking around. So with that being said the 800 F5.6 at over 10# is out of the picture. The 500 F4 is the perfect compromise of weight with long reach and stellar IQ.

I shoot birds often as well, so honestly I don't buy your argument, at least not fully. Nor do I fully buy into the report from Photography life, it's not my experience. Not that I wouldn't be interested in a D300s replacement at some point, but I sure wouldn't bother switching to Canon over it if they don't.

As for the other points, I really don't take hand hold ability into account, because I hate doing it. I also saved a lot of cash by not having the latest and greatest telpehoto lens with IS/VR/OS. I wouldn't take that hefty gear either, even though I'm a tripod/gimbal head user. I do enough heavy work in my paid position, the lasting thing I want to do is hall a super heavy D4s and 4+KG lenses around with me ony days off. The D750 is more than enough, IMO. Mind you. I'm not trying to sell my work, and if I come home with not the greatest results in the world I don't loose any sleep over it.

snakebunk

I agree with Coastalcon, a 500/4 is a great lense for bird photography. Add a converter, a full frame and a crop camera and you can do most things. Then if you still have a large pile of money you can add the 800/5.6.

So, will Nikon make a pro dx camera? :-)

kyoshinikon

Check out the samples of the D7200 on Dpreview (comparison with the other bodies). They show just how good Dx has become. How does the Sigma 500mm f/4's hold up compared to the nikkor? I need a supertele as my 300mm sometimes doesnt have the reach.

snakebunk

@kyoshinikon: The Sigma 500/4.5 is very sharp at 5.6, has fast focus and the build quality is great. What I don't like is that it doesn't work well with converters. I hope Sigma will make a really competitive 500/4 and put some preasure on Canon and Nikon.

sevencrossing

The D4s/D800/D750/610/D7200 are all over the place in terms of target market.

Not at all . They are targeted at middle aged men, with a bit of surplus cash
It does not matter how much cash they have, Nikon has a camera and a collection of lenses, to suit their budget

Ignore the the ladies with the P&S this is Nikon's target market

Sports

How does the Sigma 500mm f/4's hold up compared to the nikkor

@kyoshinikon: I was investigating this a year ago, and found it to be overpriced. It's a really good lens, actually, but it's old, it doesn't have VR, it's f/4.5 instead of f/4, it's the perfect 3500$ lens. But it seems to be sitting very firmly at $5000.
My (pure) guess is that a refurb Nikon would be a better alternative, either D or G.
All these options were too expensive for me, though, so I never came to a conclusion ... or rather, THAT was my conclusion :-(

I hope Sigma will make a really competitive 500/4

I totally agree.
But ok, wrong thread, sorry ........

kyoshinikon

Lol than you may be correct. I give up on this one. I thought about getting an 500mm P but for $1000 you dont get af. This is why I love my dx body. One of my budies set up his function buttons to switch to dx mode on instant.

manhattanboy

Not at all . They are targeted at middle aged handsome, young men, with a bit of surplus cash. It does not matter how much cash they have, Nikon has a camera and a collection of lenses, to suit their budget

Fixed that statement for you :P

One_Oh_Four

Nikon is dancing to the beat of a different drummer. Why they bring out an astro body, when they could have introduced a pro DX body...who knows. All of the questions raised on this thread seem reasonable, yet only those inside of Nikon understand the motivating factors behind their actions.

My personal belief is most of the energy at Nikon in R & D, is focused on the mirrorless pro body. And, maybe this will be in both DX and FX formats.

Well, maybe.... But there are still some hurdles to be overcome in regards to focus speed and dependability, and in the lag in EVF's. Maybe not if this mirrorless pro body is targeted to become the D820, because that camera line isn't really meant to be (really) speedy. But if the targeted market is sports / action / fast animal photographers? I have my doubts that such a mirrorless camera would be a product to be marketed in the short term. In 3 - 5 years? I'll agree!

One_Oh_Four

Not at all . They are targeted at middle aged handsome, young men, with a bit of surplus cash. It does not matter how much cash they have, Nikon has a camera and a collection of lenses, to suit their budget

Fixed that statement for you :P

I agree totally!!!!!!

B-) O:-)

heartyfisher

I have been looking at some other brands .. they have some nice offerings at the moment.. eg

The NX500 with 16-50 F2.0-F2.8 sure hits a sweet spot. even with the tiny kit 16-50.. it makes an awesome "carry anywhere" kit. that new Samsung 28MP Sensor is NICE.

The Pentax K3-II .. is pretty amazing too. with the High resolution mode! it easily beats D810, but only for still subjects cos it takes 4 shots in half a sec and merges them. The Olympus version (EM5ii) is even more impressive technically. It takes 8 shots. Plus the Pentax is VERY nicely weather sealed .. would be great for an adventurer traveller, not for water sports or underwater but a rain drenching is no problem!

and the Olympus EM5ii its just a cool beast..

sevencrossing

I have been looking at some other brands .

The Pentax K3-II .. is pretty amazing too. with the High resolution mode! it easily beats D810, .

Fantastic camera, beats the D810 hands down with a choice of 36 Pentax K lenses compared to only 84 Nikkor F mount for the D810

Sports

Fantastic camera, beats the D810 hands down with a choice of 36 Pentax K lenses compared to only 84 Nikkor F mount for the D810

So, if some other brand suddenly offered 150 lenses, you would sell your Nikon gear and switch system?? (Joking)

I have been looking at some other brands .. that new Samsung 28MP Sensor is NICE.
The Pentax K3-II .. is pretty amazing too ..... The Olympus version .....

Good quality products, The Pentax probably tougher and faster than the D7200.
Those other guys sure feature some interesting technology. The question is, couldn't Nikon do the same thing if they needed to? Right now, I consider Nikon AF better and Nikon pixel density plentiful. Nikon get better results from more classic tech, if you ask me. I would have no idea what to do with that extra pixel density, for instance. Neither my lenses, skills, patience, post processing resources are sufficient. And things move.
All that being said, it would be nice if you could see more clearly Nikon mastering some new stuff and not "just" perfecting the old. One thing doesn't exclude the other.

sevencrossing

The question is, couldn't Nikon do the same thing if they needed to?

The simple answer is NO

Ignoring patents. There is a limit to the number of product lines any one company can produce

I cannot see the point of post saying if Sony, Canon, Pentax, Apple can. Why can't Nikon?

The advantage of a Professional DX Body From Nikon, is not that it would take any of Nikon 84 lenses

The advantage would be It would take any of the 1000s of F mount lenses nrf members already own

Sports

There is a limit to the number of product lines...
I cannot see the point of post saying if Sony, Canon, Pentax, Apple can. Why can't Nikon?

@sevencrossing - you missed my point by a mile. I certainly did not ask the demanding "why" question.
I was saying that Nikon probably has more modern tech availabe to them, but until now, they get better results from more classic tech.
Btw, why would new technology imply a new product line? The sensor shift technology that @heartyfisher touched in his post, is applicable to both mirrorless and DSLR, it seems. A clever thing that it does is to provide an anti-aliasing filter effect that can be switched on and off.

sevencrossing

Btw, why would new technology imply a new product line? .

To my knowledge, The only way of incorporating new technology in a camera is a new product

manhattanboy

To my knowledge, The only way of incorporating new technology in a camera is a new product

You could update the software/firmware. The original Google Nexus Phone had numerous updates that added features (like FM radio) as time went on, and while not quite to the same extreme, Fuji is updating their firmware to bring new features, and there is talk that the sensor shift could be accomplished in any camera having IBIS to produce the composite high res images. I think a lot of companies are thinking about this including Nikon; I believe that is why Peter originally posted about the Nikon Firmware program on the main page.

Regardless, when I was last trying to capture action with the 810, my lower brain said "F' this, I need a faster camera" and it took many neurons in the prefrontal cortex firing to calm the temptation. I think there is indeed a need for a camera that will focus in any light and fire fast and be priced reasonably. Hopefully a Pro-DX fits that description.

sevencrossing

I think there is indeed a need for a camera that will focus in any light and fire fast and be priced reasonably.

In comparison with things like cars, were the fastest road legal car will cost you over a million bucks. The D4s is really not that expensive

If I really needed a D4s I would get one but if I am honest, my D800 is fast enough 99% of the time

Sports

@sevencrossing: You don't need a new product line to incorporate new tech, which was what you said.
But just forget it, this leads nowhere:-(

snakebunk

@heartyfisher: The Pentax camera looks good, but I think if I would change mount it would be Canon because of all the available lenses. Especially the best long tele primes are only available in Nikon or Canon mount (I think).

@sevencrossing: If you want to count lenses available for a certain mount you should include third parties, for example Pentax lenses are available from Samyang, Sigma and Tamron.

About the number of product lines I don't think we need more than three lines for dx cameras, one entry level, one pro level and one in between. I think three lines would be enough for fx as well.

WestEndFoto

@heartyfisher: The Pentax camera looks good, but I think if I would change mount it would be Canon because of all the available lenses. Especially the best long tele primes are only available in Nikon or Canon mount (I think).

@sevencrossing: If you want to count lenses available for a certain mount you should include third parties, for example Pentax lenses are available from Samyang, Sigma and Tamron.

About the number of product lines I don't think we need more than three lines for dx cameras, one entry level, one pro level and one in between. I think three lines would be enough for fx as well.

If you want a comprehensive system, not a narrow niche, Canon and Nikon are the only games in town.

Ironheart

In comparison with things like cars, were the fastest road legal car will cost you over a million bucks. The D4s is really not that expensive

Actually the Bugatti is over 2 million bucks. Makes the D4s look like loose change under the back seat Here's a snap of mine in Monaco last week:

heartyfisher

Cars ? only good for getting me and my gear to a photo location ...

@snakebunk : :-) If I were to switch brands .. I think canon would be 5th or 6th choice :-)

sevencrossing

I don't think we need more than three lines for dx cameras, one entry level, one pro level and one in between.

Which is what Nikon have at the moment

If they introduced a higher priced, higher spec DX camera, than the D7200 ( which is used by a lot of Pros). They would have to remove the D3300 the D5300 or the D7200, which happen to be their best selling cameras

Sports

They would have to remove the D3300 the D5300 or the D7200.

Well, of course, by law of nature .... :-)
Just like the the number of FX product lines is five, by the same law, perhaps.