The cat has been out of the bag on the D50 and D70s for a few days now, but Nikon has now confirmed that the D50 and D70s will be officially announced soon.

D50:
- 6 MP
- 1/4000 shutter versus 1/8000 shutter
- one command dial, not two
- 420 pt metering, not 1005

I haven't seen much on the D70s, but I would gather it's a minor mod given the naming convention and the results of the D2Hs changes.

Later in the year supposedly we get:
D90 - 12 MP (like the D2X) in an F100 body
F6D - 18 MP Full Frame sensor, with a 9 fps APS crop mode. The F is for full frame.

 

I thought the F6 was their new top-of-the-line film cam? If this is the case, would the "D" mean digital? Thus, this might be Nikon's new pro/prosumer digicam?

 

From what I gather the F6/F6D part is true too, but in digital F is going to also designate full frame.

 

Sounds like the D70S is not a huge upgrade...

http://www.nikonians.org/cgi-bin/dcf...um=DCForumID86

This is a great Nikon user site...

 

After reading a few Nikonians threads, it appears that the D50 is going to use SD cards. So if we want a backup to the D70 we'd need to get two different memory cards. I'd just as soon get another D70 body.

 

Nikon officially announced the D50 and D70s today. The D50 with the new 18-55 lens should retail for $899 when it is released in June. The D70s should retail for $1199.

One other piece of hardware was announced: 55-200 F/4-F/5.6 lens. Honestly, I'm not even sure why Nikon bothered with this. The 70-300 is a good lens for the money and doesn't hit F/5.6 until you're zoomed out more. It's not that expensive. A new VR announcement would have been nice.

There was also an announcement of a firmware update for the D70 which will be out in mid-May. The firmware update is suppose to improve the autofocus and modify the menu system.

 

DiD,


Thanks for the update, we can always depend on you to stay on top of things. Did you see the new 300mm f/2.8 VR released for 2005? It will be nice to get the firmware update before my trip to Italy.

Jason

 

The 300mm F/2.8 VR is the lens I'm lusting over at the moment. I just don't expect to have $4500 of extra lens money becoming available anytime soon.

It would be nice if Nikon would push VR technology down the chain. Why not offer a 70-300 VR? or a 70-200 F/4 VR? I would also like to see a 400mm F/4, but the sales volume is on the consumer end, so I think Nikon should place some of their VR attention in that area.

How much of your camera gear are you taking to Italy?

 

DiD,

I totally agree about the VR series of lenses, they need to take the approach Canon is starting to do with pushing the technology down into a broader assortment of lenses.

As far as Italy goes, I will be taking my D70 with kit lens, 50mm 1.8, and SB-600 in my Crumpler 15-Love bag. The bag is about perfect for moving around in the city and the hill country with the third leg strap and doesn't draw much attention from thieves in the big cities. I will also be taking a Velbom Ultra Maxi-F, a lightweight, compact travel tripod that fits in my wife's day pack.

It should be a great trip and with this being our second time I am already playing through my mind my favorite locations to shoot.

Jason