Nikon announces full-frame mirrorless camera

[RObert Budding]

This is the future: Nikon and Canon are not rushing into an already crowded "niche" mirrorless market; by seriously committing the best of their resources to the new endeavor (they had to, as the new cameras will face imminent competition from the now formidable a7 cameras), they are turning their entire DSLR business with most of its existing customer base into the mirrorless. They will make the transition, the mirrorless market will dominate the scene, and DSLR will be dropped completely someday. Bodies like the a99 II will be released so those who got left behind could have a taste of the cutting edge, but no more lenses. No matter what Nikon says the D850 could very likely be digital F6 - the last of its kind.

Ditching the mirror box and saying goodbye to a 60-year heritage is a big thing - like SLRs taking over rangefinders, or the advent of autofocus. Only this time Nikon learnt to wait long enough that it's their customers actively calling for a new mount - and eventually getting what they asked for, so they did not "betray" F mount users like Canon once did to FD users. Almost cost them everything, but that's very Nikon-ish as well I'd say.

I seriously doubt that the D850 will be Nikon's last professional DSLR. There is a massive installed base of F lenses, and there is no way that Nikon would stop selling bodies to willing consumers. Besides - dropping new DSLR bodies would only encourage existing clients to look at brands other than Nikon. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[HHPhoto]

I seriously doubt that the D850 will be Nikon's last professional DSLR. There is a massive installed base of F lenses, and there is no way that Nikon would stop selling bodies to willing consumers. Besides - dropping new DSLR bodies would only encourage existing clients to look at brands other than Nikon. Ain't gonna happen.

+1.
And Nikon has already explicitly emphasized in its mirrorless announcement that they will continue to develop new DSLRs.
I expect a successor to the D750 this year or next year e.g.

This "mirrorless will kill DSLR completely" is a myth. It will not happen.
The same people who say that have also said 15 years ago that film will die. And that instant film will be the first film type that will be dead.
The exact opposite has happened:
Instant cameras are now even much more in demand than mirrorless cameras!! Fujifilm alone has sold more than 7 million instax cameras last year, and the whole mirrorless market feeded by eight companies is only a bit more than 4 million units.

I don't buy all these "xy will be dead" prognosis. In 99% of the cases they are wrong.

Cheers, Jan

 

[NickTrop]

Nikon makes cameras. They're a camera maker. Since 1948 when their first rangefinder rolled off the assembly line... They've made all sorts of cameras from rangefinders, to many (and many classic) SLRs, to point-n-shooters, to digicams, to cropped sensor DSLRs, to super zooms, to mirrorless systems (RIP), to full frame DSLRs in the pro and amateur market.

So now they're making another type of camera... a mirrorless. And this is newsworthy, why?

 

[splitimageview]

It would be odd if it weren’t...it’s a major release from a major manufacturer

 

[DominikDUK]

Nikon has their own in-house sensor design. There has recently been a long report / factory visit about that:
https://www.imaging-resource.com/ne...-inside-nikons-super-secret-sensor-design-lab

The completely new mount (with additional adapter for F-mount lenses) is by far the best solution in the long run. Because you can develop up to the best specs.
And are not limited to the old F-mount, which is not well suited for the needs of mirrorless.
Nikon have fortunately learned from Canon: Canon was heavily critised in 1987 when they introduced the new EF mount. But it was a great success, and Canon so kept his market leader position for decades.

Cheers, Jan

This might be but the Sensors of their current pro line are still made by Sony. Nikon has been making Sensors for nearly 20 years just not for the D5 and D850. Also one of Nikons big selling points was their backward compatibility. Canon is also a big player in the cine market Nikon not at all

 

[raid]

Nikon has been a great camera company. This is what to me is the most important factor here. If their mirror-less camera had been small, elegant looking, highly advanced, with Leica M lens qualities, and at a very reasonable price, then I would actually be interested in such a camera. Still, it is a Nikon. This makes me pay attention to it.

 

[Godfrey]

This is why Nikon just celebrated its 101 anniversary ...

The Nippon Kogaku Optical company has been around for about a hundred years, but didn't make a camera branded "Nikon" until about 1952 or so. They were/are an optical company first. Nippon Kogaku Optical didn't become Nikon in name for another 20-30 years; I recall my first Nikon F Photomic FTn from about 1969 still had the Nippon Kogaku Optical logo on the body.

I love it when companies and people revise history in the name of marketing spew. 😀

That said, Nikons have been very good quality cameras, plus and minus over the models, since the Nikon F was introduced about 1960. The RFs were good but didn't have as large a following. Their lenses have been excellent on the whole, although the consumerization of Nikon models in the late 1970s and beyond made the lens line a lot more variable than it was before that.

Despite that I worked with Nikon gear for almost 35 years, I have no interest in their current offerings and likely none in the new mirrorless camera either. Nothing either here nor there about that ... I have the gear I want already and see no need whatever to buy anything different, that's all ... but I really hope they do a good job with this new line.

I want Nikon to succeed because the field is pretty limited so far. I tried the Sonys and they're just junk (wrong mount, crappy construction, lots of problems, etc); Canon's been a failure in the mirrorless world so far with their offerings. Olympus/Panasonic has done a great job with the smaller FourThirds format, and Fuji has done a very good job with their line in APS-C (although I find their sensor technology makes them the wrong path for me). So far, only Leica has really produced a pro-grade FF mirrorless camera worth a damn in the SL, and it's too expensive for the broader marketplace, and the CL is a very fine APS-C camera, albeit again too expensive for the broader marketplace when you count in the cost of their lenses. Hopefully Nikon will fill in the gap with a great pro-grade FF camera, a future lower-cost APS-C and FF camera, and hopefully their lens adapter will optimize use of a huge percentage of the bazillion Nikkor lenses that are in users' hands (just like Leica has done for their M and R lens users).

Fun times in camera making land. 🙂

 

[raid]

I expect Nikon to make a mirrorless better than the competition.

Even if everything else was equal, Nikon's menu and flash systems would be enough for Sony owners to switch. Add to that a kazillion adaptable Nikon F lenses.

Things are looking up for Nikon.

Stephen

I agree. Nikon is a successful company with a rich history of superb optics and ageless cameras. I doubt it very much that at this stage of Nikon's history it will make a "mistake" with such a camera. It is most likely a calculated move towards additional business success.

 

[jsrockit]

So now they're making another type of camera... a mirrorless. And this is newsworthy, why?

It is a top level mirrorless ...and could be just as big as the move from rangefinder to SLRs for them.

 

[RObert Budding]

The new Nikon mirrorless mount looks as if it might be large enough for medium format . . .

 

[Contarama]

It is a top level mirrorless ...and could be just as big as the move from rangefinder to SLRs for them.

I hope so. Producing that kind of repeat is going to require a miracle I think.

 

[jsrockit]

I hope so. Producing that kind of repeat is going to require a miracle I think.

Yeah, it is a big {could be}

 

[aizan]

i think nikon made a great decision with this oversized lens mount.

superfast lenses will let the nikon FF mirrorless compete better with medium format cameras like the fuji GFX. shallow DOF and bokeh matter a lot to pros and ADAMs these days. the nikon won't have the same tonal richness and fine detail, and with big glass you still need a hefty body with good ergonomics, so it won't have much of a size and weight advantage over medium format. but it will be cheaper and better in low light.

sony has tended to make their bodies too small for the size of its lenses. plus, it's going to be harder for them to make superfast lenses because their mount was designed for aps-c. i don't think many nikonians will switch to sony anymore.

i haven't been interested in any nikon since the d700. i can already feel my interest in the fuji GFX, sony a7iii, and fuji x-h1 draining away.

 

[xayraa33]

I don't know how current this is now or even to any degree of accuracy or reality, but up to four months ago the reputed Canon FF mirrorless camera mock-up was shown to be styled after the 1970s Canon FTb SLR .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_bXF3D34Ps

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I don't know how current this is now or even to any degree of accuracy or reality, but up to four months ago the reputed Canon FF mirrorless camera mock-up was shown to be styled after the 1970s Canon FTb SLR .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_bXF3D34Ps

Looks more like an AE-1, but I think its wishful thinking. Canon will make something with all-electronic controls like the EOS cameras.

 

[Highway 61]

A small, full metal and beautifully designed F-mount 24MP FF DSLR with the fewest buttons possible, an HP 100% VF with high magnification and interchangeable screens, two SD cards slots and a very strong battery is what Nikon should have made to honor the company's history.

They would have been alone on this segment with what would have been the perfect counterpoint to the Leica M in the DSLR world. DSLRs still have many advantages over mirrorless cameras.

There is nothing which prevents Nikon to made the camera described above, technically speaking. But they have chosen the consumers' marketing route instead of the serious amateur photographers' expectations route.

For the "half-pros", there is the D850 of course. But I don't want such a huge thing in my camera bag.

 

[FrozenInTime]

It does seem like they have gone out of their way to design the exact opposite to their ill fated V 1-series cameras.

 

[willie_901]

Many years ago when I was only shooting film, I patiently waited for Nikon to produce a full-frame digital SLR. My wait was too long. I finally gave up and purchased Nikon APS-C digital SLRs.

I also patiently waited for Nikon to produce a mirrorless (APS-C or full-frame). Again, my wait was too long. I gave up and purchased Fuji APS-C digital mirrorless.

Now that my work flow has standardized around APS-C digital, I see no reason to change.

Essentially, narsuitus' experience exactly matched mine. I have no motivation whatsoever to change.

Change would require a fundamental change in my photographic goals. For instance, cameras with a 44 × 33mm (or larger) sensor for studio or landscape work would be one example.

A 24 X 36mm sensor camera for action photography would be another example.

 

[willie_901]

..

So now they're making another type of camera... a mirrorless. And this is newsworthy, why?

Because this is the first significant change in their business plan for many years. Specifically, Nikon has finally realized cannibalizing their 24 x 36mm DSLR is unavoidable. Better late than never.

Second, the new mount seems to be compatible with sensor areas greater than 24 x 36mm. If it turns out a product line with larger sensor is developed, this means a completely new family of lenses. So, it's possible Nikon could experience significant sales growth.

 

[Timmyjoe]

I wish Nikon the best with this new mirrorless camera. I just wish they would get their production/quality control straightened out.

Their first mirrorless, the Nikon 1 camera line, which I loved when it worked, had serious quality control issues with the aperture control units on the lenses, which suffered very high failure rates. Out of the seven I owned, five had issues (but to be fair, three of those five were recalled by Nikon and fixed before they failed. One failed catastrophically, and one was failing when I had it serviced).

And their production of the D850 camera seems to be very slow. They've been out of stock here in the States from almost the day they were introduced.

If they can fill camera orders and not have quality control issues like with their original mirrorless, they should be in good shape.

Best,
-Tim