Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Rumors about a new entry level DSLR between the Nikon D3000 and the D5000 started few months ago. This new camera will not be called D4000 as previously expected, but Nikon D3100."

Well, that'd make sense; Nikon switched to a 4 digit convention to avoid numbering congestion in this day of 2 year or less product cycles. What's interesting about the rumours (Photokina is 2 months away) is that Nikon appears to be following up on its announcement of coming up with some surprises. In this case the rumours are hinting that the new camera will support continuous AF in live view and video mode, something like the micro Four Thirds cameras.

If patent applications are to believed, Nikon has been working on this a while, and among the several patent diagrams shown, the interesting one is this:

In case you can't figure it out, it's a live view sensor with a separate AF sensor. I'm very curious to see if Nikon will implement a main pellicle mirrior (last seen in the Canon EOS 1n RS) in in a live view camera to cope with the AF issues in contrast detection AF methods. Problem with pellicle mirrors is that it robs light, as essentially you share some light with the other sensor.

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The original post over on Nikon Rumors was focused on what kind of lens is on this camera body, but I think the more interesting question is what kind of camera body is under that box? If it was just about protecting the identity of a lens, some black tape would largely do the trick. There must be a new Nikon camera body under there...any guesses as to what it is? I've heard D700x and D800 bandied about lately - but where's my highly-anticipated D400 at?

The rumours about the forthcoming Nikon D400 continue to surface, this time from a Nikon Solutions show held in Germany last week. These rumours about the D400 have been bubbling up for months, and some of them are downright ludicrous. The rumours this time around are a bit more down to earth: the sensor will be based on the new EXPEED II engine, be a DX sensor in the 16 to 18 megapixel range, and do 1080p HD video capture at 24fps. It also mentions a tilt display, similar to the D5000. The D300 has a 12.3 megapixel sensor, so it wouldn't be unheard of for it to jump to 16 megapixels, though I think 18 is stretching it. I'd personally be happy with zero increase in resolution - 12 megapixels is a lot to work with as it is. Some people believe the D400 will be an FX sensor (full frame), but I doubt Nikon wants to make a compeditor for their own D700. The D400, as a successor to the popular D300, will continue the prosumer line and with Nikon's recent investment in DX-format lenses (such as the 35mm f/2.8) I see Nikon continuing that trend. I really like the look of HD video shot on a DSLR - the depth of field is gorgeous - so that's my main reason for wanting a D400. I'm hoping that the D400 will be the first DSLR to offer true auto-focus while shooting video, but that may be too much to hope for at this stage. Lastly, as for when it's coming out, it's anyone's guess - but with the D300 having been released in August of 2007, I'd say sometime in the summer months would be a good bet for when we might see the D400.