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Oct 02 2007

New Nikon D90 - D80s Rumours

Tuesday, 02 October 2007

Next Nikon DSLR: D80s, D90 or D3x?

Short after the announcement of D3 and D300, speculations has started about what the next camera from Nikon will be. One of the possibilities is a higher resolution (25 Megapixel?) Full Frame flagship camera named D3x which will compete with the lately announced 21 MP Canon 1Ds Mark III.

The other possibility which is more likely in my opinion is an upgrade to D80. Looking at some past data, we see that D70s was upgraded 16 months after D70 and D80 was announced (August 2006) 16 months after the D70s. Assuming this 16-month intervals to continue, next announcement may be expected to be in January 2008.

Another uncertainty besides the announcement date and the specifications of the D80 upgrade is the naming of the new model. Will it be a D80s (D80x) or a D90? For minor changes like D70 to D70s, Nikon choose to add a letter like ‘x’or ‘s’ to the end of the code, and gives a totaly new model numbers for the major changes.

Since there are no official announcements or even leaks from Nikon yet, I feel free to speculate that the upgrade will most likely be named D80s with some remarkable improvements like the image sensor and also some minor changes, reserving ‘90’ code for the next upgrade.

New Nikon D80s (D90) low-end DSLR technical specs would be:

12 Megapixel APS-C sized CMOS sensor (identical to the D300 sensor)
D80 body (plastic, no wheather seals) and viewfinder
D200 AF sensor (11-points, 1 cross type)
4 fps continious shooting
3.0” 922K LCD (This may require body design change)
No Live View
Anti-Dust
Improved high ISO performance with the CMOS sensor
Improved metering
Improved battery life
$1000-$1200 price range

The new D300 is surely superior in means of technical specifications to Canon 40D, which is the strongest competitor in its class. But the $500 price difference still gives 40D a very strong advantage. A Nikon D80s or D90 that is placed strategically between Canon 40D and 400D (Digital Rebel Xti) would fill this gap very well and manage significant level of sales.

Are You Tired of Waiting for the new D80 replacement? I recommend you to check Nikon D80 once more if you don't have one. It is still a great camera and can satisfy %99 of most photographers needs. And if you are looking for a real upgrade, D300 is the way to go.