Nikon D6? What's it going to be? No focus motors? Faster What?

[mshchem]

I've been wanting to get a D5. I have a D3 and a D800, amazing cameras.

My Big Question is will the D6 be a evolution of the D5 or something totally different?

Possibly :

• No focus motor to use older lenses ?
• In body VR?
• A huge buffer and super fast XQD ?
• How much, if any increase in resolution ?
• Smaller body like D850?
• A lot more auto focus sensors?

How do they leverage what is in the new mirrorless cameras into a DSLR ?

I still have no desire to look through a EVF. There's no substitute for a fast prime on A DSLR.

I fear that mirrorless is going to totally swamp looking through a prism on to a ground glass focusing screen.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I've been wanting to get a D5. I have a D3 and a D800, amazing cameras.

My Big Question is will the D6 be a evolution of the D5 or something totally different?

Possibly :

• No focus motor to use older lenses ?
• In body VR?
• A huge buffer and super fast XQD ?
• How much, if any increase in resolution ?
• Smaller body like D850?
• A lot more auto focus sensors?

How do they leverage what is in the new mirrorless cameras into a DSLR ?

I still have no desire to look through a EVF. There's no substitute for a fast prime on A DSLR.

I fear that mirrorless is going to totally swamp looking through a prism on to a ground glass focusing screen.

in my not so humble opinion, it has to finally break the 100Mp barrier(I'm thinking 120Mp on an FX sensor of course). in-body VR is overdue; not to forget 1st-class autofocus and two car slots.

 

[Eric Rose]

If it doesn't have 4k video with at least 45 minute continuous recording time, IBIS, and dual card slots it's DOA.

 

[Michael Firstlight]

I would love a D6 (have been using a D800 since it started shipping). Hoping for one with:

• More MPs - would love to see it have 36MPs - get it closer to the D800 rez
  
• Even better low-light improvement at ALL ISO levels, including the low ISO rangex
• 4K video
• Built-in wireless 802.11ac
• Much of the D850 feature set

I don't care for EVF - preserve long battery life instead. I know there are many who don't want more MPs - but the current 20.8MP is getting very long in the tooth for anyone wanting to use it for other than sports. Maybe there should be a D6x addition to satisfy both crowds. I'm even wondering if the D8xx series has much life left in it as an OVF offering; I would expect the D900 to be EVF - making an even stronger case for a need for both a D6 and a D6x OVF set of offerings.

Mike

 

[Chan Tran]

I've been wanting to get a D5. I have a D3 and a D800, amazing cameras.

My Big Question is will the D6 be a evolution of the D5 or something totally different?

Possibly :

• No focus motor to use older lenses ?
• In body VR?
• A huge buffer and super fast XQD ?
• How much, if any increase in resolution ?
• Smaller body like D850?
• A lot more auto focus sensors?

How do they leverage what is in the new mirrorless cameras into a DSLR ?

I still have no desire to look through a EVF. There's no substitute for a fast prime on A DSLR.

I fear that mirrorless is going to totally swamp looking through a prism on to a ground glass focusing screen.

Will be the same as the D5 or the D4 before it. Would have more AF points, larger buffer and higher frame rate. Higher resolution a bit may be 24 or 30MP. Still have XQD or may be CF Fast and 2 card slots. Still have AF motor and the AI coupling. Body would still be the same size not smaller. Making the D6 smaller won't sell. People who want light weight don't buy the D6 any way.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

in my not so humble opinion, it has to finally break the 100Mp barrier(I'm thinking 120Mp on an FX sensor of course). in-body VR is overdue; not to forget 1st-class autofocus and two car slots.

Are there lenses for the Nikon system that can resolve the lines p/mm required to actually project a 120MP image on a FX sensor?

 

[mshchem]

Will be the same as the D5 or the D4 before it. Would have more AF points, larger buffer and higher frame rate. Higher resolution a bit may be 24 or 30MP. Still have XQD or may be CF Fast and 2 card slots. Still have AF motor and the AI coupling. Body would still be the same size not smaller. Making the D6 smaller won't sell. People who want light weight don't buy the D6 any way.

This is pretty much how I see it playing out. Bigger buffer, maybe 30 MP, 2 XQD slots that could be upgraded to CF Express. Focus motor ? I'm afraid of cost cutting and marketing geniuses getting involved. I think it would be stupid, but they only have 1 slot on the mirrorless. I will probably do what I usually do is wait for a pristine used camera. Gray market D5 bodies are less than 5 grand, very tempting.

 

[Cholentpot]

Water resistant to 30 meters...

 

[Chan Tran]

This is pretty much how I see it playing out. Bigger buffer, maybe 30 MP, 2 XQD slots that could be upgraded to CF Express. Focus motor ? I'm afraid of cost cutting and marketing geniuses getting involved. I think it would be stupid, but they only have 1 slot on the mirrorless. I will probably do what I usually do is wait for a pristine used camera. Gray market D5 bodies are less than 5 grand, very tempting.

Now I doubt that a professional who currently use a D5 would have to use an AI lens or an AF lens without built in motor but I think they don't drop either the AF motor or the AI coupling.

 

[Eric Rose]

Water resistant to 30 meters...

They did have that. It was called the Nikonos RS. https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/filmcamera/underwater/rs/index.htm . Not digital mind you.

 

[Cholentpot]

They did have that. It was called the Nikonos RS. https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/filmcamera/underwater/rs/index.htm . Not digital mind you.

In all honesty, most working Pros will be sticking with mirrors for a long time. Give it a decade or more before mirrorless starts to dominate for working photogs.

 

[mshchem]

In all honesty, most working Pros will be sticking with mirrors for a long time. Give it a decade or more before mirrorless starts to dominate for working photogs.

There needs to be a mass market for the lovely mirrored cameras to stay affordable and abundant. All the 20-30 something guys I know have Fuji or Sony rangefinders .
The noise factor is a issue, when the press opens up with their SLR the noise is crazy. I am pretty sure that flash is banned in some meetings in Congress, no one uses it anyway.

I'm hoping that the next flagship product is not like the F5 to F6 transition where cost cutting was a big factor .

 

[Cholentpot]

There needs to be a mass market for the lovely mirrored cameras to stay affordable and abundant. All the 20-30 something guys I know have Fuji or Sony rangefinders .
The noise factor is a issue, when the press opens up with their SLR the noise is crazy. I am pretty sure that flash is banned in some meetings in Congress, no one uses it anyway.

I'm hoping that the next flagship product is not like the F5 to F6 transition where cost cutting was a big factor .

All the working photographers I know are using Canon 5D 3 or 4s. One or two outliers with Nikon and one product guy uses a Sony. A very large chunk uses Canon. And this is the 18-40 year old crowd.

 

[mshchem]

Well I'm done worrying about what's next. I have an 8,500 click, D5 coming from Japan, like new, 4 grand delivered. XQD cards are expensive ! I love my D3 so I think this will be easy to adapt to.

 

[mshchem]

D6 announcement is supposed to happen September 4 in Japan. Not sure what they will announce, all the dopey rumor sites are all aflutter

 

[Colin Corneau]

Pariah opinion: the megapixel rush is merely a symptom of an industry that just doesn't have much truly amazing to tout anymore. It's like the iPhone...nothing truly new, just tinkering around the well established edges.

Mountains from molehills, basically. Ditto for 100,000+ ISO. Who uses this? No one.

Longer recording time and expanded 4K (8K..?) video shooting -- that'd be useful and new. I'm curious to hear more, but really -- it's hard to imagine anything that'd justify the hype.

 

[Kino]

A great thing for us "scabby edge" technologists! Harvest the cast-offs of the "must have at all cost newest toy" crowd...

 

[Ariston]

in my not so humble opinion, it has to finally break the 100Mp barrier(I'm thinking 120Mp on an FX sensor of course).

In that case, add $10,000 to the cost so you can also buy a computer that can edit the files...

 

[Tom Kershaw]

In that case, add $10,000 to the cost so you can also buy a computer that can edit the files...

Medium format film scans have been in the 80-100 megapixel plus range for years and can be edited on older computers, although I appreciate that digital camera work involves a greater number of files.

 

[Chan Tran]

I've been wanting to get a D5. I have a D3 and a D800, amazing cameras.

My Big Question is will the D6 be a evolution of the D5 or something totally different?

Possibly :

• No focus motor to use older lenses ?
• In body VR?
• A huge buffer and super fast XQD ?
• How much, if any increase in resolution ?
• Smaller body like D850?
• A lot more auto focus sensors?

How do they leverage what is in the new mirrorless cameras into a DSLR ?

I still have no desire to look through a EVF. There's no substitute for a fast prime on A DSLR.

I fear that mirrorless is going to totally swamp looking through a prism on to a ground glass focusing screen.

I think it will have in body VR. I am sure it won't have small body like the D850. You can't sell it in that form.

 

[Ariston]

Medium format film scans have been in the 80-100 megapixel plus range for years and can be edited on older computers, although I appreciate that digital camera work involves a greater number of files.

Have you done this? I can't speak from experience, so I am curious to know if you have edited a 100mp photo on an older computer. I've heard tons of secondhand complaints about how slow Lightroom can be with even the current crop of DSLRs (20-30mp), but I don't do much in the way of heavy editing myself, so I don't know.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

Have you done this? I can't speak from experience, so I am curious to know if you have edited a 100mp photo on an older computer. I've heard tons of secondhand complaints about how slow Lightroom can be with even the current crop of DSLRs (20-30mp), but I don't do much in the way of heavy editing myself, so I don't know.

I'm not using a cataloging software at the moment, but do edit 80/90 megapixel files from 6x7cm negatives on a 2010 Mac Book Pro - upgraded to 8GB ram, and a SSD system drive.

 

[Born2Late]

I don't know, it is a bit more than what I want to pay regardless. I am interested it what follows the D850; I have a D800 now.

 

[Adrian Bacon]

Have you done this? I can't speak from experience, so I am curious to know if you have edited a 100mp photo on an older computer. I've heard tons of secondhand complaints about how slow Lightroom can be with even the current crop of DSLRs (20-30mp), but I don't do much in the way of heavy editing myself, so I don't know.

Yep. You don't have to have the latest and greatest computer. You may need to add more RAM to your computer, but once you're up in the 8-16 GB range of ram, a lot of stuff speeds way up. Any CPU made in the last 5-10 years is totally serviceable as long as you have enough ram and a reasonably fast hard drive. Some will be faster than others, but for still images, your biggest bottlenecks are RAM and hard drive speed. Editing video is where you need to have a bonkers machine.

Also, keep in mind a lot of complaints about speed in LR come from people who don't necessarily use LR in a way that's conducive to having a snappy experience. I remember some guy a while back (not here on Photrio) complaining that LR was super slow, and after talking to him for a while, it became clear what the problem was: He was shooting a 50MP camera, and in one sitting was pulling in several thousand photos at a time and telling LR to generate 1:1 previews. Sorry guy, you're pulling in a ridiculously large volume of very high resolution images and telling LR to do it's single most expensive operation for each image and you're not happy it's taking longer than 2-3 minutes? What did you expect?

1:1 previews are meant to be generated and used once you've imported and done your initial selects and deleted all the reject photos so that you can then do your editing. They're not meant to be generated at import time. The same goes for the type of previews being generated. You'd be amazed at how many photographers always generate the highest resolution highest quality previews possible all the time, never update the preview inside the file, and never write any updated metadata to the file and then wonder why their system is crawling when they're trying to use LR. It's being made to do the maximum amount of work all. the. time. Many times, totally unnecessarily. There's a reason why LR lets you set the preview size and quality level. That has a direct impact on your usability experience.

 

[mshchem]

I bought a used D5 from Japan. D6 is going to need to be pretty good to get people to trade up. Of course people that really need to use these cameras on a daily basis will need to replace worn out cameras. I use digital for family and pictures of my cats.