The mid-range full frame war - where are we now? August 27, 2008
Posted by tcbp in : News & Rumors , add a comment
Since the last post on this a lot has happened:
- Nikon announced the D700 (beating Canon to the punch on the full frame updates) and it is pretty darn nice for $3000
- SLRs now shoot video (in HD!) thanks to the Nikon D90
- Canon announced two new cameras… but neither are full frame
- Rumors have changed on the new full frame model
The 5D Mark II/3D/6D/7D will now most likely have a DIGIC IV processor since the just annonuced 50D has this new electronic brain. There are also rumors of it sporting 21 megapixels. That’s a lot of pixels… more than I really want or need. Hopefully it will have some improvements in the high ISO area over the 40D (a 21 megapixel full frame sensor is the same pixel density as an 8 megapixel APS-C sensor like in the 30D or 40D). Some people even seem to think the 5D Mark II will have full weather sealing, HD video capabilities and a 100% viewfinder. We’ll see…
Your SLR is now a camcorder
Posted by tcbp in : News & Rumors , 1 comment so far
Nikon has again pushed the boundaries of what features an SLR can and should have by adding HD movie recording capabilities (up to 1280×720 at 24fps) to an SLR. This successor to the D80 sits in between Canon’s XSi, 40D and 50D in some ways, but as mentioned offers up one feature none of them can match in any capacity. The D90 will sell for $1000 or $1300 with the newly announced 18-105 VR kit lens.
I’ll let DPreview carry the load of telling you the gory details on this new body and lens:
The kit lens sounds like quite a nice range for the starting photographer, and is a great sounding kit with the D90.
I’m very curious to see the performance of the movie mode in this camera. I personally don’t find movie mode a very big selling point or differentiating feature for myself, but I still suspect it could come in handy at times. Interesting quirks of the D90’s HD mode include a 5 minute max recording time for a clip 720p (20 minutes in other modes) and no AF during movie mode.