01.04.10 Things that I want from Nikon
2009 was a disappointing year to an extent if you were a Nikon user. Yes, there was finally an update to the 70-200, and the D300 and D3 got HD video and a tweaked sensor. But it was a huge letdown otherwise, what with the lack of lenses, no forward thinking on a mirrorless, interchangeable lens camera (also called an EVIL, or my preference, a digital rangefinder), and no D700 update. And although I’m content with my D700, I certainly don’t need a 70-200.
No, what I’m looking for is a 24 1.4 to compete with Canon’s, something like a 17-40 f4 (you know, to compete with Canon), and a proper digital rangefinder with a set of pancake lenses and HD video, to match up with Panasonic (however if they don’t hint at anything soon, I’ll likely end up with a GF1 regardless).
And now with Samsung finally announcing their own digital rangefinder, with an APS-C sensor to boot, it makes me wonder if Nikon may pursue such a route. My realistic prediction though is that Nikon will indeed announce an EVIL by summer, but won’t do anything daring like Olympus did in bringing forth the EP-1. We’ll instead get something similar to (maybe copied from) the Samsung, that is more an upgrade to the D5000, just without the mirror box and still pushed to consumers. And once again, the folks who call themselves photographers (and aren’t being ironic, unwittingly or not) get left out in the cold and continue to wait for a fleshed out digital rangefinder that doesn’t have a red Leica dot and accompanying price tag.
So as long as I’m in this pipedream rant, it would also be nice if Nikon took Thom Hogan’s advice and developed a digital FM2 – stripped down full frame sensor, no mirror, no LCD (an EVF instead), brutish metal body that could fit in a coat pocket, and manual control dials. Now that would be a beautiful thing.
