trademark has been registred on july 14th :

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=dqssv.2.4

but still have to wait a few ...... weeks ? ....... months ...... ??

Here's hoping that it's the same body as a D70.....I know....not likely, but I can still hope

Karl

Here's hoping it's the same body as the D100.

btw. Corporations do trademark names that never end up getting used. Still not sure I'd call it official but it's a good sign.

Surely the best hope is that this camera is not based on the F80 at all.

I think what most would want is 8-12MP. Better viewfinder than most DLSRs. AF either same as F5/F100/D1 or AF same as F6/D2. No vertical grip. Smaller camera than D2 series.

Personally I think that there is a strong possiblity that it will have the same sensor as the D2X. I also think it won't be out until just before Christmas. Housings by April/May 2006.

Alex

That makes a lot of sense Alex. I think it'll take a sensor at least that good to compete with the Canon upgrade to the 20D which would come not that much later. Nikon has put a great deal of work on the image processing for this chip, even if they/Sony can come up with something better so soon, they may not want to upstage the D2x this soon after it's release, and there's not much room in performance between what they need against Canon and this sensor. This way they can save lots of engineering cost.

It may not be exactly the same chip, just as the Rebel XT chip is not exactly the same as the 20D chip, but it'll be very close.

Based on Nikon's track record for the last three cameras, they will register now, and the camera will be released in the fall.

Cheers
James

My little finger tells me it will be a F6 sized based camera, they have this body frame available and already digitally wet, oops sorry Giles,I mean based. Throw in a D100/D70 sized battery and you have something around 3 frames per second in a mid sized body with a decent finder.

That would make sense, anybody phsycic outhere?

That would be sweeeeeeet. If they insist on the F80 body I think it will be a failure. Personally, I think their best bet would be a D1 body without the vertical grip and with a 10-12 mp sensor, I think this would hold up against the 20D successor.

I'd be surprised if it has a built in vertical grip. Hope it doesn't for smaller UW housings and less cost.

I think that the camera would either have the D2 AF or the D2X sensor, but not both. Maybe Sony have a 10MP sensor that can go in the D200 and then get passed down the range (as with the D100, D70, D50).

Unlike the D100, which out megapixeled the D1X, I would be surprised if the D200 out megapixels 12.4. Mainly because images of this size are not so easy to handle. Despite the marketing kudos of having more megapixels than your competitor I don't really see the need for this camera to have more than 8.

All this wild speculation is great fun. If you make enough predictions, one of them is bound to be right!

Alex

A source told me that the F6 body is indeed a D2 frame modified for film transport, so they have a body for it already. Men THAT would be the perfect sized camera, with a autofocus that goes schnell and 8 megapixels, OOGA!

Nikon is trying to streamline all of their production - so their cameras use as many interchangable parts as possible. This is the MAIN reason they went to the D70s - so the could share parts w/ the D50.

The F6 and D2 share the same chassis, shutter, AF, etc.

I don't know what the D200 will get but I'm willing it will be a combination of parts from these cameras.

For example D70 shutter, D2x Sensor, D2 chassis, D70s LCD, D2x EPROMS and processing, D70 viewfinder (ouch).

FYI, there is no F100 based camera anymore, that chassis is gone, that AF is gone, and that viewfinder is gone. The D70 body is loosely based on the N80, but not much.

Cheers
James

given how long Nikon have taken with this I'd wager it's going to be a corker.

Nikon have a track record of producing little brothers to their top end models that often exceed or at least match many of the abilities of their siblings

F4 - F90x
F5 - F100
D1X - D100