The Internet creates a rumor mill of galactic proportions that can include speculations about the members of a teenage girl clique at the average high school or issues of global significance that could affect everyone. Somewhere in the middle of these extremes are the current rumors about the new Nikon DSLR camera that is “rumored” to be named the Nikon D800, thus replacing the D700.
Read real customer reviews of the Nikon D800 here.
The point is no one actually knows because as of the date of this article (10/6/11) Nikon has made no official announcement; however, enough is known that it is a virtually certainty that this new high-end DSLR is coming.
The latest rumors from various sources (reliability unknown) are presented below, dated from September 21 through October 5, 2011.
9/21/11
2. Nikon will likely make an announcement during October, probably the week of October 17th. It is likely much of the delay is attributable to the Japanese earthquake, which reportedly affected a Nikon plant. Nikon may also have a release-date strategy that takes into account the impending introduction of the new Canon 5D Mark III, which will be the D800’s primary competition.
9/23/11
3. In a recent interview, Swedish Nikon executive Lasse Pettersson stated, in a response to a question, that there would be no announcement during October.
9/29/11
4. The sensor will have 3,620 megapixels.
5. The camera body will fire 4 frames per second in continuous shooting mode. An optional battery pack will increase the rate to approximately 6 frames per second.
6. Full HD video in 1920 x 1080 at 30p.
7. Built-in headphone jacks, with input from an external device, such as a PCM sound recorder. It will correspond to USB 3.0. A new small wireless transmitter will be available.
8. 86K pixel split control, AF, exposure, white balance, etc. compatible.
9. Face Recognition AF features.
10. Larger LCD monitor and automatic brightness adjustment.
11. Two media CF and SD card slots.
12. Shutter durability of 200,000 cycles.
13. A market price of approximately $3,900.
14. The announcement to occur on October 26; the product released on November 24.
10/3/11
15. A reliable source is willing to confirm a 99% probability that the camera will be named Nikon D800 and have a 36-megapixel sensor.
16. As a reference, the D800 will be very much like a mini-D3x. It will not have the same high ISO sensitivity as the D3s.
10/4/11
17. ISO range: 100–6,400, ISO LO at 50 and ISO HI-2 at 25,600.
18. There is likely to be a different D800 version with the anti-aliasing filter removed.
19. The D800 may have been already released in a number of countries.
10/5/11
20. The D800 will improve on the D700’s 95% frame coverage by offering 100% coverage.
21. The same 51 points AF system as in the D700 and D3s.
22. The dual memory card slots were confirmed, but not SD, CF or both, as of yet.