Nikon has announced the D3X, its latest high-resultion professional DSLR. Sporting an imaging sensor with double the number of photosites of the popular D3, the 24.5 megapixel D3x includes similar features such as a 3.0″, 920,000 dot LCD monitor with Live View, 51-point autofocus, EXPEED image processing and HDMI output. To keep up with the demands of stock photography the camera produces 50MB 14-bit RAW files that can be processed to produce 140MB TIFFs. It also supports Nikon’s wireless system and is compatible with Nikon’s new GP-1 GPS unit.

Key features:

• Nikon FX-format CMOS sensor with 24.5 megapixels

• Wide sensitivity range starting at ISO 100, ending at ISO 1600

• New EXPEED-based image processing, which was designed to minimize noise occurrence, achieves this without interfering with other factors, including hue.

• High-speed performance meets the most rigorous professional demand: It delivers a continuous shooting speed of approx. 5 frames per second in FX format (36 x 24) or 5:4 (30 x 24), and 7 frames per second in DX format (24 x 16)*2*3.

• Realizing reliable auto control: Scene Recognition System

• AF system employing high-density 51-point AF

• Superior durability

• High-resolution 3-inch LCD monitor with approx. 920k­-dots (VGA), 170° wide-viewing angle and reinforced glass

• Two Live View modes available

• Picture Control System: Choose from Auto, Extra High, High, Normal, Low or Off setting prior to shooting.

• Electronic virtual horizon

• UDMA-compatible memory card double slot

• GPS Unit GP-1 (optional)

Other features

• Lateral chromatic aberration reduction creates images with a clear periphery using original image processing technology to significantly reduce color aberrations

• Vignette Control effectively prevents reduction of light at the periphery

• Optical viewfinder achieves approx. 100% frame coverage and 0.7x magnification in FX format

• Three sensing areas: FX format (36 x 24), DX format (24 x 16), and 5:4 (30 x 24)

• Customizable function button

• Choice of black or white letters for shooting information display

• AF fine adjustment with professional standard of accuracy

• Compliant with HDMITM for high-definition image playback

• Lets you shoot up to approx. 4,400 frames on a single battery charge

There are about 2 weeks now since I have the Nikon D40x and I am extremely pleased with it. The main reasons are: fast shooting and crystal clear images with natural colors, very low noise and plenty of sharpness. There are 2 more things I like about it: the fact that I can immediately delete a picture if I want without entering the playback mode (The length of time the image remains on the monitor is determined by option.) and the outstanding battery life (I believe I reached around 600 shots before recharging – and recharging time is a little bit less than 2 hours). It’s not heavy (this is important for me) and maintains the design of the previous 6MP Nikon D40, having a good grip and well placed buttons. Becoming familiar with the operation of the D40x will take little time even if the controls are well placed and logical.

There are few Vari-Programs shooting options compared to my old Canon, but, who really needs them? The display shows all the informations needed for adjustments before pressing the shutter and, besides aperture and shutter time, everything can be set up using the “info” button in combination with the “set” button. Shutter and aperture are modified using the wheel below the dial. The help button is very useful for anyone who never worked with a SLR before and whenever it is pressed it gives tips about what adjustment you should do to obtain a technical correctly image. You can view a histogram of the image, but there is no composition grid. In the little viewfinder you have a focus preview which I find very accurate when using manual focus.

The focus screen of the D40x provides three AF areas – I wish there could be more but at this price range it’s OK. The camera definitely worths the money. When using the playback effects, it saves the applied effect as a new file and it won’t allow me to make a second effect on the new image. Also, when shooting in RAW+JPEG, the jpeg version can only be low and not at full quality, but, it takes allot of memory anyway so why wishing for even more memory consumption. The Noise Reduction, if turned on, decides whether or not photos captured at high sensitivity or with long exposures (more than 1 second) are processed to reduce noise – another useful in-camera feature. If you are passioned about HDR, Image Overlay option in playback serves to combine two RAW images to create one – exposure of the shots can vary between 0.1 and 2 EV in increments of 0.1 EV while the effect can be seen in a preview (maybe later Nikon will allow more than 2 shots to be combined).

I received the camera with the standard Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm lens (as in kit) but later on I intend to get a telephoto lens. For this, it’s important to know about compatibility on the camera: AF-S DX lenses have a solid build and are compatible with Nikon D40x. D40x is only fully compatible with AF-S or AF-I lenses that have their own built-in AF motors. The Nikon D40x is also equipped with a flash shoe dedicated to Speedlights SB-400, SB-600, SB-800 and SB-R200 external flashes.
I love this camera and I recommend you to buy it (body only, kit and accessories) from my amazon links below.

Nikon D40x SLR Specifications

Tags: Nikon, Nikon digital camera, slr digital camera, Nikon d40x, raw, 10mp, Nikon d40x kit, d-lighting, digital camera

Unlike its predecessor L5, the Nikon L6 has 1MP less and also 2x less optical zoom. The battery life is impressive, but the shutter lag is slow (long time to charge flash). The design is smooth, quite flat to fit the pockets, lightweight and with intuitive buttons at the back. It does not have Shutter and Aperture Priority, but comes with plenty of scene modes including panoramic feature. The best shot selector mode captures up to 10 images and keeps the sharpest one. Therefore, the images are pleasant, with lots of details. Exposure compensation and manual white balance are a few controls that can allow some flexibility, but you can’t modify the ISO, and I find that annoying. A good camera for snap-shooters (due to the easy of use and image quality), but make sure you have steady hands because it does not come with image stabilization.
Nikon Coolpix L6 Specifications

Nikon Coolpix L6

Nikon Coolpix L6

Tags: nikon digital camera, compact digital camera, digital camera, nikon coolpix, nikon coolpix l6, coolpix l6, 6MP, 3x optical zoom

The design of Coolpix L5 is different than the one of L4 or L6 and I must admit that I personally don’t like it. It’s the 5x optical zoom that first catches my attention (not 3x like most of the cameras in this range). Then, the optical vibration reduction (image stabilization) brings another plus to the evaluation. Nikon’s Best Shot Selector (BSS) will select for keeping the sharpest picture out of 10 shots. The worst about this camera is the impossibility of modifying the ISO setting (exposure compensation, white balance and metering can be adjusted). Like most of the shapshooting compact digital cameras, it has plenty of scene modes but no manual or shutter/aperture priority. For example, one-touch portrait mode uses face-priority autofocus and sets a wide aperture to blur the background and make your subject stand out. With flash turned on, it takes 4 seconds between shots, which is very slow (no focus-assist lamp?). As for the image quality, Coolpix L6 performs better even if it has fewer features.
Nikon Coolpix L5 Specifications

Nikon Coolpix L5

Nikon Coolpix L5

Tags: nikon digital camera, compact digital camera, digital camera, nikon coolpix, nikon coolpix l5, coolpix l5, 7MP, 5x optical zoom, image stabilization

The design of this dSLR, like most of the semi-professional cameras, consists of rubberized magnesium weather-sealed body, with a good hand grip, plenty of space for an accurate viewfinder and a pop-up powerful flash and lots of buttons at the back. The colors, contrast and sharpness taken by Nikon D200 are great if you have some more advanced photography knowledge to manually adjust white balance, exposure, aperture and shutter speed. Like all cameras in this range, people pictures will result with no red eye due to the pop-up flash. Battery life is only a few hundred shots on a charge (Nikon claims 1,800 shots – probably without the LCD).
The fast speed of the camera and the 10 MP are the main reasons why a photographer would choose to buy the D200 instead of an older Nikon dSLR. Compared to the 6 MP D100, it has a better metering and focusing system, Kevin Temperature white balance, on-camera adjustemt of saturation, larger LCD, GPS and Wireless functions, improved USB connectivity. Unlike D100 and D2X, it missed the TIFF file format. Compared to D2X it is a lot smaller and lightweight, but lower resolution, less frame coverage of the viewfinder, and a few more less noticeable lacks.
Nikon D200 Specifications

Nikon D200

Nikon D200

Nikon D200

Nikon D200

Tags: nikon digital camera, digital slr camera, digital camera, nikon dslr, nikon d200, 10MP, manual controls, Depth-of-field preview, Histogram display

Nikon Coolpix S9 has a slim, stylish, metal design and fits easy in all pockets. By featuring One-Touch Portrait Button (automatically activates In-Camera Red-Eye Fix and Face-Priority), Face-Priority AF, D-Lighting (improves brightness and details where needed), In-Camera Red-Eye Fix and BBS – Best Shot Selector, Nikon technology improves your photos automatically with no need of extra work, thing that also makes the camera easy to use. As accessory, there is a leather case that looks a lot like a wallet, and you can ask for your favourite color of the camera. Now for the bad: tests result into noisy images under low light conditions (unexpected for Nikon, but later models fixed this), and the lack of manual controls that for people like me is disturbing, but won’t be a problem if you only want to make good snapshots.
Nikon Coolpix S9 Specifications
Nikon Coolpix S9

Nikon Coolpix S9

Nikon Coolpix S9

Nikon Coolpix S9

Nikon Coolpix S9

Nikon Coolpix S9

Tags: Nikon Coolpix S9, Coolpix S9, Nikon Coolpix, Nikon digital camera, compact digital camera, digital camera, 6MP, 3x optical zoom, D-Lighting, red eye reduction

Coolpix S5 is an ultra-slim but strong build pocket compact digital camera from Nikon. It features In-Camera Red-Eye Fix, Face Priority AF, and D-Lighting, plus a new One-Touch Portrait button on top of the camera which combines Face Priority AF with In-Camera Red-Eye Fix to help users improve their portraits. Pictmotion allows the adding of music to the pictures and pick a style (Motion, Moody, Classic etc.) for displaying them in slideshow playback. I like the way the buttons and menus are arranged at the back: intuitive and easy to use, in such way that even if it has so many advanced features, you can remember where to access them. This camera also comes with an optical viewfinder that may come in handy when you want to spear some battery life. As for image quality, the Nikon S5 produces sharp images with good colors, low noise and accurate white balance; low incidence of purple fringing and flare.
Nikon Coolpix S5 Digital Camera Specifications
Nikon Coolpix S5

Nikon Coolpix S5

Nikon Coolpix S5

Nikon Coolpix S5

Tags: nikon digital camera, digital camera, compact digital camera, nikon coolpix s5, nikon s5, 3x optical zoom, 6MP, Face detection , D-Lighting, red eye removal

Coolpix S10 makes some significant improvements over its predecessor, the Coolpix S4, adding image stabilization, a stronger flash, a sharper LCD, and more. The lens doesn’t extend or retract – it rotates 270 degrees relative to the monitor screen, and the camera comes with a lens cover to protect it when not in use. It’s a stylish design of this metal digicam from Nikon that fits every pocket but feels too little in big hands. Since this lens is bigger than on other compact cameras, fewer optical distortions and aberrations are to be seen on the images. Too bad it does not have manual controls; otherwise I would love this camera: excellent image quality, 10x optical zoom, vibration reduction, D-Lighting, Face-priority AF, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix, One-touch portrait button, 15 Scene modes and Pictmotion features. When using high zoom, however, the camera focuses very slow.
Nikon Coolpix S10 Digital Camera Specifications
Nikon Coolpix S10

Nikon Coolpix S10

Nikon Coolpix S10

Nikon Coolpix S10

Tags: Nikon Coolpix S10, Nikon S10, Coolpix S10, Nikon digital camera, compact digital camera, digital camera, 10x optical zoom, 6MP, d-lighting, face detection, image stabilization, red eye removal

D2Xs is an upgrade of the original D2X - Single-lens reflex digital camera with interchangeable lenses. The main improvements are: Save and Load Settings, 170 degree wide-angle viewing of the LCD, Focus Tracking Lock On options, Black and White mode, In-Camera Cropping and some changes about the continuous shooting.

Nikon D2Xs features a magnesium alloy large and heavy body with grip both front and back, built-in fixed low-pass filter on the Multi-Cam2000 AF sensor and plenty of settings (and plenty of buttons but easy to manipulate) for extreme flexibility (personally, I believe that the too many possible settings of this camera makes it hard to learn and accommodate with, on one hand, and on the other hand, you will always find something new to try out). A “shortcut” in this labyrinth is represented by “Recent Settings” menu which allows you to quickly recall settings you changed recently.

On the LCD you even have the battery remaining charge shown (excellent battery life by the way); it allows backlight / brightness adjustment and has tempered glass coating.
The viewfinder gives information about Focus indications, Shutter speed, Aperture, Exposure mode, Metering system, Shutter speed lock, Aperture lock, AE lock, Bracketing indicator, Electronic analogue display, Frame counter, Ready-light, ISO sensitivity, White balance, Image size / quality, Eleven sets of focus brackets (area). Depth of field preview is certainly not to forget.

Interesting about this digital SLR is the NMEA 0183 Interface standard supported with GPS Cable MC-35 and compass, as well as FTP file transfer with optional Wireless Transmitter WT-1 (IEEE 802.11b) or WT-2.
Image quality stands up for the expectations of such an expensive professional top line camera (heavy, flexible and responsive): low noise, sharpness, no artefact, no vignetting, natural colors.
A quote from cnet.com: Nikon’s flagship dSLR ranks among the best 35mm-format cameras currently made, but some pros may take umbrage with its less-than-full-frame sensor.

Accessories: AF Nikkor lenses (including AF-S, DX, VR and D-/G-type), D-type Manual-Focus Nikkor lenses, AI-P Nikkor except 3D Color Matrix Metering lens, filters, Wireless Transmitter WT-2/2A, Extended Range Antenna WA-E1, AC Adapter EH-6, Type-E Focusing Screen, Magnifier DG-2, Anti-fog Finder Eyepiece DK-17A, Rubber Eyepiece Cup DK-19, Eyepiece Correction Lens DK-17C series, Magnifying Eyepiece DK-17M, Right-Angle Magnifying Viewing Attachment DR-5, Speed light SB-800/SB-600/R1C1, Capture NX software, Camera Control Pro Software, Image Authentication Software.

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Program Auto [P], Shutter-Priority Auto [S], Aperture-Priority Auto [A], Manual [M]
• Effects:
Sharpening: Auto, Normal, Low, Medium Low, Medium High, High, None
Tone: Auto, Normal, Less Contrast, More Contrast, Custom 1,2 & 3
Color: -3,-2,-1,0,+1,+2,+3
Hue: +/-3, +/-6, +/-9 degrees
Black & White mode -> this is new
• Flash Modes: Balanced Fill-Flash controlled by five-segment TTL Multi Sensor, Standard D-TTL Balanced Fill-Flash, Advanced Wireless Lighting, Non-TTL Auto Flash, Range-priority manual, Front-Curtain Sync (normal sync), Red-Eye Reduction, Red-Eye Reduction with Slow Sync, Slow Sync, Rear-Curtain Sync
• White Balance: Auto, 5 Presets, Manual (six steps with fine tuning), Color temperature in Kelvin (31 steps), White balance bracketing (2 to 9 frames, 10,20,30 MIRED steps)
• Metering: 11 area TTL (9 area when in High speed cropped mode) and 3D Color Matrix II, Center-Weighted and Spot

Technical Data:
• 2.5 inch LCD offers a 170-degree wide viewing angle
• Viewfinder: optical, magnification approx 0.86x with 50 mm, Frame coverage 100%
• 12.4 effective megapixels
• ISO Range: 100 – 800 in 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps, plus HI-0.3 (ISO 1000), HI-0.5 (ISO 1100), HI-0.7 (ISO 1250), HI-1 (ISO 1600), HI-2 (ISO 3200)
• Exposure Compensation: +/-5.0 EV; 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps
• Bracketing: 2 to 9 frames; 1/3, 2/3 or 1 EV steps, for Exposure / Flash / White Balance
• Continuos Shooting:
Continuous High Full image – 5 fps
Continuous High speed cropped image – 8 fps
Continuous Low Full image – 1 to 4 fps (custom)
Continuous Low High speed cropped image – 1 to 7 fps (custom)
• Shutter Speed: 30 to 1/8000 sec
• Flash X-Sync: 1/250 sec
• Power-on: 0.2 sec
• Shot to Shot: 0.20 sec
• Shutter Lag: 0.045 sec
• Self Timer: 2, 5, 10 or 20 sec programmable
• File Format: NEF (12-bit RAW), NEF + JPEG, JPEG (EXIF 2.2), TIFF (RGB)
• Compact Flash Type I or II
• Lithium-Ion EN-EL4a 2500 mAh battery (1,150 shots)

Tags: Nikon D2Xs, Nikon dSLR, dSLR, nikon digital camera, raw, 12MP, versatile camera, proffesional camera, red eye reduction, low noise, manual controls

Coolpix S8 has longer battery life than Coolpix S7 and it is a bit lighter. The LCD is 5 inch smaller. Another difference, less important, is the fact that the S8 comes with the COOL-STATION MV-14 and the S7c and S7 come with the COOL-STATION MV-15; S8 comes bundled with the Dock Insert PV-10 and the S7c and S7 with Dock Insert PV-11. Otherwise, it has the same wonderful special functions and features: BSS (Best Shot Selector), D-Lighting, Electronic VR (image stabilization), Face-priority, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix, One-touch portrait button, Pictmotion.

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, 2 modes for vibration reduction (Anti-Shake, High-Sensitivity), 4 modes with Scene assist, 11 Scene modes
• Scene Modes: Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night Portrait, Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dusk/Dawn, Night Landscape, Close Up, Museum, Fireworks Show, Copy, Back Light, Panorama assist, Voice Recording
• Movie Mode: TV movie (640) at 30fps, Small size (320) at 30fps/15fps, Smaller size (160) at 15fps, Pictmotion (320) at 15fps; Without sound: Time-lapse movie at 30fps, Electronic VR (Vibration Reduction) available
• Flash modes: Auto, Auto with Red-eye Reduction (In-Camera Red-Eye Fix), Flash Cancel, Anytime Flash and Slow sync
• White Balance: Direct sunlight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Flash and White Bal. Preset

Technical Data:
• 2.5 inch LCD
• 7.1 effective megapixels
• 3x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom
• Aperture: f/2.8-5.0
• Power on: 1.1 sec
• Focal Length: 35 to 105mm (35mm equivalent)
• Self-timer: 3, 10 sec
• Continuous Shooting: 1.4 fps, Multi-shot 16 – approx. 1.6fps, only available at image size 5M
• Shoot to shoot: 2.1 sec
• Shutter Lag: 0.7 sec
• ISO Range: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
• Flash Range: 0.3-7.5m /1 ft. – 24 ft. 7 in. (Wide), 0.3-4.0m/ 1 ft. – 13 ft. 1 in. (Tele)
• File Format: JPEG
• SD memory card + 14MB internal memory
• EN-EL8 Li-Ion Battery (210 shots)

Tags: nikon, nikon digital camera, compact digital camera, digital camera, nikon coolpix, nikon coolpix s8, nikon coolpix s7, coolpix s7, coolpix s8, 3x optical zoom, 7MP