Rumor Has It: Nikon May Launch Mirrorless Camera in September

Camera may launch with three lenses

By Michael Zeigler

Thom Hogan, a well known Nikon shooter and Nikon lens reviewer, has recently published some news from reliable sources regarding Nikon’s upcoming mirrorless announcement:

I continue to get small bits of information on the upcoming Nikon mirrorless camera. I'm pretty certain of the 1" (~2.7x) sensor at this point, and since I can't find anyone else making one that makes sense for the camera, I continue to wonder if this will be another Nikon designed sensor. That certainly would be an interesting development. As I noted last week, you don't have to get very far forward from the D3100 sensor to get something that could be 10-12mp and highly credible at 2.7x.

I've now been told by three different sources it will launch before CES, probably in late September, and it'll launch with three lenses (wide angle prime, kit zoom, telephoto zoom). The lenses are reportedly "quite small" in nature, along the lines of fat C-mount lenses.

A leaked picture of the rumored Nikon mirrorless sensor

The sensor size looks smaller than the Olympus E-PL2, Panasonic GF2 or Sony NEX5.  How will it measure up?  Hopefully we'll find out soon.  Stay tuned... The price of the other mirrorless cameras keeps creeping up, to the point where a Canon T3i can look like a better deal. Perhaps Nikon will try to come in at a lower price point.

Although Nikon's higher-end dSLRs like the D90, D7000, D300s, D700 and D3 are top-notch, we've never been overly impressed with its entry level dSLRS or compact camera models for underwater photography. Let's see if NIkon's mirrorless line can change our opinion of their consumer based models. 

Sensor size diagrams

If you scroll down the Nikon rumours website, you'll see a diagram showing a nice comparison of sensor sizes.

Further Reading

Intro to Mirrorless Cameras

Understanding Pixels and Sensor sizes