Today Nikon announced a new Nikon Df DSLR camera that is revolutionary because it is retro! ;-)
Today there are many who find some features of older SLR cameras to be appealing and perhaps, in some ways, preferable to some of the interface elements on modern DSLRs. (Among these people are an older generation that started out with those classic camera and a newer generation that has rediscovered the older cameras at thrift shops and garage sales.) The older SLR film cameras were often tightly constructed, mostly of metal, with clean lines, and they came with lenses that were often much smaller than the big lenses that seem to be in vogue today. Perhaps most important, they featured external manual controls for essentially all features of the camera. Using them was, in many ways, a very different experience from using todays digital cameras, where single dials and buttons perform multiple functions and you must look at LCD displays to see what you are adjusting.
It seems to me that what Nikon may have done here is take some of the best features of the older cameras (physical control knobs, smaller and tighter design, liberal use of metal parts, etc) and fuse them with a thoroughly modern digital camera. Make no mistake, this is not an “old school” camera – it is a modern camera that carries forward some proven design elements from an earlier era. This may not be for everyone, but lots of photographers are going to like this.
You can pre-order the camera and a new 50mm lens that was designed to complement it at B&H now.
- Nikon Df DSLR Camera (black) – $2, 746.95 preorder
- Nikon Df DSLR Camera (silver) – $2,746.95 preorder
- Nikon Df DSLR Camera (black) with 50mm f/1.8 Lens – $2,996.95 preorder
- Nikon Df DSLR Camera (silver) with 50mm f/1.8 Lens – $2, 996.95 preorder
- Nikon Special Edition AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G AF-S Lens – $279 preorder
© Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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If I could afford to move up to full-frame I would seriously consider this one. Some have said it’s ‘big’, but I suspect my Contax AX is bigger, and that’s fine. I love the top plate layout with so much accessible through dials rather than menus, so much quicker to set and see what is set.
Also enjoyed your series of shots at the Navy yard.
Thanks, John. I’m betting that this camera will feel much like 35mm film cameras, though obviously not exactly the same.
I’m glad you enjoy the Mare Island shots.
Dan