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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.