According to Nikon officials, the new cameras and the marketing campaigns planned to promote them are designed to appeal to the youth market in greater Asia, with a particularly keen eye on Chinese youth.
“We want to attract young, hip users, especially in China,” Nikon Operating Officer Yasuyuki Okamoto said at a recent press conference. “If we do not somehow corner the China market, there is no future.”
Also targeting professional photographers, the Nikon D3 incorporates a large CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor to deliver 12.1 megapixel resolution and a sensitivity range from ISO 200 to 6400 in its normal setting.
The D3 also is designed for high-speed shooting, supporting a continuous shooting rate of approximately nine frames per second in the FX format (36x24) or 5:4 aspect ratio, and 11 frames per second with DX (24x16) format. According to Nikon, the D3 is the first digital SLR camera that is compliant with next-generation high-speed UMDA Compact Flash (CF) cards, enabling 35-MB recording speed.
The D3 is equipped with a double CF card slot, permitting consecutive recording, separate and simultaneous recording of RAW and JPEG file types, and copying of data between two CF cards.
When it ships in November, the D3 will carry a ticket price of just under $5,000, likely restricting it to the professional market. For consumers, the slightly less feature-packed but still high-end Nikon D300 also is scheduled for a November release, priced at approximately $1,980.
Like the D3, the D300 also delivers high resolution, with a new 12.3-megapixel DX format CMOS image sensor. The D300’s light sensitivity range is not as wide as that of the D3, but the consumer model still delivers impressive light sensitivity, ranging from ISO 200 to ISO 3200 in its normal setting.
Another area in which the D300 offers a slightly scaled back version of the D3’s capability is shooting speed, which ranges from six frames per second to as fast as eight FPS when using batteries other than the EN-EL3e battery that comes installed in the camera.
