Nikon D800 officially announced.

 
After countless “accidental leaks,” Nikon announced two new cameras: the D800 and D800E. The D800E is identical to the D800, except that it skips the anti-aliasing filter, which technically will offer sharper photos, but might also introduce color moire and chroma noise. According to Nikon, the “D800E is ideal for photographers who can control light, distance and the subject to mitigate the increased risk of moiré and false color.”

UPDATED: Adorama is allowing preorders on Nikon D800 ($3000 ships next month) and D800E ($3300 ships in April). First orders in, first boxes out. Hurry up!

Video Features

The D800 video features are almost identical to the D4, for half the price.
• 1080p/29.97fps and 720p/59.94fps
• Two memory card slots: Compact Flash (UDMA Mode 7) and SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-1)
• USB 3.0
• Mini-HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack for live audio monitoring, 3.5mm powered stereo microphone jack, PC sync and 10-pin remote socket

Interestingly, both the rear LCD and an HDMI-connected external monitor can display simultaneously.

Interesting Features

• 35.9 x 24mm (FX Format) self-cleaning CMOS sensor
• 36.3-megapixels
• ISO range of 100-6400 (expandable to 25,600)
• 51-point AF system, 20% more sensitive than the D700

(more…)

Meet the XQD Memory Card. Works with Nikon D4. Lexar joins the Party.

 
A few days ago The Compact Flash Association announced a new format to replace CF cards for professional photographers, and HDLSR filmmakers. The new format is called XQD, and has a physical size that falls between CF and SD cards (it is thicker than SD cards, but smaller than CF cards). The interface used is PCI Express, with real world write speeds around 125MB/s, eventually being able to exceed 2 terabytes of capacity. All that was pretty interesting, but I assumed that given the current prices of memory cards, pushing a new format would be a pretty hard sell (literally).

UPDATE 0724: Lexar Announces Plans to Join the XQD Memory Card Party In Q3 of 2012.

Well, I stand corrected. Twice. As you already know, Nikon just announced the D4 camera, which happens to be the very first camera incorporating the XQD technology. And Sony, on a surprising move, has also announced not only one but TWO flavors of the new memory card. A 16GB card for $129, and a 32GB card for $229. The new cards borrow the PCIExpress (PCIe) high-speed serial communications link interface from computers, offer 125MB/s transfer speeds, and can store up to 100 RAW images in continuous shooting mode.

Additionally, Sony will have a new USB 3.0 card reader, and an ExpressCard/34 adapter, and will start shipping the goods next month at the same time Nikon delivers the D4. Just on time for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Check Sony’s commercial for the XQD. It looks like an awesome video game. Now, would you pay $129 for a 16GB card?