Ahead of Nikon’s unveiling of the D6 DSLR, the price of current model the D5 has dropped to its lowest retail price after retailers discounted $1,000 from its MSRP.
Most retailers such as B&H are now offering the Nikon D5 for $5,497, heavily reduced from its previous price tag. It amounts to around a 15% drop.
The Nikon D6 will of course be an upgrade from the D5, with Nikon Rumors suggesting the likes of in-body image stabilization and better video capabilities, plus a number other features that have the tech giant promising it to be “Nikon’s most advanced DSLR to date.” However, we’ll have to wait a little longer yet, as the company hasn’t actually confirmed any of the new model’s specifications in any official capacity.
The Nikon D5 features a 20.8MP BSI CMOS image sensor, a 153-point autofocus system, 12 frames-per-second continuous shooting. It can also handle shooting up to 200 12-bit lossless-compressed raw images in a single burst.
Nikon released the D1 digital SLR camera in 1999, making 2019 the 20th anniversary of the single-digit D series. The D5 was first announced back in 2016.
You can purchase the discounted Nikon D5 here, and there’s also a price drop on the Nikon D3500 too.
The D5 has been on sale, for even less through and for NPS (member's) and I think it's $4995 in the USA if I remember the email notice correctly. I am waiting to hear the pricing for the D6 and the final specs, even though I know most of them and I am impressed with the images I have seen from a "SAMPLE" D6. I never was able to hold the unit in my hands or take any images, however I did notice the large "SAMPLE" sticker on the bottom of it and knew that it must be the D6, because of the size and position of the sticker/logo on the bottom of the vertical grip near where it usually is on Dx series bodies. I can not disclose all of the details and specs I was told about for fear of outing my friend and somewhat of my business partner. However I will say that he is and has been testing the D6 for Nikon and is an amazing photojournalist here in America. I believe there were initially two variations of samples in the beginning stages, with two different sensors, but I can't confirm that, just my suspicions. The eight images I saw taken with this "sample" pre production D6 appeared to be around 24-26mp, although it is possible and likely some of them were cropped and or my quick math of the height and width resolution numbers could be wrong. It is possible that the sensor is actually more like 30mp, but I do not believe it is over 30mp. The most impressive thing to me was the dynamic range of the files, and sample images, which I believe to be over 14.5 stops of dynamic range. So I am very impressed and believe the sensor to most likely be a Sony sensor, but tuned by Nikon with their magic SNR and AD converters, and new processors. Believe it or not I would bet Nikon will sell a ton of D6 bodies to newspaper's, magazines and wire services, as well as photojournalist, wedding photographer and wildlife photographers. The fact that many people believe it to be the last professional level DSLR by Nikon will also help sales in my opinion. There are many seasoned professionals like myself that still prefer the DSLR and are not yet interested in or eager to switch to mirrorless. I am not totally against mirrorless, but for the time being and years to come I do not see Nikon releasing a D5-D6 level "Z" series body or super-tele lenses in the Z mount either. So the D6 may be the DSLR to end all DSLR's and will hopefully last people like myself at least 6-7 years into the future. However if the price of the D6 is above $6499 than I will most likely NOT be buying one and will instead buy a D5 through NPS or maybe even a used with low shutter count D5 through ebay, which I predict will be around $3200 soon.
I switched to Sony A9 and still miss the "Nikon" sensors from as far back as the D800. Simply amazing especially the skin tones and dynamic range and processed via Capture One. I also miss the optical viewfinders from the Nikon D4-5.
What I like about mirrorless is I that now I travel to cover news events with smaller profile than when I used D4 and D5. I can also fit my 3 a9 in smaller bags since they are not so tall.
I see more and more wire photographers using Sony and some who are using Nikon(company gear) z6 and Sony loaners.
With many publications cutting budgets the cost of the d5 or even d6 is cost prohibitive to upgrade. Sony a9 price will probably plummet after a9ii release and that will be another incentive for people to buy Sony which not only competes in features but in price.
“Nikon’s most advanced DSLR to date". I find it funny because they would never say: "Not as advanced as de D5, but good enough" or "Not the most advanced Nikon, but we're releasing it anyway."