Is Nikon Teasing a New Full Frame Compact in this Video?

Nikon put out a video that seems to be teasing something huge for the company... the retro full frame compact that has been hitting the rumor mill pretty heavily in the past week. That said, this video from Nikon seems to be pointing to the rumors being more fact than fiction. This camera looks like it's coming, and soon.

Nikon Rumors is saying the camera will be called the Nikon DF, which stands for Digital Fusion. Do you think this video is a teaser for it? I sure hope so. It looks strikingly similar to the camera I learned film on way back in the day, and would make me yearn to own it quite badly.

Nikon-compact-full-frame-camera-fstoppers
 
Thoughts? Anyone else excited?

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Jaron Schneider is an Fstoppers Contributor and an internationally published writer and cinematographer from San Francisco, California. His clients include Maurice Lacroix, HD Supply, SmugMug, the USAF Thunderbirds and a host of industry professionals.

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35 Comments

My mind flipped tables when I saw this! TAKE MY MONEY NIKON!!!

Yes...next question.

that gave he chills!

Nikon has some pretty beautiful shutter sounds, but this fella takes the cake!
It will go perfect next to my FM2!

Scotland!

Can't wait. A dream camera.

A dream camera? So you've had the chance to hold it in your hands and test it... obviously. Please, do tell us more...

Or are you just drooling over a product which you know nothing about?

If it is what everyone is anticipating- and Nikon is slowly revealing to be true- then yes, I cannot wait. You haven't been excited about something you don't know everything about, before? Ever been excited about a gift before you unwrap it from the box? If you don't know what's in the box, do you give the gift back? That's pretty sad. Keep trolling while I stay excited.

Sure I have... but calling it a dream camera before anyone has any real info about it... hell, enjoy. The mighty corporate boogey man has got ya.

.... So many people will buy anything if "retro" or "vintage" is tied to it... Seriously people.. Quit being such hipsters..

Seriously man.... Quit using the word hipster

Retro-enthousiast? Better for you?

I just think its funny people will pay for this camera and all it does is EMULATE a retro look... Just a little more advance version of using a plugin.. Yeah.. totally worth it.. Hell even the title is saying its for hipsters though... D4H? Designed 4 Hipsters, come on! Lol.

If it's designed like an older Nikon camera is will probably be compact and simple. The reason many photographers are interested in cameras such as this (fuji x series) is because the classic manual controls and compact size. I didn't even learn photography on a film slr, but I still prefer the way they are laid out.

You know what Brandon, I can actually respect that answer. Most people just see retro and go NUTS over it but give no explanation as to WHY... THAT is what irritates me when I hear people saying "GOT TO HAVE IT".

ya for me its not the retro style. its the manual controls and size. i love my Fuji X100. the retro style is just an added bonus. the HAVE TO HAVE IT for me comes from getting a full frame sensor in a small package like the Sony A7 and A7R. especially at the price point the Sony camera come in at.

Gonna join in on this. I shoot MK IIn/IV's for work but for anything personal I take my X100 or Pentax S1a. Direct controls and clear bright viewfinders in a small package are a winning combination.

I'll tell you why.... I grew up and learned on a Nikon F2, F3, FM2, and FE2. Those cameras hold a special place in my heart. They are still second nature when I pick them up today. They feel right. They sound right. Everything is in the right place. Smooth curves are good on women, not cameras.

I just want the same feeling and functionality of those film cameras in a digital body.

That's because you haven't been following this the way enthusiast have. It appears to be a Nikon F3-sized DSLR camera with a shutter speed dial and matching (modern) lens with an F-stop ring. If so this is desirable for many people, especially those who grew up with gear like this, such as myself.

Wes, you look like a douche-bag hipster with those square glasses!
You haven't even seen the camera, so how do you know it functions like a "plugin", whatever that means. I think it's funny how people who think they are "true photographer" want bash equipment before they even see it.

DF

New does not always mean better. And appreciating good design from the past does not always mean hipster.

My take on it is that people don't like it just because it's an old design. They like it because it's actually designed beautifully (unlike modern cameras). It's also going to be a pretty compact FX camera.

Any real price or performance advantage apart from being retro? Nikon better be have a good reason why they didn't come out with the D400 when the expectation and market was hot for it. And they have been complaining of poor market performance compared to their competitors! Still, Quite happy with my D7100 and spankin new (well, refurbished) D800e!

It seems to me Nikon is leaving APS-C in the past. At least, in the DSLR line. Nikon Germany is going to concentrate solely on FX gear, and it seems like Nikon's overall DSLR modus operandi. Let's face it, DX was a stopgap measure from the start. While it obviously evolved into it's own format, nobody really wanted it in the first place.

Ahh Nikon... Tease us with something and then actually release it in 3 years. I love that company.

Release is next week in Paris.

HA! I live in Paris :-) Thanks for reminding me to get a ticket for the Salon de la Photo!

Umm, I have a question - where does that photo come from? That looks awful lot like me.

Are you the man in the video?

alas no. but the blown up close up above looks a lot like me. so nm :)

looks a lot like Philip Bloom

From a Canon user, I hope Canon takes a similar approach and plugs a full frame sensor into a range finder size body a la Leica, but with pricing more like Sony's. And of course, an EF mount, although an EF-S mount would be even better.

So this would indicate possibly a fully manual camera but with the only nod to the present being a full frame sensor? After all we can here him clicking away setting up for the next shot. I can get behind that idea. I'd been thinking for quite awhile that I wish I had the same sort of options available as I did when I started with my Canon TX 35 years ago. Why do I have to spend a ton of money to get a full frame sensor DSLR? Why can't there be an option for a camera that you must set manually? Want people to learn what photography is really about? This is how yo do it.

I'm really curious about the enthusiasm for this (and other) retro-style cameras. I started shooting film on a Nikon FE2 (still sitting on my desk), and used "manual" film cameras for close to 15 years before switching to digital. But I just don't see what the attraction is. I can understand nostalgia -- nothing wrong with that. And even "small camera with a big sensor" -- sounds like a good solution for situations where you don't want to stand out.

But what "manual" controls are photogs so excited about? Physically turning a manual aperture ring or shutter speed dial in 1-stop increments? Is it just the layout? Physically, the controls may be different, but they're otherwise no more manual than a mid-level DSLR.