d3x
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Creative's new Bluetooth speakers sound vaguely familiar
Creative's family of Bluetooth speakers got a few more additions today. The company unveiled the wireless one-piece D80, which for most intents and purposes, is identical to its colorful sibling the D100, save for a lower price tag at $50 and a loss of battery power. The $300 ZiiSound D5x, meanwhile, looks an awful lot like 2010's D5, though this one plays nice with the newly announced D3x modular speaker and DSx modular subwoofer, both of which are priced at $150 a pop. The D80 is hitting this month and the ZiiSound's various components will be arriving this summer, so don't throw out last year's models just yet. Press info after the break.
PhotoTrackr Plus brings geotagging to Nikon DSLRs, leaves your hotshoe open
Oh sure, Nikon's got its own solution for adding native geotagging to your existing DSLR, but the GP-1 dongle definitely has its drawbacks. Aside from sucking down around 4x more power than Gisteq's new PhotoTrackr Plus, it also eliminates the ability to use a dedicated flash in the hotshoe while capturing GPS data. Moreover, it has to warm up every time you turn the camera on / off, and there's just 18 tracking channels compared to the Gisteq's 44. Regardless of the back and forth, we do appreciate the PhotoTrackr Plus' ability to plug directly into the 10-pin terminal that few amateurs even think to recognize, though we do fear that the reliance on Bluetooth could cause issues if you stray too far from the transceiver. Still, this newfangled dongle is far superior to its past iterations, both of which simply logged data as you went and then added metadata after you synced the information with your images via PC; this dongle, however, embeds the data right away into every image. Better still, there's even a price advantage to going third party -- Nikon's aging GP-1 is pushing $200 on many webstores, while the Gisteq apparatus can be procured right now for $179. Take your pic, as they say.
Enthusiastic shutterbug immortalizes Nikon on his forearm
Since time immemorial, man has used the tattoo to signify rites of passage and status, to look like a bad-ass, and to tell the rest of us what he holds dear -- whether it be the Zune, Storm, or PS3. Now camera buffs are getting in on the action, with a certain Manny Williams becoming so infatuated with his Nikon D3X that he had one inked to his forearm. According to his email to the company, this guy has been a photographer for over twenty-five years, but "since using a Nikon product, I am convinced that I will never use anything else...EVER AGAIN." You know, there are enough naysayers in the gadget biz that whenever we see someone happy it makes us happy. It really does. We just hope the body mod here isn't really another regretful symptom of some sort of manic episode. More Manny after the break.
Nikon D3s with 1080p video rumored for release next month
This sort of burst out of nowhere today, but word is that a new Nikon D3s will hit on October 15 -- the crew at NikonRumors puts it at "99 percent probability." The D3s is expected to add 1080p video and an 14fps burst mode to the D3, as well as a 1.6x crop mode, but other than that we don't know too much. We'll keep you updated, it looks like the leaks are coming fast and furious.
How would you change Nikon's D3x DSLR?
Look, we fully understand that only a handful of you were willing to force your kid to pay for their own education while you spent that eight grand in savings on the D3x, but for those hardcore enough to do just that, here's your venting post. This beast of a DSLR has been rumored, teased and taunted for what seems like ages, and now that the 24.5 megapixel shooter is finally making its way out on armored UPS trucks, we're anxious to see what early adopters are loving / disappointed in. For starters, was it worth the price? If not, why? What could Nikon have tweaked to justify the sticker (if anything)? Get vocal in comments below!
Nikon D3x reviewed: unmatched image quality, steep price tag
While all of the Nikon D3x previews from December largely heaped praise on the camera, Thomas Hogan's recent review is decidedly more evenhanded. Though lauded for what he calls the best image quality of any DSLR on the market, its $8000 price tag receives some harsh criticism. Compared to its D3 predecessor, he says you're paying a $3600 premium for what is essentially just twice the pixel count (12.1 megapixels vs. 24.4). If you're the kind of person who needs the higher resolution, this is the camera for you. For everyone else, it might be worth a pass. Hit up the read link for an exhaustive analysis. [Via 1001 Noisy Cameras]
Nikon D3x DSLR preview roundup
You've heard the rumours and the tales of hacked firmware, and you've seen the glamor shots -- and now that the Nikon D3x has hit the streets, we've got some significant previewage for you to check out. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive -- as you would expect from a 24.5-megapixel, $8,000 camera. Trusted Reviews was impressed not only by the quality of the pictures and the bright, clear viewfinder, but by the overall build of the camera as well, stating that it felt "extremely well-balanced in the hand even with heavy lenses. And ... the D3x's controls were surprisingly easy to operate and use, with everything laid out very intuitively." CNET pointed out that the camera "shares similar dimensions with its sibling, the D3, so this means accessories produced for the latter can be used on the new camera." One omission that the review pointed out was the Nikon's inability to capture 1080p full HD video, making Canon's EOS 5D Mark II your only option if that's what you're after. But don't take our word for it -- check out the reviews below for more info.Read - CNET: "[O]ne beast of a camera... raises the Japanese company's benchmark for future product development."Read - Trusted Reviews: "It looks big, I agree, but it doesn't feel it..."Read - MegaWhat TV (video review): "The 24.5-megapixel CMOS sensor puts it above all of the other models in the FX lineup."
Nikon's geotagging GP-1 dongle now available
When we asked how you'd change Nikon's 720p-recording D90 DSLR, many of you globe-trotting photogs let out wistful sighs, gazed at the brightest star, and wished with all your might for automatic geotagging of photos. Like some trickster genie, Nikon is granting your wishes, but we're not sure the GP-1 GPS add-on is exactly what you had in mind. It slots into the hot-shoe on most cameras (clipping onto the strap for a few) and uses an unwieldy looking cable to connect to the body of your D200, D3, D700, D90, D300, or D3X. We can't say that we're particularly fond of the device's means of indicating status, either: red blinky light = no satellites; green blinky = three satellites; green solid = four satellites or more. C'mon Nikon, for $240 you couldn't integrate that cable into a hand strap and put more than two LEDs up in there? [Via Gadget Lab]
Nikon's D3X DSLR hits the scene in official fashion
After a quick outting in its own mag, Nikon has gone and gotten all officially official on the D3X. The big boy DSLR sports a bone-crushing 24.5-megapixel CMOS FX format sensor, full resolution shooting at 5 FPS, ISO from 100-1600 (expandable to 50-6400), TIFF, JPEG or NEF (RAW) file formats up to 138MB, and a newly updated EXPEED image processing system. The top-tier digicam won't come super cheap, hitting shelves at $7,999.95 -- but if you need something like this, money probably isn't much of an issue. The camera goes on sale this December, so you might want to get the piggy banks out. Check the gallery below for a full look at the magic.%Gallery-38227%
Nikon outs D3x in own Pro magazine
Uh, oops. Sorry Nikon but your D3x is now even less of a mystery. According to your own Pro magazine, the D3x will sport an FX-format, 24.5 megapixel sensor shooting 5fps at full resolution or 7fps at a reduced 10 megapixels. Nikon made a few other tweaks including an extended ISO 50-6400 range but the body design, AF, metering, and main functions remain the same as the D3. The only thing we need now is a price and confirmed release date. Back to you Nikon. One more shot detailing the features after the break, full details beyond the read link.[Via dpreview forums]
D3x reportedly shown, then removed from Nikon's site
While this rumor hasn't been running quite as long as the original iPhone rumor, we've been brushing off whispers of the D3x for a really, really long time. For what it's worth, the latest tidbit actually seems to have some teeth, with one eagle-eyed tipster noting that the website in the read link was alive momentarily, then canned inexplicably. He managed to grab the image you see above (but not the whole site?), and he swears up and down it wasn't the Eggnog distorting his judgment. We'll see, won't we? [Thanks, Darryl]
24.4 megapixel Nikon D3X DSLR in the works?
Some entirely too ingenious hackers have found a reference to the rumored D3X deep within the bowels of Nikon's D3 firmware. The reference includes a list of resolutions available to the upcoming shooter, and it's apparently set to max out at a potentially Higgs Boson-inducing 24.4 megapixels. Word has it that this sensor is likely a variant of the megapixel monster behind Sony's upcoming A900, but since this is all being extrapolated from a few numbers hidden in some firmware, we're going to try not to get too ahead of ourselves at this point.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Nikon D3 DSLR rumors running rampant
It sure feels like we've been around this block before, eh? Nevertheless, it seems that the ever-popular D3 rumors are cropping up again en masse, and while there's still no true signs of an imminent release, a whole heap of fanboys and girls are doing all they can to will it into production. A smattering of message boards are harping on the "forthcoming" high-end DSLR from Nikon, stating hopes that it'll sport 18.7-megapixels, a nearly full frame sensor, and an uncanny ability to cope with low-light conditions. As expected, guesstimates surrounding a release date are literally all over the Gregorian calendar, but majority sects believe that a summertime launch is definitely plausible. So if you're game for getting swept up in all the commotion, be sure and hit the read link for all the unconfirmed mayhem you can stand.[Image courtesy of David McGhee]
