Nikon D6 formally announced by Nikon

[Netr]

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/dslr-cameras/d6.html

20.8 MP. 14 FPS.

[Ann]

Temptation!

[Birna Rørslett]

A capable and impressive camera, for sure. Even has GPS built-in -- a first for the flagship class.

[Mike G]

Just musing this morning, and I’m wondering why the sensor in the D6 has a 20mp chip instead of a 50/60mp chip? I note with interest that the Sony top model the A9 also has a 20mp sensor, I will assume it’s the same chip in both, I don’t know if that is correct, but I’m guessing now.
I’m sure they are both fine cameras, but to my uneducated eyes that Nikon’s top of the line machines have always seemed to me that Nikon has used a smaller mp sensor in its top of the line models. I’m sure that the output from these cameras is also superb, just curious as to why? Or am I to assume any camera with lots of mps is a consumer model?

Please don’t construe these remarks as criticisms.

[Erik Lund]

Impressive Nikon soldiers on with the single digit D, must be extremely expensive for then to run R&D on that level! Very cool 
If only the had continued to develop the high resolution line,,, would just love to shoot D6X instead of the gripped D850, it never is the same with a separate grip 
PJ and sports shooters are favored here

[Birna Rørslett]

Mike: this is a camera optimised for sports and photojournalist usage. Adding massive megapixel capacity would actually go against the needs of its user base.

Calibrated ISO range, to take one example, is 100 - 100K ISO. Meaning you can confidently shoot with the camera set anywhere within this huge span of ISO and have first-class results.

My mind stagers about what R & D efforts Nikon has brought to bear on this flagship model. It goes without saying the camera won't be cheap yet I doubt Nikon directly earns on its sale. The economic benefits are probably from lenses and accessories plus the immaterial value of providing such a machine to the general public.

[Mike G]

Birna, I hear what you say, and that makes sense of it now. However I’m surprised that Nikon didn’t put those resources into a super fast mirrorless camera, yes I know the m’less lens line up is not comprehensive yet, but it is very possible to use on m’less the range of F mount lenses and even to utilise the Sony range of lenses. But I can understand why Nikon wouldn’t promote that idea!
I must admit I hadn’t twigged the sports angle, but even then the price quoted in $ is $ 6500, ouch.

[Jakov Minić]

Now this is a camera that I would love to shoot!
I think that it is cheap compared to the Z7 and all the things it does.

[Birna Rørslett]

We'll probably see a quite similar Z version in the near future.

Nikon also launched two Z lenses today. The "travel zoom" 24-200/4-6.3 is not for me, whereas the new 20/1.8 S definitively makes it to my bucket list.

[Fons Baerken]

Yes the 20mm f/1.8S is on my list as well will be even sharper than its f-mount equivalent which already performs quite good on the Z, price will be €1000 at least, i think.

[Birna Rørslett]

Nikkor 20/1.8 S: NOK 12000 in my country, i.e. around 1100 Euros. A tad more expensive than the 24/1.8 S.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Just musing this morning, and I’m wondering why the sensor in the D6 has a 20mp chip instead of a 50/60mp chip? I note with interest that the Sony top model the A9 also has a 20mp sensor, I will assume it’s the same chip in both, I don’t know if that is correct, but I’m guessing now.

Sony's A9II has 24MP, the D6 and 1DX III are with 20MP.

These cameras are primarily targeted at photojournalists and especially professional photographers covering sports. For newspaper and web use, 20MP is sufficient and the primary objective is to get the moment in focus reliably rather than in high resolution. High resolution cameras have gotten faster too, e.g., the D850 can shoot 45MP at 9fps and A7R IV 61MP images at 10fps. However, neither the D850 nor the A7R IV can quite give the excellent AF performance that the "flagship" models have. On one hand, the lower resolution of the sensor means the AF doesn't have to aim sky high in precision and the designers can aim for the highest speed.

In action photography, because of the subject movement, and often low light, high resolution would not really be realized in a typical situation even if the sensor resolution were increased dramatically. There is little time to AF on a fast-moving subject in low light, so the AF has to be super fast and responsive to changes in movement, but would it be possible to focus with the precision requirements of (say) 61MP in that kind of environment? Often in indoor sports photography one is at ISO 2000 to 6400, and applying noise reduction to a high-resolution image tends to smear the finest details. Finally, if you are a press photographer, you may be required to submit the images very quickly and the smaller files may be a better fit for that kind of hectic work environment especially with the wireless transfers.

These are specialized cameras for specific working conditions and not all-purpose cameras.

Or am I to assume any camera with lots of mps is a consumer model?

Not at all, the D850 has 45MP and it's a professional camera. Many users who need high resolution trek in the landscape and the more compact body may be their preference for that kind of work.

[Ilkka Nissilä]

While it is possible to mount adapted lenses to a mirrorless camera, it is generally not possible to have the best AF performance by doing that. And catching the moment is all these cameras are about, so it's all about how quickly the subject is brought to focus and how one can catch the decisive moment. Nikon probably don't have the technology ready to make an A9 II competitor as a mirrorless camera at the present time (they said at Z launch that they were half-way though developing this, but I don't know how many years that means ;-)), they don't have the native sports supertelephoto lenses for Z, and many sports photographers prefer optical viewfinders and given the declined income opportunities for sports and photojournalism today, I imagine the cost of all-new native lenses is a put-off for many.

Nearly all the advertising images for this product line are of sports subjects. ;-) So they don't hide the objective of the camera.

I haven't yet seen any A9 or A9 II in use at sports events that I go to. Lots of photographers have 300/2.8 lenses to shoot with, and many use older generation ones that are still perfectly fine and don't cost much to maintain (compared to e.g. the cost of a new lens). I imagine in other parts of the world there may be wealthier sports photographers, and at figure skating world's and grand prix I did see some 180/200-400/4 (the 180-400 was with NPS-stickers so likely it was loaned), 600/4 etc. but the 70-200/2.8 and 300/2.8 are still the most common.  By looking at many of the lenses it is obvious that they have been around the block and were not bought yesterday.

[Mike G]

OK, I’ll go and stand in the corner with my dunces hat on. 

My apologies if I got some my facts wrong that’s the trouble with musing, and letting ones thoughts wander!

Thanks for the info about the two new lenses, unfortunately this means I’m destined to be poor!


Thanks for bearing with my ramblings. 

[chambeshi]

They must have decided many months earlier that EXPEED6 has sufficient processing speed and power for the D6 ie not spend more on R&D for an 'EXPEED7'

I'm disappointed the D6 is not 30mp, which is far better for many subgenres of wildlife, but the big marketing thrust of the D6 is sports - as we know and Ilkka explains. One hears that 20mp does a good job for the majority of end users. Compared to all the noise in Canon about their Deep Learning AF system, Nikon spells out it out differently from Canon, but it sounds that the 3D tracking etc has been upgraded in the D6.

"With the new AF dedicated engine, the image processing engine EXPEED 6, and the advanced scene recognition system that works with them, the D6 further enhances various performances. In particular, face / upper body detection information, defocus information, and motion detection information improve tracking performance of the subject's movement in the planar direction. " The block diagram under 'Advanced scene recognition system' does not translate from the Japanese, unfortunately and it's not on Nikon USA nor Nikon Europe.
https://www.nikon-image.com/products/slr/lineup/d6/features01.html

They also mention AFFT in the D6 is improved for the newer zoom lenses :-) And it the D6 AF should also work a bit better at f8 with a TC

Keeping the ENEL18 and core haptics are big +ves for many of us, and hopefully these stay untampered in an upgraded D850. It could use an extra Fn button and more, however, especially with even more AF modes that some of us may hot-map. Bottom line, I'm another one encouraged that Nikon has released the D780 and now the D6, and let's hope there is a D850 upgrade merging key features of the D6 and also D780 :-) If the AF has top specs, it should meet demands for a '30mp D6'

 As the tech details roll out patchily on source webpages (in true Nikon fashion), the sum of the parts will become all the more impressive overall; This is only Day 1 - much more stands to be revealed about the D6 'out there', including where possible comparisons with Canon's new DSLR and its AF.

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/what-is-deep-learning-af-how-does-canons-ai-powered-autofocus-work