An Initial Response To The New Nikon - DF

Well, that's all you get, unless like us you whizz over to the DP Review site or the Nikon company sites and look at the actual pictures of the actual new Nikon DF camera. If you are confused it is the new retro-styled FX DSLR body and there is to be a retro-styled lens to match it. I think it started as a style and marketing exercise but underlying that is a real advantage for some photographers.

The body looks like a fusion ( and the F in the DF is intended to stand for fusion...) of a Nikon DSLR back and the Nikon FM series or F3 camera front. There are stylistic hints from each type there. Builder's photos show a metal top and body. it is slightly larger, it appears, than the F3.

The eyepiece on the FM series and the F3 had no dipoter adjustment - I learned that my eyes were changing when I got increasingly out-of-focus results with my F3. Of course I could have searched out correction lenses but never did - medium format and large format called me away, and by the time that digital was necessary the Nikon DSLRs had adjustable dipotres. Bless them, they have kept that feature in the DF.

The finder on the F3 was 100% and huge but for us spectacle wearers it was problematic - we shifted around trying to see the edges of the frame. The DF has a slightly smaller coverage and we should be able to get the full view in one.

I note from the promotional photos in DP Review that the shutter release is mechanical enough to use a cable release. The shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation functions are on good-sized external metal dials, with locks in their centers. There is a T as well as a B and and X to boot. If it locks in the X it will sell to me, as I am always jiggering up the synch speed in the studio on my Nikon DSLR and making black bands on the images.

The thing runs on En El 14 batteries to make it smaller - this means that you might have to  get a coupla spares if you are a prolific shooter. You can't shoot video on it - you'll need one of the other fine Nikon products to do that. You CAN shoot dang near all the Nikon lenses from the 70's onwards ( please note the dang near - I am sure someone will pop up with a special lens that requires a woodpile and band of lascars to operate it just to prove me wrong...) so dig out all the good glass that you have stacked away and try them out. I have a 28-105 macro that is dying for a good body...

We are taking pre-delivery orders sight unseen. Which doesn't mean that we are closing our eyes and typing away...it means you can put a deposit down and go on the list for the first deliveries. The prices are:

Nikon DF camera body, silver or black, by itself.................................................$ 3483

Nikon DF camera body, silver or black, plus special 50mm f:1.8 lens.............$ 3822

Remember I said there was real advantage in the new Nikon DF? It has the sensor from the D4 - that's immense light gathering capability in a DSLR. It is lighter than the D4 by a long way, and if you are a shooter that does not need the incredible 11 FPS of the D4 and can manage with 5 FPS, then this is your body.

I will have to wait until I get my hands on the actual camera to tell you what it feels like in the hand. And whether it stands up to the Uncle Dick throw-it-down-the-stairwell durability test. It should be interesting.