Nikon unveiled a product photo of the D6 camera late Tuesday, September 3. The photo, which contrasts the black, dual-grip DSLR against a stark white background, offers insatiable camera news junkies their first glimpse of the upcoming flagship DSLR. While Nikon mentioned no details about the camera’s specifications, the company called it its “most advanced DSLR to date,” which makes sense as it will be its most recent flagship camera to date, and that’s the direction progress moves.
From this perspective, the D6 looks almost identical to the camera it will replace, the $6,500 D5 that launched in 2016. The single-digit D series targets professional sports photographers and has often introduced Nikon’s latest technologies which later trickle down to less expensive cameras. The D5 brought a 151-point autofocus system with superior sensitivity than past models. It also used a new 21-megapixel full-frame sensor that offered considerably less resolution than the 45MP D850, but with better speed and low-light sensitivity.
Although we won’t speculate about what sensor it will use, we expect the D6 will follow a similar pattern that preferences faster continuous shooting and high ISO performance over pixel count. Announcing that the camera is in development before Nikon was ready to fully detail it might be a way of Nikon reassuring its DSLR base that it hasn’t forgotten about them in the wake of its full-frame mirrorless series that launched last year. Mirrorless cameras have stolen the spotlight lately, but many experienced sports photographers still prefer full-size DSLRs for their excellent battery life and better balance with long telephoto lenses.
Nikon also unveiled a second photo Tuesday night, this one showing a new 120-300mm f/2.8 VR lens. As with the photo of the camera, no additional information accompanied the image, although we can glean that it is a zoom lens with a focal length range of 120-300mm, constant maximum aperture of f/2.8, and that it has vibration reduction (Nikon’s term for image stabilization). Tongue-in-cheek attitude aside, that sounds like a very cool lens.
Nikon plans to fully detail both new products later this year, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see them pop up on the sidelines of the 2020 Olympic Games to take place in Nikon’s home city of Tokyo next summer.
