# Industry News: Nikon officially announces their flagship D6 DSLR



## Canon Rumors Guy (Feb 12, 2020)

> *MELVILLE, NY (February 11, 2020)* – Today, Nikon Inc. has unveiled the D6, a new professional-grade DSLR built for those in need of extreme reliability and ultimate performance. The D6 addresses the needs of professionals and press agencies and is faster and more powerful than ever before. Offering the most powerful AF system in Nikon’s history, this flagship DSLR camera delivers crucial improvements to modern workflow while also accelerating file transfer capabilities. Promising unparalleled low-light performance, powerful agility, advanced 4K UHD multimedia capabilities, and a mechanical shutter frame rate boosted to a staggering 14fps, the D6 will redefine the way pros work.
> 
> “The D6 is purpose-built and inspired by the valuable feedback of professional users,” said Jay Vannatter, Executive Vice President of Nikon Inc. “The world relies on photojournalists and professionals to document every corner of the globe through impactful...



Continue reading...


----------



## Joules (Feb 12, 2020)

"For faster frame rates, the Nikon D6 is able to take 2-megapixel images at approx. 60 fps and 8-megapixel images at 30 fps in Live View mode"

Basically advertising frame grabs is pretty brutal. Especially if your '8-megapixel' mode, a.k.a. 4K, only does 30 FPS.

The AF improvements are probably the most interesting thing about this from my perspective (somebody not remotely interested in a 6K body, especially if it is stuck using F mount lenses).


----------



## canon1dxman (Feb 12, 2020)

Jared Polin's take on the D6 is amusing!


----------



## amorse (Feb 12, 2020)

I'm sure it will sell well, but I'm a bit worried about Nikon for the long run. I would have expected the D6 to be much closer to the 1DXIII in specs; though as always, real world usability will win the day. The more good camera manufacturers and successful bodies out there, the better for competition and the better for us.


----------



## Joules (Feb 12, 2020)

FYI the large German camera store Calumet has a little AF tracking test up already:






The first half is just listing the specs, the second half is demonstrating AF tracking with a subject moving towards the camera as well as parallel to the camera. Doesn't look bad, the direct comparison with Canon will be cool to see.


----------



## Sharlin (Feb 12, 2020)

Joules said:


> "For faster frame rates, the Nikon D6 is able to take 2-megapixel images at approx. 60 fps and 8-megapixel images at 30 fps in Live View mode"
> 
> Basically advertising frame grabs is pretty brutal. Especially if your '8-megapixel' mode, a.k.a. 4K, only does 30 FPS.



Yeah, I mean, the 1DX*2 *does 8MP frame grabs at 60 fps, albeit at a slight crop, and you have to switch to movie mode to do that. But still.


----------



## TMACIOSZEK (Feb 12, 2020)

Fro Knows Photo did a video on this camera this morning. His suggestion... DO NOT BUY. And he's a Nikon guy.


----------



## ahsanford (Feb 12, 2020)

TMACIOSZEK said:


> Fro Knows Photo did a video on this camera this morning. His suggestion... DO NOT BUY. And he's a Nikon guy.




Not happy:






- A


----------



## M. D. Vaden of Oregon (Feb 12, 2020)

My first thought after Polin's review, was Nikon could have skipped the upgrade altogether.

The D5 is a great camera. At least I think it would be hard to to knock. So if something new comes mirrorless in the next year or two, maybe Nikon would nave taken less criticism had they simply stuck with the D5 for a while longer in the DSLR range. I shoot Canon, but anyone I know with a D5 says they love their camera.


----------



## ahsanford (Feb 12, 2020)

M. D. Vaden of Oregon said:


> My first thought after Polin's review, was Nikon could have skipped the upgrade altogether.
> 
> The D5 is a great camera. At least I think it would be hard to to knock. So if something new comes mirrorless in the next year or two, maybe Nikon would nave taken less criticism had they simply stuck with the D5 for a while longer in the DSLR range. I shoot Canon, but anyone I know with a D5 says they love their camera.




Yes, but one can see how in 1-2 generations, Canon will ween it's 1-series folks off of mirrors*. The mirrorless features on the 1DX3 are (in some ways) *upgrades* to the mirrored use case. There is a carrot being dangled to the 1-series crowd that mirrorless is not just a fad and that is can provide new value to even the most set-in-their-ways stills users.

*I'm not saying the 1-series will die anytime soon. We'll probably obsolete that SLR line dead last of all. But at least Canon has an exit strategy for it. The D6 was an opportunity for Nikon to build similar inroads to mirrorless so that when they do drop a gripped sports Z rig, it won't be a cliff to jump off of for D5 users. This D6 does not appear to do that.

- A


----------



## melgross (Feb 12, 2020)

Well, for those here complaining about the new 1Ds mk III, this new Nikon should come as a big disappointment. After all, it makes the new Canon look great. It seems that Nikon supporters are more disappointed by this than disappointed Canon users are over the mk III. And for good reason.


----------



## felipeolveram (Feb 12, 2020)

Nikon definitely flopped on this one


----------



## melgross (Feb 12, 2020)

ahsanford said:


> Yes, but one can see how in 1-2 generations, Canon will ween it's 1-series folks off of mirrors*. The mirrorless features on the 1DX3 are (in some ways) *upgrades* to the mirrored use case. There is a carrot being dangled to the 1-series crowd that mirrorless is not just a fad and that is can provide new value to even the most set-in-their-ways stills users.
> 
> *I'm not saying the 1-series will die anytime soon. We'll probably obsolete that SLR line dead last of all. But at least Canon has an exit strategy for it. The D6 was an opportunity for Nikon to build similar inroads to mirrorless so that when they do drop a gripped sports Z rig, it won't be a cliff to jump off of for D5 users. This D6 does not appear to do that.
> 
> - A


I imagine that the mk III will be the last DSLR Canon makes for the top end. This should be around for 4 years, which would be typical. But Canon isn’t going to wait 4 years before coming out with an R series equivakent. I would be shocked if it’s not within 2 years. A bit over a year ago, Canon said that the EVF was the problem. That until they could get that at least equal to the optical viewfinder, they couldn’t do it. So it’s been a good 18 months since that statement. We’ll see how much better the R5 and R6 EVFs’ are. That should give us some idea as to the progress they’re making.


----------



## Bishop80 (Feb 12, 2020)

Canon Rumors Guy said:


> For faster frame rates, the Nikon D6 is able to take 2-megapixel images at approx. 60 fps and 8-megapixel images at 30 fps in Live View mode.


Nice feature that I would like to see on the 1DX Mark III in a future firmware update. As Canon has stated, although their video quality is excellent, grabbing frames from video footage is not the same as stills.


----------



## AlanF (Feb 12, 2020)

melgross said:


> Well, for those here complaining about the new 1Ds mk III, this new Nikon should come as a big disappointment. After all, it makes the new Canon look great. It seems that Nikon supporters are more disappointed by this than disappointed Canon users are over the mk III. And for good reason.


1Ds mk III?


----------



## Joules (Feb 12, 2020)

TBH reading some of the stuff is pretty harsh. Yes, the specs aren't looking great compared to a 1DX III. But it should still deliver amazing performance with that new AF sensor (the number of points is meaningless), and 14 FPS vs 16 FPS is probably a moot difference for most folks. LiveView on the 1DX III sounds great, but may not be used that much anyway. So the only remaining difference are the video features.

But on the other hand, with how much bad press Canon gets, it's nice to see team red mentioned in a positive light for once, lol.


----------



## Tremotino (Feb 12, 2020)

LoL preorder the D6 on a canon rumors site


----------



## AlanF (Feb 12, 2020)

ahsanford said:


> Not happy:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You got me to click on this garbage, whose take home message is that the A9 II is the future. I suppose he is what we Brits say about Marmite or our Aussie brothers Vegemite: you hate it or love it. The AF stuff is nonsense. The previous Nikon AF module runs rings around all the mirrorless with thousands of points apart from the A9 II. And the A9 II was castigated for being a minor upgrade over the A9. It's not the number of AF points that count but what the camera does with them. I suppose I had better get used to mirrorless.


----------



## AlanF (Feb 12, 2020)

Joules said:


> TBH reading some of the stuff is pretty harsh. Yes, the specs aren't looking great compared to a 1DX III. But it should still deliver amazing performance with that new AF sensor (the number of points is meaningless), and 14 FPS vs 16 FPS is probably a moot difference for most folks. LiveView on the 1DX III sounds great, but may not be used that much anyway. So the only remaining difference are the video features.
> 
> But on the other hand, with how much bad press Canon gets, it's nice to see team red mentioned in a positive light for once, lol.


The trolls are having field days on all the photo forums. Just about every new model from every manufacturer is being panned. But, in practice they are all damned good.


----------



## melgross (Feb 12, 2020)

AlanF said:


> 1Ds mk III?


Oh wow! I made a typo. That’s worthy of A comment.


----------



## Drcampbellicu (Feb 14, 2020)

mirrorless does have better Af
the A9 series is class leading 
Mirror people will come along because mirrors will become obsolete in 5 years. 

excited to see what the R5 brings




AlanF said:


> You got me to click on this garbage, whose take home message is that the A9 II is the future. I suppose he is what we Brits say about Marmite or our Aussie brothers Vegemite: you hate it or love it. The AF stuff is nonsense. The previous Nikon AF module runs rings around all the mirrorless with thousands of points apart from the A9 II. And the A9 II was castigated for being a minor upgrade over the A9. It's not the number of AF points that count but what the camera does with them. I suppose I had better get used to mirrorless.


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 15, 2020)

M. D. Vaden of Oregon said:


> My first thought after Polin's review, was Nikon could have skipped the upgrade altogether.


With the 2020 Olympics coming (Maybe), its a great time to sell a new model. Many want the latest and greatest and will buy even with minimal new features. All the manufacturers do this, Sony did with the A9II, and Canon to a lesser extent with the 1DX MK III.

Its my belief that R&D $$ are going into mirrorless, so new features that cost a ton to develop are being reserved until the market is there to pay for them. That seems like it may take another 4 years if ever. There are often "under the hood" improvements for minor issues in the previous model that are not advertised, so could be a good reason to upgrade.


----------

