Rumor: Nikon MX Medium Format System

KR says Tonight

Ken Rockwell says the Nikon MX/M1 Medium Format system may be introduced tonight (2/16/2009) at WPPI.

Guess he didn't see that the "Something Big" scheduled for 9:30 tonight that Nikon booked the MGM Grande for is a Blues Traveler's concert? (announced in their last newsletter).

Either that, or he knows something that no-one else does.

Source: KR on 2/16/2009.

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Coming This Year, $30k+

NR has received an email about the rumored Nikon Medium Format System. Highlights include:

"Nikon will be bringing out a middle format camera by the end of the year"

"This information has been confirmed to some pro photographers as well as Nikon distributors, camera will have a CCD size of 55×55mm, there's no exact details on final resolution yet but it will be somewhere around 50Mp, quite similar in design to that of the Leica S2 camera system which was announced six months ago."

" New lenses for the new middle format camera will be announced which will cover the larger format as well as lens specific extenders/adaptors which will allow those standard FX lenses to be used on the D4, these adaptors will convert standard FX lenses to cover larger image size such as that of D4 but will not have the true optical quality such as those designed specifically for middle format Nikon D +++ cameras to come in future."

No specifics on the lenses, other than a full range being available on release except for 35mm, 80mm and 180mm lenses along with 0.7 retro-adaptors for standard 35mm Nikon lenses.

As for price: $30.000,- to $40.000,- USD range, (Euros in Europe)

And the end with "No rumors, facts..."

They imply the D4 onwards will be medium format, and the DXXX prosumer line will be FX. I wouldn't put much weight behind this one: The Nikon D4 will almost certainly be a replacement for the Nikon D3 series, aimed at Nikon's traditional market (are they really suddenly going to ignore their mass pro market?). If the MX camera does materialize, it'll be called something else. Nikon Stuck with the F1 through F6 naming for 50 years, and D1 through D3 since the dawn of digital.

While the adapter to use FX lenses is possible (it's called a teleconverter - TC's basically enlarge the image circle, so the adapter would be a TC with a new mount), the loss of quality would surely make the lenses next to useless (the current 2.0x TC softens the image quality noticeably with current lenses, I can't image what that would look like with a mega-resolution 50Mp sensor). An Adapter that would allow you to use lenses in a "FX" crop mode would be more believable.

Source: NR on 2/12/2009.

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Nikon MX Ad?

NikonRumors has posted a low quality image of a poster advert supposedly showing 3 different sensor sizes, DX, FX and MX.

Source: NikonRumors on 10/2/2008.

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Nikon MX Lenses

NikonRumors is reporting that they heard from someone that was working on the boxes for the following lenses:

• AF-S MX Nikkor 24 f4.0G
• AF-S MX Nikkor 45 f2.8G
• AF-S MX NIkkor 85 f2.8G
• AF-S MX Nikkor 135 f2.0G ED
• AF-S MX Nikkor 200 F2.8G ED
• AF-S MX Nikkor 65-180 f2.8G ED IF

If true, that's not a bad set of lenses to launch with a new larger than 35mm/medium format system, and not too different from the Leica S2's set of lenses.

Source: NikonRumors on 9/15/2008.

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48mm x 48mm Sensor

NikonWatch is reporting a conversation between one of their readers and Nikon in an unnamed country, which revealed the following information about a MX camera:

• Approx 48mmx48mm sized sensor.
• 48 Megapixels, similar to D3 design.
• Backward compatible with DX and FX lenses (via mount adaptor)
• Crop factors for lenses with MX: DX = 1.5x (Half frame), FX = 1.0x (Full frame), MX = 0.5x
• When shooting in FX mode with this camera, you will be able to "rotate" the sensor crop from landscape to portrait rather than turn the camera as well as be able to shoot the full square resolution this camera provides. Options for 5:4 etc will also be available.
• Liveview
• New range of lenses required for the full MX format, zoom option available covering different ranges on different formats, lenses relatively compact for format size.

Source: NikonWatch on 9/4/2008.

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The Scoop on MX system?

Date: 9/9/2008
Source: DPReview

Rating: 1/5, Votes: 1

This is from a DPReview post, someone claiming to have had a conversation with someone at a Nikon Service Center. The post claims the person at Nikon said:

1. November 20th- Nikon to announce new MX camera with larger than FF sensor.
2. Camera available two weeks after announcement.
3. New lens line but will work with older ff lenses.
4. The sensor will be more than 24mp and the ff crop mode is greater than 12mp!
5. Camera is d700 sized!
6. will ship with "pro" mx kit lens.
7. She has seen the actual camera.
8. The technology is a big jump over what we have now.

What she had partial info on

1. She thought the price would be around d700 prices but was not certain for sure.
2. Not sure how many lenses would be introduced with the camera other than the pro kit lens and an "awesome" telephoto. Did not know the actual specs of the kit lens.
3. Seemed to think the sensor was a Nikon made one but not 100%.
4. D3 type body she thinks is being phased out.

Not very likely: price is way too low, no way the D3 will be phased out, etc. etc. etc.

Source: DPReview on 9/9/2008.

Latest Status: Busted - Date Passed

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Something BIG at WPPI

Date: 8/23/2008
Source: WPPI

Rating: 4.5/5, Votes: 2

Nikon has a marketing event at the the WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographer International) show in Vegas. They are calling it BIG, as the ad from RangeFinder Magazine shows below:

There is speculation that this will be the launch of the MX system.

Source: WPPI on 8/23/2008.

Latest Status: Busted: Turned out to be a Blues Travellers Concert!

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