What to expect in 2017 . . .

Bad time to buy a D810, a Nikon D5X & D850 release seems to be in the cards.

There have been whispers of a new release from Nikon. Now I am not one for gossip, but in this case, I am keeping my ears close to the ground on this.

An upgrade to the D810 and a big brother to the D3X is rumoured, being the D850 and D5X respectively. 2017 celebrates the 100th birthday of Nikon, so an update of its flagship FX-format digital SLR camera this year looks promising. The first Nikon D5X rumours point to a launch sometime later this year.

We can easily predict that the existing Nikon D5 will be upgraded. The price for Nikon D5X is said to be rumoured around $10,000. I think that this new DSLR camera will have a slightly more advanced sensor, but nothing major and I will go as far as saying that I am 85% sure of these specs for the D5X:

1. 34+mpn sensor
2. 10-12 fps
3. 4k Video, but not in RAW. Potentially even 4k in 60 fps.
4. Normal full body

The old Nikon D3X is to date probably my favourite camera, and having had to replace the shutter on it twice – shooting more than a million frames – I really put it to the test. In total, I have spent more than a year of my life with the Nikon D3X in my hands. Pretty nuts when you think about it.

There are also several rumours about a Nikon D850 camera. Even though it isn’t clear yet, the mid-level FX-format shooter might replace both the D750 and D610 models.

Nikon announces its new models normally at the beginning of Fall. They announced the D610 in October 2013 and D750 in September 2014, so we might not have to wait long before we can see what’s really coming. 

Regardless of rumours, the overall conclusions (taking announcement dates into consideration) must be that it is a bad time to buy a new Nikon camera. Wait a couple of months, and you might be happily surprised.