The boat this camera came in on must have sunk as soon as it reached the harbor because it was a seriously leaky vessel. However, you never know how much of what the rumor sites say is true until the announcement is official. Well, the Nikon D800 “Multimedia HD-SLR” is now official. The rumors were actually pretty much right on target this time. In a departure from previous strategy, the D800 gets a totally new, Nikon-designed 36.3-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor. The positioning of the D800 is very similar to that of the D700. It’s a more affordable full-frame camera than the new Nikon D4 and it inherits a lot of the same technology but without the speed or battle-worthy build. The D800 has the same 51-point auto focus system and EXPEED 3 image processing as the D4, 1080p HD Video, 3.2-inch 921k-dot LCD display – it even gets Nikon’s new 91k-pixel 3D Color Matrix Metering III system and corresponding Advanced Scene Recognition System. Where the D800 diverges from the D700 strategy is resolution. Instead of offering the same number of pixels as the D4, the D800 more than doubles the resolution of the D4 and triples the resolution of the D700. And of course, unlike the D700, which had no video capability, the D800 gets full HD video with a lot of pro-level perks, including manual exposure control.
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The Nikon Coolpix AW100 is Nikon’s first rugged, waterproof digital camera. It can handle drops of about 5 feet, it’s waterproof to 33 feet and it’s also freezeproof – perfect for the kind of rough, outdoor funtography that I love! It’s got a 16-megapixel backlit CMOS sensor, full HD video, a 5x zoom lens, 3-inch LCD display and built-in GPS. It even has a nice fast burst mode – 7.1 frames per second for 3 frames. All-in-all, it’s a very compelling little outdoor fun camera that’s ready for pretty much anything. And since I love playing outdoors in the dirt and snow, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one for review.
4 of 5
