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That Nikon Z mirrorless body roadmap that’s been floating lately around is 100% fake

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There’s been an image floating around for a few days now, first posted by Nikon Rumors and then picked up by just about every other rumours site. On first glance, it does look like it could be quite real, with various models being touted for release over the next couple of years including a new “Z90”, 2nd generation Z50, 3rd generation Z6 and Z7 bodies, a Z8 in between those and the Z9 and new Z f mirrorless follow up to the Nikon Df DSLR.

Well, the original creator of this chart reached out to Nikon Rumors to confirm that it is completely made up. The original creator tells NR that the chart is something he’d initially created for a forum post back in 2009, with a summary of Nikon’s interchangeable lens cameras so far and a wish list of sorts for future camera release predictions. The list that seems to have gotten everybody in a frenzy looks like this:

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Nikon releases the “new” 17-28mm f/2.8 Z mount lens but it looks an awful lot like a rehoused Tamron

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Nikon has announced the new Nikkor Z 17-28mm f/2.8 lens. We all knew it was coming, there have been several rumours that a “new” Nikon Z lens was on the way, and there were also rumours that this might be yet another rehoused and rebadged Tamron lens and it seems that the rumours were true. The optical makeup is pretty much identical to the Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD for Sony.

While it’s a shame that Nikon doesn’t seem to be developing at least some of their own glass anymore, it does speak volumes as to the quality of Tamron today, if Nikon is willing to put their name on somebody else’s $1,200 lens. It’s also not much of a surprise that Nikon seems to be outsourcing Z mount lens development. Even though Nikon is starting to show a profit again, they’re not out of the woods yet.

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Nikon denies RED’s infringement accusations, ready to prove it in court

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Earlier this year, RED filed a lawsuit against Nikon blaming them for illegally copying their video compression patent. Nikon announced the new version 2.0 firmware for the Nikon Z9, and RED claimed that Nikon illegally infringed on seven patents that deal with “a video camera that can be configured to highly compress video data in a visually lossless manner.”

However, Nikon isn’t ready to give in without a fight. The company recently answered to RED’s accusations, claiming that they deny every allegation of the infringement. And from Nikon’s statement, it appears that they’re ready to prove their claims in court and challenge RED’s lawsuit.

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The Nikon Z7 is now marked as discontinued on the Nikon Japan website – but not the Z6

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It seems that the Nikon Z7, announced in August 2018 and released the following month during Photokina, is being retired. Despite the Nikon Z7 II being released two years later, Nikon Z7 production and sales still continued. Now, though, the Nikon Japan website lists the original Nikon Z7 as an “old product”. Or, in other words, “discontinued.

We all knew it was coming at some point, and, well, it’s been four years now. Interestingly, though, the Nikon Z6 released on the same day as the Z7 and also having been usurped by a “II” version hasn’t been listed as discontinued yet.

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Things are looking up for Nikon Imaging as they report a 48% increase in profit over last year

Nikon released their financial results for the first quarter of its 2023 fiscal year (FY2023) recently and it shows an increase in revenue in just about every segment of the company, including its Imaging Products Business – ie, cameras and lenses. In fact, when it comes to profit, Nikon reported a 47.8% increase over the previous Q1 period in FY2022 and overall revenue appears to almost be back to pre-pandemic levels.

In Q1 FY2020 (reported at the beginning of August 2019), its Imaging Products Business reported a revenue of 67.3 billion yen (~$500 million) and an operating profit of 3.5 billion yen (~$26 million). Last year’s report for the same period showed Nikon at 50 billion yen (~$370 million) revenue and 9.2 billion yen (~$70 million) profit. This latest report shows revenue of 61.2 billion yen (~$452 million) and profits of 13.6 billion yen (~$100 million).

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Nikon adds Linear Focus ring capability to some Z lenses with new firmware updates

If there’s one thing that pretty much all mirrorless filmmakers agree on, it’s that focus by wire lenses absolutely suck when it comes to manually focusing. And pretty much all mirrorless lenses these days are focus by wire instead of mechanical focus. It has its advantages, of course, but for filmmakers, it’s terrible.

Nikon has released new firmware updates for three of its more popular Z mount lenses, though the 50mm f/1.2 S, 24-70mm f/2.8 S and 105mm f/2.8 VR S Macro, to add a Linear Focus mode for the focus ring. It’s still essentially focused by wire because there’s no mechanical interaction, but now the amount you spin the focus ring should be directly proportional to the focus distance change, regardless of the sped at which you rotate it.

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Nikon reaffirms commitment to DSLRs by releasing new firmware update for 9-year-old Nikon D7100

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So, this came out of nowhere, and it’s highly unlikely to be a response to recent reports of Nikon’s withdrawal from the DSLR market, but the coincidental timing was too much of an opportunity to pass up. Nikon has released a new V1.05 firmware for 2013’s Nikon D7100 DSLR. It’s not a massive update by any means but it is a simple (and single) change that will make some D7100 owners quite happy.

The new firmware fixes an issue whereby the display would automatically turn itself off after 10 minutes even if it was set to not turn off at all when enabled via Camera Control Pro 2. While this might seem like a small feature, , for anybody using their old DSLRs into HDMI capture devices for live streaming or video conferencing with remote control using CCP2, this makes the D7100 much more useful.

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Former Nikon R&D General Manager says the DSLR era “is already over”

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With recent rumours of Nikon’s withdrawal from the DSLR market – to which Nikon quickly responded by denying nothing – it was almost inevitable, really, that more would come out of this. Now, former Nikon General Manager and designer of the Nikon Df DSLR, Tetsuro Goto has also responded to the situation essentially saying that SLRs have already reached their peak performance and there’s nothing left to do.

His opinion is neither confirming nor denying any claims on behalf of Nikon but he believes that the SLR system as a whole is dead – Don’t tell Pentax. “I think the ‘historical’ role of SLRs has already ended, he says in an interview with AERA dot. He believes that it’s reached the point at which the technology is the best it can ever be and that, in at least Nikon’s case, “the mirrorless Z series should inherit it”.

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Nikon reported to be abandoning DSLRS – But are they?

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There’s a lot of talk at the moment about Nikon leaving the DSLR market after a report was published on Nikkei Asia. Nikkei says that they have “learned” that Nikon is leaving the SLR business after a 60-year history with them in order to focus on mirrorless cameras now that they “have become mainstream products on the back of more advanced digital technologies”.

Nikon was quick to respond to the article, stating that it “is only speculation and Nikon has made no announcement in this regards” and that they will continue the production, sales and service of Nikon digital SLR products.  But are they? It’s not really a denial and it feels like Nikon hasn’t really shown their DSLR side any attention in a while.

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Nikon can’t handle orders for Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 and Z 800mm f/6.3 lenses, they’re now suspended

Surprise, surprise: Nikon has announced that it can’t handle the orders for its 800mm f/6.3 and 400mm f/2.8 lenses for Z-mount mirrorless cameras. According to the company, the orders have exceeded expectations, so you can’t order either of these lenses at the moment. How long will it last, I hear you ask? Nobody knows.

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