Nikon D7100: price, specs, release date confirmed

Official Nikon D7100 price, specs and release date have been confirmed for the 24.1MP DSLR Nikon is aiming at experienced enthusiast photographers

Nikon has today announced the launch of the Nikon D7100, the latest DSLR in its range of DX cameras aimed at photography enthusiasts.

The 24.1-megapixel Nikon D7100 price tag will be £1099.99 / €1329.00 for the D7100 body only, and a £1299.99 / €1579.00 Nikon D7100 price tag for the body + 18-105mm lens kit.

According to the official Nikon announcement, the Nikon D7100 release date will be 21 March 2013.

The Nikon D7100 boasts a number of improvements over the Nikon D7000, Nikon says – although the company is keen to point out that the Nikon D7100 does not replace the D7000. Rather, the Nikon D7100 sits above the D7000 and below the Nikon D600 in the Nikon DSLR range.

Along with the newly developed 24.1-megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor, the Nikon D7100 offers users a “professional-level” 51-point AF system, of which 1 are cross-type.

Nikon says rapid focusing can be achieved with the Nikon D7100′s AF system on a largely blurred image, due to faster initial AF detection. AF operation can also be achieved under a combined aperture value of f/8, allowing photographers to use more combinations of lenses and teleconverters. The Nikon D7100 is the 5th Nikon DLSR now to offer this function.

The D7100 also allows phase-detection AF down to a minimum luminance of -2 EV, and offers an ISO range of ISO 100-6400, which is extendable to ISO 25,600 in Hi2 mode.

Also new to the Nikon D7100 is the company’s decision not to employ an optical low pass filter (OLPF). By removing the OLPF, Nikon says the 24.1MP sensor makes the most of its megapixels for higher resolution.

Explaining the decision to journalists in London, Nikon said that as pixel density increases, the effects – such as more – they were previously trying to avoid by using an optical low pass filter become less common. And because of this they can now remove the filter, which allows sensors to capture fine details and sharper images.

The Nikon D7100 also employs Nikon’s EXPEED 3 processing engine, which the company says gives the camera a higher speed of operation, enhanced noise reduction, more vibrant colours and an expanded dynamic range.

Other signature features of the Nikon D7100 include a 1.3x crop mode, giving photographers an extra telephoto effect on their lenses. The Nikon D7100 crop mode reduces pictures to 15.4 megapixels, but gives photographers an extra wide AF coverage as the 51 AF points fill more of the frame.

Using the Nikon D7100 crop mode, photographers will also benefit from faster continuous shooting at 7 frames per second, compared to 6fps in normal mode.

The Nikon D7100 records full HD movies at frame rates of up to 60i/50i in 1.3x crop mode and up to 30p/25p/24p in DX format.

Also on board is a 3.2in, 1229K-dot LCD, offering a 170-degree wide viewing angle and a 1000:1 contrast ratio, a viewfinder offering 100% frame coverage with 0.94x magnification and a 2,016-pixel RGB metering sensor with Scene Recognition.

The Nikon D7100 also boasts two SD card slots, which photographers can set to record JPEG and raw format files individually, as well as set to record movies or allow overflow and back-up recording.

Additional improvements with the Nikon D7100, Nikon says, include improved grips on the front and back of the camera body, a magnesium alloy body – including the top and rear covers – enhanced weather sealing, sensor cleaning, an improved texture on the mode dial, as well as a mode dial lock release, and a more compact, lightweight design.

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via Digital Camera World http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/02/21/nikon-d7100-price-specs-release-date-confirmed/