Nikon Rumors (via PetaPixel) has posted sum about a obvious filed by Nikon in Japan that suggests a camera association could be building a new digital middle format camera or relocating into a difficulty in some fashion.


nikon-medium-format-lens-patent


Nikon obvious filing for a 100mm middle format lens.


The obvious doesn’t indeed prominence any specific camera, though a 100mm f/2.5 medium-format lens. Although Nikon has combined middle format Nikkor lenses approach back, a association hasn’t constructed anything incomparable than full-frame 35mm in new memory.


This gossip follows reports that opposition Canon could also be jumping into middle format, presumably building a possess camera (rumored for 2014 launch) or investing in a European middle format manufacturer (rumors are hinting toward Phase One). Canon has already grown giant sensors, though those RD prototypes are meant for blurb and industrial applications (think: look-out telescopes). Still, it shows that a middle format sensor isn’t out of a question.


So, what is a large deal? Medium format is a niche difficulty that many consumer users won’t ever encounter, though it’s one that veteran or modernized photographers could advantage from. Historically film cameras were middle format (or larger) before switching to 35mm (and afterwards removing smaller when digital came around), though a digital middle format camera provides most aloft fortitude than a full-frame camera, ensuing in glorious picture peculiarity with glorious details, interjection to a incomparable sensor. Medium format cameras tend to be slower and larger, so it won’t reinstate a “regular” DSLR as an bland camera; middle format is ideal for portraitures in a print studio.


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The distance of a middle format sensor in propinquity to others (via MarcusGR/Wikimedia Commons).


Medium format cameras (and a digital backs that work with film cameras) are expensive, another reason since they are so niche. There are few players in this sector, such as Mamiya, Phase One, and Hasselblad, nonetheless Pentax has one in a lineup, a 645D (shown above, from 2010). Competition from Canon and/or Nikon could see middle format apropos reduction costly and some-more available.


Rumors aside, companies record patents all a time, though they might never act on them. But a gossip is engaging since Nikon has settled that it’s looking for new business. Smartphones have given Japanese camera makers a beating, and Nikon recently reported lower-than-expected increase due in partial to bad sales in a compress complement camera sector. DSLR sales are still healthy, though Nikon (and Canon) apparently sees it can’t float things out only on DSLRs. Whether middle format is where Nikon skeleton to enter stays to be seen, though it isn’t totally implausible.