No new Nikon mirrorless for me, jednak

The hype has been relentless. Nikon Rumors website has been bashing on about this for a year and half, and finally on Thursday 23 August the swirling rumours were finally confirmed - Nikon is releasing two mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses and a full-size (35mm equivalent) sensors. Before the announcement, leaks, speculations, mock-ups, grainy approximations of the real thing - the Nikon world (that is those of us who are neither Canon nor non-photographers) was alight with heated discussion.

The two Nikons (Z7 with 46 megapixel sensor and Z6 with 25 MP) are intended to compete with a new generation of high-end cameras that dispense with the bulky mirror box of the single-lens reflex design. By doing so, the body is smaller and lighter, and the lens can be brought nearer the focal point. Many professional photographers, weighed down by the inherently large size of a DSLR camera, which is neither discrete nor silent, have been yearning for something smaller. Sony and Fuji have both developed very capable cameras in the mirrorless category that look likely to threaten the duopoly of Nikon and Canon. And so Nikon's response, a long time coming and much heralded.

So now we know more about these cameras - will I buy? Sadly no. As I wrote here six weeks ago, I do want a mirrorless camera with full-size sensor that takes interchangeable Nikon lenses. Below: a comparison of the relative sizes of sensors. The bigger the sensor, the greater the dynamic range (between absolute white - washed-out highlights - and absolute black - and densest shadow - where no more detail can be resolved).

But not one whose body alone weighs more more than twice as much as my current non-interchangeable-lensed, DX-sensored Nikon CoolPix A. Once a lens is added (one that has the same wide-angle coverage as the CoolPix A), the weight becomes over four times as much. (See chart below, click to enlarge).

Not to mention the price; the UK launch price for the Z7 with 24-70mm f4 kit lens will be £4,000, another £100 for the F-mount adaptor that allows the use of most Nikon lenses going back to 1959. (That's the best part of the Nikon system, almost total reverse compatibility.) But the money - it's nearly 20,000 złotys - will be better spent investing in the house on my działka.

However, it's difficult to shake off the camera fever going round the internet right now, so I upgraded the CoolPix A with the addition of an optical viewfinder, which saves me from having to pull out my reading glasses to compose on the camera's back screen. The simple optical viewfinder makes the CoolPix A handier in use, especially for grab-shots. Ah, yes, and a lens hood.

And so, Nikon, I wait. If Leica can make a full-frame mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses and keep the weight down to just over 900g with 35mm f2 lens, why can't you.

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