Nikon's New DSLR Teaser

Visit the Nikon USA website and you will be greeted with a teaser to their new consumer level DSLR they are about to put on the market. There has been some speculation as to just what it will be named and how it will look, but I'm not putting stock in anything I read on non-Nikon websites. The speculation seems to be it will be called the D80 or possibly the D90, and some say it will either replace the D70s or fill the very narrow gap between the Nikon D70s and the Nikon D200. We'll just have to wait and see when Nikon makes it's official press release in 12 more days.

Some sites have even published pictures of what they say are actual pictures of the camera, but I find this hard to believe since Nikon is being extremely tight-lipped about any of the details until they are ready to make their official announcement. I wouldn't put a lot of faith in these image posts, chances are they are just Photoshop manipulations by someone not affiliated in any way with Nikon, who happened to have a little too much time on his hands. If I'm wrong, we'll soon find out.

But, since everyone is playing the guessing game, I'll add my own speculation: My guess, and it's a long shot, but I think they took the D70s electronics, swapped out the 6.2MP sensor for the D200's 10.2MP sensor, maybe added one or two extra menu options, slapped a slightly larger LCD on the back, and left the IR filter off the sensor for Nikonians who have been wishing for a factory produced DSLR that can do near-IR photography. It'll be interesting to see how close or far off the mark I am.