Nikon announces D6 full-frame camera and 120-300mm f/2.8 lens

Nikon has announced the D6. This should be the new flagship of Nikon’s full-frame SLRs. The company is also announcing the arrival of a 120-300mm f/2.8 lens, although many details are still missing from both products.

Nikon reports that the D6 is under development, but does not provide further details or specifications. For example, it is still unknown which sensor is in the device, whether that sensor is stabilized and what the video capacities are. There is also no information about the price or an expected release date. Presumably, the high-end device will come out at least prior to next year’s Summer Olympics.

Like its predecessor, the D5, the D6 will most likely excel in shooting speed and will therefore be especially suitable for sports, wildlife and action photography. For that, the D5 has the capacity to take pictures at up to 12fps or at 14fps without autofocus. The D5 also introduced an autofocus system of 153 focus points, 99 of which are cross-sensitive; that system later found its way to the D850 and D500.

The D5 has two xqd card slots, but there are rumors that the D6 will get two slots for the much faster CFexpress memory cards. This should enable an almost limitless buffer. The CompactFlash Association set the specifications for the CFexpress 2.0 standard for memory cards in March and Sony announced a CFexpress 2.0 card at the time. Sandisk already offers CFexpress cards with read speeds of up to 1700MB/s and write speeds of up to 1400MB/s.

In addition to announcing the development of the D6, Nikon has also announced the arrival of a new lens. It concerns the AF-S Nikkor 120-300 mm f/2.8E FL ED SR VR for full-frame cameras. This fast telephoto zoom lens is primarily intended for professional photographers who need to capture sports or other fast objects/subjects. No further details are known about this lens either; Nikon says it will release more details such as release dates and pricing for both products at a later date.