This Old Blog

E-PL5 with M.Zuiko 1:2.8/17mm prime Photokina 2012 is finished, as is most of the punditry for now. There are still reviews to be written and published on the web, but for the most part I think the majority who've been paying attention learned what was necessary to begin a new cycle of gear acquisition, which is what shows like Photokina are all about: stoking gear lust. Regardless of the brand or the camera model, one theme came through loud and clear: it's all about the money. With very few exceptions, everything introduced this year is anywhere from the very high hundreds to the mid-thousands. The one Olympus camera that I actually took a liking to, the E-PL5, is currently on pre-order for $700, body only. The "entry level" Nikon D600 (and Canon 6D) are $2,100, body only. The ridiculous Hasselblad Lunar (Loonie, Lunacy, I've read so many catty renames) is $5,000 (and up). Perpetually expensive Leica is still way too much money for me. Serious lenses from ...

Read all about it! Looks like there's some photos of the rumored Nikon D600 in a Chinese forum linked to by 1001 Noisy Cameras. The posting, here , looks to be of a fairly cheaply built camera. I say cheap because when you look at the full sized image you should note what seems to be a mold line down the right side of the left hand grip. Of course this could be an artifact produced by the camera that took this image, or perhaps due to some not-quite-fancy Photoshopping. The overall body looks to be a lot simpler, with none of the ports and covers that cover the front and sides of the Nikon D700, or any other FX class camera before the D600. From what I can tell it looks like nothing that Nikon currently sells, from the D90 through the D7000, D300, and D700. Lower-end Nikons (D5100 and lower) don't have the two buttons on the front near the grip, nor the manual/auto focus switch on the lower right mirror box. If this is a Photoshop fake, then it's a very believable Photosho...