Successor to the D810, which has been highly praised by its users, the D850 is engineered with a range of new features that are a direct result of feedback from users looking for a DSLR camera with the Nikon name on it.

According to Nikon, “the D850 will be a formidable tool for creators who will not compromise on exceptional image quality and versatility, including both aspiring and professional photographers as well as hobbyists who capture landscapes, weddings, sports, fashion, commercial imagery and multimedia content creators.”

Presented as the next frontier in full-frame, high-resolution, high-speed digital SLR cameras, the D850 is the successor to the D810, which, according to Nikon, “has been highly praised by its users for offering extremely sharp and clear rendering, with rich tone characteristics”. This powerful new FX-format digital SLR camera is engineered with a range of new technologies, features and performance enhancements that are a direct result of feedback from users, who demand the very best from their camera equipment. The D850 will exceed the expectations of the vast range of photographers that seek the high resolution and high-speed capabilities that only a Nikon of this caliber complemented by NIKKOR lenses can offer.

https://youtu.be/epaRJ3eqKzk

Although the announcement coincides with Nikon’s 100th anniversary of its establishment, there is no indication of release date for the camera, which will be announced at a later date.

Three years after the launch of the Nikon D810 it will be interesting to see how the D850 fares when it comes to video. In 2014, when the Nikon D810 DSLR was released, it was seen as a camera aiming to take the video crown from the champion at the time, amidst real DSLRs, the Canon EOS 5D MK III. The Nikon D819 was launched with a mission: conquer Canon’s territory in terms of video. Specifications similar to the EOS 5D Mark III and a competitive price were part of arsenal Nikon provided the D810 with.

I wrote then that the D810 was “the full-frame DSLR that cinematographers, camera operators and multimedia photographers using the Nikon brand have been waiting for” . The Full Frame 36.3MP sensor offers proven and remarkable image quality and dynamic range to 1080p videos recorded at 60/50/30/25/24p uncompressed to an external device like the Atomos Ninja-2, compressed to an internal CF/SD card or both simultaneously.  But there is more: you can move between dark and light scenes without any iris or frame-rate adjustments thanks to ISO Auto Adjust and also smoothly change a shot’s depth of field with power iris control.

The market has changed, Canon has the EOS 5D MK IV, so it will be interesting to see how Nikon positions the D850. With the only information available being mostly rumors, and a 48 seconds video which claims the camera makes 8K time-lapse movies,  and suggests a whole lot of brilliant images and videos, we’re left to dream, each of us, about what this Nikon D850 is. One thing can be said: for a type of camera that was supposed to be dead a long time ago, DSLRs are still alive and kicking. A look at the excitement the announcement created on online forums suggests there is still a lot of public for the good old DSLRs.