Nikon D3100 and New Lenses will be Announced Tonight

By Mike Zawadzki, Technical Consultant

THE LIVE BLOG HAS STARTED! CLICK HERE TO ENTER!


As expected, tonight Nikon will be announcing their newest digital DSLR camera, the D3100.  This should happen around 12AM EST.  I will be up editing some photos from a wedding from last weekend, so I will be wide awake and blogging live as the announcement develops and becomes official In my previous Nikon Rumor-Round Up post I predicted that the name would be or should be something different.  Nikon's naming system is more inconsistent than the Met's offense so you can never be too sure.  Oh well, looks like I got most of the specs right.  The four lenses I discussed also seem to be accurate based on pictures that were leaked in a German magazine on Nikonrumors.com.  Again here are the anticipated specs, almost 99% sure of all of them.  (After the break)

Nikon D3100

Photo Credit: Nikonrumors.com

Sensor: 14.2 MP CMOS 

ISO: 100-12,800 

Processor: New EXPEED2

This is something that developed more recently as the Coolpix S1100pj and S5100 were announced.  This should allow for better noise at higher ISO settings and allow the camera to handle the expected 1080p video recording.
Frame Rate: 3 fps

HD Movie: 1080p 24fps, 720p 24/30 fps, AVCHD codec and in camera editing

LCD Screen: 3” 920k display

AF System: Updated 11 or 12 points 
Apparently this will be a new AF system that covers a greater area of the frame.

Live View: Fast AF and continuous focus in video mode
This will be revolutionary, the first DSLR camera to have these features

Kit Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR

MSRP: $835.44

Again, this seems to be a direct shot at the Canon t2i which is why the name D3100 confuses me.  That kind of name makes it seem like a replacement for the D3000.

Lenses

(and expected MSRP, pictures correspond to list from left to right)

Photo Credit: Nikonrumors.com

Nikkor AF-S DX 55-300 f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR ($350)

Nikkor AF-S 24-120 f/4 G ED VR N ($1300)

Nikkor AF-S 28-300 f/3.5-5.6 G ED VR ($1050)

Nikkor AF-S 85 f/1.4 G N ($1650)