What’s Coming: Nikon D800/D800E, Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 1D X, Fuji X-Pro1
Mid March to early April a wave of new gear is arriving, which will make it one of the busiest periods I’ve ever had in the past 7 years of this site. I’ll likely have to alternate between various items for a few weeks, so as to keep Canon and Nikon and Fuji fans happy, rather than delay one brand until another is mostly done. But that all depends on what arrives when.
Since there are so many camera bodies involved, a major thrust of my reporting will be on the relative quality of the image sensor, as well as relative ergonomics and which cameras might naturally complement each other in a complete system. For example, a serious shooter might want a pair of cameras to cover a variety of shooting conditions:
- Nikon D800 or D800E + Nikon D4.
- Canon 1DX + Canon 5D Mark III.
- Nikon D800/D800E or Canon 5D Mark III + Fuji X-Pro1
- Leica M9 + Fuji X-Pro1
- etc.
Since I can shoot Zeiss lenses on Canon and Nikon, I will likely do most of my analysis using the best Zeiss lenses.
Below is what B&H reports for expected availability on red-hot new products, keeping in mind that this likely means product arrival followed by immediate sell-out of all stock, so be sure to pre-order. These dates are probably the earliest I could possibly receive this gear.
A big THANK-YOU to B&H Photo for making this gear available for evaluation.
Thank you for ordering all your gear at B&H Photo by clicking through my links: Canon links, Nikon links or Fuji links (and others).
- Nikon D800: March 22, 2012
- Nikon D800E: April 16, 2012
- Nikon D4: “Pre order. Released in limited qty”.
- Nikon 85/1.8G: “New Item, Available for pre-order”.
- An excitingly superlative new lens (March). Please do not inquire.
- Fuji X-Pro1: March 28, 2012
- Canon EOS 5D Mark III. “Pre order. Released in limited qty”.
- Canon 1D X: “not available yet” (my guess is late April / early May 2012).
- Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II: April 17, 2012
Lens selection is of course very important when evaluating peak image quality from a new camera. See my recent thoughts in this area.
- Lens Performance: What Matters
- Which Wide-Angle Lens is Best?
- Blur Can Be Beautiful
- Lenses as an Investment; Electronic Lenses vs Manual Control.
- My Reference Lenses For Testing Sharpness.
- Shooting a New Lens — Focus.
- What Does Depth of Field Mean on a 36 Megapixel Camera?
- Nikon D800 / D800E — Which Nikon Lenses?
- Reader Comments on Lens Reviews.