This will be an interesting move for Nikon if it turns out to be true, but the word is that the Nikon D6 is going to have in-body image stabilisation. Nikon Rumors first reported on this potential future feature back in April, but now they say that they’ve received a few more specs and interesting bits of information.
According to their latest information…
A potential announcement is to come in early 2020Nikon D6 prototypes are already being testedThe D6 might have been announced sooner, but adding IBIS delayed itThe D6 will not be a “hybrid” camera. It will be a DSLR with some “mirrorless features” (like IBIS and better video)It will have dual CFexpress memory card slots100% optical 0.76-0.78x viewfinderNew dual Expeed processorsImproved autofocus over the D5 (which is already pretty excellent)Built-in WiFi (Yay!)A 3.2-million dot touch screen LCD with “full touch” capabilities (presumably this is something like multitouch?)Better silent shooting modes
IBIS in a Nikon DSLR is something of a surprise, but also not really. When other companies such as Pentax and Olympus started adding stabilised sensors into their cameras, Nikon was one of the companies hailing the benefits of stabilisation in the lens rather than the body. The lens has more latitude to move than the sensor, resulting in theoretically better stabilisation. But sensor stabilisation has a whole set of benefits of its own, too. And the two systems are not mutually exclusive. It’s possible to have a camera that utilises both, as proven by a number of companies, in a hybrid system. And even Nikon’s own Z mirrorless cameras have hybrid stabilisation which combines both the sensor and the lens systems. So, perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise that Nikon may finally be adding it to their DSLRs. Or, at least, their highest end DSLR. Perhaps this means that Nikon is also considering implementing some kind of “high resolution” mode similar to that found in other cameras to create a much larger composite image from multiple photos. As far as an actual date for that “early 2020” estimate, it’s been suggested that it might be January 6th. The Nikon D4 was announced on January 6th, 2012. The widely held belief is that the Nikon D5 was announced on January 6th, 2016, although, the Nikon UK website says January 5th, 2016. So, I guess we’ll see. IBIS in the D6 could be interesting. What do you want to see in the D6? [via Nikon Rumors]
