Nikon joins Vlog-cam fray
Here’s one we didn’t see coming. Nikon, which has largely been left behind in the “video on a stills camera” market has suddenly exploded into life with a load of new such devices.
Of interest for the YouTube creator – and the Vlogger specifically – are the new “DL” compact series as it seems that they’re direct rivals to vloggie favourites like Sony’s RX100 and Canon’s GX7.
There are three DLs in the line up each with fixed lenses of differing zoom ranges and slightly different apertures. Here goes: one’s a 24-85 f/1.8-2.8, another (the best for selfie vlogging perhaps as it’s the widest lens) runs 18-50 f/1.8-2.8 and the third (which is somewhat physically larger) goes ballistic with a 24-500 f/2.8-5.6.
There’s a 1-inch sensor in there boasting 20.8 megapixels and 4K video at 25/30fps.
Maddeningly only the big one offers a mic jack so if you are vlogging with the two little ‘uns you’re still limited by the onboard audio and we’ve yet to test what this is like but the same is true of Canon and Sony’s competitors so perhaps this is no biggie.
For stills you can hit 20fps with continuous auto focus which sounds groovy if it works. There’s an optical stabilisation system and each cam has a hot shoe, one neat accessory for which is a tiltable viewfinder.
Nikon says the 24-85 model has a 1037k-dot OLED tilt touchscreen and pop-up flash. The lens barrel features a customisable control ring and zoom ring. Available in silver or black.
The 18-50 f/1.8-2.8 has the same screen and the “brightest ultra-wide-angle lens Nikon has ever made”.
Finally the big beastie, the 24-500 f/2.8-5.6, has a 2359k-dot OLED electronic viewfinder. By the way, that’s a 21x optical zoom.
Here are some more pictures of the various cameras and you can read more from Nikon themselves at http://www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/news-press/press.tag/news/BV-PR-WWA1602-premium-compact.dcr
UPDATE APRIL 2016: Due to the Kumamoto earthquake in Japan, delays have been announced to these cameras which were due to ship in June. Read more at www.europe-nikon.com/en_GB/news-press/press.tag/news/BV-PR-WWA1604-tokyo-announcement.dcr
