The Nikon D4 is the first, and so far only, camera in the world to use the new format of memory card, which was announced in the latter part of 2011.

Similar in size to an SD card, XQD is capable of faster read and write speeds than both SD and traditional Compact Flash cards. So far, the only manufacturer producing the cards (and reader) is Sony.

A Nikon UK representative confirmed to our sister site TechRadar that the card and reader would be available as part of the D4 price until May 28th.

The D4 retails for around £4800 (body only), while a 16GB Sony XQD card costs around £145, with the reader coming in at £49, so the free bundle represents a significant saving.

Other manufacturers have yet to come on board with the XQD format, with Nikon itself reserving it solely for the flagship camera, and choosing to include CF and SD card slots on the Nikon D800.

Several memory card manufacturers have also been reluctant to enter the market while it still has a low adoption rate.

Speaking to our sister website TechRadar, Jeremy Gilbert, UK marketing manager for Nikon UK, said: “We are listening and trying to feedback what we hear. It’s mostly journalists and high-end photographers who would like us to produce one, but whether we should or not is a different matter.”

“A pro version would be quite nice,” Gilbert added, “But ultimately, we want pros to be buying our DSLRs, so while it would be pretty nice to have within the market, it’s so niche that I’m not sure it would help us to be the number one brand.”

The Nikon V1 and Nikon J1 were announced in September 2011, with the J1 going on to become the biggest selling compact system camera.

Read the full interview on TechRadar.

The landmark V1 (along with its younger sibling, the J1) marks Nikon’s first foray into the compact system camera market. Designed for the mobile photographer, its fast performance, advanced features and newly designed interchangeable lens system will help you take creative images of the highest quality wherever you go.

How to Win a Nikon V1 kit

For a chance at winning a fabulous new Nikon V1 + 10-30mm lens kit all you have to do is visit us at the Focus On Imaging show.

Come by the Digital Camera stand at E42 and say hello. We’ll scan your entry badge, and your name will go into a draw. It’s that simple!

Focus On Imaging runs from 4 to 7 March at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre. Come by and say hello on any of those days and we’ll enter you into the draw.

On 30 March we will draw a name at random, and this lucky person will win the Nikon V1 kit. Once the winner is notified, we will post an announcement on our website.

The winner will also be profiled in the next issue of our sister title, N-Photo, the magazine dedicated solely to Nikon photographers, following the 30 March draw, as well as on our websites.

For more information on the Focus show, visit the Focus On Imaging website.

For full competition terms and conditions, visit the Future Publishing website.

New Nikon cameras such as the Nikon D800 and D4, along with other Nikon DSLRs, will be presented at this year’s Focus on Imaging show.

Visitors to the Birmingham trade show will have the opportunity to try out a variety of new products, including the new Nikon D4 and D800 professional cameras and a range of Nikon lenses.

Marketing Manager Jeremy Gilbert said: “The Focus on Imaging show is a great opportunity for visitors to get their hands on the cameras and talk to our team before they buy.”

The stand will be running three seminars each day to provide information on the new products, and Nikon experts will be on hand throughout to offer technical advice.

A varied seminar schedule has also been announced for the event, including wildlife photographer Andy Rouse, national sports photographer Mark Pain and fashion photographer John Wright.

Focus on Imaging is Europe’s biggest annual imaging show, and will run 4th-7th March at Birmingham NEC.

Nikon will produce 30,000 units per month of its newly announced Nikon D800 in order to meet demand, according to a report.

A story on the Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama, claims that the manufacturer will produce the 30,000 Nikon D800 units at its Sendai factory in Japan.

The report also claims that Nikon hopes to produce 5,000 Nikon D4 units every month.

The report stems from several Asian journalists who visited the Sendai factory, where Nikon President Jiro Saito told them the company had spent US$100 million repairing the factory after the devastating earthquake of March last year.

Nikon’s Sendai factory employees around 1,600 workers and boasts the ability of producing one camera per minute during the plant’s daytime shift.

According to the report, a Nikon D800 can be produced in around four hours, while the D4 takes five.

Via TechRadar

Nikon ended the long wait, unveiling its new 36.3-megapixel FX-format professional Nikon D800, which it claims ‘delivers unprecedented levels of depth and detail’ and allows users to shoot broadcast quality video.

What’s more, Nikon claims the Nikon D800 is not a successor to its popular full frame DSLR, the Nikon D700, but instead offers a potential to rival medium format cameras.

The Nikon D800, price slated to be £2399.99, will be available from 12 April, its UK release date.

Chris George, editor of our sister magazine, N-Photo, was invited to have a hands-on with the new Nikon DSLR prior to the announcement of the Nikon D800 release date. Watch our video below to see his first impressions. Or continue to read more about the Nikon D800 specs as this story continues after the video.

The Nikon D800’s 36.3-megapixel FX-format (full-frame) CMOS sensor offers photographers what Nikon claims are unprecedented levels of detail and tonal range. To this end the new Nikon camera boasts 12-channel readout with 14-bit A/D conversion and high signal-to-noise ratio, along with an ISO range of 100–6400, which is extendable up to 25600 (equivalent) and down to 50 (equivalent).

What’s more, the camera’s intelligent noise reduction systems manage noise without sacrificing fine details, allowing superb flexibility under all lighting conditions: images are crisp and clean, even at higher ISO settings.

The Nikon D800 also comes equipped with the manufacturer’s next-generation EXPEED 3 image-processing engine, offering 16-bit image processing that Nikon says can deliver smooth gradations with abundant detail and tone all the way up the scale to pure white, even when shooting in JPEG.

Nikon also claims the D800 can meet professional demands for video, shooting full HD (1080p) movies in frame rates of 30p, 25p and 24p, with 60p, 50p and 25p options at 720p. Movie clips can be up to 29:59 minutes long. As with the recent Nikon D4, full HD recording is possible in both FX and DX based formats.

The D800 also features an external stereo microphone input for video and audio recording, as well as an audio out for external headphones so you can fine tune audio in isolation both before and during movie recording. A line input setting for PCM linear recorders is also provided.

For a great example of what the Nikon D800 is capable of in terms of video recording, the video below – Joy Ride, directed by Sandro – depicts a man travelling across Chicago on his motorcycle to attend the birth of his child. The short film was shot on a Nikon D800.

Joy Ride from Sandro on Vimeo.

Finally, the Nikon D800 offers an uncompressed HDMI output for those who need the purest video output for professional quality editing. The D800 lets users output the uncompressed live view to external recorders and monitors. As with the Nikon D4, this data is output at the designated image size and frame rate, and is clean of the information overlay that can be simultaneously displayed on the camera’s TFT monitor.

Also on board the D800 is an Advanced Scene Recognition System with a new 91,000-pixel RGB sensor that analyses scenes. This detailed scene analysis is also utilised to support more accurate autofocus, auto exposure and i-TTL flash exposure results in a diverse range of compositional and lighting situations.

The Nikon D800 also implements Nikon’s Multi-CAM 3500FX AF system — with individually selectable or configurable 9-, 21- and 51-point coverage settings.

On the new Nikon DSLR the autofocus sensor module and algorithms have been re-engineered to improve low light acquisition sensitivity capabilities down to -2 EV (ISO 100, 20°C/68°F). The overall performance is similar to the Nikon D4, the company says.

Nikon is also promising fast start-up times of just 0.12 seconds on the D800, while release time lag is minimized to approx. 0.042 seconds, with continuous approx. 4 fps capability in FX-format and crop modes, pushed to approx. 6 fps capability in DX-format Crop mode with the optional Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D12.

The D800’s glass prism optical viewfinder offers approximately 100% frame coverage and 0.7x magnification (50mm f/1.4 lens at infinity, -1.0m-1). Nikon is also launching a special edition of the D800 – the Nikon D800E, which comes with a modified optical filter.

Nikon claims the D800’s shutter unit has been tested to well over 200,000 cycles of release. For more details on this new Nikon DSLR, check out the Nikon D800 hands-on review on our sister website, TechRadar.

The new AT-X 17-35mm f/4 Tokina lens is designed for full-frame Canon EOS and Nikon cameras and opens up a 103.9 degree field of view from its widest end when used at 35mm.

Weighing just 600g, the new Tokina lens also offers a bright constant f/4 aperture to enable Canon and Nikon photographers the ability to shoot in low-light conditions.

Image quality is ensured with the use of two Super-Low Dispersion glass and one aspheric glass elements for excellent contrast and sharpness, as well as chromatic aberration control, according to Kenro, which distributes Tokina lenses in the UK.

The AT-X 17-35mm Tokina lens also includes a One-touch Focus Clutch Mechanism that allows the photographer to switch between AF and MF by snapping the focus ring forward for AF and back toward the lens mount for manual focusing.

Nikon has announced the launch of the D4, the replacement for the D3s as its flagship high-speed SLR. Improvements include a 16.2-megapixel FX-format sensor, extendible ISO range 9100-1280 (it can go as far as 204,800) and 10 frames per second shooting with autofocus. Another key improvement is a 91,000 pixel metering for more accurate metering, white balance, flash exposure, face detection and Active D Lighting (Nikon’s system for boosting shadows and preventing highlights burning out). The new D4 also supports full HD 1080p video and improved sound recording, underscoring the importance of high-quality video recording in today’s top-end SLRs. The official price of the Nikon D4 is £4,799 and it’s due to go onsale on the 16^th of February. Watch out for a full review in Digital Camera soon!

Like the Nikon 1 V1, the 10.1Mp J1 has a CX-format sensor, which at 13.2×8.8mm is smaller than an APS-C-sized sensor and it results in a 2.7x focal length magnification factor. This enables the camera to be made much smaller than an SLR.

As the entry-level camera in the Nikon 1 series, the J1 has a three-inch 460k LCD and no viewfinder. Unlike the V1, however, it has a pop-up flash built-in.

Read our full review of the Nikon 1 J1 on TechRadar.