The Nikon D6 is officially discontinued in Japan

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RIP Nikon's last flagship DSLR, but we're not surprised to see it go

Vector illustration of a gravestone between trees
(Image credit: Future, www.vecteezy.com)

Nikon Rumors reports that the Nikon D6 is now listed as discontinued on Nikon's official Japanese website. Introduced almost exactly five years ago in 2020, the D6 was - and forever will be - Nikon's last flagship DSLR, pitched squarely at professional stills photographers shooting fast-paced action.

Nikon D6 camera body

(Image credit: James Artaius / Digital Camera World)

The D6 represented a marked improvement over the preceding D5, with an overhauled AF system, faster burst shooting speed, CFexpress memory card support, built-in 5GHz Wi-Fi and GPS, and awesome high-ISO image quality. For those already invested in the Nikon ecosystem (and with suitably deep pockets), the D6 was worthy of its halo status and proved itself to be a hugely powerful tool for sports photography. However, even with its AF improvements, we found the D6 just couldn't match the uncanny accuracy of the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III's subject tracking, while the then-new Sony A9 II trounced the D6 both in terms of burst shooting speed and video performance.

Reviewer James Artaius shoots with the Sony A9 II

The Sony A9 II proved that a professional camera can shoot stills and video equally well (Image credit: James Artaius)

But the D6 was - and still is - a stunning camera, and we therefore mourn its demise. However, we're not surprised to see it go. Even at its launch in 2020, the mirrorless revolution was in full swing, with cameras such as the A9 II proving that a professional camera can shoot both stills and video without compromise. Though the D6 was always intended for stills first and video a distant second, it was already looking dated even at launch. Now in 2025, it's thoroughly outclassed by the current crop of flagship mirrorless bodies, most of which cost substantially less cash.

Nikon D850

The legendary D850 remains in production, but for how much longer? (Image credit: Future)

The discontinuation of the D6 leaves just three Nikon DSLRs still in production: the D850 and D780 full-frame (FX) offerings, and the D7500 as Nikon's sole remaining APS-C (DX) body. That said, while Nikon Japan may have pulled the D6 from sale, Nikon USA and Nikon UK both still have the camera in stock, as do retailers like B&H and Wex. But at $6,500/£6,799, you'd need to be a die-hard Nikon DSLR fan to actually buy one, considering a Z9 can be had for 20-30% less, and a Z9 II is rumored to be coming soon.

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Ben Andrews
Ben Andrews

Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories – his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography! With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys. 

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