Nikon unveils the D3X DSLR

Rumours confirmed with arrival of the £5500 snapper

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1 December 2008 9:17 GMT / By Katie Scott

So the rumours have been circling the web since April, but now it's been confirmed - Nikon has a new flagship model.

The D3X is going to be available by the end of this month for a £5499.99 (7728.00 euros) price tag.

For this, you get a model that has an image sensor, which is more than twice the resolution of the D3.

This 24.5 megapixel CMOS sensor (rumours were 24.4 megapixels so mighty close) means that the D3X is an all-rounder "suitable for the broadest range of shooting situations, both in the studio and on location", says Nikon.

As well as the FX-format CMOS image sensor with 12-channel readout, gapless micro lens array and on-chip noise reduction, the camera delivers an ISO range of 100-1600, extendible down to ISO 50 and up to 6400 equivalent.

Photographers can shoot up to 5 fps continuous shooting at full resolution, or 7 fps in the 10MP DX-crop mode.

The camera inherits a MultiCAM3500FX 51-point autofocus system as well as Nikon's LiveView function for "situations where the use of the viewfinder is impractical".

Also worth a mention are the 12 milliseconds start-up time and the 40ms shutter lag.

Adds Nikon: "The Kevlar/carbon fibre composite shutter has been designed for intensive professional needs and tested to 300,000 cycles".

Design-wise, Nikon says this model offers the same ergonomics and handling as the D3, including a viewfinder which delivers 100% coverage and a three inch, 920,000-dot VGA TFT monitor enabling outstanding playback quality for on-the-spot image assessment.

“This is the camera that many professional photographers have been waiting for”, says Robert Cristina, professional products and NPS manager at Nikon Europe.

“Just as the D3 has become the professionals’ camera of choice in sports photography, the D3X’s extremely high imaging resolution will raise the bar for commercial, fashion and stock photography. The results speak for themselves: this is without doubt our highest-quality camera to date”.

Bold claims indeed.

We'll be at the UK launch today so make sure you check back for our video quick review and some hands-on snaps.