Is Nikon to release an 18-megapixel D3?

Specifications for the predicted professional camera

7 March 2007 12:14 GMT / By Amber Maitland

It seems that diehard Nikon fans are still holding out for a full-frame DSLR, despite the company's emphasis on its commitment to a smaller sensor size.

Now one website has details of a rumoured D3, a successor to the D2X, that was apparently unveiled to sales representatives in California.

A man called Jim Seaholm says that the specifications include a full-frame sensor, although for high speed shooting a 1.5x crop factor will be applied.

Most controversially of all, the report says that it will have 18.7MP of resolution.

The price for this monster? $8000, around the same amount as Canon's 1Ds Mark II.

In addition, the mole reported that two lenses are in the pipeline, one a 50mm 1.2G AF-S lens, and the other a 24-120 2.8G AF-S.

Although this may indeed turn out to be "vaporware", one thing is for certain, and that's that the top two camera makers are predicted to add considerable pixels to their sensors in the next iteration of professional cameras - Canon's next pro camera is rumoured to have 22MP of resolution, bringing it up to medium-format quality.