by now, most of you nikoneers should already be aware of the new “professional” 35mm Nikon AF SLR, the F100. I have had the opportunity to study the F100 brochure, and the first releases of news on the F100 over the Internet. There is no doubt that Nikon is marketing the F100 as a true professional camera, which makes me believe that this might also be the reason why they did not re-badge it as the N100. So what’s new? The focus area indicator glows red, dynamic focus goes one step ahead with closest focus area priority, and some other refinements, AND SOME BIG OMISSIONS! Was the launch of the F100 hurried because of us nikoneers clamoring for a model to go against canon’s EOS-3? There is no mention of the capabilities of the new photosecretary software. The multi-control back does not exist. And the F100 seems to have less functions than the F90X(N90s). These are custom functions available in the F90X(N90s) and F5 which do not seem to exist in the F100. Slowest sync speed in P,A, mode Multi camera shooting (simultaneous, alternate) Release Priority in AF-S mode (not to be confused with closest AF area priority) Focus Priority in AF-C mode (not to be confused with closest AF area priority) Focus lock during continuous shooting in AF-S mode Of course there is the multi-control back which sets a top rank Nikon camera apart from the lower models. Don’t we all wish for an MF-30 multi control back which includes functions like interval timer, long time exposure, 11 or 19 frame auto bracketing, freeze focus, 6 digit sequence number, 6 digit fixed number, and of course the usual assortment of date/time combinations. And if they could add that in between frames feature with the copyright imprint so much the better. Don’t you just wish that Nikon asks us what we need or want. Can’t Nikon be more transparent? Of course there are some small items that Nikon seems to have neglected or ignored. The F5 has 12 focusing screens, the F90X(N90s) and F100 only 2 each. Would it hurt to make a type A or L focusing screen for the F90X(N90s) and F100 which features a matte fresnel field with split image range finder and microprism collar? This will definitely help when shooting with manual lenses. carlo _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
