Hi there, Good to be finally able to contribute to the Digest again. I passed by Yodobashi Camera honten (biggest camera store in Tokyo – recently renewed) yesterday and had the chance to receive the catalogue of the F100c in Japanese of course, which I can hardly read. However, I can tell you that: - F100 (which is called F5-Junior in the catalogue) will be released in Japan on Dec 26th, official price 190.000 Yen, which should mean a real street price of around 150.000 Yen, if the discount on the F100 is similar to that available for other Nikon cameras, - The MB-15 is announced officially for 30.000 Yen, - The new AF-S 80-200 will be available on Dec 12th at 12.12 AM for official 245.000 Yen, as written earlier it is gonna weight 1580 gr., and focus from 1.5m. - The new 28-105 F3.5-4.5 (IF) will be available on Dec 26th for official 55.000 Yen and is presented as the default lens for the F100, - The release date of the AF-S ED28-70 F2.8D is not given, but it will boast ED GLASS, weight a rather disgusting 935 gr., have a 77mm filter mount and focus as close as 0.7m. The catalogue doesnft mention how many lenses will use ED glass, or why Nikon has suddenly decided to use ED glass on such a short zoom. Would it mean that all the AF-S series lens will be ED?cAs far as the look is concerned, it is rather similar to the Tokina, with the nice AF-S ED yellow sticker near the front lens. I cannot be sure about this, but according to the picture shown, there doesnft seem to be a macro mode included (as there is on the 35-70 f2.8). - The F-5 is now available for 260.000 Yen at Yodobashi, minus 10% discount with the card, giving an appealing 234.000 Yen real price. As far as technical spec of the F100 is concerned, most of what I read in the Digest so far seems to be utterly correct, except, perhaps, that the F100 doesnft seem to have the manual rewind. The catalogue also mentions also a program called AC-2WJ, PhotoSecretary II, I didnft feel like spending hours with my kanji dictionary to decipher the text, so that I donft really know how it differs from PS Ic Sorry about that! It is either an adaptation required by the different hardware of the F100, or an evolution aimed at correcting the shortcomings of PS I. One more comment, the poor Yodobashi sales people were literally aggressed by people asking info about the F100! Thatfs it for today, sorry if this had been posted already, Best regards, Bernard Languillier Belgian lost in Tokyo ---------------------------------------------------------------- Get your free email from AltaVista at http://altavista.iname.com
