• Nikon to rival Sony NEX and micro four third soon

Nikon reps have announced plans to develop a mirrorless DSLR camera. IMO, it’s about time. Not only for Nikon but for Canon as well. These two giants in the camera industry is late to the compact mirrorless bandwagon started by Olympus micro 4/3, which in turn totally outclassed by Sony’s NEX series recently.

There’s a huge gap in the market between point-n-shoot compact cameras and serious DSLR users - the prosumers. And this is the market share where mirrorless compact DSLRs cater for. Thanks to Olympus and Sony, prosumers now have the best product to satisfy their need. A camera that is portable, light and compact but more advanced than a point-n-shoot camera.

The Sony NEX is hands down the best camera of this class. As far as I’m concern, the single biggest advantage the Sony has over Olympus or Panasonic’s micro 4/3rd system is the APS-sized CMOS sensor. Bigger sensor better light reception hence less noisy images. Better image quality, period. Surprisingly, the NEX is smaller than Olympus EPL1 despite having a bigger sensor.

Nikon and Canon, should they come out with a mirrorless system, will most likely use APS-sized sensors. With Nikon having announced a camera of this class is on the way, it wouldn’t take long for Canon to follow suit. If Olympus and Panasonic may be pioneers but once N, C and S jumps on the bandwagon in full force, they will have a fight on their hands. A fight they will most likely lose.