Nikon reveals its strategy for future digital SLR
The new AF-DX Nikkor lenses

During the presentation of their future digital system, Olympus and Kodak had indicated that they were going to develop a new system of digital cameras based on a 4/3 CCD. In December Olympus specified that current lenses designed for systems 135 (film 24x36) have not a sufficient resolution for current CCD and that incident rays of the wide-angle lenses in periphery of the image , due to the fact of the degree of impact of these rays through the CCD elements, introduced losses in color and in quality. Current lenses and in first wide-angle have therefore to be redesigned for the digital photography. Nikon has presented , during the PMA 2003, a new range of lenses specially designed for digital SLR reflex. The new lenses will be the AF-D type and will have the acronym DX. They will be compatible with all the Nikon digital SLR but their image circle is optimized to cover 23,7 mm on 15,6 mm (the size of Nikon D Series CCD) and not 36 mm on 24 mm. Their usage is therefore to proscribe with the other Nikon SLR. It seems possible to mount them on all cameras, instead of the IX lenses that covered the same surface for the APS format and are allowed only on APS SLR.

The first lens presented is a ultra wide-angle zoom : the zoom AF-S DX 12~24mm/4 G IF-ED.
This zoom has therefore an integrated silent wave motor and is equivalent to a 18~36 mm in format 24x36. It has no diaphragm ring, that tends to be generalized with Nikon and not only for mass market lenses. The price is not yet known.
This lens should be completed with some others, mainly of the ultra wide-angle, and without doubting a first price zoom ( 18~52mm ) for the new digital SLR.
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Nikon preserves the same F mount (mechanically unchanged since 1959). The fact that this mount is not very large has been able to be considered as a disadvantage to realize lenses of large aperture in 135 but has presented a real favors for the APS format and now for 4/3 CCD.
Canon that has conceived a larger mount for EOS in 1987 seems now penalized and seemed to opt to develop CMOS with a size nearer of 24mm x 36 mm format, despite the technical difficulty and the higher price .
With the announcement of this lens, Nikon has indicated the development of future digital SLR from APS CCD, it is possible that Nikon will propose, like Olympus/Kodak, some new cameras which are not designed and developed from existents SLR cameras but developed exclusively for digital.
Remind that Nikon D1 series are declined from F100 and the D100 from F80.
The coolpix 5700 may indicate the architecture of these new model, as the mockup of the future reflex numerical Olympus is declined from E10/E20 models.

pierre j.