There have been persistent rumors around a D700 replacement for awhile, but maybe the current iteration of the rumor is true. Nikon Rumors notes that the current Nikkor 24-120 f/3.5-5.6, a lens unworthy of being part of the original D700 kit, is now listed as discontinued on Nikon Japan’s site. Given the other rumor that a 24-120 f/4 VR N is coming at Photokina, one has to wonder if it’ll be the kit lens for a D700 replacement.
I like the idea of a 24-120 f/4. Since using the VR II version of the awesome 70-200, I’ve frequently wished that the 24-70 f/2.8 had it as well. I have to wonder how big that lens will be, though. When I had a brief dalliance with Canon, my favorite lens was the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM. Having a reasonably fast f/2.8 zoom with IS/VR is really nice. I know a lot of people think it’s unnecessary, but it really helps in seriously low-light settings, like this one from a visit to India, taken at 1/6 sec. hand-held wide-open:
As for the D700 replacement, I wonder what they’ll do. I think it’s a given that it’ll do video–something I couldn’t care less about. But I can’t get enough high-ISO performance, and frequently find myself shooting at high ISOs even in light that otherwise wouldn’t require it just to get more shutter speed. Better quality across ISOs and lifting the current top would be great.
One other thing I’d love to see, even though it wouldn’t appear on a spec sheet, would be improved controls around the Auto ISO controls. Right now, you can set a minimum shutter speed, but I’d like to see a setting where it defaults to something like the 1/focal length rule. Ideally, it could be customized per-lens. Also, the “My Menu” can save the setting to turn Auto ISO on or off, but you can’t put the menu of all the options there, which I’d like to see fixed. Best of all would be a custom setting to assign Auto ISO on/off and minimum shutter speed/maximum ISO for Auto ISO to the function button (and other buttons you can customize).
Enough with the wishing. Here’s hoping that Photokina brings some fun news.