Camera nerds: brace yourselves. Nikon and Sony have simultaneously announced a whole new fleet of digital cameras, unveiling more than ten new models between the two firms.
First up there's the A77 and A65, which use Sony's new translucent mirror tech to be able to snap photos without losing sight of your subject.
Traditional digital SLRs move the mirror out of view for the split second the picture is taken, momentarily blacking out the viewfinder - this translucent mirror solution means you'll always see what you're shooting.
The cameras can also capture a burst of 24.3 effective megapixel resolution shots at an alarming 12 frames per second, making them perfect options for action-heavy shots. They've also got full HD video, native geo-tagging and a big old screen. The A77 will be around £1,150 (body only) when it hits the UK this October.
There's also the NEX-7 from Sony, a tiny camera that manages to stuff a ridiculous 24.3-megapixel sensor, a 2.4 million dot OLED viewfinder and a pop-up flash into its 300g case. It'll launch in September for about $1200 (body only). UK pricing has not been announced, yet.
The manufacturer has refreshed its NEX-5 camera, with a more beefy NEX 5-N. It packs a 16.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, full HD recording and other image-processing goodies. Sony claims that the 5-N is the fastest interchangeable lens compact camera available, with a release lag of just 0.02 seconds.
Finally from Sony, there's a new Handycam camcorder on the scene, the NEX-VG20. Not for home movies and YouTube vlogs, this high-end recorder is apparently the "first consumer HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses", shoots in HD (and does 16 megapixel stills), and can record sound in 5.1 surround.
Nikon kicked off with an upgrade to the P700, in the Coolpix P7100. It's pretty similar to its predecessor with its 10.1-megapixel sensor and a maximum video resolution of 720p, but now features a pull-out LCD viewfinder and snappier software.
Then there's the more rugged camera -- a first for Nikon -- in its hardy Coolpix AW100. It can snap shots with its 16-megapixel sensor and do videos at 1080p, but also survive drops from five feet, keep working in icy -10C temperatures and dive to 10 metres underwater.
There are four new snappers in Nikon's Coolpix S line. The S8200 has a 14x optical zoom, a 16 megapixel sensor, a six frames-per-second burst mode and 1080p video recording. The S1200pj has just 14.1 megapixels on its sensor and a 5x optical zoom, but makes up for that with a built-in projector. There's even an iOS app to send video from your iPhone or iPad to the projector. Handy!
Speaking of gimmicks, the Coolpix S100 takes two photos with its single 16 megapixel sensor and stitches them together for a pseudo 3D snapshot. Don't move too much during shooting is our advice.
Finally there's the S6200: a 16 megapixel camera with a 10x optical zoom, and it can detect whether its held by hand, or by a tripod, before choosing the best settings for the job.
You can see pictures of all the above in our gallery, below.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
