Just a day before this we had a huge typhoon crossing over this area. It was still windy and dark and everything in this garden was very wet when I shot this. The ground was like a huge soft sponge and it was kind of hard to walk around this garden this time.
I like this garden because there are not many grouped tourists or families(because it is a paid part of the castle).
It is extremely quiet here and I think it is a good place to read a book, it is called ,"Philosophers garden or Thinkers garden".
Anyway, at this point my A7R2 was really terribly wet and my FE16-35mm f2.8GM zoom was really dirty, my RX100MK3 and MK4 were already dead. But my A7R2 and R3 did not get any damage, it kept going very strong.
So now, I think the weak build of Sony A7RX is greatly exaggerated by Nikon Canon fanboys, and most of cameras are actually less tough than the Sonys.
I think only two really (objectively )stronger ILC cameras than the A7R2 and R3 are the Panasonic G9 and Olympus EM1MK2.
They are really tough, durable, I tested them myself and I know it..but most of Canon D-SLRs are actually weaker than my Sony cameras , I know this because I've experienced it myself.
The Canon 5D series camera are not well sealed and easy to break (remember the Err09 thing?), I think the Nikon D8XX are actually tough and able to take a bit more abuse than my A7R2 or R3 bodies, but not much tougher. I have been shooting in winter mountains and Thai jungles and Nagasaki bombing festival under almost torrential rain every year, but no camera (except Canons) got terrible damage or actually failed. I always use a Ziplock to protect my camera and most of my cameras are covered with Sony's excellent accidental damage protection plan (special insurance Sony sells via Sony store website). IMHO, weather sealing or so-called pro build is the most overrated useless feature that only D-SLR fanboys care about. They tend to think the bigger more complex bodies the more durable they must be , but it is wrong.
Heavier does not mean more durable.
The coming death of Nikon 56:
So what sensors will Nikon use for their new mount cameras?
Nikon definitely needs a really sophisticated adapter for the new mount to fully use the F mount lenses at least the E and P ones , maybe the G too. It cannot be like the one many cheap adapters sold for the E mount to use the F mount lenses. Those are plain junks.
I think Nikon actually patented that adapter already - sophisticated AF with a translucent mirror, just like Sony native A/E adapter. The more interesting thing is - will it use Sony tweaked sensors, or maybe something like Canon dual pixel AF sensors.
Nikon has already spent a huge amount on sensor development over the last few years, with the D5, D500 and D850 sensors. Whether these are Nikon or Sony designed, they are Nikon exclusives and Nikon will have had to pay the bulk of the development costs (because otherwise how would the producer get their investment back?). A DPAF sensor is completely new silicon, and something neither Sony nor Nikon has done on a large sensor. Since DPAF requires rectangular sub-pixels, it would require redesign down to a pixel level, so whether or not the companies have the knowledge for accountancy reasons it's unlikely, unless Nikon could swallow their silly egoistic pride to buy sensors from Canon Semi and I think it will for many reasons.
Given the specs from my sources and rumors I read, I would expect variants on two of Sony's BSI FF sensors, the 24MP one in the A7III and the 46MP one in the D850, both with PDAF micro lens layers fitted. That would be a small extra investment and would help pay for Nikon (and Sony's) prior investment in these sensors.
If the 46MP one was indeed using the D850 silicon, it would go some distance to explaining why Nikon could be holding back some of the supply of that sensor. It is still backordered in many countries around the world and I have never seen any D850 out displayed in any where.
I think there has been no other ILC camera that was not readily available to the majority of buyers this long.
The A7MK3 was briefly backordered but only about 1 month in most part of the world. At least in Asia it was never backordered, always available. I got mine as it was first out. And sold it 2 weeks after that.
As for the possibility of Nikon deploying the Canon type of DP AF tech, I think it is very unlikely.
Because both NIkon and Sony have patents for that kind of on sensor PDAF. Dual pixel AF is probably the next big thing in sensor production.
But the problem is what they have patented is not as sophisticated or logical as the Canon one.
I think Canon have most of the sensible and simple options locked up tight. The Sony patent isn't exactly sensible (it only makes a subset of the pixels dual, thus losing a great deal of the point - which is probably why Canon didn't claim it in the first place) whilst the Nikon patents are very powerful and novel, these are much more than a simple extrapolation of current sensor technology. And that requires complete redesign down to a pixel level.......this requires a lot of money and time to do it , and so for their first serious FX mirrorless attempt that is rumored and (actually confirmed to be released at or just a bit before the coming Photokina), there is almost no chance they use that kind of new(to them) tech.
So , as I said , I think Nikon reuse the D850 sensor for the 46mp version of the new mount camera. Many people think miorrless requires a special made sensor for that and there is a huge difference between sensors made for D-SLR use and mirrorless use.
But the truth is they are not that different , at least not as different as the one with DP-AF capability and without it.
The difference between 'made for mirrorless' and not is a different microlens layer (plastic) on top. It would be very strange if Nikon had new silicon developed, knowing it,was planning mirrorless, without making it capable. Nikon will claim as a new sensor since it has the new microlenses, but it will be the same silicon with the same pixel count, doesn't make sense making a ground-UP new sensor, it will be very expensive, indeed.
Remember many D-SLRs and Mirrorless cameras share the same sensors and they both work as expected..how many cameras do house the Sony 36.7 mp sensor?
So re-using D-SLR sensors for mirrorless at least for the first gen ones is very cost effective and a very logical solution for Nikon,IMHO.
Sure the sensor readout time needs to be fast (maybe just part of the frame) is crucial for mirrorless use since the A7MK3 and other Sony similar AF camera starts (single shot) AF as PDAF and finishes as CDAF. And it's super fast in that second mode.
But now pretty much all camera manufactures use that tech even in a D-SLR, It's a facility on the sensor called, 'windowed readout'. So the Sony type of AF with the D850 sensor is not that a difficult design task. But the speed with which it can be read depends ultimately on the sensors readout speed, and given that the D850 is using just the same tech as the A7RIII, there's no reason to think it'll be slower.
So I think the new 46mp version of Nikon mirrorless will house the same D850 sensor or at least very identical one with new microlens layer to allow it to fully utilize on sensor PDAF.
As for the 24mp version, I am sure it is the Sony A7MK3 chip.
So now I seem to be contradicting to what I have said about Nikon sensor supplier choice since I have said Nikon will not use Sony sensor any more. But I am sure I have said the D850 sensor is the last breed of Sony designed sensor Nikon uses. So I am right, the 46.7mp sensor will be used for the new camera is the same chip as the D850 sensor , this means that there was not enough time for Nikon to redesign all from the ground up for the new mirrorless body with Tower Jazz.
But I am sure the 2nd generation Nikon mirrorless and their APS-C mirrorless will be using a TPSCo fabbed chip.
The point here is Nikon has already paid a big money for the D850 chip development, shared the R&D money with Sony semi , so they cannot just use a new chip without any logical reason.
So I think the upcoming DX mirrorless will be more interesting since it will use a entirely new designed chip with a different sensor partner.
