Unlike the first dpreview statement it seems that Nikon didn’t use the NEX sensor for the new new D3100!

Read what Nikon-guru Thom Hogan wrote yesterday:

“One curious aspect of the D3100 is the sensor. “Nikon developed” appears in the marketing materials, and the sensor is indeed not the same one as in the Sony [shoplink 3003]NEX5[/shoplink] (as originally speculated) in several key ways, one of which is physical size, the other pixel count. The Nikon 14mp sensor has slightly more pixel count in a slightly smaller area than the Sony. Indeed, the area is no longer what I’d call DX. The D5000, D90, and D300 have a sensor area of 23.6 x 15.8 (28.4 diagonal), while the D3100 has a sensor area of 23.1 x 15.4 (27.8 diagonal). This represents a loss of about 2% in image circle coverage needed. We’re now at 1.55x crop as opposed to the old 1.52x. It’s an unusual change, but the bottom line is that the Nikon and Sony 14mp sensors are indeed different in important ways. But I’ll repeat: the proof is in the pudding. We need to test the new sensor on live subjects before making any useful pronouncements about it.

Update: I’ve now heard even more details about the D3100 sensor and from a few sources closer to Nikon Japan. It does indeed appear that Nikon has moved to producing their own sensors. They may be licensing or cooperating on some of the underlying technologies, but it appears that Nikon has decided that Nikon DSLRs will in the future have Nikon-controlled and Nikon-exclusive sensors. That they haven’t chosen to make a bigger deal of this is strange. And some parts of Nikon appear not to have gotten the memo on this, as I’ve seen quotes from Nikon personnel in some subsidiaries that say “Sony sensor.”

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The [shoplink 3003]NEX-5[/shoplink], A33 and A390 comparison made by Alphacorner.eu

Some SonyAlphaRumors reader made very nice size comparisons (many thanks!). Click on picture to enlarge.

Made by Shinkadesign

Made by Alex: Panasonic GF1 vs Samsung NX10 vs Sony A33 vs Panasonic G2 vs Olympus E-P1

MAde by RDK: Samsung NX10 vs Panasonic G2 vs Sony A33

Mirrorlessrumors had the pleasure to meet the famous hacker Vitaly Kiselev. Vitaly is famous because he hacked the GH1 and GF1 cameras and maybe he will soon do the same with NEX cameras :)

Here are some interesting pieces of the interview:

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MR: Do you think mirrorless cameras are more suitable for video than DSLR’s? Or do we still need that “bulky” optical viewfinder?
VK: We’ll see. Sony is the key player here, not Nikon or Canon. And EVF will win, of course. The Sony A55 could be a real hit. But we need to know about encoder, audio and EVF use.

MR: Are you “excited” about the new camera announcements? What do you expect from the camera makers?
VK: This year we’ll see a major camera market shakeup. As for excitement, no. It is just interesting to see smart people making good products. And I see almost no bad products in VDSLR camera market.

MR: Why shakeup? What’s coming?
VK: Sony is coming. It will supply sensors to Pentax and Nikon.Plus its logistic is much better in Japan, Asia, Russia, and maybe Europe. In Russia for each 10 Sony cameras you can find 2 Canon and 1 Nikon, and 1 Samsung. I think they’ll surprise Canon as the leader in VDSLR segment in a year. This is my prediction. 7D and 550D played a bad game with Canon. They made good cameras with very good margin without investing seriously in VDSLR and getting feedback. But lenses it key part here. I think that the next winner will be one that makes real adapters for their EVF cameras. With full autofocus and aperture control. It is not that hard. Not easy, but not that hard. Like a $50 adapter with AF and aperture control for any Canon lens. And, boom. Canon lost many-many body buyers.

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Read the whole interview here: http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/an-interview-with-vitaly-kiselev-the-gh1gf1-hacker/