Nikon could produce future APS-C sensor without Sonys help!
The prestigious french magazine Focus Numerique made an exclusive interview at Tetsurô Gotô (director of laboratory research and development at Nikon).
-> Click here to read the google english translation
The most interesting part for us Sony user is (google english translation): “We have a long relationship with Sony. If the sensors D3s Nikon, D3 and D700 were designed by Nikon, Nikon D3x those of small sensors and APS-C are from Sony. We want to use our own sensors in SLRs most popular [small sensor APS-C], as the performance of our sensors are better. However, it will take some time because it must make economies of scale. Sony is a big company that sells many sensors camera makers. The Alpha DSLR use Sony sensors and we also use Sony sensors in the D3000 and D5000 for example. In our D300, we use a basic Sony sensor and ours have the same definition, but they are quite different, because we make many changes. ”
That sounds like Nikon is playing with the idea to produce 100% “native” Nikon sensors!