AxelR, a member of the Excellent DP Review forums, has snuck a look inside the code of Nikon's new firmware update for its flagship D3 camera. What did he find? References to a future D3-X model with a whopping 24.4 megapixels. That's more than twice the current resolution of 12.1 megapixels.
The intrepid firmware sleuth searched the v1.10 code for the string "D3X" and came up with the following interesting bits of code:
6048x4032 24.4 M
4544x3024 13.7 M
3024x2016 6.1 M
5056x4032 20.4 M
3792x3024 11.5 M
2528x2016 5.1 M
3968x2640 10.5 M
2976x1976 5.9 M
1984x1320 2.6 M
The most interesting post in the forum thread comes from Thom Hogan, the author of several books on Nikon DSLRs and a general Nikon authority. While a common code base for firmware is the likely reason that snippets for future models are showing up in the update, Hogan reckons that there could already be D3 cameras in the wild sporting the bigger sensors:
Sure. But the real reason is almost certainly that there are some D3 bodies out there with the new sensor being tested.
If this is true, then opening up those extra pixels is just a hack away. Remember, manufacturers cripple their cameras in software to differentiate the product line. The Wired How-To Wiki has detailed instructions for adding RAW support and higher ISO settings to cheapo Canon point-and-shoots. Why not Nikon, too?
When contacted by Wired.com, Nikon offered only the following bland non-statement: "Prior to official announcements, Nikon does not comment on products or technologies that may or may not be in development."
Forum thread [DP Review]
