Preparing for a wild Photokina 2008

The initial excitement over Photokina 2008 had its speed bumps earlier on when Nikon decided to RAW-cripple their highly-anticipated P6000, and the waves and waves of shiny silver clones showed very little promise of something fun and exciting.

That was then. Now, two new upcoming interchangeable lens small form-factor but larger-sensor formats are adding an extra dimension to Photokina and what to expect in the future. The mystery, the unknowns, the questions, the possibilities are guaranteed to get people interested, if nothing else out of curiosity.

While those may be the exotic desserts, the main course will be 35mm full frame DSLRs. And based on the dpreview's speculation we will get at least three of them. Remember the epic Photokina 2004 with the two 35mm full frame dSLRs from Canon (1Ds) and Kodak (14mp). More than two, means three or more.

The Sony "Alpha A900" is the closest thing to a certainty, despite it taking forever to arrive. Forever for those who have been waiting for this moment for a long time. A Canon 5D Mark I replacement is due for sure, although some people are thinking that perhaps we may get two. A Nikon flagship is something that is badly needed in the Nikon lineup when paired up against Canon's 1Ds-series, not to mention having a major gap between the 12mp of the D3 and the "entry-level" medium formats.

Those are the three most likely 35mm full frame DSLRs, but there's rumors of more. One such rumor talks of an Alpha A800, which could be somewhere between the 5D Mark I and the Nikon D700. Samsung told the world that they are working on a 35mm full frame sensor, but it's probably too early to hope for any actual sensors, although Pentaxians would not object to such a K-series flagship.

And then there's Leica with its traditional M-series and R-series, trying to ride the waves of the modern world.

Another exciting possibility could be a Nikon digital rangefinder. Their recent tease in the Rangefinder magazine certainly helped in rekindling that flame.

Another rumor was of Nikon making an APS-C fixed-lens digital camera. Perhaps the appearance of video mode in the Nikon D90 is opening the door for such a camera to come out along side it.

There's plenty more, we could go on for ever, but we have to stop at some point, otherwise we'll run out of cyber-ink ;-)

For more on all these, be sure to check the Photokina 2008 speculation spectacular. New rumors at the 48-hour rumor round-up.

For the latest new rumors, leaks and actual product announcements, be sure to check the brand new Photokina 2008 Situation Room.