When the PMA came along last February and the only thing Nikon announced was the D60, we admit it, we were a tiny bit disappointed. We kept our fingers crossed in the passing months but Nikon stayed eerily silent. Until now.

Nikon has just announced the Nikon D700, their latest top amateur camera and it’s making tidal waves with Nikon fans already. It slides in nicely between the D300 and D3, with many features similar to the very popular D300 but with a larger full frame sensor like the D3. You’ll get the legendary image quality of the D3, but in a smaller form.

The D700’s 12.1 megapixels CMOS sensor has a large pixel pitch and gapless micro lens array that will give you bright clean images on a broad ISO range of 200 to 6400. Coupled with Nikon’s very own EXPEED high-speed image-processing system that ensures superior picture quality and fast images processing, you won't be disappointed. In case you don’t want to take pictures in full frame mode, the D700 offers a DX crop mode. For taking pictures of fast things, the D700 manages a nice 5fps burst shooting, but you can boost that up to 8fps if you attach an optional battery back with a more powerful battery so sports photographers out there have something to covet.

The D700 shares the D300’s 51-point AF system and 3-inch TFT monitor which also comes with Live-view just in case you were wondering. The D700 also comes with a bigger and better viewfinder made of an outstanding solid glass pentaprism that guarantees you get a bigger clearer image on the viewfinder. If you think that isn’t enough, the D700 comes with improvements to the light sensor that allows info to be used for auto exposure, auto white balance and autofocus. Think 3D-tracking in AF with Scene Recognition System. The D700 can manage more accurate auto exposure and white balance detection than the D300.

Finally no DSLR these days can get by without some form of dust reduction, not when changing lenses is a must. The D700 uses high frequency vibrations to shake dust off the sensor. With a start-up time of 120ms and shutter lag time of 40ms, the D700 rivals the D3 when it comes to fast responses. In many ways the D700 rivals the D3 in performance and control, but it does so with a smaller and lighter body. The D700 is expected to challenge the supremacy of Canon’s 5D but we will have to wait to get it in our hands before we can say for sure just how far the D700 will go, though on paper Nikon’s latest offering looks very exciting. Nikon expects to release the Nikon D700 before the end of the month with a projected date of 25th July 2008.