Running alongside the 16.2MP D7000,
which was launched in September 2010, the D7100 boasts a new 24.1 MP
sensor and durability and weather sealing on a par with the firm’s D800.

UK customers will get their first chance to handle the D7100 at the Focus on Imaging show which takes place at the Birmingham NEC from 3-6 March.

In the UK, less than half as many consumers, 77 out of every 10,000, own a DSLR compared to Switzerland where 163 per 10,000 people have one.

The figures reveal that Germany also beats the UK, with 113 DSLR owners per 10,000 people.

France also fairs poorly, however, with 74 per 10,000 said to own a DSLR, according to the data which Nikon obtained from market analysts at GfK.

Nikon UK general manager John Walshe said Nikon held a 45.3% volume share of the UK DSLR market in December 2012.

But he told an audience of journalists and UK photo dealers that he feels there is room for improvement.

‘We have a responsibility to engage everyone in the UK to develop a passion for photography,’ said Walshe at a central London briefing about the new D7100.

The new ‘enthusiast-level’ D7100 – the new DX-format flagship – is due out on 21 March priced £1099.99 body only; or £1,299.99 in a kit that includes an 18-105mm VR lens.

It will sit above the D5200, and below the full-frame D600, in Nikon’s DSLR line-up.

Billed as compact and lightweight, the D7100 will come without a low-pass optical filter in a bid to boost image sharpness.

Nikon Consumer DSLR product manager Simon Iddon said the camera was ‘made for those with a real passion for photography’, targeting both enthusiast and aspiring professionals.

The D7100 features magnesium-alloy top and bottom covers and built in sensor cleaning.

Features on board the dual-SD memory card slot model include a 51-point AF system (with 15 cross-sensors in the central area) and phase detection AF possible down to -2 EV, according to Nikon.

‘AF operation is possible under a combined aperture value of f/8, allowing more combinations of lenses and teleconverters to be used – new to cameras of this class,’ the firm added in a statement.

Weighing 675g, the D7100 incorporates Spot White Balance for ‘quick and precise white balance in live view’.

Tweaks also include an external stereo microphone input and ‘improved texture’ on the mode dial.

ISO ranges from 100-6400 but can be expanded to 25,600, and users have the facility to bolster the telephoto effect by 1.3x. This crop mode – which limits resolution to 15.4MP – allows use of the 51 AF points and 7fps shooting.

A virtual horizon function can be used in both vertical and horizontal formats and an HDR mode takes two consecutive images at different exposures and combines them into one.

The 3.2in LCD screen carries a resolution of 1.2 million dots and Nikon says the D7100 has a shutter release lag of 0.052secs.

The 21 March launch date had yet to be confirmed at the time writing.

  • Nikon has also today announced a new remote called the WR-1 – designed to allow the photographer to control shutter speed and aperture, for example, from a range of up to 120m. The WR-1 also allows users to control cameras in groups, and set interval timers. The WR-1 is expected to cost around £650.