Word on the street is that Nikon is developing a full frame mirrorless camera, and that, to us, is pretty darn cool.

Haven’t we all wondered, once or twice (or a hundred times), if Canon and/or Nikon would get off their duffs and bring to market a professional full-frame mirrorless camera?

Apparently Nikon will be doing so by this time next year!

In a recent interview by DPReview, Sony Camera General Manager, Kenji Tanaka predicts that full-frame Canon and Nikon mirrorless cameras would be a go, maybe even by next year.

“This is just my personal opinion, but I think that maybe by next year’s CP+ you’ll see full-frame mirrorless cameras from Canon and Nikon. I think [by then] they will be participating in this market.”

Hooray for mirrorless, am I right?

Hold your horses, DSLR folks, this post is not intended to be a continuation of the seemingly unsolvable “mirrorless vs. DSLR debate.” We don’t mind at all what your preference may be, or which you choose to bring on your next Backcountry Journeys tour. Heck, you might decide that perhaps having one of each style of camera body fits your needs and choose to go with whichever is right for your current photographic situation. Recall that one of mirrorless’ advantages are that they tend to be smaller and lighter, which can be desirable for folks like us – hiking photographers who are packing an assortment of gear and trekking into the backcountry in search of photographic subjects, be it wildlife or landscapes. If you join us on a tour we’ll help you make your best images, regardless.

We’ve touched on this topic before so won’t go into too much more on the this vs. that conversation here.

We’re just really excited to see that Nikon loyalists will apparently soon have good options for mirrorless. And that the two camera giants are hopping on board the mirrorless train.

Canon and Nikon historically have done their best to ignore mirrorless, as well as their competitors driving the movement of that technology.

It’s not as if Canon hasn’t done anything in the mirrorless category, they do have their M Series mirrorless bodies, introduced several years ago with the release of the EOS M. And look for a new entry-level mirrorless release from them very soon, maybe even this month.

The news here is that Nikon and Canon seem to be closing in on professional, full frame models, which to us indicates a willingness to get into it full-force now, as opposed to just dabbling.

It’s simply exciting for us to see both companies developing full-frame, professional, mirrorless cameras. Regardless of where you side on things, it is simply great to see technology rolling and more and more options for all of us photographers, pro and amateur alike.

We hope that no matter which style you choose, that we’ll see you out in the field on one of our award winning tours, soon.