Nikon ups the stakes in the DSLR battle

We’ve written previously here at Variety about the growing importance of digital SLR cameras to Hollywood. Indie filmmakers use them to shoot on a budget and bigger budget content producers use 'em to help cut costs (like “Saturday Night Live,” which shoots its opening credits with a DSLR).  

Now Nikon is adding some new features to better compete with Canon, which has had the lead among film makers for a while.

The camera-maker has announced its first DSLR with 1080p video. What makes this more than just catch-up, though, is the camera’s ability to constantly autofocus during video recording. Even better, it’s cheap!

The D3100 will sell for roughly $700, a very competitive price in the DSLR market. Nikon says the camera can autofocus on and track up to 35 faces at a time, thanks to its new Expeed2 image processor.

For still pictures, the camera is capable of shooting up to 14.2 megapixels, using a CMOS sensor. It shoots three frames per second (since it’s entry level) and will come with an 18-55mm kit lens. (For more tech specs, check out the official announcement.) 

It’ll hit stores toward the middle of September.