Looks like Nikon is set to pile up another advantage over arch-rival Canon pretty soon. It’s recently taken the lead in the DSLR world with the extremely popular D40 and D300 and is now setting its sights on the prosumer range where Canon’s full-frame 5D has been so popular. And if it keeps adding features like this one, the 5D’s time is short.
Essentially it’s a picture-in-picture view, where you can switch between the wide and zoomed views, or overlay one upon the other. Very nice for tracking a player in a game while keeping track of things around him, for instance. It could let you know if you’re in danger of having your frame violated by something, or a number of other equally helpful functions. It appears to be augmented by an additional pop-up lens by the flash. At any rate, it never hurts to have these extra features, so good for Nikon. You can check the extremely long patent application at the US Patent office, publication number 20080084484.