Comments on: PMA 09

By: Grimm

Grimm — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:02:42 +0000

Where can I check the PMAI announcements? is there a specific site that will announce all of the new nikons?

By: MB

MB — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:15:15 +0000

Ever?

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:00:30 +0000

HAHA, NIKON WON’T RELEASE ANYTHING !!!

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:20:06 +0000

To quote bythom, “If I had to read the tea leaves, though, I’d say this: Nikon will certainly have more DSLR models and lenses coming, probably in spring. (Okay, I’ll go further: we’ll see a low-end DSLR to replace the D40 and eventually D60, and a high-megapixel FX DSLR to compete with the 5DII better in spring, along with three more lenses; later in the year we’ll see a D400 to replace the D300.) I don’t see Nikon stopping the product stream or even slowing product cycles. If anything, recessions reward companies that can innovate in downturns and that don’t turn off their product pipeline.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:56:58 +0000

I disagree. Who says “the others” are not developing products ? These are hard times but the market still exists and it is still huge. Nikon has not laid off any of it’s Japanese R&D staff. Do you think they’ll just sit about drinking sake ?

What will change for Nikon is a scaling exercise so that production matches the new market size. Lower end DSLR products will continue with modest price rises due to slightly lower production runs, and higher end development will continue but with higher price rises because of the even smaller production runs. We’re already seeing this happen.

No-one yet knows how deep this recession is going to be. If Nikon starts laying off it’s local technical expertise, then yes, the sh!t has hit the fan. Until then, we’re just looking at paying more for the top end stuff.

By: ronin

ronin — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:11:09 +0000

I’ll go out on a limb here. We are rumor free because there will be no major introductions. We will be forced to return to the longer product cycles of film days.

R&D, promotion and positioning and marketing of new products is not cheap. Why spend millions to develop new product when the competition is not doing so? Why do that when the possibility of recovering those product development costs is years and years away, given the declining market together with our silly decision to raise prices at the same time?

Big photo makers will be in a hunker-down mode the next few years. Let’s hope they all survive. But don’t expect a lot of new products with the frequency we have seen so far in the 21st century- that approach is no longer sustainable.

By: Timo

Timo — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:59:26 +0000

Nikon D5000 is for real

http://www.wikio.co.uk/guide/digital-cameras-nikon-review-5955-5163-page1-sort0.html?tf15=Reflex

look last item on the page. nikon D5000

http://www.wikio.co.uk/guide/nikon-d5000-193073.html

By: Kiki

Kiki — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:25:58 +0000

The D700x will resolve some of the bugs that plague the D700:

* The electronics on many units cause a variety of metering problems, from otherwise inexplicable intermittent overexpose to underexpose to a slow shifting oscillation that causes a series of the same scene to change exposure each item in a gradual shift from “normal” to overexposure (too light). The solution is NOT the same as the workaround that others suggest. The work-around is to shoot RAW (NEF) to try your best to make adjustments for the D700′s unreliable exposure metering.

* The rubbery cover for the ports always falls off. This cover will be replaced with something a bit more secure.

* BTW, the door cover for the flash card works fine and will not be replaced.

Of course these vast improvements will obscure the new price rise.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:27:06 +0000

And the pre-PMA announcements were at the beginning of Feb.

A low-key PMA in hard times ?

By: John Tangney

John Tangney — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:04:53 +0000

PMA is March 1-4 in Las Vegas.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:32:54 +0000

Yeah I figured it would be a nice camera to start learning some stuff on and I figure I gotta start somewhere right!

Was also looking at taking a class possibly at the local college too. You pros out there have some good things to start with, books or take a class? Any suggestions.

By: RJ

RJ — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:38:50 +0000

Haha thanks, but that decidedly doesn’t answer my question!

By: hum@no.id

hum@no.id — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:30:57 +0000

“Moment of the truth” coming soon…

By: RJ

RJ — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:12:55 +0000

When exactly is PMA? As in what date if any should a Nikon announcement come?

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:30:16 +0000

The last I heard camera sales were down 30%. That’s still a huge market with some strong competition. Why would Nikon go to sleep on development ? So Canon take their market share ?

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:57:09 +0000

Guys, we’re in a global economic crisis, I wouldn’t expect many new products from any manufacturer. Consumers aren’t buying anything. All bets are off.

By: Mar

Mar — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:56:48 +0000

Nikon never showed big announcement at PMA.

By: Chris P

Chris P — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:45:07 +0000

Yes I was kidding. I will keep my D700 for one reason above all else, I bought one secondhand Ais lens and I saw what the results were like with the D700, I have since bought two more and any money I spend will be used to buy more manual lenses. The only two lenses Nikon could introduce that would interest me would be an updated 80-400, nobody but Nikon could ignore the pent up consumer demand for such a lens, and a f2.8 or f4 40-120 zoom lens to the same standard as the f2.8 24-70.

By: Niloy

Niloy — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:26:22 +0000

Mine’s a D40x. I know. Theoritically anything’s possible with my trusty D40x, and I don’t NEED a better camera. But you can’t ignore just how much faster and nicer having a pro D200 instead is gonna be. Plus it can AF with all AF lenses, got more AF points, can trigger flashlights – three things I’m really missing. So now that the D200 can be had for about what the D40s were initially priced, why not just go for it?

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:26:59 +0000

I can’t recall any announcements during a show of a ready product. Normally, there have been announcements in the lead up and the products appear at the show for the first time so people come to the show to try out the new stuff.

A little after Sony buying Minolta, they presented mock-ups in cases at a show almost a whole year before the product (A900) came to market, if I remember right, but that was a rare case because they were not updates but wholly products.

Generally mannufacturers want to maintain sales of old products right up until the replacement is ready but Nikon have already deleted the D40 and all the old stock is being cleared before a replacement has been announced.

So really, it’s hard to see any particular pattern from all this. As always, it’s a case of waiting for Nikon. But hey ho, I still have a great camera and lenses to get out and shoot with, so I can wait. And the new 35 will be fun to use and evaluate I think.