The French magazine Chasseur d'Images posted few new bits of information for the upcoming Nikon D800:

• The D800 will have a Sony Exmor sensor with a design similar to the APS-C version used in the NEX-7, providing clean images up to 1600 ISO for A2 format prints
• Only 2 crop options in video (Nikon D4 has 3)
• TheD800 with AA filter should costs less than €3000 in France (same price was reported back in October, 2011), the high version without the AA filter should cost €300 - €500 more
• The D800 will be 100g lighter than the D700

For the remaining specs check this post.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

Nikon announced four new Prostaff 5 fieldscopes. The new models are all fog-free and waterproof (up to 1m/3.3ft. for up to 10 minutes). They can also be used with a digital camera bracket ($269.95) that will allow to attach a Coolpix camera.

Key features:

• Brighter viewing in a sleek design
• Compact, lightweight and smooth ergonomic design
• Large objective lens for a brighter field of view
• All lenses and prisms are multilayer-coated for brighter images
• Chromatic aberration at the peripheries of the view field is minimized
• Waterproof (up to 1 m/3.3 ft. for 10 minutes) and fog-free with nitrogen gas
• Bayonet-type eyepiece mount with locking system enables quicker, more secure eyepiece connections
• Three eyepieces exclusively for PROSTAFF 5 Fieldscopes are available as options: compatible with digital camera bracket, FSB series
• Built-in sliding hood

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

The Japanese site BCNRanking published their 2012 BCN Awards for various products:

• Nikon got the #2 spot in the DSLR section
• Nikon Coolpix cameras are not in the top 3 in the compact segment (Casio is at the #3 spot!)
• In the lens category, Tamron got the #2 spot after Canon - Tamron sold 0.6% more lenses than Nikon

BCN Ranking collects sales data from approximately 2/3 of all Japanese retail stores.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more and take action:

• Americancensorship.org
• Google: End Piracy, Not Liberty
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Wikipedia

Please, spread the word!

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

Nikon USA sent a letter to all independent camera repair shops in the US that they will no longer be able to order parts from Nikon USA. Nikon will continue to supply parts to authorized repair centers.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

This time I am giving you an advance notice. Last weekend we crashed Uwe's website and he is now giving you a second chance to download a full PDF version of his book Wildlife Photography: On Safari with your DSLR: Equipment, Techniques, Workflow. The English and German copy of the book will be available for a free download again on Sunday, December 18, 2011 from  midnight till 11.59pm CET (starting 6:00pm EST on December 17th).

Please respect the author's copyright and do not share this book online. All links to external sources will be deleted.

The author Uwe Skrzypczak is a Nikon shooter and all pictures inside the book were taken with Nikon equipment. You can see the Sample Pages and Table Of Contents.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

The winner of the Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite display calibration system giveaway is Ben Dekock (pending verification). Congratulation!

If you did not win, the Spyder 3 Elite currently has $30 mail-in rebate.

There were 2454 entries for this giveaway. I selected the winner by running a SQL script that randomly picked one of the 2454 comments:

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

The book Wildlife Photography: On Safari with your DSLR: Equipment, Techniques, Workflow will be available as a free PDF file download for 24 hours starting at midnight CET on December 11th, 2011 (EST: 6:00pm on December 10th). The German language version will be available on December 18th.

Update: we actually brought the site down. This is the alternative download link.

The author Uwe Skrzypczak is a Nikon shooter and all pictures inside the book were taken with Nikon equipment. You can see the Sample Pages and Table Of Contents.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

The current Nikon WT-4A wireless transmitter

I expect Nikon to announce a new WT-5 wireless transmitter with their upcoming D800 or D4 DSLR cameras - add this to the list of upcoming products. The new unit will be mountable on the camera and will be very compact. I do not have any more details at that point. I believe the current Nikon WT-4A wireless transmitter ($699) was announced back in 2007.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

What can I win?

In this giveaway you can win a brand new Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite display calibration system valued at $179.95 (plus a $30 mail-in rebate).

How do I win?

The rules are simple:

• "Like" the Datacolor Spyder Facebook page
• "Like" the NikonRumors Facebook page
• Leave a comment to this blog post

OR

• Follow Datacolor on Twitter
• Follow NikonRumors on Twitter
• Leave a comment to this blog post

If you already "liked" both Facebook pages or you are already a follower on Twitter, you just need to leave a comment to this blog post. One comment per person please. Don’t forget to add your email address in the provided field (it will not be visible to the public and it will only be used to notify you in case you are the winner). I will close all comments in one week and will randomly pick the winner.

The best part?

This giveaway is open to anyone and is not restricted to US residents only, everyone is welcomed to participate. This contest is void where prohibited by law. All taxes are the responsibility of the winner. The price cannot be shipped to countries embargoed by the United States.

Good luck!

I am running the same giveaway also on PhotoRumors - you are welcome to enter both giveaways. For further discussion on monitor calibration software, check this thread on the [NR] Forum. Special thanks to Datacolor for sponsoring this giveaway.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

The winner of the Modular Component Set V2.0, Pro Speed Belt V2.0 and Keep It Up Shoulder Strap giveaway from last week is Christopher Ciccone. Congratulation!

If you did not win, here is another promotions from ThinkTank Photo:

Buy any Think Tank Photo Retrospective shoulder bag and get money back plus a free gift

Between now and the end of December, whenever you order any of Think Tank Photo’s Retrospective shoulder bags, you will receive up to $20 back. Click on the “Support” tab on each Retrospective product page to download your rebate form. And don’t forget, in addition to receiving the rebate check from ThinkTank, you also get to select another free gift with your purchase only when you order from this [NR] unique link.

FYI: ThinkTank Photo also offers gift certificates:

There were 2479 entries for this giveaway. I selected the winner by running a SQL script that randomly picked one of the 2479 comments:

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

• Water was completely pumped out around the Nikon facilities in Thailand on November 26th.
• Part of the factory operation is expected to resume in January 2012.
• First shipment of products from the alternative partner factories in Thailand has already started.
• The flood in Thailand is going "to push down net sales by 65 billion yen and operational income by 25 billion yen due to sales opportunity loss".
• Normal production capacity is expected to be reached by the end of March 2012.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

The giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced soon.

Happy Thanksgiving to all US readers! Since I will have limited Internet connectivity in the next few days, here is a quick giveaway - my way of saying thank you for being a [NR] reader:

What can I win?

In this giveaway you can win the brand new Modular Component Set V2.0 ($142.75) from ThinkTank Photo that is not even released for sale yet. The set consists of:

• Lens Changer 50 V2.0
• LC 75 Pop Down V2.0
• Strobe Stuff
• Speed Changer V2.0
• Large Travel Pouch

To complete the set, I will also include the Pro Speed Belt V2.0 ($39.75, size: L-XL) and the Keep It Up Shoulder Strap ($29.75).

How do I win?

The rules are simple: like this post on Facebook, retweet it or +1 it and leave a comment to this blog post.

One comment per person please. Don’t forget to add your email address in the email field (it will not be visible to the public and it will only be used to notify you in case you are the winner). I will close all comments in one week and will randomly pick the winner.

The best part?

This giveaway is open to anyone and is not restricted to US residents only, everyone is welcomed to participate. Special thanks to ThinkTank Photo for sponsoring this giveaway. Good luck!

Disclaimer & disclosure: This contest is void where prohibited by law. All taxes are the responsibility of the winner. The price cannot be shipped to countries embargoed by the United States. ThinkTank Photo is a sponsor of NikonRumors.com.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

The title says it all, here is the press release:

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Market Insight Corporation today reported that U.S. consumers are placing greater importance on “brand” for digital camera purchase decisions. Further, the maximum price that consumers are willing to pay for a digital camera is increasingly influenced by brand.

Based on preferences collected from more than 26,000 digital camera shoppers visiting MyProductAdvisor.com from May through October 2011, those who prefer the Nikon brand are willing to pay the most, with Canon ranking second. Olympus, Panasonic, and Fujifilm are among those brands attracting shoppers with more moderate willingness to pay. The results may verify expectations that Nikon’s overall brand/price power is positively impacted by the presence of its “high end” line of cameras.

The maximum price that consumers are willing to pay across a broad line of digital cameras reached a “recent years low” during the 2^nd half of 2010, and has been trending up during 2011. A noteworthy trend is the shift towards cameras priced over $600. Between May and October, the percentage of shoppers in this price group increased by 12%. But not all brands enjoy consumers’ enhanced willingness to pay. For example, consumers who prefer Samsung are drawn to stylish design, internet based social media, point and shoot, and video recording capability. But those preferences have not yet translated to a significant increase in shoppers’ willingness to pay. This may confirm expectations that smartphone cameras compete for these attributes.

I think they should have included also Leica Camera in this survey because they just raised their prices and were still able to increase their sales by 28% compared to last year.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

My suggestion is to just use the original [NR] RSS feed http://feeds2.feedburner.com/NikonRumors and add it to your favorite RSS reader manually - that way you will have control over it. The RSS feed for all the comments is http://feeds2.feedburner.com/NikonRumorsComments.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

NikonRumors is now on Google+. Add [NR] to your circles if you are into g+.

You can get more updates on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube.

Check also the g+ profiles for LeicaRumors and PhotoRumors.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

Nikon doesn't expect the impact of the floods in Thailand to be excessive because the factories in Thailand are covered by insurance - from the latest Nikon Q&A:

At present, facilities are still submerged and we are unable to obtain an accurate damage bill and as a result, extraordinary losses resulting from damage caused by the floods in Thailand have not been included in these forecasts. Thorough survey of the damages will commence once the water has receded. Further, the facilities are covered by insurance therefore we do not expect the impact will be excessive.

Here are some images from Rojana Industrial Park where the Nikon facilities are located - water is being pumped out of the park with generators:

The water levels continued to drop this week but are still above 2 meters in many areas of the industrial park:

For comparison, here are the water levels from the past few weeks:

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.

Nikon will increase its production in other facilities across the world in December. Nikon Thailand is expects to start operations in January 2012 and have full-scale production restored by the end of March, 2012.

In the next few months sales efforts will concentrate on the new Nikon 1 mirrorless system. Nikon is already aggressively pushing their CX cameras with various marketing campaigns and tours to the Nikon 1 factory in China for pretty much anyone that can spell N-i-k-o-n.

Summary for the First Half of the Year Ending March 31, 2012:

• Sales and income grew 15% and 76%, respectively.
• SLR-DSC and interchangeable lenses responded the robust demands.
• Compact DSC posted 17% sales increase in spite of market shrinkage

Estimation for the year ending March 31, 2012:

Thailand floods impact on FY2012 forecast - damages suffered by Nikon Thailand:

• Nikon Thailand, located in Ayutthaya Province in Central Thailand, was flooded, and its operation has been suspended since October 6. As of November4, the operation remains suspended.
• Nikon Thailand manufactures SLR-DSC and interchangeable lenses (IL).

Second half volume assumption for IL and digital cameras w/ IL:

• Alternative production is scheduled starting in December 2011 in Nikon group plants worldwide and partner factories in Thailand. They are expected to gradually increase the alternative production volume.
• Nikon Thailand expects to gradually resume its operation starting in January 2012.
• It is planned that the full-scale production is restored at the end of March, 2012.

Financial impact by floods based on the above plans(2ndhalf of FY2012 in Imaging Company):

• Negative impact -Sales: 65.0 billion yen; Operating income: 25.0 billion yen

Summary of Estimation for the Year Ending March 31, 2012:

Downward revision of the yearly forecast is inevitable due to Thailand floods: however, both sales and income are expected to improve year on year.

• It is planned that SLR-DSC and IL production gradually restore to the original level by the end of March, 2012.
• Sales efforts focus on “Nikon 1” that has been favorably accepted since its launch in October.
• Compact DSC with improved competitiveness enjoy brisk sales.

Posted by NikonRumors.com
This RSS feed is copyrighted and cannot be republished in any way without permission.
Follow [NR] on Facebook and Twitter.