And now, is the time for D400??? Hope so!!!

So many rumors flying around, do we know if the D400 will be FX. that looks to be the body I'll probably get once my D200 dies!I'm not in a hurry-unless it goes soon!

I spoke to Nikon today and they say they will start shipping back ordered cameras January 19th. He had to put me on hold to get that answer. There are so many Nikon cameras on back-order, I am not going to get excited that I might see the D7000 I ordered anytime soon. It will be an upgrade for me, from a D90.

Well it looks like the we ( or at least the press covering the Olympics ) are going to get the D4 first

Illuminated buttons; significantly lighter; 102,400 ISO very tempting

so how long before we get the specification for the D800

Totally Agree!!

DaveyJ said:
I certainly agree with donaldejose and shivaswrath and although I was most waiting for the D400 (yes, rather than the D800) I now guess I'd better get going on a D7000 by early December as I need the upgraded video and the other new advantages to add to my current Nikon DSLRs!! The October 26th release announcement on the D800 now seems unlikely and I have things to capture with a somewhat improved Nikon and the newer bodies do seem to have the firmware updates.

better do it soon, the thailand situation is going to limit hte DX output....(from a production perspective)

DaveyJ said:
The only hang up I have with my D700 is no video. Same for my D300. Still fumbling along most of the time with the D90 as video is pretty necessary for many subjects and handles still nicely. The D7000 is my Christmas present to myself, but that is not here yet!

which is why I ended up getting a D7k...video is pretty sexy for brides these days, even if it's a short clip, it helps...

The only hang up I have with my D700 is no video. Same for my D300. Still fumbling along most of the time with the D90 as video is pretty necessary for many subjects and handles still nicely. The D7000 is my Christmas present to myself, but that is not here yet!

John C Picking Jr said:
I just bought a D700 this past weekend. Am I stupid?

Not at all. Just because it will be replaced soon doesn't mean it is obselete. It still is better than 99% of what is on the market and it will produce great photographs for as long as you hoot with it.

John C Picking Jr said:
I just bought a D700 this past weekend. Am I stupid?

In a word, No

You are about to find out why, while many D700 owners may well buy a D800, if and when it ever comes out . It is unlikely we will sell our beloved 700's

I just bought a D700 this past weekend. Am I stupid?

imagine

selling your cameras so you can fund or buy cameras that have not been announced as yet.

people have been talking about these cameras for nearly two years

all the pundits gave time, the exact month that we will see this camera and that camera. [pundits because of the F1 race of India]

posting what you would like to see in a new camera is nice, but saying it will appear this month or that borders on being a witch or warlock, yeah yeah I know it is halloween in the US.

selling your present cameras to buy unannounced cameras: madness

or, maybe one of these people would post the lotto numbers.

mikenothing said:
was thinking of a Nikon AI 20 F2.8 S for wides .... good idea ?

I assume you mean the manual focus 20 mm f2.8 AI-S? I use that quite a bit on my D700 and think it is a good lens. As far as I know the AF version is optically the same. If you are looking for a manual focus wide angle lens I can recommend the 28 mm f2.8 AI. It is very good, not as extreme as the 20 mm and much better than the AF version. But if you prefer the 20 or 28 depends on your style...

well, i finally got bored of waiting, and figured i couldnt really justify d800 cost anyway, so i got a d700 today .....

got the 50mm 1.4, and ordered a 70-200 vrii off the net.

was thinking of a Nikon AI 20 F2.8 S for wides .... good idea ?

hope this isnt too far off topic ... hmm

@kyoshinikon: Working to get the D7000 ASAP. And yes I should have got it months ago. But I do know for sure I will be happy with it. Now that I am mostly retired it seems like purchases that were modest a few years ago are like giant steps for this portion of mankind. I am convinced though it will be a most welcome addition to my Nikon cameras and in time I may forget exactly how much I paid for it!! I do feel this is great Internet site with lots of friendly advice.....and yes we are all worried about our sacred fortunes (or lack thereof!) but I do know that image capture is where it is at......and being a the right place at the right time. Good luck to all my Nikon Rumors friends!! At some point I'll let you know how this last step worked out.

Get the D7000...

I certainly agree with donaldejose and shivaswrath and although I was most waiting for the D400 (yes, rather than the D800) I now guess I'd better get going on a D7000 by early December as I need the upgraded video and the other new advantages to add to my current Nikon DSLRs!! The October 26th release announcement on the D800 now seems unlikely and I have things to capture with a somewhat improved Nikon and the newer bodies do seem to have the firmware updates.

I doubt we'll be seeing anything fruitful from the DX side anytime soon, those pics of Thailand don't look all that promising...

Another reason I decided to get a D7k was that I knew the "newer" bodies were coming with an updated firmware and hopefully less back-focusing issues than the first releases...which I've already observed isn't an issue in my Ser 3xxxxxx.

So EVEN if Nikon releases a D800 soon, I wouldn't risk a bride's wedding with it...I would still rent a D700 or D3/D3s and couple with my D7k (for my backup photog) to snap videos/long-shots with the 70-200 VR2.

It just about historically takes Nikon a year of trial and error to sort out their bodies, because like Apple, they are forced to release new products lightly tested and end up having to rapidly releasing QC-pathups within a few months.

I saw this even with the 24 1.4G release, which is why I waited until this past weekend to upgrade.

26th may or may not happen....but won't change my short term plan now.

I expect the D400 will be more than "good enough" for most of us at half the price of a D800. Why so cheap? DX sensor and produced outside of Japan at lower labor costs are two good reasons. I wish Nikon would give us a choice between a D800 and a D400 in a few days. I am quite sure I would choose a D400 as a better value. But it doesn't look like we will have a D400 option for a year or so.

Well here we are on October 23rd and maybe the Nikon D800 will be unveiled and let us know where that stands compared to the D700 and the D7000. I still am hesitating for awhile to evaluate the D800 advantage to me versus the D7000. Price difference,etc. and initial reviews I guess will be what makes me decide. Like shivaswrath I may just get a D7000 and continue to wait after the D800. I do know the D700 is not what I need right now as I have to much pressure for short video clips of good quality and even my D90 video clips on some subjects are more useful than my D300 and D700. Having tested the D7000 I do know it does work on video well enough to justify my purchase. The D400 which I was most personally waiting for all this time I am now assuming is delayed for so long I need an interim Nikon which will shoot clear enough video clips to add to the stills. I am using usually Aperature 3 to present both the video clips and stills.

I can't disagree with donaldejose...
I sold my D700 and D3 earlier this year because I didn't have any weddings until the Oct timeframe; I obviously got a little screwed since nothing was announced.

I decided to buy a couple of D7000's in the interim since everyone rants about them and my brides have been increasingly asking for short video clips strung together (most are too cheap to do Photography AND Video, so they want best of both worlds).

I'll have to say, the D7k is a pretty good camera - I appreciate the 100% VF, dual cards (though I have to now buy bigger SD cards to manage the size of files), and 6 FPS. The metering and AF are good, certainly not as great as the D700, but remarkably fast...

It's about a stop behind the D700 IMO, but pretty darn close...

Still waiting for the D800 though, which I'm hoping will have dual CF, 100% VF, and the upgraded video and menu features the D7k has come to offer.

Based upon the assumption that in the Nikon Digital world newer is almost always very much better I would predict that the D800 will be a much better camera than the D700, enough so that those who want a full frame camera will lust after it. Additionally, the new D4 will be better than the D800 in many ways appreciated by professional photographers.

However, the D7000 will remain the value or "best bang for the buck" buy (as was the D90 and D80 before that). I would like to see the D300s replacement, the D400, come with a built in vertical grip body the same as a slightly downsized D4. Expected improvements in the sensor, Expeed processing power and software should make a DX 400 a legitimate "value" professional camera. I hope Nikon makes a Pro Lite D400 and then creates a few f2.8 or f3.5 or f4 professional zooms to mirror those available for FX bodies.

As of today. If you want FX wait for the D800. A D4 is likely about a year (or more) away from general availability. If you want DX get a D7000 now since we don't know when a D400 will be out and there is very good reason to think it will be delayed until next year (perhaps announced along with the D4?)

Don't buy the D700 at this time unless you absolutely must have an FX sensor within the next 6 months.

I doubt there will be much if any delay of the D800. D400 may have just gone up in smoke though. Depends where their operations are for each system.

From what I have read, all FX (camera,parts) is/was made in Japan but it sounded like they were beginning to move some of the parts manufacturing to China & Malaysia since some plants being destroyed by the earthquake/tsunami and in an effort to diversify plant locations. Nikon has already opened some plants in China.

The kicker is the Yen is becoming stronger and stronger against the US dollar, so price increases will be inevitable.

All the flood Nikon announcements make me wonder what the timing of the D800 announcement will actually be? Apparently more factory site evaluation should have been done before the plant was ever built. The cluster of industrial buildings were all in areas that would be labelled in the 100 year flood plain. Maybe Nikon is so concerned with camera info leaks and not keyed into industrial site planning enough.

PB PM said:
^ I love posts like this. "I'm going to switch, because Nikon isn't fast enough for me, so I'll buy a equally old 5D MKII..." just makes me lol.

there is no mention of switching, or 5dmkii

lol