Rx4Photo: Right. Most likely the D400 will be 24mp DX and most likely the D700 is still in the line simply because Nikon has a lot of D700 parts to still assemble. Nikon will keep making them until they use up those parts, sell them for little more than cost just to get their money out of the parts inventory and then it will be discontinued. What of the 12 to 16 mp FX people want? Will Nikon make one using the still highly respected D3s sensor and just update the electronics such as Expeed 3? Will Nikon cut into D4 sales by using the D4 sensor as they did with the D700? Does Nikon regret that move (as some here believe) or do they think it increased total revenue overall? If there will be an "entry level" FX, what name should it carry? I will suggest D720 to reflect putting the number 2 after the first digit as I think we will see in D3200, D5200, D7200, etc. It could also be D710 was was done when moving from D3000 to D3100 and from D5000 to D5100. Will the D7000 replacement be a D7100 or D7200? If a lower mp FX body does come out what will be the price? I will suggest no more than $2,500. Why? The "entry level" should be a significant step in price below the D800 at $3,000 to make it "entry level." I imagine people at Nikon are "costing out" such a camera to see what they can produce by selecting from currently available parts to see if they can produce an "entry level" FX and still make money on it. Maybe we will know more later this year when the last D700 comes off the assembly line and Nikon determines whether or not it has time available on the FX line to produce another body. Maybe that assembly line will be working 24/7 just to meet the demand for D4 and D800 bodies. It will be a very good year for those of us who are interested in new Nikon bodies. By the end of this year Nikon may have made very significant gains in market share against Canon.
The more I think about it the more I think Nikon would have a real winner if they could put the D3s sensor into a D720 body (some cosmetic changes to copy D4 and D800 style which shouldn't cost any more) with updated electronics/software and sell it for about $2,500 (or less) as a 12mp "entry level" FX body. I don't know if the cost of producing such a body would allow it to be sold for that price. It may be impossible.
