“No joke about Sony though. We don’t even take an A350 out of the box to demo anymore, because they go so fast. Basically Sony had trumped all the other brands feature-wise at the entry and mid-level price points. $499 buys you a 10.2MP, image stabilization, and an 18-70mm lens, while Nikon and Canon stand with less pixels, no stabilization, and 18-55’s. $799 buys you all that plus 14.2MP, Quick AF Live View, and a large fold out screen. The D80 is at that price now but is inferior at every spec, and Canon’s XSi has fewer pixels, no screen articulation, and the slower mirror-lockup type Live View.
What really scares me is that Nikon’s dealer relations are suffering as well, as they move closer in line with Canon’s business model. For years, Nikon has offered extensive sales rep support, product training, loaner gear, and sales incentives to the people selling their gear. Canon has never done any of this, instead relying on huge marketing campaigns to make consumers insist on their products. For the past year and a half, Nikon has offered these services very sparingly, even more so once the whole Ashton Kutcher campaign started. On the other hand, Sony is now making a huge push into the entry and mid level consumer market, while not only making a very formidable product, offering dealers like us more than Nikon has recently. Even strictly from a sales incentive prospective, one A200 puts as much money in my pocket as two D40’s.
Personally, I am still 100% a Nikon fan and only use their equipment, but I am extremely worried with the way their marketing department has been steering them.”
Just fyi this is the current top 5 DSLR best sellers @ Amazon: