A reader who works for a major US Nikon authorized dealer reported on a recent meeting with Nikon reps:
“When asked about the future of the D40, he said we ‘may have a few left’ by Christmas time but that it would remain current until the end of the year. The basic message was that the D60 would move toward being the new entry-level DSLR and that its price point would lower to reflect that Kind of like then the D40x was being discounted so heavily that at times it was the same price as the D40, causing the lesser model to become a silly choice. As far as price point goes, a few numbers were tossed around, anywhere from $300-$400, the latter possible indicating Black Friday-type sales.
Another associate beat me to the punch by asking about a D80 replacement. The official response was that a replacement was definitely coming, and that we should sell our D80’s in stock ASAP. When pressed for a more definite time frame, he indicated that if he told us how soon it would be, we would have serious problems with left over 80’s. Evidently the 80 is as cheap as it is going to get, and the D90 will come in at the original price point, probably a little over $1k at launch, but within a few months come down to the $900 range
Another odd thing was how much the 16-85 was downplayed. much like the 18-55 VR originally was. In the past, they have done this when a kit lens is released before the body it will be paired with, and typical Nikon glass shortages might cause orphan bodies to sit on store shelves. I’ve seen grumblings that the 16-85 is too expensive to be used as a kit lens, but I can only point out that the pricier 18-200 is already being used as such with the D200 and D300, and that the $400 18-135 is being offered in a D80 kit for only $200 above the body price.”
fyi: here is the current pricing for D300 (just dropped $50), D80 and D40 on Amazon (prices are dynamically updated):
