Author Topic: What is going on with Nikon?  (Read 13562 times)

atpaula

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1214
  • You ARE NikonGear
    • Aguinaldo de Paula Photography
What is going on with Nikon?
« on: July 03, 2019, 14:12:13 »
1- The two big camera brands used to be Nikon and Canon. Now it is Canon and Sony;

2- The AF-S 500mm f/5.6 PF was released a long time ago. I tried it at Photokina last year, but It is not available at B&H, Adorama, eBay or Amazon. Is it selling so well or what?

3- As I said in another post, the new Noct was supposed to be released in spring. Did not happen;

4- The flagship model used to be updated each 2 years. The D5 is 3.5 years old (which for me is good because I don't receive that subliminary message that my excellent camera is outdated).

????
Aguinaldo
Nikon / Zeiss
www.aguinaldodepaula.com

Hugh_3170

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 1996
  • Back in Melbourne!
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2019, 14:24:52 »
Well the 2020 Summer Olympics are to be held in Tokyo, Japan from the 24th July to the 9th August 2020.

Also

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games will be the first Winter Olympics ever to be held in China at Beijing.

I would expect Nikon to be pulling their fingers out and making all sorts of interesting announcements in the second half of 2019 and early 2020, especially given that the Summer Olympics will be held in Japan and with the Winter Olympics in Asia coming less than two years later.

No specific information from me - just my 0.02c worth.
Hugh Gunn

Akira

  • Homo jezoensis
  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 12468
  • Tokyo, Japan
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2019, 14:33:21 »
Aguinaldo, all I could say is just to be patient or relaxed.  :)

I don't think Nikon "officially" announced the release schedule of Neo-Noct.  500/5.6 PF is out of stock also in large retailers here in Japan.

Nikon should release a new flagship model at least several to a acouple of month prior to the Tokyo Olympics.  I'm not sure if it would be D5s or D6 or a mirrorless, though.
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

atpaula

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1214
  • You ARE NikonGear
    • Aguinaldo de Paula Photography
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2019, 14:47:02 »
Aguinaldo, all I could say is just to be patient or relaxed.  :)

I don't think Nikon "officially" announced the release schedule of Neo-Noct.  500/5.6 PF is out of stock also in large retailers here in Japan.

Nikon should release a new flagship model at least several to a acouple of month prior to the Tokyo Olympics.  I'm not sure if it would be D5s or D6 or a mirrorless, though.

Akira,
I'm just a bit concerned if Nikon is not a "healthy" company anymore.
This 500mm is no cheap lens and not finding it anywhere means they are not able to make enough units to attend the demand. Why not?
Aguinaldo
Nikon / Zeiss
www.aguinaldodepaula.com

Akira

  • Homo jezoensis
  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 12468
  • Tokyo, Japan
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2019, 15:09:27 »
Akira,
I'm just a bit concerned if Nikon is not a "healthy" company anymore.
This 500mm is no cheap lens and not finding it anywhere means they are not able to make enough units to attend the demand. Why not?

I would guess that Nikon is just putting most of its resources into the development and the production of Z mount lenses for the time being.
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Bruno Schroder

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 1563
  • Future is the only way forward
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2019, 17:21:53 »
This 500mm is no cheap lens and not finding it anywhere means they are not able to make enough units to attend the demand. Why not?
I have read somewhere, but can't remember where, that they have a production issue with the PF element. If I remember well, the glass size is too small for demand and the production lead time is 6 month. The lens being really good, demand is very high.
Bruno Schröder

Bill De Jager

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 577
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2019, 22:32:32 »
The flagship camera model got a major update every four years and a minor update every two years, until 2018 when we didn't get a D5s.

Kenneth Rich

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 198
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #7 on: July 05, 2019, 16:58:48 »
Maybe a new Df (flagship model) will be released for one of these international sporting events?!

Hugh_3170

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 1996
  • Back in Melbourne!
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2019, 17:32:02 »
We do need to bear in mind that Nikon has released the Z series bodies and has rolled out an ambtious road map for new Z lenses.  A new system is a really major undertaking.

However I still believe that in late 2019 / early 2020 a new Dx body will be rolled out in good time for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo
Hugh Gunn

ColinM

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1789
  • Herefordshire, UK
    • My Pictures
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2019, 22:44:31 »
Akira,.
This 500mm is no cheap lens and not finding it anywhere means they are not able to make enough units to attend the demand. Why not?

It ought to be good for Nikon that the demand is so high.
But does this cause other dilemmas?
  • It will hit demand for the even more expensive (and probably more profitable) f4 500mm?
  • They are also under pressure to release glass for the Z mount
    Are there any real telephoto primes in the Z roadmap?

Ilkka Nissilä

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 1689
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2019, 01:01:54 »
1- The two big camera brands used to be Nikon and Canon. Now it is Canon and Sony;

How do you make that out? Sony is at 23% Nikon 21%, if I recall last year's data correctly (hmm. Sony's could be by value, the other in volume, not sure). That doesn't allow one to be characterized as big and the other not.  By contrast, Canon's ILC market share is a little under 50% and they are aiming to reach that next year. Clearly, there are either three big camera ILC manufacturers, or only one big one.

Quote
2- The AF-S 500mm f/5.6 PF was released a long time ago. I tried it at Photokina last year, but It is not available at B&H, Adorama, eBay or Amazon. Is it selling so well or what?

From what I was told by the local NPS representative, it's difficult to make the PF element and a lot of the elements that have been manufactured have to be discarded. Nikon probably didn't anticipate it to be as popular as it is.

Quote
3- As I said in another post, the new Noct was supposed to be released in spring. Did not happen;

Well, Nikon sometimes take a long time to refine the optics of their favorite projects. The price is likely to be very high and sales very small in number, so it's not like many people are depending on this lens for their livelihoods.  :)

Quote
4- The flagship model used to be updated each 2 years. The D5 is 3.5 years old (which for me is good because I don't receive that subliminary message that my excellent camera is outdated).

The D5 appears to have sold relatively poorly, so it didn't get a mid-term minor update, instead, they released a series of significant improvements in firmware (and more is coming). Personally I think the D5 is really excellent for some things but has a few minor issues; first, it is quite loud and I often have to use Qc and even then people pay attention to the sound. Not so much with the D810, for example. I think Nikon should refine the sound in the D6. Second, the ISO 100 results from the D5 are not what one has come to expect from a modern Nikon full-frame camera; the images do not have the kind of leeway for adjustments in the shadows that e.g. D850 images (and D750, and D810, and ...) have at ISO 100. I noticed this recently at a wedding where I used both cameras that the difference is quite striking. However, at high ISO the reverse is true, or the D5 files contain more clean information in the shadows at low ISO that can be used for adjustments. I think there are users who would prefer there to be less compromise at base ISO, even if it doesn't matter to the majority of users of this camera. I would use it more if these issues were addressed. Even though the D850 files are large and that is a bit of an annoyance to me, as it increases editing time of large projects, the extra dynamic range is truly valuable when one has to shoot in sunny conditions or with spotty lighting where the brightness varies from subject to subject within the same scene and this cannot be controlled in the fast pace of an event. I know people use fill flash, and sometimes this is the solution, but I intensely dislike the effect of direct flash fill (it removes the natural tonal gradation of shadow areas and increases the visibility of skin imperfections in those aras), and a larger setup is more time- and labour consuming to contstruct and move about. The D850 base ISO is quite wonderful in this respect.

Obviously, when sales are low, there are ramifications to the development and release of new products. However, I would expect to see the D6 announced quite soon, possibly this year or early next year.

atpaula

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1214
  • You ARE NikonGear
    • Aguinaldo de Paula Photography
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2019, 02:36:15 »
How do you make that out? Sony is at 23% Nikon 21%, if I recall last year's data correctly (hmm. Sony's could be by value, the other in volume, not sure). That doesn't allow one to be characterized as big and the other not.  By contrast, Canon's ILC market share is a little under 50% and they are aiming to reach that next year. Clearly, there are either three big camera ILC manufacturers, or only one big one.

I don't make out things. I read it. See https://www.dpreview.com/news/7319905698/sony-bumps-nikon-from-2-spot-as-its-global-still-camera-market-share-increases-4-yoy


Well, Nikon sometimes take a long time to refine the optics of their favorite projects. The price is likely to be very high and sales very small in number, so it's not like many people are depending on this lens for their livelihoods.  :)

This answer does not agregate anything new, but sarcasm.

It looks like you are a lawyer defending Nikon from an offender, treating him with disrespect.


Aguinaldo
Nikon / Zeiss
www.aguinaldodepaula.com

Airy

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 2590
    • My pics repository
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2019, 07:24:49 »
Maybe a new Df (flagship model) will be released for one of these international sporting events?!

Wow. Apparently, gawd heard my prayers.
(sobering up) you meant Dx, I guess
Airy Magnien

Peter Connan

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 988
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #13 on: July 14, 2019, 13:34:38 »
If I understand correctly, the global ILC market has shrunk considerably over the last couple of years (and especially in the first half of this year).

That means that there is a lot less money available for development. And when you consider that Nikon's camera division is a much larger percentage of the company than is the case with both the other companies mentioned means that this down-turn in the market affects Nikon worse than the other two.

Despite that, I think the progress made by Nikon over the last 10 years is remarkable. Ten years ago, Canon lead in almost every aspect of camera technology. Now Nikon produces what are almost universally accepted as the best DSLRs in at least two categories (the D850 and the D500 are both better than their direct competitors, and the D5 is probably at least the equal of the 1Dii?). And from what I have read, the Z6 and Z7 are both better in most aspects than Canon's mirrorless offerings. They also seem to be pretty much the equal of the Sony A7mk3, but they don't currently have a competitor the the A9, and that from a first attempt in this market segment.

I believe the only reason they are behind is because they mis-judged how quickly the change to mirrorless would happen.

I firmly believe that Nikon are doing an excellent job given the resources they have available. Certainly there are places where they are missing the boat, but that is true of all their competitors too.

Frank Fremerey

  • engineering art
  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 12332
  • Bonn, Germany
Re: What is going on with Nikon?
« Reply #14 on: July 15, 2019, 00:27:37 »
Thank you Ilkka for another very insightful post. For my work I have next to no use for a D5, esp the sound issue is very annoying. D850/D500 as a pair are perfect for me. Depending on the specs a D6 may be just right for me.
You are out there. You and your camera. You can shoot or not shoot as you please. Discover the world, Your world. Show it to us. Or we might never see it.

Me: https://youpic.com/photographer/frankfremerey/