D400.. keep dreaming.

[TheLost]

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I see lots of people saying they are waiting for a D400... I'm not sure why everybody thinks Nikon is going to release a D300 replacement.[/FONT]

Lets look at the timeline.... The D300 came out 5 years ago.
Since then... Nikon has:

Upgraded the Entry Level dslr THREE times ( D3000 -> D3100 -> D3200).
Upgraded the Mid-Level THREE times ( D60 -> D5000 -> D5100).
Upgraded the Advanced (consumer) TWICE ( D90 -> D7000).
Upgraded the Mid-Pro Full Frame TWICE (D700 -> D800).
Upgraded the Pro Flagship FOUR times (D3 -> D3s -> D4.. added the D3x).
Added a Consumer Level Full Frame (D600).

What did Nikon do to the D300 in the past 5 years? They added the movie mode from the D90 in the middle of 2009.

Whats the only other camera Nikon has left un-touched that long? The outdated D3x. Why? because they don't need it any more (D600 has better spec's for 1/3 the price).

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Have you ever thought Nikon is phasing out the 'Pro' DX body? Take a look at the D7000..
1) Dual card slots
2) Weather sealed (ish)
3) M[/FONT]agnesium alloy body

IMHO... There won't be a D400... There will be a D7100/D7200 with more 'pro' like features. There is a VERY small market for the D400, it doesn't make sense for Nikon to waste production resources when they can fill the gap by merging the top DX consumer camera with the DX pro camera (More features then most amateurs need.. not everything a pro needs).


Fun Fact!! The D300 came out before the first iPhone was on the market.

 

[tirediron]

Okay.

 

[KmH]

The D7000 can only do 3 AEB, only has a magnesium top and back plate (not a magnesium body), lacks a 10-pin and flash PC cable port, and a lot of other features Nikon's prosumer cameras have.

The D700 was Nikon's first full frame prosumer camera, and not an upgrade.

The D3s is configured for pro sports, while the D3x was configured for pro studio shooters. The D4 is also configured as a pro sports shooters camera.

Sports/nature/wildlife shooters can still benefit from a DX prosumer camera that has a good burst rate mode, and because of the crop factor, which is why many expect the D300s will be replaced in Nikon's lineup.

 

[pixmedic]

its interesting that anyone would think that, at this point, that Nikon would completely remove any level of their DSLR's from the market. To do so would mean that any consumer that is looking to enter photography at that level, would be forced to go with another brand, Canon, Pentax, Sony(?)...
i really doubt that Nikon would relinquish whatever market share they hold on "pro-sumer" cameras. maybe they DO want to make more of a push to full frame...maybe they DO want to push the AF-S lenses. and MAYBE we will see less frequent updates to the mid range models. I think its more likely that Nikon is simply changing their camera "class" lineup. maybe something like:
Entry level DX
"pro-sumer" DX
entry level FX,
pro level FX
instead of having several tiers of DX and several tiers of FX, just make two sets of each.
I find the notion some people have that you "have" to shoot FX to be a pro utterly ridiculous, and I think If Nikon feels the same way, they would not likely stop producing their upper end DX cameras. I could be wrong though, I am by NO means a Nikon expert. but I digress... I like Pie.

 

[ZapoTeX]

There is a VERY small market for the D400

Canon is rumored to be working on the 7D Mark II... Not sure that market is so small.

Maybe the D5200 will get the second dial & the AF-motor (now that the D3200 has a great sensor and lots of features) and the D7200 (or maybe D8000) will get the CAM 3500 AF with 51 points and 10 fps...

 

[Derrel]

Thom Hogan just last week speculated that the D300s replacement model would be a February, 2013 announcement...and also, currently, there is a $1,100 price gap between the D7000 and the D600...so....uh, YES, there will be a "D400", ie, a higher-end DX body, soon. In the same article, he stated that the D7000 is the LAST MODEL that needs a refresh. Since he's a long-time Nikon watcher, has been invited to speak DIRECTLY to Nikon, Japan's senior executives in Japan,in PERSON, and has written like 21 "Complete Guide To The Nikon ________" guidebooks, I'll value his opinions and predictions about Nikon products and Nikon strategies over those of just about anybody...

 

[fjrabon]

Canon sure does sell a boatload if 7Ds for there to be 'not much of a market for a prosumer DX'

 

[TheLost]

I bring it up because i think its an amusing topic to debate... I love the people who say "I need to upgrade my D90/D80 for better ISO (or feature x) but i'm waiting for the D400!"... while in the 3 years they've been waiting they could have been using a D700 or D7000 (or now the D600).

Thom Hogan just last week speculated that the D300s replacement model would be a February, 2013 announcement... [...] I'll value his opinions and predictions about Nikon products and Nikon strategies over those of just about anybody...

I 100% agree how awesome T.Hogan is.... however, you need to look at exactly what he's saying:

Come February I suspect we'll get the next notch (e.g. D400 and/or D7200).

He's saying Nikon will come out with a D400 and D7200... or just the D7200.

D3200 = Entry Level DX
D5100 = Mid Range DX
D7200 = Pro/Advanced DX
D600 = Entry FX
D800 = Pro Mid Range FX
D4 = Pro Advanced FX

 

[TheLost]

Canon sure does sell a boatload if 7Ds for there to be 'not much of a market for a prosumer DX'

And Nikon sells a boat load of D7000's to people who want a prosumer DX. I know lots of pro's who keep a D7000 in their bag right next to the D4's.

 

[ceejtank]

I haven't heard anyone talking about a d400.

 

[sovietdoc]

What Canon and Nikon are doing now with all the camera segments is stupid. There should only be like 5 cameras total.

1. High end pro ff sports/photojournalism camera
2. High end pro ff high mpix studio camera
3. mid-level ff with midrangle mpix and fps
4. higher-end crop
5. base crop for noobs

That's it omg, yet they're making tons of redundant crap just so they can sell... /sigh

 

[Derrel]

Sony tried a strategy of placing a bunch of d-slr cameras into segments priced right around $200 apart...that didn't work too well...they gave that strategy about two years. Yeah...I dunno...this is the era of "the product matrix"...and "market segmentation", yadda yadda yadda...like for example, the low end is split into good/better/best...now the mid-to-upper end has two models...and the TOP end used to have two models (Nikon D3s, D3x), and Canon had the two top-level models the 1Ds and the 1D--which they NOW have JUST MELDED into the 1Dx. It remains to be seen if Nikon will follow suit and combine its high-speed camera, the D3s formerly and now the D4, with the "studio, high-rez" camera (formerly the D3x) and leave that top-priced slot at just ONE model, the way Canon is doing with the 1Dx.

The way the camera companies try and position so many offerings makes me think that a D400 is a necessity...the price gulf means a LOT of money lost when a D7000 goes out instead of a D400 priced $600 higher. Or even more. Now, I have not heard this before, so I am going to offer my OWN idea: Nikon, instead of going mid-segment with a D300s replacement, COULD ALSO TRY moving the price back to the higher end of the spectrum, and making a truly professional DX camera that is built more like a D2Xs successor instead of a D300s successor, with a $3299 price tag, not a $1699 price point. Offer a high-MP APS-C sensor,say 24MP,a killer finder, 51 pt AF, built-in wireless transfer, built-in flash commander AND pop-up flash, 12 FPS at APS-C size capture, and also 2.0x crop mode at 14 fps. With a 24MP 1.5x sensor, I think they could move the 2.0x High Speed Crop to a very high MP count....what? 16.5 MP maybe???

 

[Vautrin]

Sony tried a strategy of placing a bunch of d-slr cameras into segments priced right around $200 apart...that didn't work too well...they gave that strategy about two years. Yeah...I dunno...this is the era of "the product matrix"...and "market segmentation", yadda yadda yadda...like for example, the low end is split into good/better/best...now the mid-to-upper end has two models...and the TOP end used to have two models (Nikon D3s, D3x), and Canon had the two top-level models the 1Ds and the 1D--which they NOW have JUST MELDED into the 1Dx. It remains to be seen if Nikon will follow suit and combine its high-speed camera, the D3s formerly and now the D4, with the "studio, high-rez" camera (formerly the D3x) and leave that top-priced slot at just ONE model, the way Canon is doing with the 1Dx.

The way the camera companies try and position so many offerings makes me think that a D400 is a necessity...the price gulf means a LOT of money lost when a D7000 goes out instead of a D400 priced $600 higher. Or even more. Now, I have not heard this before, so I am going to offer my OWN idea: Nikon, instead of going mid-segment with a D300s replacement, COULD ALSO TRY moving the price back to the higher end of the spectrum, and making a truly professional DX camera that is built more like a D2Xs successor instead of a D300s successor, with a $3299 price tag, not a $1699 price point. Offer a high-MP APS-C sensor,say 24MP,a killer finder, 51 pt AF, built-in wireless transfer, built-in flash commander AND pop-up flash, 12 FPS at APS-C size capture, and also 2.0x crop mode at 14 fps. With a 24MP 1.5x sensor, I think they could move the 2.0x High Speed Crop to a very high MP count....what? 16.5 MP maybe???

Which would be brilliant for sports photogs who care more about zoom then being able to blow up anything larger than a magazine cover.

Brilliant. We all should work for nikon.

 

[Derrel]

Yeah...that ultra high-speed camera would also satisfy the spray and prayers from ALL walks of life...the soccer moms...the car drifting people...the motorcycle racing enthusiasts....the velodrome nut-jobs...the skateboarding afficionados...the bird photographers who loves them their BIF shootin'...all they really say they care about is "reach"...they want to put AS MANY PIXELS as possible into the smallest sensor area with a telephoto lens...AND YES, honestly--ANYTHING printed in a magazine is degraded by the halftone screen...and the 90% of sports images that appear on-line, on the world wide web...resolution is the absolute LEAST worry now that we have 16 to 24 to 36 MP images from the better Nikon models...the web, or magazines, really do not benefit that much from "high-rez" cameras...16MP is PLENTY. Hell, 12 MP is plenty, for the web, or for magazines or newsprint. Again...the images are reduced to BIG DOTS...

 

[fjrabon]

Canon sure does sell a boatload if 7Ds for there to be 'not much of a market for a prosumer DX'

And Nikon sells a boat load of D7000's to people who want a prosumer DX. I know lots of pro's who keep a D7000 in their bag right next to the D4's.

Then what exactly did you mean when you said "there's a very small market for the D400"?