Nikon photographers and what they think

[--ares--]

Holy crap this has helped so much,

So I will try to answer any questions now,

Since I don't get what this has to do with Nikon specifically, I'll answer anyway

I chose Nikon because I was supposed to investigate a corporation and write a paper how they are doing economically. But I did this to try to make it more interesting with different peoples input, because to be realistic how many well informed people are there when it comes to photography. Everyone seems to be an insta-pro with their camera phone.

And to anyone who may want to post in this thread about other brands, go ahead I would like to see other viewpoints on brands that AREN'T Nikon. What do you see Canon/Pentax/Sony ect doing in the future? How do you see them combating each other. It always seems to be who can pump out the sensor with more megapixels or who can shoot more frames a second.

 

[emh]

As others have pointed out, nobody knows where Nikon or the camera market in general will go. But if I had to guess today, here are my thoughts...

Personally, I think the major changes in DSLRs will not happen on the optics/physics side, but more on the electronics side. And these will be driven by the consumer side of the market rather than the professional side. This will include things that will try to draw more casual & hobby photographers to DSLRs and to counter some of the advantages of cell-phone cameras. Things like:

1. Web-enabled (via cell networks) cameras that can show you highly-rated photos taken by others near your coordinates. This will kill originality, but the market opportunity of making more people think they can shoot like a pro overnight will drive features like these.

2. "Intelligent" guides to provide hints on composition, lighting etc. in auto shooting modes.

3. Etc.

Of course, overall market shifts (lots of overlap with what others have said before):

1. P&S will largely be subsumed by cell phones

2. Mirrorless will establish a niche but sandwiched between the convenience of P&S/cellphones and the full feature set of DSLRs, I don't see them becoming a huge market.

3. Do-it-all lenses will gain in popularity as more casual photographers take to DSLRs but don't want to deal with changing lenses.

4. I expect the mega pixel race to slow down significantly or stop entirely over the next few years. There's some ways still to go, but as Silicon technology scaling slows, there's less incentive to drive this (it's already good enough for all but a very small number of photographers).

5. To compensate for the drop off in mega pixel race, other quantifiable features will continue to grow -- number of focus points, light metering resolution, fps etc.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I chose Nikon because I was supposed to investigate a corporation and write a paper how they are doing economically. But I did this to try to make it more interesting with different peoples input, because to be realistic how many well informed people are there when it comes to photography. Everyone seems to be an insta-pro with their camera phone.

Kinda figured that and so I answered anyway

Glad you find it useful.

Now, I have a question for you. How do you know that Nikon (or whatever other brand) is not going to try and get involved in the phone camera market?

As I keep saying, corporations are about making money. And the money doesn't come from the pros. And even less from the artists.

 

[Aye-non Oh-non Imus]

My crystal ball is still in the shop for extensive repairs, but......

Have you considered writing a well thought out letter to Nikon's Department Head of Product Development, explaining the purpose of your intent? You'll not likely get any proprietary information, but as a public relationship tie-in for educational purposes, you may get privy to information that is not generally put out until a product launch. I think it would be a good idea nonetheless.

First things first, though. Do your homework. Find out as much as you can about their corporate structure, names of the honchos and such. Thoroughly read their website and ancilliraries such as NikonRumors, any Nikon oriented forum. Have a base of knowledge so that you can compose a thoughtful letter of inquiry, carry on with an intelligent conversation if you can speak to (most likely at first) an assistant, but more importantly, be prepared to ask intelligent questions.

Just a thought. I have no idea how serious you are.