Re: NIKON NEWS -- Worse than I thought (*NOT my words).
chambeshi wrote:
Contrary to the doomsayers, there is abundant evidence Nikon knows what it's up to. Notwithstanding the technical data and snippets revealed in the occasional interviews, and a few of the many leaks (many of which are false); to paraphrase the late Steve Gould, we Nikon clients can only "see through a lens darkly". The traditions of their Japanese cultural approach to business and the tech industry presents many opaque/shuttered windows. We run up against these frustrations in only glimpses of information - so guessing at future gear, especially with Nikon's marketing being mediocre etc.... But Nikon say repeatedly they are committed to both F and Z systems.
I agree in terms of Nikon engineering, they've continued to do great work. I disagree massively in the case of Nikon marketing.
Nikon engineering keeps delivering excellent designs, when there's gaps it's clearly in the initial product spec (which usually would come from marketing). That's where things like no grips & single card slots come from. And even then it's usually perceptual items rather than things that really impact most users (for example, given relative card failure rates, single XQD is actually more reliable than dual SD)
Nikon marketing keeps failing spectacularly. The Z5 launch is the poster child for this. They sent out a press release. They didn't even manage to send it to everyone on their normal distribution. A couple big stores got samples, but no Ambassadors or reviewers did until around a month after release. This for a relatively lower-end release that was sandwiched between two major high-end releases (Canon's R5/R6 and Sony's A7SIII). They didn't even manage to get the trade-in promo info out until a week later. Suprise, surprise, there's widespread reports that the Z5 pre-orders were low. Of couse they were, barely anybody knew about it and there was zero buzz. And this for a camera that should be setting sales on fire notionally. It's by far the best FF body for the dollar on the market right now.
Contrast this with either of the competing releases, or better yet the S5 announcement last week. That's an overpriced, underwhelming stills camera (it's a much better value as a video camera though) and yet everybody was talking about it. There were dozens of videos up the moment it was announced showing Lumix ambassadors and major influencers using it. And yet as a stills camera is $600 more than the Z5 for mostly lower specs.
Sep 10, 2020 at 01:02 PM
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