Nikon Df General Discussion

PB_PM

Unless of course it ends up being a single run product. Meaning, no follow up.

WestEndBoy

Ade, I will concur with that perspective. I have never been to a Walmart or Best Buy, but in Canada we have the Future Shop (owned by Best Buy) and they have Canon 5Ds and D800s. The lens collection is crap though. All consumer grade with the exception of the 24-70 2.8s. Makes me wonder what kind of customers are buying those D800s.

Msmoto

Re: Luxury Brand…. clearly Leica and Hasselblad, and others are in this category, but with only certain camera bodies. If I recall, both rebrand less expensive bodies, e.g., Panasonic, Sony, and sell these for much more than what the same innards cost originally. These are not in the luxury field.

On the other hand, Nikon has many consumer cameras, none in the high end. But, a D4 with a 400mm f/2.8….this certainly approaches the definition of luxury.

I agree the new Df does not define a luxury segment of Nikon….I cannot really figure out what it does define.

However, from a distance, I see both Leica and Hassleblad as very high end, Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc., as primarily consumer driven brands with professional equipment in the line-up.

I kinda like Mikimoto myself…..

Ade

Sadly, those rebranded Leica and Hasselblads are luxury products. That's how they command very high markups over the Panasonic & Sony originals.

E.g., the Sony NEX-7 w/ lens is around $1,000. The same basic camera rebranded as the Hasselblad Lunar costs $7,000! Yes, 7x markup, though it comes with a choice of Tuscan leather, mahogany, or olive wood for the grip, plus titanium knobs and jewel-encrusted buttons.

Msmoto

Ah, yes, the semantics of our profession. And, I agree, the fancied up bodies are luxury items.

I had several garment clients in the 1960's and what was interesting in the mills were the production lines where a shirt would come down the line and receive a department store label with a price of $7.50, then a change to a haute couture label priced at $14.50….same identical shirt, different label and price. One, "luxury" the other plain folks brand.

donaldejose

I see the main blog says there is a book out titled Mastering the Nikon Df. I don't get it. How can someone have played with the camera long enough to know all about it, consume the time needed to write a book and consume the time needed to publish a book all before the camera is available to the public? Are these books fraud, just written by someone who really didn't spend months with an actual Df learning how to master it? Or did Nikon send this guy a Df long before the public can get one and if so how could the book be independent and objective? Why would Nikon send production cameras to people unrelated to Nikon?

kyoshinikon

Could have been an nps member who got access. Thom has had that ball in its court. Also the Df isnt radically different enough to begin with. Most of the stuff in a learn X nikon Dslr applies to th next one anyway. it is just the numbers or control locations that change.

donaldejose

I assume the book has many photos of the camera showing controls and menus. How do they get these photos and turn them around so fast. Seems like there must be some collusion between Nikon and the author. I do realize some photo websites seem to have a quick review up as soon as a new camera is announced but they also seem to generally say they have been playing with a pre-production model and cannot produce a final review until the final models come off the assembly line. This guy says he will teach you to "master" the Df; not that he will make some preliminary comments on a pre-production version of the Df. I am suspicious.

Ade

If you look at Darrell Young's other books, his approach is basically to describe every menu item & control button, one by one, like a plain English version of the camera's manual. As kyoshi mentions, the vast majority of the material will be similar to his books on other Nikon bodies… maybe 80-90% the same. He can recycle much of the same content for every Nikon DSLR out there.

Also, the book isn't slated for release until April 2014, so there's still plenty of time before printing to write and edit the 10-20% of the content that's specific to the Df. These how-to books are produced quite differently than traditional books, which might take a year after a manuscript is completed before it gets to the market.

I believe Darrell is working on a book on the D610, and we know there's going to be a lot of cut and paste between that D610 book and the Df book since they're substantially the same camera.

Personally, I prefer Thom Hogan's guides but I know Darrell has a lot of followers via the Nikonians forum.

donaldejose

So you think all they do is create a cover image to advertize the book, copy most of the material from the D600 Guide and then wait until they actually have a production version of the camera to produce the photos and any changes from the D600? Sort of a fraud, if you ask me. Publicize it when it is available, not 5 months earlier!

Ade

Yes unfortunately there's a cottage industry of authors who basically publish essentially the same books for each and every Nikon (and Canon) model. They all have a unique series name in the title, like Darrell's "Mastering" series, but most are interchangeable… you've seen one, you've seen them all.

E.g., for Nikon cameras you can find:

Nikon "Mastering" series by Darrell Young
Nikon "Experience" series by Klostermann
Nikon "CheatSheet" series by Sirkin
Nikon "For Dummies" series by Julie King
Nikon "Snapshots" series by Sylvan
Nikon "Compact Field Guide" series David Busch
Nikon "Digital Field Guide" series by J. Dennis Thomas
Nikon "Magic Lantern" series by Stafford

I have no idea who buys these books but apparently they all sell well enough to publish a new edition whenever there's a new Nikon out.

Maybe I should publish my own version? :P

On another topic, I'm seeing a ton of marketing from Nikon on the Df… much more than any previous DSLR launches I've seen in the past. Good luck to Nikon, I guess, hopefully they'll sell a ton.

WestEndBoy

donaldejose said, "Sort of a fraud, if you ask me. Publicize it when it is available, not 5 months earlier!"

Fraud? Why? Wouldn't that be like saying you can't announce an engagement until the wedding? The wedding is less likely to actually occur than the book's publication.

Or perhaps aircraft manufacturers shouldn't publicize aircraft until the first production model comes off the line (though I admit that Boeing may wish it did that with the 787 and Airbus with the A380). Of course, there will be no customers as they either have to start a multi-year procurement process or they will have made other plans. Hmmm.....that means no financing, which means no production of that first model.

Seems like a normal, reasonable and entirely ethical business practice on Darrell's part to me......

WestEndBoy

Ade, I have a Digital Field Guide for the D800 and the Creative Lighting System. I read them before I started using the system in any serious way and I thought that they were quite good.

Msmoto

With any of these books, the problem I have is actually reading them. I do not read manuals either. Instead, I download the PDF, save the file, and when I look at it I have the luxury to use a "search" function which will guide me page by page through the book on each subject related to the word I have searched for. For example, if I search for "AF-C" I can see every page where this comes up, and read all the related material. I find this "reading" technique much more efficient than attempting to go from front to back.

Golf007sd

I do not read manuals either. Instead, I download the PDF, save the file, and when I look at it I have the luxury to use a "search" function which will guide me page by page through the book on each subject related to the word I have searched for.

+1

I do the same thing. In fact, I have this app from Nikon on my iPhone as well that allows me to see the manuals on all nikon gear.

spraynpray

I have to do something while I wait for the gold box to arrive, so I download the manual and read it. Entirely. Love it.

Symphotic

I have to do something while I wait for the gold box to arrive, so I download the manual and read it. Entirely. Love it.

+1
Guilty. Sometimes the waiting is better than the having.

rbrylawski

I guess I'm odd man out. I read EVERY word of the user manual. Sometimes twice. And I buy one of these books and read it all the way through as I find it often offers recommendations not offered in the user manual. Having just recently upgraded to the D7100, I have taken the last couple weeks at night to thoroughly read the user manual, with my camera in my lap and I go through all the menus and settings to set up my camera exactly as I'd like it configured. Now, I am reading Klosterman's D7100 Experience. Goofy, I guess, but then I read the manuals on everything I buy, including the Refrigerator and Stove...... ;-)

rbrylawski

I have to do something while I wait for the gold box to arrive, so I download the manual and read it. Entirely. Love it.

+1
Guilty. Sometimes the waiting is better than the having.

Thank you for saying this. People often accuse me of exactly the same thing. And I know well enough about myself that I often enjoy learning how my toys work more than using my toys.

TaoTeJared

I have one of Darrell's books on the D300 on the shelf - I looked at the sample pages for the D800 and found the similar pages in the D300 book - verbatim word for word. Screen shot was updated though.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it, if you are moving from a D5200 or Canon/Sony/other brand to a DF it is good and people will search for a "DF" (or other model) book.

I'm not sure which author it was (but one that does this with every camera released) I read an interview on, and they said with the help of their publisher, they do receive a camera before the first official shipment, for a very specific time period (< month if I recall correctly.) I also remember them saying if they get a pre-announced item, and they leak anything, that is it for any cooperation from the camera companies.

There are still "placeholder" books for a D710 found on various web sites.

bland

I picked mine up this morning, they have arrived!!! I got a concert Saturday, I'll let you all know how it does. It looks awesome, much bigger then my D800.

Ade

Don't you mean smaller than your D800?

rbrylawski

I picked mine up this morning, they have arrived!!! I got a concert Saturday, I'll let you all know how it does. It looks awesome, much bigger then my D800.

A lot of people are going to be anxiously waiting for pictures and thoughts on this new system.........

Symphotic

I just finished downloading the manual from the Japanese site. I can't find it on the English site yet.

I'll be in Japan next week, but most of my time will be offshore southwest of Nagasaki, so I won't be near any camera shops. Just as well, I suppose

WestEndBoy

Southwest of Nagasaki?????

That is close to the disputed islands with China, known as Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China. Are you going anywhere close to those?