D300s Successor-D400, what and when

ano

If we can be anxious about future of dx pro by nikon, there is no doubt about the fact there will be a 7dii by canon ("when" is a another question ...)
A high responsability from canon said a few months ago during a interview that there will be a 7dii because canon customer want a 7dii. Big difference of communication between canon and nikon ...

Smac

After the recent Canon rumors 7D ii announcement I thought this thread would be buzzing. Surely this means that Canon and NIkon have agreed an early 2014 launch date for their pro spec CF cameras. Nikon soon to announce D400?

sevencrossing

I thought this thread would be buzzing.

well, the old forum it was buzzing , over 3 years ago, when rumors of the 7dii first started

heartyfisher

Depends on the type of buzzing you mean. I think you mean buzzing as in honey bees but its more like flies on a carcass I think..

manhattanboy

@heartyfisher - LOL!!!!!!! :-))

spraynpray

Ooh, ouch!

Photobug

Very funny heartyfisher.

NSXTypeR

Guys, I'm not sure if it affected Nikon or not but the recent floods in the Philippines may or may not have negatively impacted Nikon's plants again. I think they had some precautions last time they got swamped but please keep in mind, even if the plants are okay, they'll still have a mighty hard time shipping it even if they had a D400 ready tomorrow.

And please keep in mind, while a D400 would be great, parts of the Philippines is under water. Keep that in perspective.

PB_PM

Nikon has plants in Japan, China, and Thailand. None in the Philippines that I know of.

NSXTypeR

Nikon has plants in Japan, China, and Thailand. None in the Philippines that I know of.

Hmm, point taken.

Photobug

After reading the new posting on Nikon's philosophy for pricing and reducing the number of models; the D400 will never happen. The nail has been driven into the coffin from my perspective.

shawnino

@photobug that's always been my sense, but I think in the fullness of time the D7300 or D7400 will approach the specs of what people want. It's a little cavalier for me to say, but if you put the D7100 in a pro-construction body with, say, 8 fps, aren't we 90%+ of the way there? In some sense, with sensor improvements already in, we might be "120% there, with 10% missing"? The D7x00 series will need to keep improving to stay $400 more expensive than the D5x00 series...let's hope construction and fps are two of the improvements.

Photobug

Actually shawnino, I would be fine with what you suggest...a D7100 in a pro size & construction body with 8 FPS. Although not a direct replacement to the D300 & D300s it could accomplish what we all want.

You bring up a good point I had not though of, a D7100 evolving into the D300/D300s replacement. That works for me.

The unfortunate situation is that a D300/D700 replacement sure isn't going to get Nikon where they want to go. Financially it won't happen. Now it's more logical for the D7100 to evolve into the D300 replacement.

heartyfisher

@photobug that's always been my sense, but I think in the fullness of time the D7300 or D7400 will approach the specs of what people want. It's a little cavalier for me to say, but if you put the D7100 in a pro-construction body with, say, 8 fps, aren't we 90%+ of the way there? In some sense, with sensor improvements already in, we might be "120% there, with 10% missing"? The D7x00 series will need to keep improving to stay $400 more expensive than the D5x00 series...let's hope construction and fps are two of the improvements.

At the rate things are going i think the chances of a D7300 existing is marginal and a D7400 almost non existent all due to the coming of the Mirror less age. So the D400 if it arrives at all it will be in 2014 or never.

PB_PM

Mirrorless age... oh boy. Mirrorless cameras still have a long way to go before they can replace SLR cameras. Particularly in this class of camera.

kyoshinikon

I still feel nikon and canon swapped their midrange lineup. Can went from 1 mid to two 50D which sat between the D90 & D300 to the 60D and 7D and nikon went from a D90/D300 to the D7000. In fact 1 button, upping the AF system, a larger buffer & a PC sync would make a D7200 a "pro" dx body. The control layout doesn't vary much from the more pro cameras other than the crapdial and the lack of an AF button on the back. The sensor is spot on, the firmware is pretty good, the exterior controls are mostly there, and the handling, while not a D800, isn't bad. If the only thing the D7200 missed in order to be a D400 was the size it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for most.

I am still convinced that the D600 "is" the D300 upgrade in that nikon wanted all of their D300s users to upgrade into "beginning FX". Unfortunately for all of us they took all of the subpar things about Dx and put a fx sensor on it as opposed to what we want... All of the good things about pro Fx with a Dx sensor. Nikon as it seems is trying to make its customers "upgrade". Start at the D3300 or whatever is at the bottom and work up to a D4. I personally think it is a horrible plan but they do it for a reason. This upgrade plan isn't practical for my or many others budgets and the feature sets are disproportionally all over the place. Upgrade from a D300s to a D600 and you lose your AF and 1/8000 SS go to a D800 and you lose fps. None of the current models addresses those who want an upgrade to the D700/D300 models unless you are willing to shell out 6K and even the D4 is off target.

I feel like the D7000 or D100 class will be one of the final classes to stand before caving to mirrorless tho. In film it was the N80, F100, and F5. If the D100 class surprisingly lives on, it will be held to a higher standard by those who use it.

spraynpray

I think that salesmen have more impact on 90% of buyers than we give them credit for - if they start to push the D7200 as the D300s replacement, most people will buy it as such. Differences in the two ranges would have to lessen, but then it could prolly be done.

Going with the possibility that the D400 would be the last DSLR in the DX range before mirrorless, then I expect the D400 would be my last camera. The D7100 almost gives me what I need, so I expect the D400 to be useful at 6400 and I hope for no larger than 24mp files too.

Smac

So, are we saying that Nikon will not respond to the 7Dii ?

sevencrossing

does any one know how the sales the D7100; D600; D800; D4 are made up
what % are people who already own a DSLR and are upgrading
what % are people buying their first DSLR

people buying their first DSLR will be completely unaware of the need for a D400

spraynpray

@Smac: I believe that Nikon will respond to the 7d2, other don't. Only time will tell. Hope so, because otherwise, Canon WILL have a clearly better cropped sensor product than Nikon. I looked at the 7D noise in comparison to the D7100 and personally (maybe subjectively) found that Hi ISO with the 7D would need less pp.

@sevencrossing: You are completely unaware of the need for a D810 - what's your point? Newcomers almost never know the ins and outs of the whole range and any products position within its life-cycle. Don't forget, the vast majority of users don't know or even care about NR!

manhattanboy

Not so sure that Nikon will respond to the 7DMII. They really did not respond to the original 7D, which still outpaces the 300s. Canon has a smaller feat to perform, getting 21MP RAW images processed at >8 fps for sustained periods of time. I have a feeling that Canon might stick with CF cards for the 7DMII as RAW images >20mb may start to hit the limits of what can be written onto the extreme pro SD cards to clear the buffer. One could argue that just making the buffer bigger would help, and in part it will, but being able to hold down the shutter button and just shoot continuously forever would be ideal. I still think Nikon should invest into firmware to allow images to be split across 2 SD cards to clear the buffer faster.

PB_PM

Considering that the D300s came out two weeks before the 7D it was the other way around. The 7D was a response to the D100, D200, D300 and D300s. Canon was late to the party, by just a few years.

Nikon has no need to respond to the 7D MKII because, to this day it is nothing but a rumour. It is a myth, just like the "D400". Until the day that one of them is a real product, there is no need to respond to anything.

Photobug

Smac said:
So, are we saying that Nikon will not respond to the 7Dii ?

I also do not think Nikon will respond to the 7Dii.

Although sending images to 2 SD cards to clear the buffer faster sounds great (manhattanboy). Think of the photographers who now have to bring images together from 2 memory cards to review. Personally I like having the images in sequence, makes for faster editing and comparison of images.
=((

snakebunk

@Photobug: Or one of the cards could act as a temporary repository, i.e. the camera writes to both cards and when you pause your shooting the images from the temporary card is moved to the main card (and put into sequence). It sounds like a pretty simple and good idea to me.

Photobug

Now that would be cool if it automatically moved the images from the temporary card to the main card. That would work for me. Nice idea snakebunk.