Nikon Df - sales and production numbers

NikonMick

Was wondering if anyone had come across the details for the number of Nikon Dfs produced or the sales numbers to date.

Searched quite hard but couldn't find anything.

Mick

Ironheart

And you never will, it's considered trade secret.

NikonMick

Unhelpful answer, but thank you anyway.

If Forum members who bought a Df shortly after it was released in Late 2013 were able to post their camera's serial number and any Forum members who bought a Df recently also posted their body's number, we could make an educated guess.

Thanks in advance.

Mick

PB_PM

Different countries have different serial number codes, so even that wouldn't give you a ball park figure.

tcole1983

And good luck getting people to post serial numbers.

snakebunk

It is not among the top ten DSLRs in my photography webshop. The Nikon cameras on the top ten list are in order: D750, D7200, D810 and D7100.
I have personally never seen a Df camera except on the internet.
I think it is safe to say that it has not been a top seller in Sweden.

Why do you wonder?

heartyfisher

you can look at flickr and see how many df cameras they have compared to other nikon cameras to get a "ball park" figure.

Ironheart

But since we don't know accurate sales figures for any of the other cameras, that is about as good as a shot in the dark. This is not a unique situation to Nikon. Almost none of the Japanese camera makers disclose anything other than total ILC numbers, and even those are industry-wide numbers, not specific to one manufacturer.

tcole1983

Why would any company want any other company knowing how well a product was selling? Oh right...they wouldn't. Also the op has never given the reason for his interest or why it would matter.

proudgeek

Tcole, that's not always the case. For instance, Apple tells us each quarter how many iPhones, etc. it sells. But I do grant you that the camera industry appears to be a different beast. A real Macy's vs. Gimbel's thing.

tcole1983

@proudgeek true. Seems like camera companies keep most stuff on the down low though. Ha...the phone wars seem to be different. You always hear about iphones and galaxy S's and who is selling more.

NSXTypeR

Tcole, that's not always the case. For instance, Apple tells us each quarter how many iPhones, etc. it sells. But I do grant you that the camera industry appears to be a different beast. A real Macy's vs. Gimbel's thing.

Sells or ships to stores?

I mean I know Apple would have no problems selling stuff, but camera companies often disclose units shipped to stores as their camera sales figures.

NikonMick

Guess I've been a bit lazy about this topic that I started, but for any forum number-nerds who haven't come across it yet, Roland's Nikon Pages are a continuing source of "number wonder".

http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/index.html

And 'tho my question re volume of Dfs sold or shipped is not completely answered, it seems that to April 15 2015, the number "out there" could be at least 24,000 - Japan 16000; USA 4100; Euro 1700; Pacific 2000.

The explicit URL for body numbering of digital Nikon bodies is:

http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/camera.html

Mick

PB_PM

Keep in mind that if any units were refurbished they would get a new serial number.

Ironheart

I find it hard to believe there are only 4000 Df in the USA. I'd add at least a zero to that. There are approximately 35,000 of the special 50 f/1.8 G lenses made according to Roland at http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html. And there are undoubtedly more bodies than lenses. The Sendai production plant was geared up to make 15,000 units a month (half of the D800 production capacity), and the camera was sold out for a few months after release.

All in all, my best guess is 150K-200K units world-wide. Nikon makes over 4.5 million DX cameras a year, as a point of comparison.

P.S. These are just my best wild guesses

sevencrossing

And you never will, it's considered trade secret.

Correct. End of story

Phones are different. They have to be registered with a network
and are continually transmitting, loads of information about their use and location

ThomasHorton

Keep in mind that if any units were refurbished they would get a new serial number.

Are you serious or joking? I always assumed that the serial number would stay the same unless the entire body was replaced.

PB_PM

Keep in mind that if any units were refurbished they would get a new serial number.

Are you serious or joking? I always assumed that the serial number would stay the same unless the entire body was replaced.

Keep in mind I'm no talking about Nikon fixing the original owners camera and returning it to them. So yes, I'm serious, if Nikon refurbishes and resells a camera it gets a new serial number. For two reasons, first the camera goes through Nikon's system again, new warranty etc, secondly to prevent the second own from dealing with false claims of theft etc.

ThomasHorton

Wow, never knew that. I gots some learnin from NR today.

jpj

There is simply no way of knowing how many of any particular model of Nikon camera has been sold. Trying to figure it out by drawing inferences from how many you personally see or the serial numbers randomly reported to a web site is an exercise in futility. It is certainly not a top seller in volume, nor was it expected to be.

Why does it matter?

J

bland

My S/N is 3002 and I bought it the first week it came out.
The haters on here don't have one but those that do have one love it!

WestEndFoto

+1 to neutralize the hater. I would love one personally.

Tradewind35

Can't understand the haters...... whether or not one likes the Df, surely Nikon should be congratulated for doing the Df. It is by any reckoning a camera which can provide superb images, which is actually the point of any camera. Canon in comparison has nothing like it. And the Df has escaped the quality poops which have clung to some recent Nikon products.
For me the Df project is in complete contrast to the Nikon V1, J1, S1 and all those other little unintelligible models upon which the company has (in my opinion) dissipated corporate effort to no good effect. Are any of them capable of producing significantly better images than an I phone which is a fraction of the size and which many people already own? Are any of them better than the equivalent Panasonics or similar?
Time spent doing the Df was well worth it methinks!

NikonMick

Agree with bland, WestEndFoto and Tradewind35, both about the utility & beauty of the machine, AND their observations re "haters".

My 'thing' is simply that I would have preferred a body-shape or a body-design that more closely approximated the Nikomat/Nikkormat bodies, that is the same weight, length and depth as the Df but with a decrease in the vertical dimension.

Which is what I was trying to show with my pic of a N'mat FT-3 and a Df for comparison purposes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68039985@N08/11213892414/in/photostream

Cheers

Mick

PB_PM

Can't understand the haters...... whether or not one likes the Df, surely Nikon should be congratulated for doing the Df.

Who is hating on the Df in this thread? I have no idea where this is coming from, it's kind of out of the blue.

WestEndFoto

Can't understand the haters...... whether or not one likes the Df, surely Nikon should be congratulated for doing the Df.

Who is hating on the Df in this thread? I have no idea where this is coming from, it's kind of out of the blue.

Except for one "minus 1er", nobody is hating on this thread. Yet anybody that has participated in this forum even a quarter of what you have knows the comments about DF haters contain a large element of truth. I assume you are not excessively dumb and don't suffer from dementia being as young as you are. So I am curious, "What is the real agenda behind your question?" Is there a connection between your comment and the minus one on my post, which appeared in the time between the post immediately preceding yours and your post?