Nikon D40 rumours

[Ian]

Speculation about a Nikon D40 announcement seems quite rife in certain corners of the Net

It doesn't take too much brain power to speculate that this will be a D50 replacement. The obvious D50 catch-ups would be 6MP - 10MP sensor and an upgrade in LCD screen size to 2.5 inches.

What else would you like to see on a D40? And how would you, if you were Nikon, avoid encroaching on the D80 specification?

Ian

[DTD]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

I bought another D50 for work last week. The silver ones were very thin on the ground and I was told there was no chance of any more stock. I imagine the D40 will be here soon.

I would have thought price would be the main 'feature'.

[Ian]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

I bought another D50 for work last week. The silver ones were very thin on the ground and I was told there was no chance of any more stock. I imagine the D40 will be here soon.

I would have thought price would be the main 'feature'.

Hi David - out of interest, do you prefer the silver version? Silver is very out of fashion at the moment.

I think you are right though - price must be very high up the agenda.

Nikon, to my mind, is a very traditional camera company when it comes to DSLR design. Canon is, too, to some degree. So I'm not really expecting much in the way of innovation in the D40, especially if price is the main focus.

Ian

[Goatsmilkuk]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

Makes me smile when people go for the colour of a camera, ok may be if it's bright pink or green etc, but black or silver? Whichever one is cheapest just as long as it's the same inside and does what it supposed to do, is what matters to me, but then everyone is different.


Stu

[Ian]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

There was a time when you paid a stiff premium for black finish

I think black does have practical advantages - it doesn't stand out so much, which can be a distraction.

But I do think aesthetic values apply to cameras, just as they would do to car styling and colour choice, for example.

Ian

[yoshi]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

Hi David - out of interest, do you prefer the silver version? Silver is very out of fashion at the moment.

I think you are right though - price must be very high up the agenda.

Nikon, to my mind, is a very traditional camera company when it comes to DSLR design. Canon is, too, to some degree. So I'm not really expecting much in the way of innovation in the D40, especially if price is the main focus.

Ian

Hi Ian,
The price is surely one of the most important element in purchasing decision. The recent BCN ranking news seem supporting this. Incredible for me but the dSLR sales in Oct was nearly double that of the same month last year in Japan.


increase ratio of sales in Oct 2006 over the same month of the last year:

compact digital 111.3 percent (q'ty) & 105.1 percent (monetary amount)
dSLR 197.4 percent (q'ty) & 181.8 percent (monetary amount)

dSLR occupies now 8.6 percent of total (both compact and dSLR) sales in quantity and 26.6 percent in monetary value. dSLR is now more than a quarter of the sales in the amount. Apparently the ever-declining price contributed to the ever increasing dSLR sales. BCN expects this will continue until next spring.

Nikon, together Oly, reported record high profits in the first half of the fiscal year. The q'ty growth seems to be quite important for them to achieve this. Hope they (all manufacturers, I mean) further reduce the prices.
yoshi


P.S. The attached chart indicates the monthly q'ty growth over the same month of the last year for May to Oct.
The purple bar shows the increase ratio of dSLR. The yellow one, for compact digitals. The left scale are for those bars.
The blue line shows the total increase ratio and for this the right hand scale applies.

[DTD]

[Ian]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

Hi Yoshi, although the compact digital camera growth is small, it is still growing I see.

By the way, I was going to ask you how the local reaction was to Olympus releasing the E-400 only in Europe? I think this must almost be a unique situaion - a Japanese camera maker introducing a brand new model excluisvely outside of Japan?

Ian

[yoshi]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

Hi Yoshi, although the compact digital camera growth is small, it is still growing I see.

By the way, I was going to ask you how the local reaction was to Olympus releasing the E-400 only in Europe? I think this must almost be a unique situaion - a Japanese camera maker introducing a brand new model excluisvely outside of Japan?

Ian

Hi Ian,
The compact digital camera sales is still growing as you pointed out. A typical dSLR user does own both dSLR and a compact or two. I suspect you are one of those people. I'm not yet for digitals.
Same as a film compact camera in the film SLR days. Or much more so in digital days, as the body size & weight difference between a compact digicam and a dSLR is even larger than film days.


I happened to be at one of Oly's service shop recently and asked one of them when they expect to launch the sales of E-400 in Japan. She just smiled back.
Although Oly Japan does not import E-400 from China directly to Japan, I believe some body else will do so through Europe in a smaller scale.

At the service shop I played around with E-1, E-500, E-330 and Zuiko digitals. I think I enjoyed it though that was not the first time.
yoshi

[Ian]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

Hi Ian,
The compact digital camera sales is still growing as you pointed out. A typical dSLR user does own both dSLR and a compact or two. I suspect you are one of those people. I'm not yet for digitals.
Same as a film compact camera in the film SLR days. Or much more so in digital days, as the body size & weight difference between a compact digicam and a dSLR is even larger than film days.


I happened to be at one of Oly's service shop recently and asked one of them when they expect to launch the sales of E-400 in Japan. She just smiled back.
Although Oly Japan does not import E-400 from China directly to Japan, I believe some body else will do so through Europe in a smaller scale.

At the service shop I played around with E-1, E-500, E-330 and Zuiko digitals. I think I enjoyed it though that was not the first time.
yoshi

I see the service representative was very diplomatic Has there been any discussion of the Olympus E-400 strategy in the Japanese photo press?

Is there much excitement being generated by Nikon D40 rumours?

Ian

[mudbo]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

I don't think 10mp would be a good move for stated reasons. Entry level should be 6, maybe 8mp. Traditionally both Nikon and Canon experiment with new features on low end models before moving them to the higher end cameras. Maybe this would be a good time to address dust and in camera IS, both of which seem to be eroding into their sales right now.

Michael

[Delta Papa November]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

Canon has 10MP and dust prevention in the new EOS-400D and Olympus does too in the E-400. Sony has dust prevention in the Alpha A100, though there is some speculation as to whether this works as well as the Olympus system. It would be a bit odd if the cheaper, we assume, D40, has dust reduction when the more expensive D80 and D200 (and D2x, etc.) models don't.

Ian

[mudbo]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

Canon has 10MP and dust prevention in the new EOS-400D and Olympus does too in the E-400. Sony has dust prevention in the Alpha A100, though there is some speculation as to whether this works as well as the Olympus system. It would be a bit odd if the cheaper, we assume, D40, has dust reduction when the more expensive D80 and D200 (and D2x, etc.) models don't.

Ian

Not at all, since these issues are only now being perceived as requisite by the public mainly due to the Olympus, Canon, Sony and upcoming Pentax K10 cameras. This makes Nikon the only major entry level camera that does not address dust (except by software).

My point on in-camera IS is that both Canon and Nikon decided to go the more expensive route of lens IS, and the in-camera IS available on the entry level competition has got to be cutting into sales. So unless they can develope an inexpensive IS lens to counter.....?

It is my perception from lurking on several forums that many people feel the in-camera IS to be a plus, especially those not already committed to a lens based IS platform. Personally, I haven't decided yet, and am waiting to see the K10.

Michael

[Ian]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

Not at all, since these issues are only now being perceived as requisite by the public mainly due to the Olympus, Canon, Sony and upcoming Pentax K10 cameras. This makes Nikon the only major entry level camera that does not address dust (except by software).

My point on in-camera IS is that both Canon and Nikon decided to go the more expensive route of lens IS, and the in-camera IS available on the entry level competition has got to be cutting into sales. So unless they can develope an inexpensive IS lens to counter.....?

It is my perception from lurking on several forums that many people feel the in-camera IS to be a plus, especially those not already committed to a lens based IS platform. Personally, I haven't decided yet, and am waiting to see the K10.

Michael

I think there is an emerging consensus among reviewers that in-lens IS is more effective than moving sensor IS. I think both do contribute some benefit, but in-lens IS is more probably more effective, but I'm not personally certain yet by how much.

Even if in-camera IS turns out to be only marginally beneficial, the marketing people will no doubt convince the masses that it's a must-have

Ian

[mudbo]

Re: Nikon D40 rumours

I think there is an emerging consensus among reviewers that in-lens IS is more effective than moving sensor IS. I think both do contribute some benefit, but in-lens IS is more probably more effective, but I'm not personally certain yet by how much.

Even if in-camera IS turns out to be only marginally beneficial, the marketing people will no doubt convince the masses that it's a must-have

Ian

You're probably right, and to be fair, the in-lens was the first system. Back to dust, doesn't the D-80 feature dust isolation by in-camera software?