Most of these posts are making reasonable arguments. The problem is we
are trying to distinguish between a 1-2 vs. 4-5 year time scale, and
this is sufficiently tight prediction that it's hard to know which
argument will prevail. I think it is safe to say that high end film
SLRs will be gone in 10 years. One problem is that the DSLRs are viewed
as an indication of where a company is technologically. I think it
could actually HURT Nikon to release an F6, since the reaction might be
"God, they'll still spend R&D money on that stuff? No wonder Canon is
beating them . . .". Not everyone feels like this, but I think the
majority do and in this case trying to please both could actually hurt
you.
And Nikon has got to be worried. They are nothing special in the
digital P&S market and, at the high end, 1D Mark II is a more impressive
camera than the D2H. Pentax may be trying to hold onto a niche but
Nikon is trying to avoid ending up there.
Steven Desjardins
Department of Chemistry
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA 24450
(540) 458-8873
FAX: (540) 458-8878
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 06/17/04 07:53AM >>>
Graywolf forwarded this message to the list:
"Tom Reese, like many on the list, just don't understand BUSINESS.
He says the Nikon F5 is too good a camera and has too loyal a following
to
drop it from the lineup in the foreseeable future. He suggests in
making
that statement that Nikon should keep making something that is not
selling,
just to make people feel good. Go into your neighborhood camera store
(where an F5 is stocked) and ask when they last sold one. The folks
behind
the counter will look at each other, scratch their heads and probably
say
that they don't remember when they last sold one. Nikon doesn't have
the
money to keep making things which are not selling."
I understand business very well. You make products that people want to
buy.
I also understand that Nikon has a relatively large customer base of
professional photographers who use the F5. I don't think Nikon ever
sold
vast numbers of the F5 model. It is still important to them as proof
that
they make the best (yes I know this is debatable but it is marketing)
cameras. There are still segments of the professional market that are
predominantly film based. John Shaw is still shooting 90% film (as of a
few
weeks ago in a seminar I attended). I do not believe that Nikon will
drop
the F5 from their lineup until they have a replacement for it. I could
be
wrong but I can't see them abandoning it even if they aren't selling
very
many of them. I believe that it is too important to their marketing
department ("more pros use Nikon equipment than any other brand") for
one
thing.
I also believe that slide film provides something that digital does not
and
can't because of the nature of the medium. I believe that slide film
will be
around after print film disappears. I believe that digital is better if
you
want prints but there is no digital replacement for transparencies if
that
is what you want. I could be wrong about slide film demands too.
Those are my opinions.
Tom Reese
