Is Nikon Repeating Canon’s Mistake Or Does It Have An Ace Up Its Sleeve?
Jan 3, 2015
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August 23, 2007 was a day no Canon executive would like to remember. That was the day Nikon announced its new DX format flagship, the D300.
Saying that the D300 was the Canon 40D’s new competitor would be a wild overstatement as they weren’t really competing. Nikon’s new camera slapped the 40D into a whole different time zone!
Nikon further strengthened its hold on the semi-professional market two years later with the release of the D300s. At this point Nikon had completely dominated the mid-range market.
It was only in September 2009 that Canon had caught up and announced a true competitor worthy of challenging the undisputed mid-range king.
There is no doubt that Nikon greatly benefited from Canon’s failure to respond to the D300/s. Why, then, would Nikon now repeat Canon’s mistake?
For the past five years we have heard numerous rumors about new replacements for the D300s and the 7D. We were even told that Nikon was waiting for Canon to release its update first, and vice versa.
It has been over three months now since Canon had announced the impressive 7D Mark II, but still not a word from Nikon.
Nikon Rumors posted about what to expect from Nikon in the first few months of 2015 based on the latest rumors and insider’s tips, and there’s not even a hint about the D400 (or D9300 as some rumors say it will be called).
Back in the day it was claimed that the D400 release was delayed due to the 2011 floods in Thailand. Then it was said that it is not being released due to lack of competition. Assuming these claims were true at the time, neither is relevant any longer.
At this point it seems there are several possibilities as to why we have not yet seen the D400 announced. The first is that Nikon has completely given up on this segment of the mid-range market and is expecting its customers to either settle for the less capable D7xxx series or move to the lower-end full frame cameras. Maybe it simply failed to create a camera that is advantageous enough over the D7100 to justify another line of DX cameras. A third possibility is that the 7D Mark II’s fancy set of features sent Nikon to further upgrade the D300s replacement in order to make sure they will once again have the upper hand.
For the sake of both Nikon and Canon shooters, I hope it is the latter. Nikonians are losing their patience with the seemingly endless wait for the D400, and the current lack of competition will lead to it taking another five years until we see the 7D Mark III.
Liron Samuels
Liron Samuels is a wildlife and commercial photographer based in Israel. When he isn’t waking up at 4am to take photos of nature, he stays awake until 4am taking photos of the night skies or time lapses. You can see more of his work on his website or follow him on Facebook.
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16 responses to “Is Nikon Repeating Canon’s Mistake Or Does It Have An Ace Up Its Sleeve?”
Well, Canon & Magic Lantern are already doing some serious damage to Nikon’s mid and prosumer segments. If they don’t come back fast with a high quality video offer they will do themselves some serious damage
YES. With magic lantern is powerful! But I wouldn’t say Nikon is ruling anything. Look for sales numbers… The article seems a little bit like Nikon advertisement on it’s start… :-(
Honestly, I am not interested in a D400. I really want a kick-ass mirrorless camera like the Sony A7r or A7s or even the rumored a7000. Something portable that does everything the D300s or D400 plus wifi and 4k video is what I want. Nikon and Canon are going to lose the market if they don’t focus on mirrorless. My last DSLRs will be the D800 and D7000 that I have now.
Simply dx is dead. Inferior in every way to full frame. Why buy dx when likely full frame will be down around dx price soon.
You are quite the idiot. Do u even understand how crop sensors work and why the 7D mkii is such a big deal for nature and sports shooters? Probably not…
I know how they work, and it’s a crock. I own both full frame and DX cameras, and the magnification thing is grossly misleading.
These types of articles are silly. The answer doesn’t rest with Nikon’s technical
ability to come up with a “me, too” product, since all any company has to do is
stick the latest SONY sensor into a camera. The issue is with the market for mid-range cameras, which is shrinking. Old guys like me like to play with the buttons and knobs on DSLR cameras in an effort to take technically “correct” photos that our kids will toss once we die. Younger people are happy to shoot acceptable photos with an iPhone, and believe it or not these phones will improve their photo capabilities dramatically over the next decade.
Expected profits will drive the products from Nikon, Cannon, Ricoh, etc., and right now the profits in this segment are declining: http://www.nikon.com/about/ir/ir_library/result/
So fatalistic…
lol. The battle for the best VCR player in the market is irrelevant when the DVD is on the horizon.
The age of the dSLR is over, and if both Nikon and Canon can come up with a mirrorless system worth a damn they’re both gonna roll over and die a slow death
imho, not quite there yet ;)
SLR > EVF
I’m one of those people waiting for a D300s replacement, i now have a D7000 but as i more and more into shooting sports i need a dx camera (i have DX lenses) with a high fps rate and a large buffer.
Get a D700.
Impressive the 7d mk II ? With such a poor sensor ?
Is the 7DII “REALLY” an upgrade over the D300S??? http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Canon-EOS-7D-Mark-II-versus-Nikon-D300s___977_614
D800 in DX mode ? D400 ?
Mirrorless is not the answer for pros. Forget it. Where is the D-400?