What, no Nikon?!!

[xpatUSA]

The site I go to for Weather just published an article:

"Cameras perfect for fall foliage and holiday memories"

https://www.accuweather.com/en/trave...e-2021/1040340

Maybe Nikon doesn't hand out goodies for an article mention ...

[DanK]

For those of us who want competition in the camera manufacturing world, the good news is Nikon, which has been faring very badly indeed for several years, apparently has a knock-put with the Z9 that they are just now releasing. I've never owned a Nikon in my life, but I was cheered by this. I hope this is the beginning of a turn-around for them. It's in everyone's interest to have Nikon butting heads with Canon (which I own), Sony, and others.

[billtils]

I'm a long time Nikon user but i'm not convinced the make matters all that much - a view that is regularly reinforced by the quality of phone pics.

There are exceptions that depend more on what you photograph than anything else - for example Sony has been knocking out of the proverbial ballpark in sports and wildlife lately with their A1 and A9 but they come at a price. (And that's where Nikon may have pulled something out of the bag with the Z9).

[pschlute]

The site I go to for Weather just published an article:

"Cameras perfect for fall foliage and holiday memories"

https://www.accuweather.com/en/trave...e-2021/1040340

Maybe Nikon doesn't hand out goodies for an article mention ...

Hey, I shoot with Pentax. I am well used to being ignored by the photog press

[DanK]

Don't get me wrong: I'm not rooting for Nikon because I care about one brand or another. What I care about is vigorous competition. I think it's safe to speculate that had Sony not been eating away at their market share, Canon wouldn't have given us the R5, r6, and R3 at this time. And that in turn has upped the ante for Sony and Nikon.

I don't plan on spending money right now on any of them. The fact is that my Canon 5D Mark IV is a better camera than I am a photographer. But someday I might reap the fruits of this competition, and in the meantime, others will.

[Manfred M]

Don't forget that Nikon exited the high volume, low margin market a few years ago; in the mirrorless line the Zfc and Z50 are the only models that could be remotely viewed as "entry level" crop sensor cameras. The DSLR lines, especially at the entry level are being discontinued as existing stock runs down.

The retro look Zfc has been selling extremely well and is certainly in the price point range of some the the listed cameras. In addition to Pentax, no listings of Ricoh (who own Pentax), Panasonic or Olympus either.

[xpatUSA]

Don't forget that Nikon exited the high volume, low margin market a few years ago; in the mirrorless line the Zfc and Z50 are the only models that could be remotely viewed as "entry level" crop sensor cameras. The DSLR lines, especially at the entry level are being discontinued as existing stock runs down.

Thanks, Manfred - I didn't know that - and that would explain it.

The retro look Zfc has been selling extremely well and is certainly in the price point range of some the the listed cameras. In addition to Pentax, no listings of Ricoh (who own Pentax), Panasonic or Olympus either.

And of course not a Sigma to be seen - not even their pocket-size full-frame L-mount 'fp L' ...

[Manfred M]

Oops, sorry Ted. When I think Sigma, my mind goes to lenses, not the interesting and unique cameras they produce.

Also my apologies to Leica, Hasselblad and Phase One / Mamiya, not that they are on most people's radar either.

[DanK]

Off topic, but the mention of Phase One /Mamiya got me thinking:

Mamiya is now a high-end niche brand. It was a respectable but relatively inexpensive brand when I bought my first SLR, which was a Mamiya/Sekor (I think perhaps a 500). It used the same screw mount as the Asahi Pentax of the day, before the K-mount, and my very sketchy memory (this was more than 50 years ago) was that I bought it because it was cheaper than the Pentax. It served me well for several years, but when it broke (I don't recall how), I replaced it with wonderful a Canon FTb, which was a big step up and build like a tank. I still have the FTb and one of the two primes I owned, but I haven't used it for decades.

The demise of the Mamiya, which I couldn't at that time afford to replace immediately, nipped a potential for professional work in the bud. I had done an available-light candid of a friend's young child, and somehow that got around, leading to an offer to pay me to do an album cover for a Christian musical group. My camera had just died... I almost certainly would have failed as a professional anyway, but it was still unfortunate.

[Manfred M]

Off topic, but the mention of Phase One /Mamiya got me thinking:

Mamiya is now a high-end niche brand. It was a respectable but relatively inexpensive brand when I bought my first SLR, which was a Mamiya/Sekor (I think perhaps a 500). It used the same screw mount as the Asahi Pentax of the day, before the K-mount, and my very sketchy memory (this was more than 50 years ago) was that I bought it because it was cheaper than the Pentax. It served me well for several years, but when it broke (I don't recall how), I replaced it with wonderful a Canon FTb, which was a big step up and build like a tank. I still have the FTb and one of the two primes I owned, but I haven't used it for decades.

The demise of the Mamiya, which I couldn't at that time afford to replace immediately, nipped a potential for professional work in the bud. I had done an available-light candid of a friend's young child, and somehow that got around, leading to an offer to pay me to do an album cover for a Christian musical group. My camera had just died... I almost certainly would have failed as a professional anyway, but it was still unfortunate.

Yes, Mamiya had pretty well migrated to medium format over those days as they were not competitive against the other brands in 35mm. With Rollei, Bronica, Yashica exiting the camera business, it seems there was enough medium format business for them to survive. If I remember correctly Phase 1 bought a controlling interest in them about 3 or 4 years ago as the mainstay of the Mamiya business was attaching their cameras and lenses to Leaf and Phase 1 data backs.

I remember reading at the time that the main reason Phase One did this is so that they could build lenses with built in leaf shutters to meet high end market requirements and better compete with Hasselblad.