Quote Originally Posted by Cage View Post
Is this just Nikon distancing itself from the early D800/E problems, much like it has done with the D610 reincarnation of the D600.

......
Nah! too late for something like that.
D600->D610 was only about a year between 'models' and we all know this was an unadmitted admission of fault.

D800->D810 is a genuine update.

Nikon tend to have 2 1/2 - 3 year update cycles for their gear(which is why you might read many curious comments about the D300s replacement.
Some of the updates are genuine improvements(eg. screen, electronic first curtain, focusing group thingy etc) and not just pseudo updates.

Hardware wise, the D800 still holds up well in terms of being competitive.
For me, even if there were more hardware updates such as better sensor(even higher ISO quality, or more pixels) I'd probably have still missed this update.

I reckon about the only hardware update that would have swayed me to updating would have been a proper official replaceable focusing screen advancement.
As it is the D810 is supposedly a bit of an improvement with new better coatings or something, but the hardware is still basically the same.
I'd love to see Nikon doing replacement option screen types.

These things, along with the D4 and D7100 are targeted at people who may have a set of old manual lenses.

With the imminent prospect that EVF technology will have finally caught up with OVF hardware and even passed it, unless Nikon have future plans to adopt EVF systems into their DSLR range ... they really need to look into maintaining that one step ahead in viewfinder performance.

As for price .. as usual with photography gear. If you can hold off for about 6 months after release then you'll save yourself about $500ish at the least.
If this thing comes out in July .. then that puts this 6 month target at about Jan-Feb ... traditionally a good time of the year to purchase a DSLR(as this is the lowest point in sales trends).