Fujifilm to buy Nikon ????

[Cage]

Doing the rounds of the rumour mills.

http://thenewcamera.com/category/nikon-rumors/

Nikon, to me, seem like a rudderless ship at present and I'm seriously questioning my decision to switch to them from Pentax. I'm not too far away from getting a new FX body (was waiting for the D750 upgrade) and a 150-600mm lens, so I'm wondering if, for me, the time to jump ship is now.

I started with the D600, liked it a lot, was then wooed by the extra megapixies of the D800 but wasn't too fussed with it's ISO performance at anything over ISO800 and currently have the D7200, which I'm also quite pleased with. I also have a fair bit, for me anyway, invested in glass.

Methinks time for some serious thinking.

[Craig Zilko]

Doing the rounds of the rumour mills.

http://thenewcamera.com/category/nikon-rumors/

Nikon, to me, seem like a rudderless ship at present and I'm seriously questioning my decision to switch to them from Pentax. I'm not too far away from getting a new FX body (was waiting for the D750 upgrade) and a 150-600mm lens, so I'm wondering if, for me, the time to jump ship is now.

I started with the D600, liked it a lot, was then wooed by the extra megapixies of the D800 but wasn't too fussed with it's ISO performance at anything over ISO800 and currently have the D7200, which I'm also quite pleased with. I also have a fair bit, for me anyway, invested in glass.

Methinks time for some serious thinking.

I wouldn't be overly concerned - a lot of these mergers etc happen at boardroom level and the consumer may never see any obvious effects. It would be madness for Fuji to disband/absorb the Nikon brand as they have a huge loyal customer base and the benefits for Nikon users would be, apart from cash injection to keep the name alive, advancements in research and development. Who knows a new mirrorless medium format Nikon could be on the shelf next to the Fuji and sell like hot cakes because people might have an aversion to owning a Fuji

I am not a Nikon user, not because I have anything against them it was just I have a large investment in another brand, but I don't think Nikon is about to go anywhere soon - I would be confident investing in Nikon gear.

[arthurking83]

1. Doesn't matter which company owns which company .. as long as they produce good products.
Remember when Minolta were owned by Minolta .. and not really selling a lot of gear, Sony bought them and look at how that ended up!

2. Fuji isn't going to buy Nikon.
See Thom Hogan's site for more info. Rumour has been around for a few months now. Based on unauthored articles about possible situations that don't reflect any real life concerns!

[Cage]

Personally, I don't give a rats @rse who owns the Nikon name, what concerns me is the future of the product, particularly, for me, as I have invested some serious old age pensioner dollars in their product.

Their recent plethora of recalls, which one can only assume is due to a lack of governance on the part of management, particularly in the area of QC, and their reluctance, or inability, to release any sort of a road-map for future releases or upgrades, is a concern for me.

Surely their R & D section , if they have a functioning one, should be able to give a reasonable estimate on future releases and upgrades. My gut feeling is that upper level management is struggling to keep pace, not only with current trends, but also with future ones.

Perhaps a change of ownership could be the saviour for the Nikon brand, like the way Ricoh have resurrected the Pentax brand. One thing is for sure, Nikon needs a major shake-up.

[swifty]

A note about roadmaps. Does any mature camera company with a full line up of cameras and lenses ever release roadmaps?
Does any company release camera body roadmaps?
The only roadmaps I've seen are for lenses from yet-to-be fleshed out systems eg. Sony, Fuji.
There are also roadmaps for new PRO lenses in m43 but I've never seen one for replacement lenses.
FWIW, Nikon had a roadmap for their Nikon 1 lenses.

[Cage]

A note about roadmaps. Does any mature camera company with a full line up of cameras and lenses ever release roadmaps?
Does any company release camera body roadmaps?
The only roadmaps I've seen are for lenses from yet-to-be fleshed out systems eg. Sony, Fuji.
There are also roadmaps for new PRO lenses in m43 but I've never seen one for replacement lenses.
FWIW, Nikon had a roadmap for their Nikon 1 lenses.

I concur with your comments Swifty.

Pentax always had a lens roadmap and look what happened to them.

Nikon are just not inspiring much confidence in their abilities recently, particularly in the area of QC with their FX bodies, with the D600, D800 (I had both) and more recently the D750.

As I mentioned above I'm also interested in a telephoto zoom and really wanted to go with the Nikon 200-500mm, but for the life of me I just can't comprehend how Nikon could release a wildlife/sports lens without environmental sealing.

I guess if I go for the Sigma 150-600 Sport I can always use the option to get the mount changed if I do swap brands.

[Tannin]

Never yet seen a Canon roadmap, for lenses or bodies. Canon seem to regard all knowledge of future products as Top-Secret-Burn-Before-Reading. Has Nikon ever been any different?

(Setting aside the special circumstance of introducing a whole new product line like the Nikon 1.)

[Cage]

Tony

‘Let's eat Grandma.’ Commas save lives!

[arthurking83]

+1 on Tony's sig!!

Yeah, forget roadmaps ... just bring out new, improved and or interesting stuff that isn't a stuff up!

At least with the 105/1.4E lens, they seem to have got back on the correct road again .. even tho it was never mapped out for us to see

And hopefully they can get back on track with their software(although it's unlikely).
Considering the unlikely possibility that they will ever produce any decent software again, they need to allow thirdparty software companies access to their hidden raw file data to allow proper/full compatibility between software and raw file.