What was/will be Nikon's surprise?

[swifty]

Early this year Hiroshi Takashina, General Manager of Imaging Division at Nikon said in an interview that Nikon planned to surprise the market focusing on better quality and line up of cameras in 2010.
Now 2010's rounding up soon so what do you think the 'surprise' was or will be (still 2 months left).
D7000 does fit the bill as a bit of a surprise being better quality than expected but was that it? The D3100 also moved the bar considerably from the D3000 IMO but not anything market shattering.
So was it a case of marketing hype, lost in translation or other?
Thoughts?

[arthurking83]

(I haven't been keeping up with 'latest news')

What's the RRP of the D7000? Is it still close to the D90's initial price level, or has it gone up a notch?
If the D7000, is retailing at the same level as the D90 was so many years back, then this is surely a surprise!.. isn't it?
D7000 is now at 99% of the level of the D300 series camera body in terms of functionality and features @ D90 prices.
Canon went the other way with their 60D(which should have been heir to the 50D), so in terms of what the MD said, he's right.. it is a surprise, no one really expected that(D90 series elevated into the D300 market)
What's the price difference between the D7000 and a 7D?
That also means that the impending D700 and D300s replacement have to be taken higher up the marketing scale, or the D300 series will have to be dropped altogether(can't see that happening).

There's been chatter about Nikon having other bodies due for release soon too, but with only two months to go, they've missed the window of opportunity to cash in on the Christmas sales rush.... where average consumers pay over the top prices for gear they know will drop by $1K in the coming 6-12 months.
Unless Nikon have been frantically producing some as yet unannounced camera body to hit the market in a fury, there is very little chance that they'll announce any more new bodies before Christmas now... If they have been busy producing vast amounts of some unknown body, there is a very high(99.9%) probability that some worker in some factory somewhere will have had the opportunity to leak out some 'real' info .. real images of something real that is.
I remember someone in Thailand leaked images of the 16-85VR only a couple of weeks prior to it's announcement.
They've announced a lot of new gear over the past 12months too tho.. something like 4 or 5 new lenses and two new bodies(I don't know if the D3100 qualifies as a surprise, other than it uses a 14Mp sensor.. and that's not really a surprise in itself).
For 2011, going by their historical record, Nikon should be releasing at least 3 new pro/semi pro level bodies, and the D300s replacement will almost certainly be taken into a higher more pro level market segment(maybe like the old D2x was?).

The question is what are they going to do with the Dxx name now?

Common sense would dictate that this should become the new naming convention for the D700 replacement, where the camera series starts at Dx, then graduates downwards to a D700 like Dxx, then a D300 like Dxxx, and so forth.

[swifty]

I think the D7000 price crept up just a little going by the rrp in the US. Don't think we've got a rrp in Australia yet but there's been commentary that the US RRP reflects the USD-Yen relationship in each period and would otherwise remain the same if not for currency fluctuations.

So I agree with you, AK that D7000's a bit of a surprise and fits in with Nikon increasing the quality of their line up (and to a lesser extent, the D3000). Maybe they think the new Coolpix P7000's also increasing the quality of their line up.

I just thought there might have been more in that statement and have been keeping and eye out for 'surprises' that's all.

[I @ M]

If you are sitting there and genuinely haven't been surprised by anything that Nikon have done this year then perhaps it hasn't been delivered yet.

There are still 67 days left in 2010.

[wolffman]

I reckon they have had a good year with the f 1.4 lenses and the D7000.
When the 24-120 and the 28-300mm lenses were announced I wondered if a consumer level Fx camera body might be coming out, ie lower spec body and focus than the D700. Its unlikely, but could happen.

[arthurking83]

...... I wondered if a consumer level Fx camera body might be coming out, ie lower spec body and focus than the D700. Its unlikely, but could happen.

Could be a possibility that's where the D300 replacement is headed too. As a competitor to the Sony A850 or something like that... in the $2K price bracket. Even if it had the D3/D700 sensor, it'd still be one of the best high ISO cameras at that price bracket. Couldn't compete with the A850 in terms of sheer resolution, but not everyone wants resolution(well.. ok then. I know of at least one....possibly two... person(s) two that don't think of images as simply lots of pixels).

[swifty]

If you are sitting there and genuinely haven't been surprised by anything that Nikon have done this year then perhaps it hasn't been delivered yet.

There are still 67 days left in 2010.

Actually I havn't really been surprised... kinda predicted it. Of course not down to each feature but I really thought Nikon would up the ante with the D7000 cos I think its the most important model in the whole Nikon line-up. Now what did surprise me was the number of pro-centric features added, not just the headline specs like mp, ISO, AF etc.

[swifty]

I reckon they have had a good year with the f 1.4 lenses and the D7000.
When the 24-120 and the 28-300mm lenses were announced I wondered if a consumer level Fx camera body might be coming out, ie lower spec body and focus than the D700. Its unlikely, but could happen.

The interview talked about the camera line up so I took that at face value. The 28-300mm and the 35 1.4 did surprise me I must say. So did the 200 f2 VR update - why improve a masterpiece that didn't really need much improving.

[wolffman]

Could be a possibility that's where the D300 replacement is headed too. As a competitor to the Sony A850 or something like that... in the $2K price bracket. Even if it had the D3/D700 sensor, it'd still be one of the best high ISO cameras at that price bracket. Couldn't compete with the A850 in terms of sheer resolution, but not everyone wants resolution(well.. ok then. I know of at least one....possibly two... person(s) two that don't think of images as simply lots of pixels).

I think the d300 replacement will remain crop sensor or at least something with the top of line focus specs and crop sensors.

[Gregg Bell]

To be honest nikon have presented some very desirable new goodies. I'm actually tempted going to the entry level camera, because of what it presents. a 35mm f/1.4G and that thing and life's good for another 2 years.

D7000 sounds like a winner, but I'm not convinced, maybe it's because I don't care much for the technobabble these days.

[RRRoger]

The D3100 and D7000 were both a surprise to me.

The D7000 is better than the D90 in all but two ways.
1. More megapixels show user error more better.
2. More controls makes the camera more difficult to use.