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Links & Comments
News and commentary of interest to Nikon and Nikon F-mount users
Coolpix Announcement Aftershock: New FX Lenses
Feb 8 (news and commentary)--After Nikon's business-as-usual Coolpix announcements last week comes a minor aftershock: two new FX lenses.
The first of the new lenses is the long-expected 24mm f/1.4G AF-S. This lens is expensive (US$2199), but this new lens opens up a new avenue for FX shooters looking for that wide but shallow focus look. Designed with a strong consideration for bokeh, the new lens is a lot larger than the existing 24mm f/2.8, but also produces out of focus areas with a very natural look. I am amused by one line in the press release: "Perhaps one of the most hotly anticipated lenses in recent memory." Well, sure. Nikon themselves began leaking information about this lens as far back as summer of last year. Most of that anticipation has been "where is it?" The lens will be available in March.
Second on the list is the first Nikon f/4 aperture zoom, and it's likely to be a best seller: 16-35mm f/4G AF-S VR. Yes, you read that right, VR (Nikon's recent II type). The addition of VR in this lens makes the lack of it in the 24-70mm f/2.8 even more curious. Indeed, I was slammed on many Internet fora when I chose the lack of VR on the 24-70mm as one of Nikon's worst decisions in the first digital decade. All I can say is that I stand by that statement even more now that we've got VR in a zoom lens that'll end up in most pro's kits and that needs the stabilization less. Not that VR in this lens won't be useful, it's just that you really ought to be able to handhold a 16-35mm lens at 1/30 second or slower on an FX body as it is. This lens will be available at the end of February for US$1259.
I predict that the 16-35mm will be a complete sellout, so get in line soon if you want one. The fact that it accepts filters, is smaller and lighter than the 14-24mm, and that it is at a lower price point will have most pros and D700 owners wanting one. If this is the start of an f/4 cycle of zooms for Nikon, look out, these are going to be tremendously popular.
I've updated my Nikon lens page with details on the two new lenses.
It may seem unusual to some that two lenses like this would be released via press release separately from their press conferences last week. This seems typical Nikon to me. They wanted the Coolpix announcements to stand on their own, plus they wanted something they could excite DSLR users with prior to PMA and other upcoming shows (PIE in Japan). This also means that a DSLR (or DSLRs) release is still a month or two away. The fact that there are other lenses that are known about likely means they're being held back for the DSLR announcement. Recently, the head of Nikon's marketing in Japan stated that there would be primes (plural) coming, so the 35mm and 85mm updates are likely waiting for a new body announcement.
D3s Bugfix
Feb 8 (news)--Nikon has introduced a firmware update (1.01) for the D3s that fixes a handful of items, including one that stopped movie recording, errors in the Chinese menus, and an issue that caused CHA to appear when certain cards were used in the camera.
Website Updates
Feb 8 (news)--I've added my review of the new 70-200mm (see link at left), and I'll be adding a review of the 80-200mm f/2.8 and updating my old 70-200mm review shortly. Note that I've decided to take a dual approach on ratings for reviews: I'm rating on both an absolute scale and a value scale now in response to user requests. I'm updated my Lens Rating article (also see left column) to reflect this.
I think I've also caught up to emails that pointed out typos or problems on a number of pages. I've updated the Current DSLR and cleaning the sensor pages, for instance, as well as the Flash comparison page. Let me know if I've missed anything.
Besides now using Twitter (@bythom) to do major book and workshop announcements, those of you wanting RSS feeds can use Google Reader to set up your own quasi-feed.
Are You Up and Coming?
Feb 8 (news)--Photocrati has a US$5000 fund for grants to non-professional photographers working on important humanitarian and environmental projects. Deadline for applications is March 15th.
Software Updates
Feb 8 (news)--Bibble 5.0.1 adds E-P2 support, newly calibrated lenses, and a new black/white point tool. DxO 5.3.7 for Mac adds Snow Leopard support. Nikon introduced a new version of the Nikon Message Center (update notifier within their software products).
Is it My Imagination...
Feb 8 (commentary)--...or has Nikon marketing gotten lazier? It used to be that each new camera came with a short slogan (D90: "engineered for artistry") and that slogan ran throughout the marketing materials. Recently I got NikonUSA's email about the new Coolpix models, and instead of the usual slogans, we are down to one- or two-word descriptors: S8000: "Hi-Res LCD"; S6000: "Fast"; S4000: "Touch"; S3000: "Sleek". Boy, that didn't excite me. A tenth grader could have picked out those words.
The Web pages give the full marketing lines for the cameras. S8000: "Super Slim. Stunningly Close. Clearly Brilliant." S6000: "Need the Speed. Love the Style." S4000: "Touching Memories" (nice pun). S3000: "Style Setting. Image Making."
So Nikon is shorthanding their own shorthand. It's all starting to feel a bit old and recycled, and the shorthand to the shorthand just reinforces that. Time for Nikon to rethink how they differentiate their products. Hint: words aren't doing it.
Nikon Financial Results for Third Quarter
Feb 4 (news and commentary)--Nikon's third quarter financial results have been announced, and the news, as expected, is mixed.
For the year so far, Nikon sales are down 16% from the year prior, and the company is now reporting a loss. Hidden in that bad news is that this year's third quarter is better than last year's (hard not to be, given that the Great Recession was hitting about its heaviest during that period last fiscal year). The Precision division (semiconductor equipment) continues to collapse, with year-to-year comparison now off 39%. That, of course means that the Imaging division (cameras and lenses) is doing better, with sales off 9% and profits off only 4% from the previous year-to-date (three quarters).
Indeed, one of Nikon's bullet points for the quarter was that DSLRs, lenses, and compact cameras all achieved their highest single quarter volume to date: 1.2m DSLRs, 1.75m lenses, and 4.1m compact cameras were "sold" in the last three months of 2009. For the full fiscal year (ends March 31, 2010) Nikon expects to sell 3.5m DSLRs (35% of the global market), 5.1m lenses (32% of the global market), and 11.5m compact cameras (11.7% of the global market). Japan is now down to 12% of Nikon Imaging sales, the US down to 34%, Europe holding steady at 32%, with the remainder being Asia (22%). Imaging's percentage of the overall company sales continues to grow, having risen to 76% in the three quarters so far (but expected to drop back to 73% for the full year).
R&D expenses as a percentage of sales is still increasing (and has been for most of the decade), though the overall spending has dropped a bit (about 4% year-to-year).
Nikon's current estimate for currency exchange is 90-94 yen to the dollar, 130-133 yen to the Euro (the actual rate is at about 91 and 127 as I write this).
Overall, Nikon's continued strong performance in Imaging is driving the company. The good news is that this performance currently shows little signs of weakening. On the other hand, Nikon can't afford to make significant mistakes with cameras and lenses in the coming months, as doing so would send the financial picture back into the red (they predict a profit for the coming year).
Looking beyond the numbers looking for clues to the coming quarter, Nikon did not change their estimates for camera, lens, or Coolpix sales in the current quarter. That pretty much means that nothing that's been announced (see next story) or will be announced shortly is going to have a meaningful impact on this year's financials. Despite selling 1.2m DSLRs last quarter, Nikon currently expects to sell only 700k DSLRs this quarter. Note the the Coolpix models announced below only have a couple that ship in March. If Nikon expects to beat their 2010 fiscal year numbers they just posted in 2011, and every indication is that they do, that means that we've got quite a few new products coming in the next two quarters.
Just a Reminder
The short articles on the front page of this site change as often as every couple of days, as little as once every two weeks. Right now, however, we're coming into a period where there's been rapid change. So if you're not checking the site often, be sure to check out the Archived 2009 link, below, as there may be a handful of items you missed. (Yes, I know about RSS. But I won't offer that until the site redesign is done.)
Archived Front Page News and Articles
Archived 2010 byThom comments and news
Archived 2009 byThom comments and news
Archived 2008 byThom comments and news
Archived
2007 byThom comments and news
Archived pre-2007 byThom comments and news
Nikon announcements summary 2001-2009
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