Nikon in 2n half of 2012: D400, D600... or what?

I am a happy user of a Nikon D3100. I have a couple of lenses: 18-55mm VR kit; 35mm DX f/1.8 and Tamron (for DX) 18-270mm VC PZD. I also have some bags and a couple of tripods.

What do I shoot? Well anything, and nothing. I’m merely an aficionado, not sure if I can call myself amateur or enthusiast, but I do have fun with it! And now I’m thinking about upgrading my camera.

Before I go on, I don’t need anything else than what my D3100 offers, but sometimes it’d be nice to have faster focus, faster burst rate, handy buttons instead of menues and a bigger camera body (the D3100 is tiny). Take a look at Matt Granger’s rant on amateurs buying better (or pro) gear.

Since I don’t have very specific needs, I decided that what I want isn’t in the market yet. I know I want a Nikon and a better camera than what I have today. So let’s try to guess what may happen…

I think it’s best to start with the current line up, the history release, and work from there (the prices are body only). I also have to say that these are not predictions, but wild guessing

Some disclaimers here. I did put the D4 and family there for the sake of having the full Nikon line up. Some will argue that the D800 is not the D700’s successor, and while that may be true the D700 isn’t any longer (26.7.2012) in Nikon’s site.

But what’s gonna happen in the rest of 2012? The D400 has been long rumored to be the natural successor of the D300, but there are even more rumors of the D600, which would be an ”entry level FX” camera, whatever that means.

Let’s start bottom up then:

Entry DSLR DX

We’re at the bottom of DX domain here, and by all looks we’ll get a D3300 in 2013. More than 24 Mp would be nonsense. What then? Maybe another metallic color ...

Entry DSLR DX with tilty-swively screen

Canon has the 60D and now the 650D with capacitive touch tilty-swively screen. I guess 2013 (maybe earlier) it’s time for Nikon to launch the D5200, with 24 Mp, and capacitive touch tilty swively screen. (I don’t like them…)

Amateur DSLR DX

Following the apparent 2 years release cycle, they could unveil the D7100 in Photokina with 24 Mp, some nice video capabilities and (even) better ISO capabilities. That’d be my definite go to! Unless…

Now it gets tricky… I don’t think that a D600 and a D400 will coexist.

If the D600 becomes an ”entry FX” as suggested elsewhere, what we’d have is a D7100 with FX. What would be the price? Would they canibalize each other? To get a current pro body you’d need to spend 3000€ in a D800? What’s between D600 and D800? (And the ”old D700” isn’t the answer here).

If the D400 is just the successor of the D300, we’d get a pro body (big fat magnesium alloy, without silly-looking-scene selector) in DX. That would certainly please wild life shooters: fast focus, plus longer focal length with the 1.5x crop factor of the DX. But… you’d had to spend 3000€ to go to FX?

I’m not so interested in the future of D800 and D4. For one reason they were just released. For another one, they’re way out of my budget.

I’m confused by the D400 vs D600 dilema. I’d rather have a D300-like camera body, but FX is very tempting. It'd be smart from Nikon to release an affordable FX body: they would swim in money coming from FX glass!

I guess we’ll know more in Photokina 2012! It looks to me that whichever option they release (D400 or D600) that will be my camera. If they release both, then I'll have a problem.

PS: few pictures in Flickr taken with my loved D3100

So, how much was it?

I wanted to buy a camcorder. After two weeks of browsing the interweb, reading reviews and all that geeky non-sense that G.A.S. affected people do, I knew exactly what I wanted.

I also knew that I wanted to buy it in person and try it, because they are so tiny nowadays! And if you have big hands, you might need a toothpick to operate some cameras...

Then the trouble started. Some general knowledge:  Gigantti  is more expensive than Verkkokauppa; Musta Pörssi you never know; Stockmann is the most expensive and Konebox.fi relies on a dancing yellow robot. And as far as this experience goes, Vertaa.fi can't be trusted either.

Then let's see what happens when I check the camera I want in those websites:

• Vertaa.fi: hinnat alkaen (prices start) at 638,30 €
• Gigantti: they don't have it in their website
• Verkkokauppa: 506,90 €
• Musta Pörssi: they don't have it in their website
• Stockmann: 429,00 €
• Konebox: 499,00 €, but the picture is from a different product...

So I went to Tapiola Stockmann and asked for the camera, the price in the store was 399,00 €. Fantastic! Except that they were sold out, also in Stockmann Helsinki (figuring this out took half an hour and a great deal of patience). I didn't trust the information about Helsinki Stockmann because the guy was using the bar code from a different camera model to find out about stock (which took 20 minutes of very slow typing).

So I went to Helsinki Stockmann wishing for the best. In Kamppi though, I made a pit stop in Musta Pörssi, just in case... and there they had the camera! With a special Vappu offer for 399,00 €! That expired the day before...

I anyway looked closely at the offer price and it said: "now 399,00 €, before 599,00 €, so you save 33%!!". I asked for it, and since the price was still in display the sales man, very politely, offered me the "offer" price. They had only one left, in a special package which contained an SD card and a camera bag, for the same Vappu hinta! Fantastic!

Then he did put the real price in display, which was 499,00 €. Bazinga.

I'm still confused.

Customer service? Well... kind of...

We're already in mid December! What does that mean? Christmas shopping!

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and I actually do love giving presents! I'm even ok with buying them, though I get stressed with the crowds. Let's take a pause here. My hometown is close to Barcelona, and I've done many Christmas shoppings there... those are crowds! But I suppose I have adapted well to Finland. I thought Helsinki on a Wednesday afternoon was busy and crowded.

And there I was, in Stockmann's electronics department trying to get a Christmas present. I shan't write more to not reveal any suprise. And now let's try to get some help.

This being Finland I had to pick a number (even though there wasn't any queue), but that's fine with me; I like organization. And I got help of one of their experts. I'll try to reproduce the conversation and interject the silly feelings:

Me: "Hi, I'd like to know the differences between this product A and this B."
Stockmann-guy: "Yeah, ok... Hmmm... let me see. Well, B is more expensive than A."
Me: Well, I kind of can read that on the big price tag, can't it? "Ok, why would that be?"
SG: "Hmmm... in the little paper under the product it seems that A is clearly better than B".
Me: I also read that! "'Why is more expensive then?"
SG: "Yeah, it's weird isn't it?"
Me: Right eyebrow lifted up and pulse raising... "Thank you very much for your help, I'll come back later"

Now, let me say that I usually have found especially good service from Stockmann, with helpful people and guys that know the products. That's probably the reason why I get so annoyed when they're rude (happened once) or they have no idea what they're selling (happened today).

Maybe it's because I'm a bit (let's not start arguing now) of a nerd and I expect the guy selling me electronics to know more than me so he can help.

That's why I write something for all:

Dear Stockmann (and any store for that matter), when you put someone to sell something, please make sure that he/she knows something about the product. At the very least something more than the average customer.


Dear customer service or person-selling-things-in-a-store (I'm complaining about electronics mostly) , customers (in general) know how to read. The little labels under the products give some information, if someone asks is because they've read them and it's not enough. If you don't know, it's ok! Just go and grab the colleague that can help.


Dear annoyed customers (like me), try to not get mad or rude to those people in Christmas time. They are busier than usually and they may be just temporary jobs. And say "Merry Christmas" before you leave!

To the rest of you, have good Christmas shoppings!! I'm already ready with mine :)

 - R