Last year, in 2007, Nikon who held their collective breathes when Canon were announcing the 40D and 1D MK III cameras. Canon didn't 'blow Nikon away' was the thought.
Stupid grins and smiles all round was the order of the day when the D3 and D300 were announced. And rightly so, it's what the professionals were hoping for. When the D700 was announced in July, it had the Nikon staff buzzing all over again at head offices around the world.
I must admit, I actually wasn't a fan about the D700 coming out so soon. What a strange strategy since it was only 7 months earlier that D300/D3 were available. Why rush to get something out so quickly, since surely the correct strategy would have been to wait at least 6 more months. That was of course the old Nikon.
It's also assuming you don't know what the opposition is up to. When word and rumour of the imminent D700 had reach Canon, many a rep was thinking 'oh no, not again'. But this time, it's been Canon to breathe a HUGE sigh of relief when the specs of the D700 were released. In fact, the camera is actually seen as 'old hat'.
When you think about it, it does indeed make sense for Nikon to adopt the strategy they did. My reading of what's happening in the market is that if Nikon had announced the D700 after the 5D replacement, the camera would not have had any momentum.
My contacts at Canon have told me that the 5D replacement will not split into two lines, at least in the next release. The current 5D will be discontinued. I would actually have preferred to see the 5D stay around and just bring in the new camera into the line. Keeping the 5D would have kept an 'affordable' 12MP camera in Canon's arsenal.
It appears the 5D replacement camera will not be glossed over upgrade like Canon has been done with the 400/450D and 20D/30D/40D. If true, that will be good news These guys For Canon to almost laugh at the D700 has me asking how revolutionary will it be. Could it just be Canon trying to keep the faith? Talking it up?
Could it have 18+ MP, 16 bit processing with full weather proofing? Could it have other technology not yet implemented in a dSLR off-the-shelve today? I think it will, but again that's my reading of the reactions.
The 5D was released and seen by Canon and it's users as a brand new concept and market; and I think it's replacement will do exactly the same. September can't come around fast enough for Canon.
Posts
