Nikon too stingey to give out proper brochures

A friend of mine just came back from Photokina2008, the major photographic manufacturers annual showcase in

held in Germany every year. I asked him to bring back a few original glossy brochures fro me , such as the D700

and the Nikkor lenses brochure, because I'm fed up with looking at cheap, low res downloads from the internet, and

besides the oriinal brochures were always a nice item to keep and I've tried to keep those of of all the Nikons I've

owned. I got the Nikkor lens brochure, but for the D700 all I got was a Cd-rom with the D700 brochure in digital form !

Thats all they were giving out to people interested in buying their D-SLR's. That is a piss poor effort for Nikon, and at

the major European showcase of the year for their products. Very, very dissapointed. Has anyone managed to get

an original glossy brochure ?

Glossy brochures are very expensive to produce, and if they're given out at a show like Photokina then need to be printed in a few different languages. Supplying digital brochures to customers for digital products makes sense to me - same design costs but minimal media cost.

 

As someone who actually buys new cameras (sometimes) I'm glad that Nikon doesn't waste my money providing useless products for people who like to collect brochures.

The trend is now to hand out memory sticks or CDs from marketing events; a lot of stuff can be packed on one and the stick is sort of like a promotional gift.

 

I'm afraid that you are in the minority with the glossy brochures. I used to read them, they had nice pictures and all, but then tossed them. The majority of brochures just weren't interesting to keep.

Gary, I do not consider brochures with details/specs/photos of very expensive Nikon cameras, that help sway me towards buying or not buying as just "usless products for people who like to collect brochures". I'm sure that most people who have owned one of the well known Nikons have wanted to have the original brochure, not some cheap cd-rom.

And besides, at a major event, you advertise your product, you splash out on advertising your product. That is the one place where you should give out the good stuff. Events like that are known for their 'freebies', not that I consider a brochure for a $3000 camera as being just a 'freebie'.

I guess you are going to have to switch to Canon or Sony!

<i>I'm sure that most people who have owned one of the well known Nikons have wanted to have the original brochure, not some cheap cd-rom.</i><P>

I can't speak for owners of well-known Nikons, but over the years, I've never had a brochure for any of the cameras I've bought, and I've never even given a thought to having the brochure. Either the camera does what I need, or it doesn't. I've never purchased a camera based on the slickness of its advertising.

Maybe they ran out. I picked up a bunch of brochures from their brochure desk at Photokina.

Collecting bits of paper is a peculiar and inexplicable passion.

 

In the old days of photography, we called them "prints". You may have seen them. They are odd little 2-dimensional representations of the real world, usually tragically inept attempts at communication. Some of us put them on our walls rather than look outside the window at the real world.

 

In radio parlance we are sometimes known as "QSL hounds" (and worse). Radio NHK Japan and China Radio International send out very nice pieces of paper. Pirate radio stations send out peculiar stuff, some with fur and other unknown materials on them.

 

Write to Nikon. Explain your passion for their product and addiction to paper. They may take pity on you and send you brochures, if only to make you go away.

 

The rest of you heathens, go back to staring at your computer screens and cuddling your uncomfortable CDs and DVDs.

And just in case anyone thinks Andrew's request is odd, this is a sample of what I collect...<div></div>

I contacted Nikon USA and they mailed me a nice glossy D700 brochure. It took about 2 days to arrive.

Major stores like Calumet have them if you ask.

I just went to Photokina on Thurs and they (Nikon) had quite a few brochures most of them were in German but I

still picked up quite a few in English. The brochures I was able to get were the general Nikkon brochure, the

Nikkor lens, the D90, the Coolpix, Digital Imaging system. They also were giving out Capture NX2 software along

w/ the CD with all the digital brochures on it. Not bad considering that Manfrotto wouldn't give me any catalogs

because I did not have business cards to give them. I'm going back on Sunday and I'll look again to see if they

have anymore/new brochures including the D700.

Every single store I go they have hundreds of brochures. They all end up in the garbage. I only keep the newest lens

brochure, at home, at the office, in my car and in my camera bag. That's for references but the original brochure of my

cameras I don't need them. What ever is on the web is enough.

Why waste money and storage space and create lots of trash when you can get the information quickly from the web?

Manufacturers can update information in real time when it's distributed on the web. Not so with print. They have to throw

away the old...more waste.

 

Why do you need glossy brochures when you can download real raw files and see the real thing for yourself?

 

Spec sheets don't need to be high resolution, and as I said, you can download actual image files, so what on earth do

you need brochures for?

Lex: "In the old days of photography, we called them "prints". You may have seen them" - Just because you've gone digital Lex, you don't bother printing anymore ? A "print" is now dirty word ???? Are we turning snob at "prints" ? As far as I'm concerned, if anyone wasn't around in the old days of photography, they don't understand photography.

 

Mary: Fine. Next time you want to buy that nice new expensive car, and you go to the showroom for some literature, You be happy when they stick some cheapo cd-rom in your hand.

 

Personally, I'm glad I saved my old F3, F4, Nikkors of yesteryear brochures etc brochures. I've had many opportunites to compare the info on them with later stuff.

Does anyone have an Al Rosen baseball card from 1954? I heard that his picture was made with a Nikon camera. Yes, I know that the Indians dropped four straight in the Series to the Giants, and that Rosen had no at bats, but value is in the mind of the collector. I was nine years old that year and lived in Akron. Have pity on me. I really, really want that card. I know that it is a sickness, but I just can't help myself.

 

--Lannie

I've always considered brochures to be a bit of a marketing ploy. If I want to make a big ticket purchase ($10000 camera, $80000 car or similar) there is one thing alone that I am interested. Getting my hands on it for a test. A brochure is just propaganda. I want to know what I can achieve with the camera in my hands, without relying on 50 hours of post processing.

I feel for the OP, there is a change in marketing methods. Brochures used to be all the rage, but now its usb sticks , credit card sized cd roms (remember those gimmicks that used to destroy slot loading drives?) and reviews on websites.

I'm not sure of the etiquette here so I will refrain from mentioning certain other websites by name, but if I am going to buy a camera I look at the internet first for reviews and background. There are a wealth of decent sites out there that have great reviews and real world sample images, and theres always a certain english photographer whose never written a bad review in his life if you want to see what to avoid. I will then rent whatever I want to buy. Many stores will allow you to try it for free if they know you are serious, and if you are going to buy an expensive camera, the cost of renting is insignificant. Then I go and buy it.

I'm not sure why the OP prefers brochures, to be honest it comes across as a bit of a collectors fetish. Do you want pictures of the product or taken by the product? If its the former, buy it and you can take plenty, if its the latter then there is a wealth of full resolution images on the interweb. Failing that rent it. If you are a brochure collector then switch to collecting pdf's or realise its about the photography not the brochures.

I fall in the camp that would rather manufacturers spent their money on R&D and not on brochures I guess.

Although I enjoy looking at a nicely printed, glossy paper brochure, at this point I would rather see Nikon spend the money on R&D of new cameras and lens.

"As far as I'm concerned, if anyone wasn't around in the old days of photography, they don't understand photography."

 

That is the most pompass, ridiculous, and not to mention marrow minded statement I've heard on here in awhile...

 

Brochures are a huge expense to the company and sometimes to the retailer if the are forced to pay a portion of the cost... i.e.. car dealerships are charged for whatever they order and for your info the manufacturers are moving away from print and on to digital media.

Brochures are decidedly 'un-green' as well.

Apologies for the lack of paragraphs.

 

Nikon make cameras, not brochures.

"Brochures are decidedly 'un-green' as well."

 

I've never owned an SUV, and I ride public transit to work. I'll spend a little of my small carbon footprint on a brochure if I want one!

I'm a staunch brochure collector. I have all the brochures for my Nikon cameras and lenses going back to 1971. Also dozens of Hasselblad and Leica brochures.

 

If I had spent the money to go to Photokina and was not able to procure a brochure from Nikon, I would have created an

international incident.

 

Actually, I'll bet Nikon did have hard copy brochures of the D700. They were probably just out of them.

As an avid collector of silly threads, I'll be printing a copy of this one.