D40X and 55-200 VR (Finally some announcements from Nikon)

[asharma]

http://www.dpreview.com/

 

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0703/07030602nikond40x.asp

 

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0703/07030601nikon55200vr.asp

[asharma]

....

[dan_brown4]

Oh goody! More low-end leadership (or is it catch-up) from Nikon.

[RaymondC]

I prefer the D40 for the price.

D40x is said to be $899 with the lens.

[sam_thompson2]

Although Megapixels don't matter much, people buy Rebels for their frames per second, megapixel count and relatively inexpensive IS lenses.

 

I say they are playing catchup to Canon.

[kuryan_thomas]

$799, not $899 (US dollars).

[RaymondC]

Ok, but I still wouldn't pay that.

[photo5]

I think a lot of point and shooters want to get a dSLR, but are turned off by the size of the camera bodies. The D40 addresses this as well as takes on the Canon Rebel head to head (and wins, I might add). Nikon will most likely release more AF-S lenses which will suit the D40 as well as higher end models. The new 55-200mm DX VR lens is encouraging and shows Nikon is committed to its user base. I just bought the 70-300mm ED AF zoom and am pleased with it, but would love a more compact telephoto zoom with VR. I wonder what the retail price for this lens will be?

 

Dave

[work-page]

The D40X makes sense from a competition point of view, but the 55-200VR not. With a 70-300VR just released, and only a single zoom (12-24) wider than 18mm in the line-up, I'd think there could be some more effort spent there.. how about a 15-30/f4 for instance?

[ShunCheung]

So Nikon indeed announces its Coolpix digicams and DSLR/lens in separate days. That is a first in several years. However, probably to a lot of people's dismay, it is yet another consumer-grade D40x body and one more cheap zoom, instead of some D3.

 

Since this news is now confirmed, I have removed the restriction to link to Ken Rockwell's web site as well as several threads inquiring about Nikon's PMA announcements. Those threats are all out of date by now.

 

To me, it is extremely obvious that Nikon is really focusing on consumer-grade equipment with four different 18-xxx zooms and now a second generation 55-200 in quick succession.

[ShunCheung]

After looking into some of the details of the D40x, I am not sure that it makes sense to me. It uses the same Multi-CAM 530 AF moduel as the original D40, with 3 AF points, and it can only AF with AF-S and AF-I lenses also just like the D40.

 

However, it is like only $200 cheaper than the D80 which has 11 AF points and can AF with no-motor lenses. To me, the D40x and D80 are too close in price. The D80 seems to be the better deal, especially its viewfinder should be superior, assuming that the D40 and D40x are similar in that area.

 

D40x brochure:

http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/digitalcamera/slr/d40x/pdf/D40x_16p.pdf

[sam_thompson2]

"However, it is like only $200 cheaper than the D80 which has 11 AF points and can AF with no-motor lenses."

 

It's 300 dollars cheaper than the D80 kit with the 18-55mm lens. That 300 dollars buys you a 55-200 vr lens. With focal lengths 18-200 covered like that. Most people don't need to get another lens beyond that.

 

The reason why the Rebels are successful is that they are sold in places where photo shops usually don't sell SLRs, places like Walmart, Sears or Fred Meyers. People who buy these cameras will not see a Nikon D40 next to a D80 to compare features, they will see a Nikon D40 and maybe a Rebel XTI and compare those features.

[mars c]

This is totally unexpected, I wonder how the owners of new d40 feels :)

[albertdarmali]

Does it come with the 55-200mm VR as the kit lens? :)

[elliot1]

As an owner of a d40, I have no issues with it. If both cameras were on the market today, I would still buy the d40. I would rather have the d40 and a flash and a telephoto lens than a d40x without the accessories.

 

The 10mp is just marketing. 'More is better'. The difference in picture quality from 6mp to 10mp is minimal because the difference in resolution from 6mp to 10mp is minimal. You can only see a difference when you make a huge poster (3 or 4 feet long) or put the pictures under a microscope. An 8 x 10 or even a 9 x 12 print from a 3mp camera is just as good as the same sized print from a 6mp or 10mp print. I have tested this myself, so before anyone says otherwise, try it yourself. I don't know how many of you view your pictures with a magnifying glass in your hands. I don't. My pictures are either in an album, on a wall, in a drawer or in a box. Under normal viewing conditions, there is no difference from 6 to 10.

 

Nikon's marketing strategy makes a lot of sense from a business point of view. How many D3's at $7999 are they going to sell compared to D40's, D50's, D70's and D80's? There is more profit on the lower end cameras because the volume is tremendous and almost everyone buys accessories. Additional lenses, batteries, flashes etc. are the bread and butter of camera manufactures.

 

But keep in mind that in just a few short years, the price of a D3 or equivalent camera will likely cost the equivalent of what a d200 is today. (Look at what the d100 sold for when it came out and what you can get now for so much less.) How exciting!

 

I love my Nikon gear, and I love taking pictures with all my Nikon 'stuff'. That is all that really counts, isn't it?

[sam_thompson2]

"Are you from the same ilk as Askey who, puppet like is in the habit of deleting every threat with non manufacturer sanctioned pre-announcement leak?"

 

Askey is different because even if it is true, he will delete it but if not true will likely leave the offending post. And Askey takes the embargo thing very seriously even apologizing to the readers if they accidentally broke one like they did with Olympus.

 

Shun removes all posts on speculation. Considering there isn't even a mention of the D40 on this site. I seriously doubt that photo.net is getting any kind of special treatment from Nikon.

 

The Ken Rockwell thing is odd because apparently he got an official press release from Nikon but there were no other sites that reported it. Of course the question is, if Ken has a confirmed press release then why not have photo.net link to that Ken Rockwell website. Is it not possible that someone at Nikon USA wanted him to have the first with the info? After all his site is one the first websites that comes up when searching for Nikon reviews on Google.

[elliot1]

Oh rats... Ken Rockwell was right.... yet again!

[bruno]

So, it looks like I still have to wait for that 16/2.8 DX prime.

 

Why is Nikon coming out only with low end rubbish? It might make sense for marketing, but I couldn't care less about Nikon making money, I want good lenses.

[bruce_rubenstein]

For the next few years, as DSLR sales continue to grow, market share is the name of the game. The big action is in the <$1,000 cameras. If Nikon can't stay competitive in this market, then it won't be a healthy camera company 5 years from now. These aren't very exciting cameras for pnet types, but it's what sells in large numbers.

[janvanlaethem]

The D40 and D40x are clearly aimed at the entry level market. Most of the photo.net members, myself included, are more in the market for higher end gear. But let's not forget not everyone takes his or her photography that seriously as we do. There is a place for cameras like the D40 and D40x.

 

Someone just starting out in photography will most probably buy only one camera body, two lenses and maybe an external flash. As the years go by and interest in photography increases, chances are that new photographer will upgrade to a better body but still buy Nikon, as otherwise all the accessories, lenses and flash would become useless. Competition in the 600 to 800 dollar price range is fierce, so Nikon needs to have a camera that can compete on the same level. Most D40 reviews I've read so far mentionned that it offered only 6 mp at a price where other manufacturers offered more resolution. Resolution is what attracts buyers of entry level products. They have little or no use for more advanced features like metering with older manual lenses or AF with non-AFS lenses.

 

I'd like to look at it this way: a couple of years ago no 6mp camera was available at the D40 price, nor was a 10mp camera at the D40x price. With the recent D200 price reductions, I see DSLRs become increasingly more accessible. I can only welcome that trend. I hope we'll soon have D200 quality in a sub-1000 dollar camera.

 

Incidentally, I checked the Nikon USA webpage this morning and see that both the D50 and D70s have been removed. Has production of these cameras now come to a complete stop?

[mars c]

I think POP Photo recieved the d40 much earlier then ken rockwell was told about it. <a href="http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/3896/camera-test-nikon-d40x.html" >LINK</a>

[leslie_cheung]

I still bet the d3 will be "official" soon enough.

[jacob_brown]

But Rockwell was the first to report it:

 

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40x.htm

[eye-of-searle]

I'm glad Nikon made this move. With the success of the D40, 50, 70, 80 lines Nikon is more than likely becoming financially stronger which hopefully will fund more R&D to catch up with Canon. I think Nikon is trying to build a strong base to allow them to compete better in the insanely fast paced DSLR market.

[ShunCheung]

To answer Sam's question, I am not at all aware of any special treatment to photo.net from Nikon. In fact, a lot of people feel that photo.net has a bit of Canon bias. Nobody from photo.net upper management has ever instructed us to delete rumors. Rather, removing rumors is an approach Bob Atkins and I favored.

 

Personally, I would much rather discuss products that have officially been announced by Nikon, not some vaporware with no feature details and unclear availability time frame. I am sure that my style does not fit every person. If you prefer to spend (or waste) your time on wild speculations on vaporware, there are other forums that will fit you much better. In photo.net, we try to make one another become better photographers. Equipment is merely tools to achieve that goal and they are always secondary.

 

I have made my policy very clear many times. See this thread:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KBQU

 

BTW, the first time I read about the D40X was in DPReview's Nikon Forum several days ago, as I mentioned in the above post. Of course, I also read about several vaporware DSLR there too. Until Nikon announced things officially, I had no idea what was true and what wasn't.