D3s out of production !?

[paul_b.1]

<p>On the most reputable online photo seller site, in Romania (Europa) , the D3s appear OUT OF PRODUCTION !.<br>

<a href="http://www.f64.ro/nikon-d3s-body-full-frame.html">http://www.f64.ro/nikon-d3s-body-full-frame.html</a><br>

I wonder how long until Nikon announce the D4 ...</p>

<p> </p>

[mihai_ciuca]

<p>I can confirm that this is a very reputable photo seller... They just opened the largest photo store from Southeastern Europe downtown in Bucharest. So I think we have reasons to believe that D4 is coming... soon! </p>

[pcnilssen]

<p>There are lots of other rumor sites on the net, guys! The D4 comes when it comes - and it may take some time from announcement until it actually ships...</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>Lots of camera stores say that a product which they cannot get immediately is discontinued. It has happened many times, yet not turned out true. They say it to be able to sell what they have rather than what they cannot get. However, in this case it may well be the case that D3s/D3X bodies are no longer manufactured, or they're manufactured in very small quantities at this point.</p>

[paul_b.1]

<p>Ilkka, not to this shop..., it's like B&H, for Romania .</p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>... and the page, as by the link given, is no longer found ?<br>

..perhaps D3 will outlast the prophet ? <br>

... and is not even April 1st...</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Paul, I don't think there is another camera store quite like B&H anywhere in the world. When I lived near New York, I used to visit B&H every month. A few years ago, they added an entire second floor, almost doubling their size. In terms of floor space, B&H is larger than most supermarkets in the US. Now I live in California, my local dealer (Keeble and Shuchat) claims to be the largest Canon dealer west of the Mississippi River, but they are not even 20% of B&H's size.</p>

<p>In any case, among thousands of camera stores around the world, why should we pay attention to this one store in Romania? You must be reading this information from those rumor sites that predict the introduction of some D4 and "D800" a couple of times each month. I am sure that eventually they will be right once. It reminds me this thread about the biggest store in Ukraine posting the specs for some "D400": <a href="00X4A5">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00X4A5</a> That was posted in August, 2010, about 16 months ago.</p>

<p>My personal guess was that this "D4" would be introduced some time in 2011. Given that it is December 21 now, it is almost for sure that my guess is wrong. However, since 2012 is a summer Olympic year (in London, July 27 to August 12), I am quite sure that Nikon will announce a new generation of professional sports DSLR and maybe some lenses prior to the Olympics, similar to Canon's 1DX, which was announced back in October but not yet delivered until around March.</p>

<p>Another date to keep in mind is that there is no PMA show in 2011. It was scheduled to early September but was cancelled. For 2012, it is part of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas from January 10 to 13. That is merely 20 days from now. I am quite sure that we'll see a lot of new camera announcements from all brands after Christmas and new year. Clearly there are not very many days between new years and the start of CES. "Our own" Josh Root will be attending the CES and provide updates.</p>

[andre_noble5]

Personally, I have myself scheduled for a Nikon D6s as my

next digicam purchase.

[CvhKaar]

<p>... and the page, as by the link given, is no longer found ?<br>

Frank, I can find this page without a problem, maybe you've got a "pop-Filter"or the like switched on ?</p>

 

[mihai_ciuca]

<p>Well, as the only Romanian in this thread I must defend our beloved store (F64). :) It is not only the largest photo store from this part of the world but they are conducting their business in a very, very good way that I'm afraid no many photo stores from US are able to do. Of course, Romania is only about Oregon size... but if anyone place an order before 2pm next morning he has the package at his door, no matter where in Romania is him located. And believe me that our road system is far behind the quality of US one, being as a bad joke. I know that their mention of D3s being out of production could be a human error but for no way is a lack of professionalism... I know that for many people is hard to locate Romania on the map but on Nikon's map Romania seems to be important... if I know right the only place in the world where are some dedicated Nikon stores is Romania, being as an experimental approach of the market. One of the three dedicated Nikon stores (Yellow Stores) from Romania being operated by F64 (apart of their general photo store). One extra thing... when on forums like this I read about the difficulty to find some Nikon products on B&H or Adorama, usually these products are available here at a cost usually under the average of European retailers (of course higher than US retailers but this not because of F64 but of EU commercial taxes...).<br>

Last but not least, Shun I am very impressed that you know what rumor sites are spreading around :) knowing your opposition for rumors in general. But is not a rumor the fact that D3 era has been too long... and is not a rumor the fact that everyone looks for its replacement ASAP. We do not need rumor sites for that. We only try to guess when this will happen.</p>

[paul_b.1]

<p>Shun, I don't meant to compare by size, but only to say that I have great confidence in that camera store. Of course, we all are awere about those rumors, but listing the D3s (at F64 store) as out of production , have something (or everything) to do with Nikon Romania and my confidence in that store is second to none .<br /> Mihai, si eu sunt roman, aceeasi varsta si cam aceleasi studii si pasiuni ca si tine. Nu-i vina noastra ca aceasta parte a lumii este privita cu neincredere ...Iti multumesc ca ai spus exact ceea ce doream eu sa spun , dar fiind la servici , nu am avut timp sa postez.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>It's not unusual for large, database-driven shopping cart systems to be tied to back-end inventory systems. Sometimes the inventory "checkbox" fields meaning - internally, to the retailer - "we can't get this product" are interpretted by the server-side software running the web site as "no longer available," or something similar. I would not read too much into this. I have seen even some fairly large companies with cart displays that muddle the difference between "unavailable" and "discontinued." To say nothing of simple GIGO problems, when a human is involved along the way. <br /><br />The D4 will hatch when it hatches. I think they'll start selling it right about the time my wife and I eat the last of the whole ham we were just sent. Which could take months.</p>

[pcnilssen]

<p>It would probably be annonunced the day after I were to buy a D3s..... ;)</p>

[paul_b.1]

<p>My God, Matt, I want a picture with that ham :-)</p>

[harveysteeves]

<p>from a reputable source, the D4 will be in Vegas. Also from him, don't buy anymore CF cards, especially if you figure on some new cameras. I'm thinking double slots for awhile but gone by the end of the year as those new cards become available.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>"Paul, I don't think there is another camera store quite like B&H anywhere in the world."</p>

<p>I've not been to B+H Photo-Video in New York City, but I've been to the Shinjuku district in Tokyo, Japan. A couple of store there had entire floors set-up for one photographic product line -- 35mm -- medium format -- studio lighting, and the basement would have film, tripods, camera bags.... Film was, like the meat department in a grocery store, in large refrigerators that filled the wall.</p>

<p>When a new lens came into the inventory, the local Japanese gents became quite active in making purchases....</p>

<p>(Circa. 1987 to 1993)</p>

<p> </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Essentially there is a fixed deadline for the next generation of pro sports DSLRs. The London Olympics begins on 27th July, 2012. You are not going to introduce one on the day before. You need at least 3 months for the distribution to get into the hands of professional sports photographers and give them time to get familar with the new camera. The release time for the Canon 1DX in March is almost as late as it can be to get ready for the Olympics. In case there are some wide-spread defects, you also need time to repair a large number of units. (In other words, expect most of the early production of the 1DX and whatever Nikon introduces, if any, goes to pros shooting at the Olympics. If you are not among that group, those camera will be hard to come by until after the London games.)</p>

<p>Personally I am not buying any more memory cards either until I see what the next generation of cameras use. I have one 16G and two 8G CF and that is good enough for now. I have more SD cards for the D7000.</p>

<p>I'll repeat these two dates to keep in mind:</p>

<ol>

<li>2012 Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, January 10 to 13</li>

<li>2012 Summer Olympics, London, July 27 to August 12</li>

</ol>

<p>Since 2012 is an even year, there is also Photokina in Cologne, Germany, but that is much later in the year. Photokina starts on September 18 in 2012. After the attention to the Olympics is over, expect a lot of new product announcements in late August and early September prior to Photokina.</p>

<p> </p>

[kohanmike]

<p>Just to add grist to the mill, I've been to B&H in New York and it's absolutely amazing, in Los Angeles is Samy's Camera Fairfax District store, four floors in a building that was once going to be a fancy restaurant. Certainly not as big as B&H, but I could spend most of the day drooling over all the product.</p>

[CvhKaar]

<blockquote>I'll repeat these two dates to keep in mind: <ol>

<li>2012 Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, January 10 to 13</li>

<li>2012 Summer Olympics, London, July 27 to August 12</li>

</ol></blockquote>

<p>I'd like to some other dates to that .....</p>

<p>1) 2012 Camera and Photo Imaging show CP+ on februari 9 - 12 in at the Pacifico , Yokohama, Japan which is extra important this year because it "marks the 150 anniversary of Yokohama as the birthplace of commercial photography in Japan, where in 1862 Renjo Shimooka founded a photography studio." ( quote from the CP+ Press release in English.. ) .<br>

Official website : <a href="http://www.cpplus.jp/en/">http://www.cpplus.jp/en/</a> .<br>

<br /> Press release on this page : <a href="http://www.cpplus.jp/en/press/index.html">http://www.cpplus.jp/en/press/index.html</a> .<br>

<br /> 2) And the PhotoForum exhibition on april 12th - 15th in Moscow , Russia, whioch is the largest Photo and imaging event in eastern Europe : <a href="http://www.photoforum-expo.ru/en/photoforum-expo/">http://www.photoforum-expo.ru/en/photoforum-expo/</a></p>

<ol> </ol>

[niko_korhonen]

<p>Where's the "English" button on the website?</p>

[vince-p]

<p>Any of you Nikon experts know how they doing factory-wise after tsunami and then Thailand floods? My impression has been -- and correct it please if you know the facts -- that whatever roll out in the dslr category Nikon had planned before these catastrophes are very shaky now. they had key facilities located in the more badly damaged zones of both disasters from what I picked up. Is this true?</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>The March earthquake/tsumni only caused relatively minor damage to the Nikon factories in Japan. The Sandai factory was reopened after like 2, 3 weeks. But the bigger problem was electricity supply and more importantly, damage to part suppliers.</p>

<p>The Thai flood pretty much wiped out Nikon's factory in Thailand. At least I don't know whether it is salvagable, but someone out there must have info as the flood is finally gone. I wonder whether Nikon is going to rebuild at the same site as the flood can potentially come back to the same location in any year in the future. It looks like Nikon is using temporary factories in Thailand and elsewhere to pick up that work load, at least for the time being.</p>

<p>Again, the CES begins in fewer than 20 days. I expect many new product announcements from various brands after Christmas.</p>

[paul_b.1]

<p>You are probably right. Today at F64 store , D3s appear "UNAVAILABLE"...So much for my trust :-)</p>

[pcnilssen]

<p>And B&H says "temporarily unavailable"</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>I would suggest that we leave it to the rumor sites to react to every little piece of typo and misleading comment on various web sites around the world. For example, some European Amazon.com web site listed some "D400" future handbook a couple of years back, and it was big news for them. On DPReview's Nikon forum, there are already many debates about the pros and cons between the not-yet-available Canon 1DX and Nikon D4 vaperware. If you are excited about such debates and discussion, I would recommend that you join those forums. I happen to think DPReview themselves have been doing a fine job in their news, review and more recently photo technique articles, but their forums are a different story.</p>

<P>

Having said that, since Nikon's production and new product introduction was seriously interrupted by the two natural disasters in 2011 so that there has only been one new DSLR (D5100) and two new F-mount lenses (50mm/f1.8 AF-D and 40mm/f2.8 DX micro), I expect Nikon will make up a lot of ground in 2012. I don't think the D3/D3S will continue to be Nikon's lead sports DSLR in London during the summer games.

</P>