Nikon Df - follow up.

I can’t help but respond to the Nikon Df announcement of which I predicted would be met with complete distain.    

The body and lens are now real.  The launch was a complete failure because the ad campaign was 3 videos too long.  The perception was that the product was something more than what it actually was, where some of that was in the realm of the viewer - some of that was the campaign.

The camera itself is a total bust.  If the statement can be believed that Nikon spent 4 years on this is true - then I would characterize that as an embarrassment to the R&D team.  I’m going all out here — why - because I watched 6 videos of what was supposed to be a God Camera.  And the release was 1 year too late.  There is too much competition in the market place for anyone to care about this now - especially for 3 grand.

The other point - of which many have stated - the design is for the sake of “Retro” - and I agree.  The F3 was the F3 - the FM-2 was the FM-2 for good reason.  The D3 series is the D3 series.  If the intent was to make it look like a F3 - then make it look like an F3.  It hardly looks like an F3.  Really - it hardly does - this design is something else - I don’t know what it is really.  

I guess it’s a Df.

Nikon is better than this.  And where is the video.

I’m really bummed.

Nikon - from Lovers to haters in 7 days

In one week Nikon has gone from the fanboy top to the hater bottom - for one reason.  The tease.  

What was thought to be a great ad campaign of teaser videos, 6 in all, released every other day to gobsmacked photo fans about a new camera, has turned into a lambasting of the feature set before the thing is even fully public.

The is my perspective - and I predicted the outcome in my own mind as I was one of the embroiled.

The back story is at www.nikonrumors.com - which broke the news of an up and coming competitor to the Sony A7 series full frame bodies, eventually named the Nikon Df.  The rumors were confirmed when Nikon dropped the first teaser video of a man shuffling controls with only audio clues and nothing visibly discernible.    

I was one of the many, if not all captivated by this, and the message board went crazy and some wrote they would, “divorce their wife” to get their hands on this thing.  I followed the frenzy of thought;  what’s it look like, is it like a old F3HP, they say it’s Hybrid etc. etc.  My mind and others were going crazy about the possibilities.

Every video was 34 seconds long - “why 34 seconds, what’s it all mean !!”.

Speculation and potential was all over the place - all very good, and all very exciting.

Up until the 3rd video - when I became really tired of it all.

There is a huge marketing and life lesson here.  Don’t ever underestimate the wherewithal of your customer.  Never; as they will turn on you in a second for good reason.

This is the age of Email, information at the fingertips, and instant gratification.  Give me a date and release the product, done.  Tease me for bit - but not for long - and don’t force me to become your reactionary servant.  And I don’t think I was alone.

Fast forward to today and the crowd is hacking this thing apart.  I can’t help but be overdramatic and say I will wonder if Nikon sells any of these.  The hacking is so bad that Nikon leaked the final video 12 hours ahead of time on a Chinese site.

Comments on the board are everything from pricing speculation, to what are they thinking with the feature set, to, “oh, that’s all it is !?!”  SNAP !

I don’t think this is the fault of the camera - I think this is a direct projection of the frustration and loss of control by the, “tease”.  The tease has done all of this - and even I’m on this boat - hell, I’m motivated enough to write about it.

This is a ship they can’t stop now - even if this camera can print money - the damage has been done.

I'm probably going to buy a Sony A7.

Fascinating!