Nikon DF

[ronnies]

I wish! Sadly that's not the case. DPReview reporting on an actual camera supplied by Nikon to them:

"The shutter speed dial has a central locking button that has to be pressed down every time you want to move it."​

See http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/11/05/hands-on-with-the-retro-nikon-df/print

I'm surprised by that. The F4 has a locking button for the dial but it only locks it in the 'X' position. It freely rotates in other positions.

Ronnie

 

[NazgulKing]

Tom, it's neither "simplified" nor designed to "shoot manually".

We hardly expected this camera to be so, but at this point it is absolutely not.

This is another casual Nikon FF DSLR on which (nice looking) analog ISO/EC/speeds dials have been added, and the built-in flash removed. This is all.

The only real difference with the other FF Nikon DLSRs is the flippable Ai tab which allows to mount non-Ai lenses.

This is the only real feature this camera has and which the D700/600/610/800/800E/3/3s/4 haven't.

For $1000 (the price of the flippable Ai tab) I'd rather but a premium Sandvik file, excellent Bost screwdrivers, and file down my non-Ai lenses to get them Ai'd, if I had many of them I wanted to use on a DSLR.

Actually, there's apparently a x2 magnifier for the viewfinder. I wonder if that has any use.

 

[Keith]

Some of the comments about the DF in this thread are laughable ... particularly the accusation that anyone who owns one will obviously be a poser.

Nice touch!

 

[Highway 61]

Some of the comments about the DF in this thread are laughable ... particularly the accusation that anyone who owns one will obviously be a poser.

I am eagerly waiting for the Df to triumphally enter the "Camera and coffee" thread... 😛 😀

 

[jonasv]

anyway apples and oranges, if you need ttl-OVF you need ttl-OVF, in which case it doesnt get much smaller than this Nikon in the digital FF world. Not yet anyway.

Wrong thread. Common sense is not allowed in this thread, bashing is obligatory.

I'm keeping an eye on you and Keith. Watch your language.

 

[Sparrow]

I know!

But jeeze, do an SLR with one shutter speed dial and a shutter release, how hard can it be?

Even Olympus got closer with the E-M5:


My Dresser, January 09, 2013 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

... nice wireless

 

[Jan Van Laethem]

I wish! Sadly that's not the case. DPReview reporting on an actual camera supplied by Nikon to them:

"The shutter speed dial has a central locking button that has to be pressed down every time you want to move it."​

See http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/11/05/hands-on-with-the-retro-nikon-df/print

If this is the case, then I wonder what the Nikon engineers are using for a brain. :bang:

That and the lack of an interchangeable focus screen makes me wonder why they try and market this as a DSLR geared towards manual focus, or at least manual focus as a workable second option to autofocus.

Now I'm beginning to understand why the 3 photographers on the Nikon Df microsite are all using AF lenses on the Df.

see here


http://nikondf.nikonusa.com/lynn-goldsmith.html

http://nikondf.nikonusa.com/joe-mcnally.html

http://nikondf.nikonusa.com/bob-krist.html

Nikon Df, AF-S Zoom-NIKKOR 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED lens ;
Nikon Df, AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens ;
Nikon Df, AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens respectively

 

[jarski]

What is everybody moaning about! Nobody will force you to buy one. ...

yes. majority of recent posts are sad example what whiners-united forum RFF has ended up :bang:

 

[Highway 61]

yes. majority of recent posts are sad example what whiners-united forum RFF has ended up

Please don't reduce people being disappointed with the Df somehow, and clearly telling why, with sensible technical data to explain their point of view, to gregarian whiners moaners.

We - the faithful long term Nikon users/lovers - have been waiting for that kind of camera for almost fifteen years now.

Instead of the "FM3D" we were all dreaming of, and which Nikon definitely CAN make, we now get another DSLR with the same rear design and tons of buttons, all in a package not that small and not convenient at all to use with MF lenses.

And this, at a stratospheric price.

Of course it's for sure an EXCELLENT camera but it's definitely NOT different from our already well working and extremely satisfying D700/800/600 tools.

If I was given one for Xmas I would be very happy and would use it to death I'm certain. But as for an impulse heartbeat $3000 buy, this is another story.

An anonymous whiner (and Nikon user since 1977) 😛 😀

 

[tunalegs]

yes. majority of recent posts are sad example what whiners-united forum RFF has ended up :bang:

Well if you string people on with a marketing campaign suggesting vaguely that a product will have certain features that get people excited, but then it turns out it doesn't have the features people were hoping for, it's not strange that some would be upset.

I think it is interesting, nice looking, logically laid out, but sort of thoughtless to leave out a feature such as interchangeable focus screens when the camera is designed to be compatible with older manual focus lenses. It's hardly difficult or expensive to to include such a feature, and given the price of the machine there doesn't seem to be any excuse for not having it.

I hope my whining doesn't upset anybody. 🙂

 

[doolittle]

I still it's not a bad effort from Nikon, it certainly is a departure from the rest of their line-up.

The thing is this camera isn't replacing anything from Nikon's line-up. Need 36Mp? D800. Want a cheaper, but still full frame camera: D600. Need a rugged body and high fps: D4 etc. etc. It's just more choice.

I am looking forward to getting my hands on the camera. However, there is no chance I would buy one. Well unless of course it ends up a fifth of the price on fire sale like the V1.

 

[Highway 61]

I still it's not a bad effort from Nikon, it certainly is a departure from the rest of their line-up.

Yes and one day there might be a DfH or Df2, with interchangeable screens ala FE/FM2 and a few useless/irking things (P and S modes, front panel coding wheel, dials locks, some of the redundant rear buttons) removed. Who knows.

 

[daveleo]

Please don't reduce people being disappointed with the Df somehow, and clearly telling why, with sensible technical data to explain their point of view, to gregarian whiners moaners.

We - the faithful long term Nikon users/lovers - have been waiting for that kind of camera for almost fifteen years now.

Instead of the "FM3D" we were all dreaming of, and which Nikon definitely CAN make, we now get another DSLR with the same rear design and tons of buttons, all in a package not that small and not convenient at all to use with MF lenses.

And this, at a stratospheric price.

Of course it's for sure an EXCELLENT camera but it's definitely NOT different from our already well working and extremely satisfying D700/800/600 tools.

If I was given one for Xmas I would be very happy and would use it to death I'm certain. But as for an impulse heartbeat $3000 buy, this is another story.

An anonymous whiner (and Nikon user since 1977) 😛 😀

+1

EDIT: mostly IMO it was the advertising that brought on the big "letdown".
If Nikon had said "We are trying something out here as a first step" I think opinions and feedback would be more supportive.

 

[robert blu]

I still it's not a bad effort from Nikon, it certainly is a departure from the rest of their line-up.

The thing is this camera isn't replacing anything from Nikon's line-up. Need 36Mp? D800. Want a cheaper, but still full frame camera: D600. Need a rugged body and high fps: D4 etc. etc. It's just more choice.

I am looking forward to getting my hands on the camera. However, there is no chance I would buy one. Well unless of course it ends up a fifth of the price on fire sale like the V1.

I agree this is an interesting effort from Nikon. Is it not satisfying everybody, but I ask myself if is it possible to put on the market a camera which can satisfy everyone. Price and size are both exceeding my expectation, therefore I have not yet an idea if I'll buy one or not, need to have one in my hands first. But I appreciate the effort Nikon made even if not 100% at my expectations.
robert

 

[jarski]

those who aren't completely "upset" about new Df (such as myself), reading "polished turd", "no brains" etc. remarks, it pretty much kills all the interest take part or read any more.

 

[Highway 61]

I ask myself if is it possible to put on the market a camera which can satisfy everyone.

Robert, this is the key.

Either you put on the market a camera your ingeneers have made a certain way because they believe in it and also to please a certain category of photographers which the ingeneers know very well, and to occupy a certain segment of the market too.

This is what Leica is keeping doing since the M8 (their first camera of the digital age, as Wim Wenders says).

Or you put on the market a camera your ingeneers have begun to make a certain way to attempt to match the expectations they feel coming from a certain photographers crowd, but your marketing department have corrected again and again so that it's aimed to please everyone : here we have retro-classic ergonomics just added on a camera otherwise very similar by its inwards design to what you are already producing (it's a D600 with additional analog dials, a D4 sensor and no flash - I'd like to be convinced of the contrary but I'm afraid I won't be). As a result you put on the market something your existing customers won't queue to buy because at the very best they will look at it on internet reviews and will keep using what they already have, and which may not gather many new customers because of its price and the lack of link these new customers have with the Nikon heritage, which is one of the marketing tips of the Df.

Wanting to please everyone is the best way to please nobody at the end of the day...

 

[RichC]

If this [pressing a release button every time the shutter or any other dial is to be moved] is the case, then I wonder what the Nikon engineers are using for a brain. :bang:

That and the lack of an interchangeable focus screen makes me wonder why they try and market this as a DSLR geared towards manual focus, or at least manual focus as a workable second option to autofocus.

Now I'm beginning to understand why the 3 photographers on the Nikon Df microsite are all using AF lenses on the Df.

I suspect that Nikon "idiot proofed" the controls so people don't complain that their photos are messed up if the dials are accidentally moved. A sign that the camera is aimed at dilettantes rather than at serious photographers...l

 

[Jan Van Laethem]

yes. majority of recent posts are sad example what whiners-united forum RFF has ended up :bang:

I can only speak for myself here. I'm very interested in this camera, but need all the information and feedback I can get in order to make an informed decision to part with 3.000 Euros of my hard earned money. If that is whining in your book, so be it.

I thought a forum was a place where anybody interested in a certain subject could express their opinions and share views with others. Yours are just as welcome as anybody else's.

 

[sc_rufctr]

I can only speak for myself here. I'm very interested in this camera, but need all the information and feedback I can get in order to make an informed decision to part with 3.000 Euros of my hard earned money. If that is whining in your book, so be it.

I thought a forum was a place where anybody interested in a certain subject could express their opinions and share views with others. Yours are just as welcome and anybody else's.

Well said Jan.

 

[Jan Van Laethem]

I suspect that Nikon "idiot proofed" the controls so people don't complain that their photos are messed up because the dials accidentally changed. A sign that the camera is not aimed at dilettantes rather than at serious photographers...l

If so, they should put a warning on the display every time a photographer leaves the P and/or AF setting : "Beware, this setting may result in blurry or badly exposed pictures". 😀