Eric T
Well-known
Hey - this is the rangefinder forum. Forget an undated Df - let's suggest a digital Nikon S3. What would it be called - the Ds?
Will there be a Nikon DF replacement?
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Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Eric,
Remember the Citroen DS, pronounced "déesse", (goddess)?
But an DS Nikon would need a sensible sized lens throat for a start. I mean, digital Ms have a fairly limited appeal, but a DS would be a REALLY hard sell.
Cheers,
R.
x-ray
Veteran
I'm one of those odd professionals. It's my go to camera for many of my assignments. The images are beautiful and it's a pleasure to use for an old film guy.
A Df2 would have to be something amazing for me to replace it.
marcr1230
Well-known
The beauty of the Nikon F system is that you can use almost 60 year's worth of lenses
A nice FM3a size FF sensor camera with a good focus mechanism and the foldable aperture thing would be amazing. Unfortunately, it's a small market for an ailing company
A nice FM3a size FF sensor camera with a good focus mechanism and the foldable aperture thing would be amazing. Unfortunately, it's a small market for an ailing company
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
I keep seeing Nikon being referred as an 'ailing company' or 'panicking' ... is this fact or just the usual hearsay based on their current apparent failure to keep pace with their competitors in the camera market?
marcr1230
Well-known
for fiscal year ending March 2017, Nikon reported an "extraordinary loss" - as in rare/unusual in accounting terms.
from reading comments on the financial and camera sites, the consensus is they are not selling camera products that the customers want. I believe Sony surpassed them in the United States so they are now #3.
Nikon is also having trouble in it's other business lines.
I wish them well, but it's a rough time for camera makers.
from reading comments on the financial and camera sites, the consensus is they are not selling camera products that the customers want. I believe Sony surpassed them in the United States so they are now #3.
Nikon is also having trouble in it's other business lines.
I wish them well, but it's a rough time for camera makers.
css9450
Veteran
Considering some of the needs and wants we see expressed here on the forum, a Df or Df2 isn't going to please everyone, that's for sure. One guy wants a mirrorless, one guy wants a digital S3, one guy wants to keep the F mount.... Heck maybe they should dust off those old plans from 1946 and build a TLR... Medium format, long may it live!
Timmyjoe
Veteran
In the couple weeks I used a Df with all my old Nikkor glass, having the magnifying eyepiece (DK-17M) on it made focusing the old Pre-AI Nikkors a snap.
I found it to be a great camera for manual focus lenses, much better than my D4, and a bit better than my D700.
Best,
-Tim
Rob-F
Likes Leicas
I think people were disappointed that the Df was not that much smaller than the D700. I was. When they can put a digital Nikon into an FE2 body, I'll buy it.
Huss
Veteran
Not sure how the DK-17 would make any difference. It will just magnify a focusing screen that is only accurate to f2.8, and it was designed as an AF screen. Nikon made no effort to get it to work as an MF screen. They easily could have - just look at how great the focusing screen is in the F6.
And that's what I find so disappointing with the DF. The promise was there, but ultimately it was just a DSLR in retro clothes. But those clothes were shopped for in the big and tall store.
jsrockit
Moderator
Will you really buy it?
lawrence
Veteran
I keep toying with the idea of a Df but would it really offer a significant (to me) improvement over the D700? Probably not and they still aren't exactly cheap in the s/h market...looks nice though.
Rob-F
Likes Leicas
Sure. Unless it costs $5,000. But it shouldn't. If it does, I'll wait until Cameta Camera has a refurb for $3,000.
Highway 61
Revisited
There are four reasons named battery life, shutter lag, EVF time-lapse refreshing and EVF blooming.
Other than that I fully agree with you on all points including the terrible bulky design. The D750 is a way better choice than the Df now even for MF Nikkors and at the end of the day its design is more honest. The flippable Ai coupler of the Df is just a marketing gimmick, to hide the many other flaws of this camera.
Of course it's a camera any good photographer will make good pictures with but it has nothing to do with what the faithful Nikon users were expecting a few weeks before the Df final release.
Will Nikon make "that" exceptional small and sleek FF DSLR which would just be a Leica M240 with the Nikon F6 reflex chamber and interchangeable focusing screens instead of the rangefinder unit, I don't know. They for sure can make it - no problem. But... well.
Rob-F
Likes Leicas
I feel that I would rather have a mirror, to see what's really there, than a digital representation in the finder. I know, I know, the picture's gonna be digital anyway; but still . . .
willie_901
Veteran
Investors are not impressed by Nikon's financial health.
Here's some facts.
Compared to last year, Nikon's earnings growth declined 147% and their revenue growth declined by 12%.
Since 2012 the Nikkei 225 stock index increased by about 117%. Nikon's stock price decreased by 34% during the same period.
In November Nikon announced they were eliminating 1,000 jobs in their lithography (chip manufacturing technology) division.
In February Nikon canceled all three new DL cameras they under development as a new, premium, compact camera product line.
willie_901
Veteran
Good Question!
Good Question!
Sooner or later, Nikon must bring new cameras to market. If these are high-end DSLR's, then we might infer Nikon has decided to focus on the pro/semi-pro market.
If Nikon also replaces and.or updates the Df, then Nikon has the will and resources to fight for market share in the mid-priced, enthusiast still-camera market. Nikon wants to sell new lenses. So, I don't think we will see a minimalistic, retro-DSLR where repurposing AI/AIS is a design priority. Having used the green-dot manual focusing method with three Nikon bodies, I don't consider the Df to be a product that encouraged AI/AIS lens usage. This is not the sam as saying saying that green-dot manual focusing is impractical.
For the foreseeable future I think all Nikon's new models will have mirror boxes . This will make many of their customers happy. Photographers who no longer value cameras with mirror boxes moved on a long time ago. The F-mount is here to stay as well.
Good Question!
Sooner or later, Nikon must bring new cameras to market. If these are high-end DSLR's, then we might infer Nikon has decided to focus on the pro/semi-pro market.
If Nikon also replaces and.or updates the Df, then Nikon has the will and resources to fight for market share in the mid-priced, enthusiast still-camera market. Nikon wants to sell new lenses. So, I don't think we will see a minimalistic, retro-DSLR where repurposing AI/AIS is a design priority. Having used the green-dot manual focusing method with three Nikon bodies, I don't consider the Df to be a product that encouraged AI/AIS lens usage. This is not the sam as saying saying that green-dot manual focusing is impractical.
For the foreseeable future I think all Nikon's new models will have mirror boxes . This will make many of their customers happy. Photographers who no longer value cameras with mirror boxes moved on a long time ago. The F-mount is here to stay as well.
dogberryjr
[Pithy phrase]
This is also my situation. I've had the D700 since its introduction and love it, but man, do the controls on the DF call to me.
css9450
Veteran
The Df and/or a new Df2 really needs to hearken back to the heyday of the F and F2 with their big, muscular viewfinders. The big FTn finder was an icon of the '60s. I am sure Nikon can use the extra room inside of it for more electronics, but even if its just a glass prism in there, its golden.
Huss
Veteran
The Sony A9's EVF has those issues addressed. So no reason that Nikon shouldn't either.
Funny how my much smaller FM2 has a much bigger VF than the 'optimized for mf lenses' DF.
