Anyone have any insight into why a company like Nikon would announce a camera like this 6 weeks before it will ship to customers? Why not announce it when you are ready to ship so you don't frustrate your customers who want one right away?

Glenn
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Perhaps to keep customers who otherwise might have jumped to a 60D or 7D?

_____
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Nikon in recent times has announced new DSLRs about 4 weeks prior to shipping (see for eg. the D90 and 300s). Here, I suspect Photokina had a lot to do with the D7000 being announced slightly ahead of schedule.

Jason

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Early or late notification does not change the D7000 availability. I prefer the early announcement to get the NAS funds ready for the drain.

Dave
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It is a common stratagy in marketing. It freezes the market until your product can be sitting on every camera store shelf. Sales of mid line DSLR just dropped to lowest levels of the year as people wait to find out more. Half of those people might have bought a Canon if they had not been told to hold out a little longer for something really big. Some Christmas shopping is occurring now, and this advanced announcement is a way of slowing down the momentum of a competitor who might have product on the shelves already. It is a big task to get a million $1200 cameras in reasonable supply in every retail camera store in the world. That what Nikon has to do before the New Year. The D3s roll out was hard enough yet it was 1/50th of the size.
Stan
St Petersburg Russia

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>Anyone have any insight into why a company like Nikon would
>announce a camera like this 6 weeks before it will ship to
>customers? Why not announce it when you are ready to ship so
>you don't frustrate your customers who want one right away?

One factor in announcement dates is trade shows, like Photokina, which is currently underway in Germany, and occurs every other year.

Back just a few years ago, it used to regularly take Nikon 3 to 6 months from the announcement time to the first ship date. Somtimes products would get delayed, too. And even after that, you had to wait 6-9 months before the rush died down and you were actually able to get one in your hands. And even a year after announcement, there were often bugs that plagued the first batches. So, many photographers waited a whole year from the announcement before even attempting to buy a camera. The D2H, for example, was announced in I believe August of 2003, but didn't really ship until December. And it was hard to get until Spring 2004!

Nikon is really a lot better in this regard lately. Really; the one month delay these days is nothing! Nikon used to be so slowwwww. The only Nikon camera currently still plagued by a shortage a while after its release is the D3s. Every other model has shipped within about a month. Look at the Fuji X100, and be glad Nikon is faster than Fuji; it's not coming until March 2011! Or how about the Sigma SD-1, for which there isn't even a firm availability date yet (the SD-15 took about a year I believe).

An undeniable paradox: To think that there is any such thing as an absolute rule is at worst naïve, and at best, shortsighted. There is no such thing as an always-true, all context- or situation-salient, absolute rule that always holds true…including this one!

Stan,

You are correct of course, they shot Canon in the heart for anyone who wishes an autofocus application in HDMI 1080P, even though the frame rate is static at 24fps along with the whole DX phenomena lenses.

Rob

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I agree with Zone V, this wait is nothing compared to the bad old days

Best regards, SteveK

'A camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.' -- Dorothea Lange
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>Stan,
>
>You are correct of course, they shot Canon in the heart for
>anyone who wishes an autofocus application in HDMI 1080P, even
>though the frame rate is static at 24fps along with the whole
>DX phenomena lenses.
>
>Rob
>
My complete 5D2 with 4 lens outfit is for sale if you cannot wait for the D7000

The good news is that you can use nearly all your lens. You are not limited to AF-S DX with the D7000.

I would not be surprised when the 30fps HD firmware update is released soon after the camera ships.
However, that could be delayed if there is a D400 or D700s release pending.

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