Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Paul wrote: > I think I read someplace that Nikon is actually loosing money on some > of it's pro equipment, but the reputation they have of being the chosen > brand for pro photographers is what sells a lot of their less-expensive > products, as well as stuff outside of their field, like scanners. If > you look at the big picture, it doesn't matter if they loose money in > that area because it generates huge profits elsewhere. I'm not sure how they're doing in other markets, but Nikon are taking a serious battering in the UK pro marketplace. They were *much* too late with the F5, and by the time they launched it most of those who needed fast AF had jumped ship to the EOS1n. Street price for an F5 body in the UK is about UKP1900, however the right words in the appropriate ears (along the lines of "I'm a professional photographer, I work for xxx picture agency") will knock UKP4-500 off that. At the same time they've got it all wrong with their digital offering, the Nikon/Fujix E2n, which is a deeply horrible bit of kit, and not a patch on Kodak's EOS based digital bodies (Kodak do N90 based digitals too, like the AP NC2000e, but they're not as good as the EOS based ones). Having said that I'm dashed grateful to them for keeping the F3/F3P in production, they - along with Leica with the R6.2 & M6 (>>phew<< got back on topic) - do seem to be aware that there's a continuing market for such things.