Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/04

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Subject: Re: SHOW ME THE MONEY! aka $3,340
From: dmorton@journalist.co.uk (David Morton)
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 3:50 GMT0

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.