It's highly probable that in the
next five years one of the major camera makers is going out of
business. Sales are down in compacts and dropping fast in dSLRs.
Smaller mirrorless cameras are meeting the demand the casual
photographer needs if there smartphone doesn't already. dSLRs will
still have their place as professional tools, but that's a small
market. It's interesting to see how the three big camera makers are
responding to this change in the market. Sony is blasting away with a
shotgun, hoping to hit something with their wide variety of cameras.
Too bad none are a complete system, and a system camera is only as good
as that system. Canon at the moment seems stagnant and quiet, while
Nikon is trying to use nostalgia to appeal to customers with the Nikon
Df. Take a D610 body and shutter, put in an arguably better or worse D4
sensor, remove any video ability, clad it in retro and charge a $700
premium. Slightly slimmer but just as tall as a D600, this is no Nikon
FM2. Who would buy this over the D800? My guess is only those with too
much expendible income. Perhaps Nikon already resigned to being another
Leica, holding on to past glory and making niche photography products.
The Df is aesthetically an FM2 as much as a Honda Civic with huge rims
is a luxury car. It has a thick, squat, ungraceful digital look.
