Originally posted by Rondec Do you know how much bashing of a digital K1000 there would be? Pentaxians constantly have the idea that if you left out all the stuff they don't need (video, special filters, etc) than you could sell a small full frame camera for 1000 dollars. But we see here that crippling the camera doesn't actually change the price. I suppose that there is a premium attached to the fact that this is a retro camera, etc. But crippling stuff that is already there doesn't save anyone any money -- this is all just software anyway.
The Df isn't a retro camera. It is a retro-styled camera and not from all angles, either: the back view, buttons and all, is standard digital DSLR. Nikon's engineers may well have wanted to follow the Less is More philosophy and I am sure they are more than capable of producing an absolutely superb camera. But it looks as if the marketing boys stepped in and mandated the creation of the full digital Monty combined with what they imagined a rich fellow might think a camera from the 1970s was really like, right down to the
cheesey still chosen for a back drop.
So perhaps the virtues of this camera (and its vices since all cameras have both) have become lost in an argument about style wars which in turn revolves around money? If someone likes and wants this camera, why should they not get it and enjoy the experience thoroughly too? it will surely take excellent images.
On the other hand ... I was talking to two photographer friends this morning. Both said they thought Nikon had completely lost it, and if the Df was the last hurrah of the old Nikon we know today they wouldn't be surprised. They then cited a list of people they know who have simply walked away from Nikon over the past few years, most of them to Olympus, Fuji or Sony because those companies listen to their customers and produce elegant, high-quality and above all useful equipment - and usually at reasonably sane prices. That is what companies like Nikon seem to have drifted away from, particularly for customers of the D700 or D300s kind whom Nikon have simply abandoned. So: interesting times.