# Is Nikon in despair?



## ajfotofilmagem (Nov 19, 2017)

Is Nikon in despair? ???

At this point the great and D500 battery grip is sold in BH with $ 569 instant discount.
The kit with battery grip and 16-80mm lens, have an instant discount of $ 1039 ...
It seems they finally discovered a camera model that makes money, and decided to be more aggressive to gain market share.


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## unfocused (Nov 19, 2017)

Is Canon in despair?

Both companies are running free grip promotions. It's a good way to entice buyers with an overpriced accessory that likely has a huge profit margin built in anyway, so doesn't cost either company much.

Canon is also giving away printers. (And has been doing so for years). Canon gives away the printers because the real profits are in ink and paper. 

Finally, don't confuse a retailer's own promotions with the companies'. B&H and Adorama are engaged in something of a price war on the 6DII and the 5DIV. That's driven by retail competition, not by Canon (or Nikon). They can use bundles (such as the printers and the grips) and special coupon codes to skirt MAP pricing. A lesson for everyone who complains about MAP -- the market always sets the price and retailers will find a way around MAP if they need to move merchandise.


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## ethanz (Nov 20, 2017)

unfocused said:


> the market always sets the price and retailers will find a way around MAP if they need to move merchandise.



Capitalism wins the day.


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## Woody (Nov 20, 2017)

Yes, Nikon is desperate.

From http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/nikons-first-half-financial.html

"Since they didn't report it, what market shares did Nikon have for the period from April 1st to September 30th?

Compacts: 20.2%
ILC: 21.6%
Lenses: 20.3%

Now you know why they didn't report it. ILC unit volume is only about two-thirds what it used to be. That "market shrinkage" Nikon keeps mentioning? It's mostly "Nikon shrinkage." 

... _*Nikon is in a market share slide that's unprecedented in modern camera manufacturing history*_."

In case you are wondering, Canon's market share is better than 43.6% (Canon provides number of cameras sold while CIPA reports number of cameras sold).


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## Mikehit (Nov 20, 2017)

An interesting link, Woody. 

I did wonder at his comment:


> Nikon's putting a lot of pressure on their top DSLRs to produce. The good news is that the D850 is a great camera, and so are the D5 and D500. Nikon knows how to make good products. What they don't seem to know how to do is find true consumer relevance in most of their lower-level products.



I wonder what he means by 'relevant' - if it means appeal to the customer (and thereby sales) then the only way you can say the D5, D500 and D850 are 'relevant' is by knowing sales against Canon/Sony equivalents: no-one doubts they are all very good cameras but are the things that make them stand out the sort of things that matter to the general market?
Nikon has a way of cascading things like sensors and functions down to their base models so in what way would those models not be 'relevant'?


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## privatebydesign (Nov 20, 2017)

The D5 is not a great camera, even worse when compared to the D4.


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## BillB (Nov 20, 2017)

Mikehit said:


> An interesting link, Woody.
> 
> I did wonder at his comment:
> 
> ...



In comparison to Canon, and pretty much everybody else, Nikon doesn't seem to be doing very much in the Liveview/mirrorless/EVF space. They seem to be betting heavily on high quality DSLR's, a rather pricey segment of the market, and one that may lack much growth potential.

Makes me wonder whether Nikon is heading toward selling it's camera business to Sony, which would suddenly put Sony head on against Canon in high end DSLR's.


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