Why is the D800 late.


I stand corrected, thanks to a reader with useful information. Now people who can never constructively debate online, watch and learn: I will admit that I was wrong on the Internet. 

I first wrote that:

Great news to all of you who preordered a D800! 

The Nikon D900 will be out in 2015 ! Which means you can have it just before you receive your D800 for comparison. You can then sell your D800 to Le Louvre museum in Paris: 

"Look son, that is a D800! It was one of the most desired camera of all time, the 7 guys in the world who finally got one said it was actually good. Of course that remains a legend since no one was ever able to seen one in store."

Seriously Nikon, production chain ? Creating desire by lowering availability is one thing. And it's ok when the product is actually useless (hint: it start's with an "i" and finished by "pad"). But when you can 't fulfill more than 15% of the preorders at best (yes I have all the numbers for all shops in my town as well as the exact numbers delivered), this is called incompetence and bad supply chain management. It's even more serious when most of those people are pros waiting for their work tool.

I am mad, you're lucky you have no direct competition. 

Then I was redirected to a good article explaining why Nikon can't do it all. Basically, they have a maximum monthly production capacity and since the demand is only at a peak at launch, it is industrially irrelevant to make a much larger factory that would run 80% empty most of the time. Therefore, you gotta wait. 

Fact: well, it sucks but that's the way it is and it's not incompetence from Nikon.

Perception of the fact: Nikon should explain us why. Now that I know, well, I'm less mad.

And because you still gotta be mad at someone: rich amateurs who can't take a decent picture, stop preordering pro gear that pros actually need to make a living ! Damnit ! Most shot's I've seen from a D800  so far were just plain bad. I'm mad again ! (yeah back to normal). 

Thanks to "anonymous" for the comment.

2 comments:

  1. Thom Hogan has a good article on why this is a mistaken mindset: www.bythom.com ("Balance Points").

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    1. valid points indeed. I believe I stand partially corrected: if it's industrially unrealistic to produce it all, there is the fact and the perception of the facts. I might have gotten my facts wrong, fair enough I like learning stuff :) But Nikon should manage the perception by explaining those things. Also people registered has photographers should benefit from a priority access. Once again, it's a work tool. I talked to a guy last month who's D3X and D700 where both used up to the last frame, and he did not want to buy an other D700, 2 months before a D800. You don't always manage when your camera gets destroyed either.

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