Gear Announcements
Pricey New Nikon 1 V3 Mirrorless Camera Announced!
Nikon has just announced their latest offering to the mirrorless realm, the Nikon 1 V3. In this new release, Nikon gives us a powerful mirrorless camera capable of shooting 720p video at 120fps, as well as continuous 20fps while shooting stills. The sensor, which I am sure most of you are curious about, remains at the 2.7x crop factor.
Then, there is the price, according to Nikon this is a serious camera and as such, it has been given a serious price. But I am completely 100% serious when I tell you that this little mirrorless camera will cost you $1200.
While the price may seem high, you are getting a pretty powerful little camera. The new Nikon 1 V3 comes with an 18.4MP sensor, Built-in WiFi, 1080/60 video capability, and contains a brand new processing chip. Another new feature that you are sure not to miss is the new flippy screen on the back, which measures 3 inches. The interesting bit about that is that virtually the entire back of the camera comes off with the screen, buttons and all. We have seen flippy screens before, but this one is quite unique.
The full kit with camera, lens, viewfinder and a grip will go on sale in April. Pre-order links are not yet available, but stay tuned, we will bring them to you when they are available.
It is pretty clear that Nikon’s strategy to combat poor camera sales is to raise their prices across the board. In all honesty, this looks like a pretty neat camera, something that could get a lot of attention. But I fear that the price will put this out of the reach of 95% of the people who are interested in it. If this was available in the $400-600 range, I could see many people picking one up, but at $1200, it is going to be a tough sell.
What are your thoughts on the new Nikon 1 V3? Do the features make it an attractive option to you or is the lack of at least an APS-C sensor killing it for you? Share your comments below to join the discussion.
[via Engadget]
I think most people are missing the fact that the camera itself does not cost $1200, the entire kit does. The viewfinder alone is $328, and the grip is priced at $159. So you’re looking at a body+lens only price in the 700-800 range. That new 10-30mm lens is priced at $300, so you’re looking at body only in the 500-600 range whenever it becomes available this way.
This doesn’t seem very much like “Nikon’s strategy to combat poor camera sales is to raise their prices across the board.” Their strategy is to start by only releasing the bundle and maximizing their profits per initial cameras sold. If they’re still ramping production of these cameras, then it makes great sense for the first batches off the production line to be sold at the highest margins possible (in this bundle).
With a teensy-weensy little sensor, and lenses with slow apertures, there’s no way this’ll appeal to the enthusiasts, who are precisely the ones willing to spend $1200 on a compact camera.
That’s Ok. It’ll just give Fuji that much more room to run, and I’d much rather see them succeed.
Maybe they’re treating it like the Nikon DF, and they’re trying to make this a very high-end, Olympus E-M1 competitor? (The E-M1 is $1399)
=Matt=
The steep price tag is maybe justified because of the awesome flippy screen? :)
$1200 are they nuts? If this were $300-$500 I’d buy one as long as I could put my 80-200 on it. . At $1200 ROFLMAO…. Just giving up more ground Nikon.