larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I received an email from Nikon yesterday asking me to participate in a survey. It turned out to be a very interesting series of questions focused on mirrorless camera interest and plans, particularly the Z6 and Z7 versus some other choices. While completing the survey, my thoughts were that someone in Marketing at Nikon surely must have been reading some of our threads here (which I have no doubt is true, by the way), because the questions, by and large, addressed many of the same issues that have been discussed in threads here.

I'll not seek to influence the survey by discussing specific questions or my own answers (at least not yet), but will say that it was very interesting to see what they were asking me about, and that they were asking some of the questions at all this soon after the product introduction. Some of the questions related to their advertising strategy over the past few months, but a number of them went quite a distance beyond simple responses to advertisements or promotional activities.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I think Nikon would be far more interested examining actual reviews rather than opinions influenced by those reviews, such as is what one generally encounters on UHH.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

I received the survey as well and it was nothing more than a marketing tool that may provide a little insight on consumer thoughts regarding their new products. Nothing invasive. Short and no big deal, at least to me.

ChristianHJensen

The marketing department for sure would like to know what POTENTIAL mirrorless customers think. Off course they also want to know what users of mirrorless think but that is an entirely different parameter. And reviews from pundits that have not actually bought the camera themselves are yet a third category

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Thanks for the responses. I'd like to clarify that I did not consider the survey to be the least bit invasive, just that it asked a number of thoughtfully prepared questions. A good clue as to the motivation of the survey would have been if I had been "kicked out" at some point along the way, but that did not happen. Some of the questions did seem to indicate an effort to collect information to be used strategically in determining future product direction beyond just decisions around a couple of specific camera models.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

you talked me into it. I went back and took the survey.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

It is only logical that Nikon tries to understand better the logic in selecting a mirrorless camera. When after years of neglect, I believe on their part and watching how the market was pointing so favorably on mirrorless cameras they had to take the decision to begin to produce those cameras.
Future development and research will be based on those opinions from where better products, understanding what people like and want should be the rule.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

On the contrary! The reviewers are not the people who buy the majority of any product, in fact some reviewers are given products to review without charge because they can influence consumers to buy a product. Nikon is doing the smart thing. They are asking potential customers their opinions so they can tweak their products and advertising to be more attractive to their potential customers.

tiphareth51 Loc: Somewhere near North Pole, Alaska

I too received the survey. My opinion about mirrorless is non-existent...know nothing about it and am not looking to purchase one. My upgrade to full frame about one year ago with new bodies and new lenses should last me the rest of my lifetime. Will mirrorless be a fad or is it here to stay?

Bill P

Will mirrorless be a fad or is it here to stay?[/quote]


No i's not a fad. Economics will guarantee their future. Making a DSLR requires a lot of fiddly tiny parts assembled by hand by real people. Autofocus requires two sensors as there is no info from the main one until exposure. Mirrorless can be assembled mainly be robots.

But they will be able to find a way to make the ultimate consumer pay just as much as always.