Lately I've been hearing a lot of comments that go along the lines of "I don't want to abandon DSLRs, but Nikon's making me do so."
Well they're certainly encouraging you to move to mirrorless ;~).
But the complaints about no D850 replacement in sight and feeling abandoned by Nikon probably are over-wrought. See if you can follow my logic here.
The D850 is, to this day, still #2 on my best-all-around-camera-you-can-buy list. It's a dang good camera, and it is still more well-rounded than that Z7 II Nikon wants you to buy.
If you had to buy a D850 today—or continue to use the one you already have—it's going to last you easily five years as a go-to camera. Yes, we all would like a new D880 that's designed along the lines of what Nikon did with the D780 (e.g., the Live View capabilities of the Z7 model along with some other modernizations of features). But we don't really need it yet.
Meanwhile, all the folk that rushed to the Z mount from the F mount have been rapidly disposing of F mount lenses (disclaimer: including me, though only of some select lenses I don't feel I need duplication of on the F-mount side). That's depressed the used lens prices far enough that it's a buyer's market for F-mount lenses in excellent condition right now, particularly for best-selling lenses for which there's an abundant supply.
Nikon's reverted the D850 price back to US$3000 again, but for awhile there you could pick up a new D850 at a nice discount, and then dip into the excellent used market and pick up some key lenses for it at really nice prices, too. Sounds good to me. What DSLR death?
Meanwhile, the D780 is at US$2000, which is about the right price point for that very good DSLR.
In other words, there's nothing terribly wrong with the Nikon full frame DSLR lineup at the moment (well, Nikon could discount the D6 considering the upcoming Z9). Even the D610 is still available at US$1000, and the D750 at US$1500. That's still arguably the best full frame DSLR lineup we've ever had from anyone, and most of those cameras are competitive today and into the future.
Do I wish we had a D880 replacement out? Absolutely. It would send the message that high-end DSLR will stick around for awhile if you want it. And Nikon would be the only company sending that message, thus would have the new top-end DSLR market to itself.
Of course, D500 users might be thinking a little differently. But even there, I'm not so sure. What APS-C camera is better than a D500 today? I can't think of one. Moreover, the D500 is currently US$1500, which is less than a Fujifilm X-T4 by US$200.
Unlike the FX DSLR users, the DX users haven't quite made the same large, quick dump of DX lenses to water down used prices. First of all, Nikon didn't make all that many DX lenses (buzz, buzz). And second, many of the dedicated D500 users were photographing mostly with FX exotics.
Still, I guess the conclusion I keep coming to is this: the D500 and D850 (and D780 and D6) are still all long-haul cameras that can provide usefulness and enjoyment for some time to come. And they're not breaking your bank right now should you choose to hop on (okay, the D6 might drain you account ;~).
