(commentary)
I love press releases. Okay, I don't love them, I despise them. I've had stacks of press releases on my desks for 37 years now, so I've seen really good marketing jargon, and really bad marketing jargon. I've authored/approved quite a few press releases in my work history, too, but I've always tried to make them straightforward and mostly just the facts. Especially these days, you're going to get flowery headlines and lots of press opinion in any writeup about your new products when you send out press releases and marketing materials, so it's best to leave out the hyperbole and just get to what it is you're trying to sell.
With that in mind, let's look at some of Nikon's language in the D7100 launch materials:
- "Ultimate image quality." We're done. We've hit ultimate. This really is your last camera, and Nikon themselves have announced that. No need for them to iterate any more DSLRs, as the D7100 has "ultimate image quality." Is that with DX or FX lenses, by the way?
- "Create without limitation." Really? No limitations? You mean all the lenses I really want to use with the camera are available? I won't hit any buffer full messages?
- "DX-format Flagship." Uh-oh. A lot of D300/D300s owners are reading this as meaning "no D400 is coming." If true, that's a bone-headed move on Nikon's part, and now frees some of their most loyal users to look elsewhere for their next camera. It might be FX, but it might also be Canon or something else. If not true, that's still a bone-headed move on Nikon's part, because some are believing it to be true (see previous). Talk about sending messages. This is a message people are receiving. If Nikon didn't intend it the way folk are interpreting it, oops. Even if they did, oops.
- "As a middle-class DX-format D-SLR." Well, apparently the Japanese disagree with the American Nikon marketers. The previous quote is from the US site, this quote is from the Japanese site. So who are we to believe? This contradiction in statements makes my comments about "oops" need some emphasis: OOPS!
- "Intuitive Engineering." The word intuitive has as part of its definition "based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning." Personally, I want my DSLR to be designed with conscious reasoning, thank you.
- "Explode with more clarity." I really hope my images don't explode. I certainly hope my camera doesn't explode. Explode is not an adjective we photographers are accustomed to hearing. I want to be at peace with my gear, personally.
- "Whether in an...isolated forest, they can now share their images wirelessly." Uh, maybe in Japan those isolated forests have cell connections. Here in the US, the isolated forests don't tend to have very good cell reception, if at all. But I guess if I ever get that illusive photo of Big Foot, I'd better carry along my WU-1a and cell phone.
- "fire a blazing fast 6 frames per second continuously for up to 100 shots." Or maybe a miserable 5 frames or so at 14-bit RAW lossless with some of the advanced features turned on. Even JPEG Fine maxes out at 33 images. Plus be careful to not use Optimal Compression, HI ISO values, Long Exposure Reduction, or Auto Distortion Control.
- And my favorite: "Solidifying Nikon's ongoing commitment to the DX-format D-SLR customer." Gee, someone's been reading my site, particularly DX month, where I accused Nikon of not doing that. Iterating a predicted camera predictably apparently is "solid" in Nikon parlance. It's the level of commitment Nikon has to DX that's in question, not whether they continue to iterate it. "Extending" would have been a better word than "Solidifying." And commitment is a big word. Are we really in a committed relationship, Nikon? Or are you just saying that to keep us seeing you?
I should point out that the US press release did have a fair amount of just plain facts in it. That's good. More of that, please. Plus some of the facts that people want to know but you aren't telling us (exact buffer sizes, for example, which for some reason are only on the Japan site, and somewhat hidden).
