2.) And here's the killer: Canon makes their own chips. For better
or worse this is what's really killing Nikon. (That and the fact
that Nikon is just too plain old arrogant to realize that they
still can't give people LESS and expect them to say "Thank you."
While I have no inside knowledge, my speculation is that Nikon knows this is an advantage which is why it developed the LBCAST sensor. The problem is that the LBCAST sensor technology has not matured in the way that Nikon wanted or needed which I think (again this is what I think is going on but who am I anyway?) is why we are seeing a slower product cycles and jointly developed sensors with Sony like the one in the D2X. Nothing wrong with that either as long as it is good. Now weather LBCAST will ever be all that Nikon wanted it to be is a question that cannot be answered yet. Clearly Canon is getting excellent performance from its own in house CMOS sensors which has been a big help to its more rapid product cycles.
You last commet in the paragraph above is interesting. You make it sound like Nikon is withholding something from its customers intentionally. Do you really think that if Nikon had an 8mp sensor for the D2Hs that it would hold it back? That's just silly. Obviously, it doesn't have it yet, so it did what it could on two fronts.
1. Built the D2X with a high speed mode at 6.9 mp, but sacrificed some of the deep buffering
2. Made those improvements it could to the D2Hs.
If you shoot Nikon you now have a choice. If 4mp is enough and the improvments in the D2Hs are worth the extra money to you (only time will answer that question based on performance and image quality), then that is the way to go. Need more mp and you can do with a smaller buffer, the D2X is the way to go. Now this of course all assumes that the D2X is the camera it has been advertised to be. I would certainly agree that if it is a dud, Nikon has a big problem on its hands. Remember, in order to get over 8mp with Canon you need to spend $8,000 on a D1s II. That is $3,000 more than the D2X for 4 additional mp. Is that worth the money, only the individual user can decide.
Now does, Nikon need to fire its entire marketing department, you bet it does. Is that corporate arrogance? I suppose it could be, but my understanding is that, based upon its limited production capabilities, Nikon is currently selling all the camera's it can possibly make so it must be doing something right.
(You have to pay EXTRA for the software to convert from raw? You
have to be kidding...)
No you don't. Both Nikon View and Picture Project (the latter of which is admittedly not very good, but View is a nice simple completely useable free software package) contain basic RAW converters and editors. If you want advanced functions, then you need to buy Capture.
BTW Ed, I enjoyed looking at your website. You do very nice work.
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Just my nickels worth.
Happy Snappin'!
Ron
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