This wasn’t entirely unexpected, but is a little disappointed, but the release of the Nikon D300s has put the Nikon D400 into a bit of a hype - slump.  Prior to the D300s’ release, the D400 has had steady increases in the overall search traffic.  Since mid July; however, that has changed.  Search traffic has gone from from almost 20k searches per month in the US down to 6600 in August, and has gone from over 70k globally down to 46k.  Quite a drop there, and a little disappointing, but I expect in another couple months those numbers will bounce back up beyond the previous levels.

To put this in context, NikonD400News.com has been floating between the 1st and 3rd spot in Google search rankings, and was getting 6500-8000 visitors per month, and almost paying for its own hosting costs with the small ad revenues.  Viewership has dropped down to 3000-3500 per month, less than half, and almost no revenues from ads.

The Nikon D300s has been announced today as being the latest update in the serious amateur - professional line of DSLR cameras.  This means a delay for the launch of the Nikon D400, which will now probably have to wait at least 6 months before they would even consider releasing it.  On the plus side, the D300s does come with some noticeable improvements on the Nikon D300, as follows:

• 720p HD video, with active recording auto-focus
• SD card slot (D300 only had a CF slot, D300s has both)
• 1fps faster continuous shooting (7fps vs 6fps)
• Jack for external microphone
• Addition of Live View/Info buttons
• ‘OK’ button in multi controller
• Interactive settings display screen
• Auto and Extra High Active D-Lighting options
• Quiet drive mode
• Virtual horizon

Now the biggest in that list in my mind is the addition of 720p HD video, which when paired with the auto-focus while recording makes for a pretty impressive boost.  Its not 1080p, but they do have to leave some room for improvement there.  the virtual horizon feature is a nice touch, allowing you to confirm that you are taking a shot on the level.  Though nowadays there are tonnes of programs out there that can straighten out a crooked photo, it is always better to take the level shot in the first place.  The addition of the SD card slot is a nice feature, but realistically I don’t see it as a huge bonus, though I can see how other people would like the feature immensely.  Apart from being a more common mass storage type, SD cards are slower and seem to cost more than CF.  The SD card readers are noticeably more common though, which accounts for the feature in my eyes.

Now, the Nikon D300s is retailing at different stores at different times.  At this point I’m not sure if I want to go ahead and buy the D300s, or wait it out for the D400…  The improvements to the D300 have made it much more difficult a decision.  Though my decision is not yet made (and I expect I’ll be trying desperately to get my hands on one to try it out), you may want to buy one.  If so, here are some places at which they will be for sale:

• Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk - $1799.95, £1,499.99, PRE ORDER AVAILABLE, Shipping date 13 Sep 2009 in US, 28 Aug 2009 in UK, Kits may be added at a later date, FREE SHIPPING.
• B & H Photo - $1799.95 -  Estimated availability, September 2009.
• Ebay.com, Ebay.ca, Ebay.uk, Ebay.au - Availability and price varies

Now you can buy from whomever you like, but if you buy from one of those sites after clicking those links, I do get a small commission which helps to keep this site up and going.  If you decide to purchase the D300s, and you’ve found this site useful, please use those links, it is much appreciated.

Early this morning I received a tip for a Nikon D400 News.com reader, Stefan from Munich, who told me of a comeback of Michael Gradias’ book on the Nikon D400.  Two separate websites on the .de domain list his new book as being titled "Nikon D400", both of which list an August release date.

Now both of these screenshots are active as of right now, at www.buecher.de and www.weltbild.de.  So what does this mean?  Now one possibility is that is another accidental leak on the part of these german book sites.  It has happened before as detailed in the 13 April 09 post "Amazon.de, slim hope or small hoax?"  Another possibility, is both this as well as the 09/10 Nikon roadmap leak are all part of a viral marketting scheme orchestrated by Nikon and intended to keep the buzz going and keep Canon guessing as to their actual plans.  Now a third possibility is that this is legitimate, and points to an upcoming release of the Nikon D400.  Given the nature of these rumors, I’m hesitant to call this one an outright fabrication, so what does this mean?  I still think the release will happen this year, contrary to the mysterious ‘roadmap leak’.

Now its been a while since I’ve posted anything, and for the I appologize.  This one is coming a tiny bit late, but its a good one.  A supposed Nikon D400 roadmap has been leaked to the internet through a source from an IT company based in England.  The 37 page report lists the future of Nikon releases until the end of 2010.  This report lists the Nikon D400 release as being set for release in the 2nd quarter of 2010, which spans from April to June 2010, and includes specs for the camera as follows:

-13.8mp DX sensor w/ maximized by increasing the sensitivity of >1 exposure value
-an “ultra-fast pixel register cache”, which allows to double the frame rate or increase dynamic range, including effective aid noise reduction with natural lodging details.
-[S] 4.550 x 3.034
-Continuous high-speed mode: 8 fps, 10 fps with BG,
-12 fps with a double-exposure phase detection AF & mirror up 6/sec.,
-14 fps with BG to double-exposure with the phase detection AF & mirror up 7/sec.,
-ISO 200 – 6400, Lo-1, Hi 1
-Movie – mode: 1920 * 1080 at 24 fps
-Multi-CAM 4500 DX 61-point AF, Auto / User Drive dynamic AF-C, intelligent co-operation with 2200-zónovým 3D Color Matrix meter
to achieve great success autofocus.
-Screening of additional information across a large area of the viewfinder.
-Dual histogram for the double-exposure mode.

So, does this report carry some weight and point to an early-mid 2010 release, or is it a fabrication?  I’m thinking it may be real.  Creating a 37 page report as a rumor is quite a big task with little reward.  Or, could it be something intentionally leaked to create hype?  I guess we’ll see, but I’ll post the full report soon for you all to see.

The google search requests on the Nikon D400 are just skyrocketing.  I’m talking exponential increases here.  If this keeps up, the Nikon may have found the most anticipated camera for the year at least, and possibly one of the most anticipated DSLRs in recent history.  In April, there were ~33000 google searches for "Nikon D400".  Six months ago, there were only ~5000 google searches.  This shows a almost a 700% increase in searches over 6 months, which is incredible.  I’m almost giddy waiting for the official announcement from Nikon.