Nikon D5/D500 release date?

[Colorado David]

When I preordered mine the release date was said to be March 18. Amazon now says April 21. Does anyone have a good idea when the product will be released? It's a general question rather than my specific ship date.

[E.J. Peiker]

This may be of interest:
http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/the-d500-delay-speculations.html

[Chris Livsey]

From Nikon Japan: April 2016 late

http://www.nikon-image.com/products/info/2016/0204.html

JOKE There are a lot of sensors to clean oil off and autofocus units to re-calibrate JOKE (I hope)

[Paul2660]

There may be something also up with the Sony sensor division as shipments of the new Phase Back, have been very few and far between.  And it's not for orders either.  It seems Phase is shipping maybe 1 or 2 backs a week right now at least to the US.  Fuji delayed the X-Pro 2 almost a month also and it uses a Sony APS-C sensor. 

The D500 has a Sony sensor, I don't know what the D5 has,  the D4 and D4s were Nikon made sensors.

Paul C

[E.J. Peiker]

The D500 has a Sony sensor, I don't know what the D5 has,  the D4 and D4s were Nikon made sensors.

Nikon physically makes no sensors at all.  They do not have a wafer fab to do it.  Nikon does however design some sensors and then have a third party semiconductor foundry build them.  The D5 falls in this category.  The D4/D4s sensors were made by a Japanese semiconductor manufacturing foundry called Renesas.

[Paul2660]

Nikon physically makes no sensors at all.  They do not have a wafer fab to do it.  Nikon does however design some sensors and then have a third party semiconductor foundry build them.  The D5 falls in this category.

Thanks for the correction.

I have heard both sides of this. Nikon sells a lot of sensor tech into the medical imaging field and other industries. I mentioned that I thought Nikon made no sensors themselves last year and was rebuffed then also. The only art of it I am sure of is the D4 and D4s are not Sony sensors.   

Paul C.

[E.J. Peiker]

Thanks for the correction.

I have heard both sides of this. Nikon sells a lot of sensor tech into the medical imaging field and other industries. I mentioned that I thought Nikon made no sensors themselves last year and was rebuffed then also. The only art of it I am sure of is the D4 and D4s are not Sony sensors.   

Paul C.

I used to run a very major semiconductor manufacturer's competitor intelligence and analysis group where we constantly map who makes what for whom and on what technology node.  In that capacity I have actually been inside third party factories and have seen so called "Nikon made" sensors in production.  As I said, Nikon has significant design capability but no volume production semiconductor manufacturing capability for these types of sensors.  Sometimes people get confused between Nikon's manufacturing operations for semiconductor equipment.  They do make semiconductor manufacturing equipment, primarily photolithography tools, but they do not make semiconductor devices - even sensors listed as "Nikon made" are actually manufactured by a third party.

[Chris Livsey]

The D500 has a Sony sensor, I don't know what the D5 has,  the D4 and D4s were Nikon made sensors.
Paul C

Nikon's new, in-house developed FX-format CMOS sensor featuring 20.8 effective megapixels,

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d5/

[E.J. Peiker]

Nikon's new, in-house developed FX-format CMOS sensor featuring 20.8 effective megapixels,

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d5/

Yup, the key word is developed as you have emphasized:
Nikon develops the sensor, a foundry manufactures it
Apple develops the A6, A7, A9, etc chip, a foundry manufactures it
AMD develops ATI graphics processors, a foundry manufactures them
nVidia develops GE Force processors, a foundry manufactures them
Porsche develops the Boxster/Cayman, a company called Valmet in Finland built them through 2011

Of the camera companies, only Canon and Sony actually physically make their sensors, and in Canon's case, only some of them.

[BernardLanguillier]

Of the camera companies, only Canon and Sony actually physically make their sensors, and in Canon's case, only some of them.

As well as Samsung probably?

Cheers,
Bernard

[AlterEgo]

As well as Samsung probably?

Cheers,
Bernard

Panasonic owns 49% of the company that makes their sensors = https://www.tpsemico.com

[dwswager]

When I preordered mine the release date was said to be March 18. Amazon now says April 21. Does anyone have a good idea when the product will be released? It's a general question rather than my specific ship date.

The Olympics are this summer and the priority is to get the D5 into pros hands as soon as possible.  The D500, while commercially will sell is much higher volume, is a secondary concern.  It will depended on resources available including shared parts and personnel.   Amazon release dates are targets based on their best information at the time.  I preordered a D500 when the date was 15 March (the original date when they first posted the camera).

So far, only Nikon Japan has weighed in with anything and "End of April" is all they said.  Lots of speculation, but I have to agree with Thom Hogan on this one.  Likely they want to get the D5 out smoothly and with all the preorders for the D500 they want to be able to fill preorders and have shelf product in stores.  They probably want to avoid the empty shelves that happened with the D800.

The D400/D500  (D300/D300s replacement) is the most talked about, most highly anticipated camera in Nikon History having reached mythical proportions.  How they could severely underestimate demand on this one is puzzling to say the least.  Just reading the spec sheets everyone knew this was going to sell like hotcakes.

[E.J. Peiker]

You are correct.  I didn't include Samsung since they seem to have exited the camera market but I'm sure their phone sensors are self made and I just plain forgot about Panasonic. 

[John Koerner]

The D400/D500  (D300/D300s replacement) is the most talked about, most highly anticipated camera in Nikon History having reached mythical proportions.

[Chris Livsey]

I understood previously Late April was the date of the delayed release, this link:http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/products/specials.php says May.
No big deal, waited all this time, years if you date from the D300, is this confirmed anywhere else?

[dwswager]

I understood previously Late April was the date of the delayed release, this link:http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/products/specials.php says May.
No big deal, waited all this time, years if you date from the D300, is this confirmed anywhere else?

I suspect most camera shops with online sales will list an estimated date for when they might be able to ship the order placed today based on availability and previous order fulfillment.  Amazon only says when the camera will be released.  Which to means to me that Amazon will box and ship their 1st D500 on that date.  When an order placed today might ship is purely speculation.   Everything is dependent on the number of preorders (prioritized for NPS), where you are in the queue and how many units the vendor gets per unit time.

As I said, I preordered on 7 February when Amazon Listed 15 March as the release date.  I'm hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.  I suspect if I see it by the end of May it will be a small miracle!

[Colorado David]

I placed my pre-order two week before you.  At that time they were using the March date too.  The wording makes me wonder, does release date mean Nikon is trying to load up the product with retailers and release a flood of them on the release date?  I hope that's what it means, but remain skeptical.  It comes when it comes although I'd sure like to use it for a shoot the first week of May.

[dwswager]

I placed my pre-order two week before you.  At that time they were using the March date too.  The wording makes me wonder, does release date mean Nikon is trying to load up the product with retailers and release a flood of them on the release date?  I hope that's what it means, but remain skeptical.  It comes when it comes although I'd sure like to use it for a shoot the first week of May.

Amazon's use of the term Release Date seems to indicated when they will be allowed to ship the first camera.

I suspect 2 issues at play with the delay from March to April.  Get the D5 out the door and do that launch so pros have it in their hands and can learn it and have confidence in it in time for the Olympics.  The other part, is to get a larger pool of inventory.  The D800 did not appear on most store shelves for quite some time after the launch.  They were sold before the retailers got them.

There NPS pre-orders, other pre orders before release date, backorders sold after release, but before the store has the product. and only then does a store actually have in-stock merchandise to sell.  One concern is a situation where two people order the camera the same day from the same vendor and one person gets it  1 May and the other doesn't get it till 1 June.  That pisses people off.  The other is for brick and mortar stores to have stock.  That is, if a person is paying the premium to go to the store to hold it and handle it, the store has to have stock to make money.  Otherwise, even if someone can hold the floor model in his hands, but can't leave with one, they might as well just buy from Amazon!  Not having stock is a killer for brick and mortar stores!

[Chris Livsey]

I suspect 2 issues at play with the delay from March to April.  Get the D5 out the door and do that launch so pros have it in their hands and can learn it and have confidence in it in time for the Olympics.  The other part, is to get a larger pool of inventory.  The D800 did not appear on most store shelves for quite some time after the launch.  They were sold before the retailers got them.

I am not a conspiracy theorist trying to find a hidden reason but surely Nikon were aware of both the D5 launch, rather obviously, and of the D800 issues of re-selling at a premium due to the stock shortage, which probably annoyed the dealers more than keeping customers waiting, ( a little bird tells me some of those sales were from the very stores pleading no stock) so why announce a date, which was their own choice, then change it so quickly?
And if they were surprised at the volume of pre-orders then their market research and customer relations Depts. should have their staff writing "lessons learnt" bulletins about communication, the D300 successor was the most wanted camera since the 5D II.
Under promise and over deliver is a maxim that keeps customers happy.

[dwswager]

Under promise and over deliver is a maxim that keeps customers happy.

Nikon's maxim is don't promise anything and deliver when you damn well feel like it!