Hey people, back again
Look, I am not a serial poster, so this will be a kind of last post on this issue.
I stress once more, I am a Canon owner (5Dmk2, 7D, 5Dmk3) and fanboy. What I have posted previously is for the love of Canon. I would neveeeer consider buying a Nikon. Their lenses clip on anti-clockwise, for goodness sake! Plus, I'm too invested in Canon.
Points well taken from other posters (???!). Yes, look this may be occurring in my country, my state, my city only, it may not be a worldwide phenomenon. I won't tell you where I'm from, obviously an 'English speaking' country, for fear of repercussions from Canon.
Let me clarify things. My store sells to consumers primarily, not professionals. This would obviously have to be advanced amateurs, or prosumers as they are sometimes known. I have nothing to gain from quoting the 5:1 ratio statistic. In fact I will add that this ratio would have been 6:1 if Nikon had been able to fulfill D800E orders. However, they have failed miserably in this and orders are getting cancelled left, right and center.
Now, I have good friends at other stores that tend to sell more cameras to professionals. Even there, the D800 is outselling the 5Dmk3, but not at the same ratio as my store. On the other hand, the 1Dx is outselling the D4. So, most professionals are impressed by Canon's new offering.
Getting back to the prosumers... Canon and Nikon will always sell their wares to their dedicated bands of professionals. This is a limited market, however, and it is not growing exponentially. In the last six months the camera business has shifted. Yes, we have noticed it! Cheap compacts are out (too many good quality smart phone cameras out there), whilst high end compact (ala Sony RX100), Mirrorless Cameras (ala Olympus OM-D) and "really expensive" high end DSLRs are doing a roaring trade. Yes, we are selling more of these than ever. To whom? To average Joe Blows with disposable income.
Canon and Nikon are not fighting 'the world domination war' to gain more professional users, but to convince average Joe Blows that they are the best. At the moment, Nikon has done this best with the Nikon D800. They have convinced the masses that this is what they must desire, this is what they must have. Remember, the war will be won by recruiting these masses; the pros are, generally, there for the long haul.
I posted what I posted because 'I' want Canon to win !!!
P.S. To those who wear blinkers and can only retort with nastiness: I discuss my customer's needs with them and explain to them that unless they are printing their photos to A3, A2 size, etc, megapixels are of no consequence. Believe it or not more than 80% of consumers will never print a photo. Viewing them on an smartphone, tablet, computer (flickr, facebook, etc) and TV is what they do; and we all know you don't need tens of megapixels for that.
Selling lots of cameras is about marketing through the creation of desire... and 46mp, whether we like it or not, creates a lot of desire. Those who are purists among us, supporters of less megapixels for less noise, are just going to have to take this on the chin. Canon is a business! They need to find their 'vision' again and move forward to once again dominate the world of DSLRs.
P.S. At our store we tend to sell more Canons than Nikons. We give equal billing to Canon, Sony, and Nikon. No Pentax, sorry! In fact, Canon, is in the best spot, seen first by customers when they enter. We have never had a D800 'in stock' as such, as months later we are still fulfilling backorders. The 5Dmk3 has always been in stock. In fact, after the initial rush, we still have a good number of bodies just sitting there. They are not selling because customers believe they are too expensive.
I am not posting to create controversy, as I tried to indicate earlier, but to give Canon a 'kickstarter' up the arse.
Phew...I'm exhausted.
Bye...for good...for now !!!
