It wasn’t until spring this year that we saw anything significantly new announced in the world of cameras, and, though there has been a trickle of fresh product since from Canon, Sony and Panasonic, as we near the midpoint of the year, there’s still been no new cameras at all from Nikon.
How different it once was, when, in the 2000s, I witnessed Nikon release half a dozen new cameras around Christmas, launch another six in the spring, and a further batch come September. Admittedly, in that era, it was mainly point-and-shoot compacts announced by the lorry-load, as it was all about gaining market share.
Fast forward to the present and, while compacts have very much come back, with the notable exception of its large 125x optical zoom Coolpix P1100 bridge camera, Nikon’s focus has instead been on interchangeable-lens mirrorless models. But even there, new releases have been thin on the ground.
The mid-tier Nikon Z6 III was released in June 2024, while the Z5 II, offering an enticing entry point to its full-frame lineup, was released over a year ago in April 2025. I must look all the way back to 2021 for the so-far one and only iteration of its flagship Z9, with the subsequent Z8, described as a baby Z9, itself more than three years old.
It certainly seems like the wait between new models is getting longer, but why? It’s true of Nikon and rivals alike that the life of an existing camera, particularly a successful one, is more likely to be extended through firmware updates these days, than us see a wholly new iteration rushed to market.
Like competitors, Nikon has also had to deal with component shortages and rising manufacturing costs. That’s another reason to tweak an existing camera model rather than come up with something entirely new.
Plus, with its acquisition of high-end cinema camera brand RED, Nikon has been busily focused on integrating this potentially major asset into its business model. It’s perhaps telling that its most recent camera launch to date, last autumn’s mirrorless Nikon ZR, is being marketed as a digital cinema camera. The first fruits of its collaboration with RED, released with content creators and videographers, very much its main audience focus, it offers 6K resolution, 12-bit RAW recording.
It’s not a huge surprise that, given the rise in the number of online influencers, personal YouTube channels and video podcasts post pandemic, Nikon would pivot towards video, leaving its traditional – and once primary – enthusiast, semi pro and pro stills photography audience on something of a back burner.
But I hope we see something, and primarily a ‘photo first’ something, from the brand soon. With both a refresh of its Z9 and the introduction of a more compact full-frame mirrorless that builds on the ZR among forthcoming Nikon releases rumored, hopefully, I may not have too long to wait.
