D700 to be replaced soon ?

[mongo]

Noticed European Camera Specialists were advertising new D700 for $2200 about a week or so ago for the rest of March. Contacted them today and found out this was a special offer form Nikon - presumably to sell off remaining stock. Also found out that stock seems to have run out already and therefore before the end of March.

Mongo surmises that a replacement camera is imminent albeit it even some months off yet.

[Lani]

It may be more due to supply problems now, after the tragedy in Japan, Mongo. The Sendai plant mainly manufactured fx bodies, so any new release planned release would have to be impacted.

[Xebadir]

Sendai is supposedly back in operation by end of March, so will probably only delay a few weeks assuming parts aren't too much of an issue. Not sure about the D700 as prices all inflated due to earthquake to $2700 roughly....not sure how long that will last. Will be interesting to see, but not too worried that I just bought a D700...this one will take a while, will be overpriced for a time and will be in high demand outstripping delivery.

[kiwi]

I see a d4 first, but, I guess we will all see, I think the d7000 came out of nowhere

[Wayne]

In the USA, the D700 was already discounted in the past few weeks, prior to the earthquakes in Japan. I have heard reports of supply shortages before the quakes too, suggesting run out of last stock. I think the replacement is imminent given the life the camera has already had as a current model.

[skunky]

There was accurate speculation on the D7000 a full 6 months prior to it's release, so it wasnt entirely unanticipated. Rumor has it (with photos to back it up) that the next camera to be released will be the D5100. It's currently being delivered to various stores in the US and shall be released early April.

As for the D700, Nikon Australia are currently out of bodies and commented that they are not expecting any new deliveries (note that this statement was made prior to the Tsunami). This run-out is likely due to the imminent release of the D800 body, possibly in late August, early September.

Word on the street has it that an announcement will likely be made in September at the Cliq show in Las Vegas.

[swifty]

If the D700 is scheduled to be replaced very soon, manufacturing would have stopped months ago and only existing inventory being sold. Sendai would've already being configured for the next model.
Hence the disaster in Japan wouldn't likely have had any impact on existing D700 stock unless some of those inventory were located in Japan at the time and were destroyed in the disaster.
So its more likely the next model would be affected, both manufacturing and possible built-up inventory of it. Although Sendai's due to restart at the end of March, rolling blackouts, displacement of employees etc. would definitely impact on production.
So if they can't ship out the new models, they may need to delay any impending announcement. It could explain why Nikon are removing rebates/discounts cos existing D700's may need to last a little longer than expected.
I think Nikon's next announcement's probably gonna be the D5100 and mirrorless, and both are probably manufactured in Thailand, rather than Japan.

But all my predictions lately have been somewhat off so....
I expected a D700s early 2011 which never appeared.

[KLi]

I have been waiting for the new D700 replacement, I am hoping for something by the end of the year and seeing how the D7000 is compare to the D90 I have high expectation for the D800 or whatever it will be named.