Nikon has announced the cancellation of their DL series compact cameras. The cameras were supposed to compete against the excellent, yet expensive, Sony RX100 Mark V and the Panasonic DMC-LX10. The disclosure comes during a reboot of sorts for Nikon with a restructuring that issued 1000 pink slips to employees, problems with its semiconductor business and sales that are down over 8 percent from last year.
Nikon’s DL series were initially supposed to ship at the beginning of last summer, but the Japanese concern delayed the launch due to electronic issues that arose during testing. The DL lineup was said to feature three models with 20.8-megapixel, 1-inch sensors, including a DL18-50mm general-use model, a DL24-85m zoom and a DL24-500 superzoom. The DL24-85 model would have gone up against Sony’s RX100 Mark V and the Panasonic DMC-LX10 while the DL24-500 would rival Sony’s RX10 III compact zooms.
The Future: Nikon should also take a deep look at their inept marketing, which feels dated and doesn’t engage viscerally like competing brands. For example of the fumbling, Nikon’s recent Keymission 360 action-camera launch was a complete miss. From the dopey name to Nikon’s nose-up dismissal of the extreme sports market, this is a product that will end up being a should-of-been. A shame.
