Here's How To Piss Off Your Customers

Here's a lesson in how to insult and alienate your customer base and come off like total assholes in the process! Well played, Nikon. Or not.

Nikon’s Facebook page is blowing up with comments. But not for the right reason Giant camera manufacturer Nikon has found itself the subject of scrutiny on the web, but not for the reasons the company might have hoped for. In yet another example of how social media doesn’t always work in your favour, Pixiq points to a post on Nikon’s Facebook page which reads:

A photographer is only as good as the equipment he uses, and a good lens is essential to taking good pictures! Do any of our facebook fans use any of the NIKKOR lenses? Which is your favorite and what types of situations do you use it for?

Needless to say, the post didn’t go down well with Nikon fans, or photography fans in general. The backlash on Nikon’s Facebook page has been brutal with over 2,000 comments on the post, most of which are critical. And the post has been the gift that just keeps on giving, with additional comments on Nikon’s Facebook page in the past 12 hours questioning the thought process behind the post.

While some are under the impression that this is all one big publicity stunt by Nikon, going by the adage, any kind of press is good press, others feel that insulting your userbase isn’t going to gain you any points.
Most photographers are highly insulted by the statement that implies that the camera does all the work for you, or that you can only take good photos if you use expensive equipment. It is also this kind of misguided marketing which makes people believe that all it takes is buying a DSLR camera to turn them into a professional photographer, or that the number of megapixels make a huge difference. The reality is, your camera is not what makes you a photographer.
One commenter, Chad Hudson, succinctly got his point across in two words, and we have to agree:

eye > lens

It’s been 12 hours since the unfortunate statement was posted, but so far Nikon has kept quiet, and has yet to respond to the backlash.
It would seem that there are many more lessons to be learned the hard way in social media. Despite the fact that it has become an intrinsic part of any company’s marketing strategy, the boundaries, risks and mistakes that can be made are still very much an issue that companies will have to continuously deal with.
What do you think? Does Nikon need a lesson or two in social media or are people over-reacting to the statement?

Quick Draw Camera Holster

Everybody knows that something you can wear in a holster or in a quick draw style off your waist is cool. It just IS one of those things that is beyond debate. That said, I'm not so sure I want to wear my mildly expensive DLSR on my hip. I can see how useful it would be for quick draw shooting. But really, in that instance, I've got my camera around my neck already.

Notwithstanding the lack of a strap to help prevent the dreaded "Dropsies" where you go to grab your camera, almost get a full grip and pick it up only to have it slip out of your hands and towards the nearest rock hard surface it can find.

Also, this issue would be exacerbated by the use of a larger frame DSLR. It might be more doable with one of the new small frame mirrorless cameras though.

This solution seems to be asking to whack your camera into stuff when you forget its there. And that whack would be an expensive and painful one. Precision optics and getting slammed into hard objects are a bad mix.

While I think its a good idea, it also has some flaws but I suppose the type of person that would end up whacking their camera in a rig like this would probably be about as likely to smash it in a car door or otherwise destroy their camera.