The Nikon D850 is quite the beast of a camera. It holds a massive 45.7-megapixel full-frame sensor that can record 4k video and create 8k time-lapses. It can shoot at a blazing fast seven frames per second and has an enormous 51 image buffer when shooting 14-bit raw images. The focus speed is insanely fast, deadly accurate, and offers 153 focus points with 130% more frame coverage than the older Nikon D810. The only problem with such an amazing monster of a camera is that Nikon thinks it’s too much for women to handle.
I know what you are thinking. No way Nikon would ever make such a claim. It seems absurd that only men could handle the D850. I myself can think of a large number of women photographers that would be more than capable of producing spectacular images with any camera, let alone this camera. But when Nikon created a team of 32 professional photographers to be the faces of the Nikon D850, they didn't choose a single woman photographer.
When building a list of 32 photographers, you basically have to go out of your way to not include a single woman. The problem here though is not just with Nikon, but instead with the entire photo industry. Brand ambassadors are filled with mostly men and entire conferences are filled with only male speakers. It would seem that the majority of photographers are men or maybe it's just too hard to find a woman that's not busy cooking and cleaning.
Or is it feasible that the D850 is in fact for men only and Nikon plans to release a pink and sparkly D850w for women to use?
216 Comments
Reads like clickbait to me especially as the group is focused on Asia, the Middle East and Africa - call me crazy however I suspect the pool of active professional female photographers is very low in those areas of the world - be careful not to apply the morals and social norms of one society to others. I'd say this is newsworthy in the US or Europe but the cold hard fact is that the context is different. The world isn't comprised of one homogenous group.
Overall, there are a number of Nikon ambassadors for other regions out there out there that are women and there are many representing the launch on panel discussions. I'm not sure this is a worthwhile story at this point. If it is, then why not look, for example, at the predominance of male photographers/female subjects on Fstoppers. Now that's possibly something closer to home to look into!
"Those areas of the world" represent TWO SEPARATE CONTINENTS. How can you be serious? We aren't talking about Saudi Arabia. If you honestly think that the "cultures" of two ENTIRE continents = completely homogenous, you are incredibly ignorant.
How many Pro Nikon photographers from Nigeria do you know? How many are men and how many are women? Now compare that with the sheer number of Pro Nikon users from the UK, a country with 2/3 the population. What I think you are missing is that in many ways I am talking about Saudi Arabia. It is far from the only country that suppresses women. Having lived on four continents, 17 countries this is still endemic. I suspect that even in comparatively modern Japan, women are far from being represented equally in society. In my opinion this has a big impact on jobs such as photographers in terms of opportunities to be at the top of the field. To be clear, I'd much rather have as many Pro female photographers out there as possible as it's enriching to see things from different viewpoints. I just think this is less likely in most parts of the world outside the US/EU. Ok here's a bit of quick primary research. I just googled 'national geographic photographers' and at the top of the list of returns google lists 18 photographers. 15 men, 3 women. Shocking to see only three and while the list is obviously not exhaustive, this is an organisation which exists in a comparatively egalitarian environment. I'd say that in other regions, proportionally there are even fewer women in the field.
4 of the photographers are from Australia - are there no opportunities culturally for female photographers there?
As a proportion of Asia/Africa pro photographers? I'd have to check to see how many Nikon shooting female AP/NG photographers exist. Again, industrywide I'm just not seeing a huge surge of renowned female photographers shooting Nikon. Wish it were different and women like Ami Vitale are huge inspirations.
Maybe the tectonic shift away from NG/AP photo work to more lifestyle photography meant that Nikon missed a trick and isn't looking in the right places for their ambassadors.
So if they are from Asia and Middle east women don't deserve gender equality? Wow....
This has nothing to do with what people deserve. The fact is that you simply don't know what the overall pool of Nikon pro photographers looks like. Given the gender mix of Nikon ambassadors Inc other regions, it's a bit of a stretch to make a blanket statement about Nikon. Again, I'd prefer for there to be a good balance of photographers genderwise. My primary point is that the article doesn't even bother to mention the context of the region and one therefore assumes Nikon is only selecting photographers from a global pool.
quick leaps to judgement is much more fun though :).
ughhh these political posts are getting tiresome. please learn the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.
Wow.
So, your premise is that women are inherently less qualified to evaluate a professional camera in a context like this (inequality of outcome)?
no, apparently just not able to call people out on their shit.
PS when a white male sighs all alone with his computer, does it make a sound?
Awwww. James has a sad. He has to read about sexism! Imagine how he would react if he actually had to live with it.
"ughhh these political posts are getting tiresome. please learn the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome."
Amen! I whole heartedly agree!! There's no winning this argument though...even if the qualified pool was selected based on portfolio and resume, with no mention of who/sex of the photographer...if it wasn't 50% women, it would be sexist...And yes, I've worked in male dominated fields prior to photography, I was harassed and saw both men and women held back because of their sex/race with promotions. What I saw, (though I know it's not the all cases, but it did affect my personal feeling on the matter) was the persons who were least qualified for the positions, were the ones that filed a complaint when they didn't get the job, claiming either racism or sexism. The sad thing is, it leads to skepticism on the valid claims. This article is not a valid claim, there is not facts on what criteria was used to chose the team.
Quick, call the United Colours of Benetton ad execs!
Wow. SJW's are out of hand. I came here to learn about photography, instead I get armchair justice warriors looking for things to complain about. Kinda sexist in itself, seeing as how many of us wouldn't have trouble if it was 20 women, so he's just assuming women will care.
That's great. Get inside the mind of a woman. See how that works for you. Virtue signalling leftie social justice warriors. Ugh.
Nope. Women don't care at all.
Women do care. I didn't come up with this article on my own. It was brought to my attention by the countless posts and comments about this very subject in my Facebook feed and the comments on the Instagram posts linked here in the write-up.
thank you so much for writing it and bringing more attention to this issue. Sorry it draws out the bro trolls. There is also a complete lack of interest in including more women speakers (that aren't a part of a husband/wife team) and speakers of color in this industry which has fostered and encouraged a disgusting level of misogynistic male photographers. we are SICK. OF. IT.
The issue here is that you (and everyone else) are complaining about an ad campaign in Asia, as if it has bearing or relevance here. It's as if you're being deliberately obtuse, just to have something to complain about.
Nikon is an international brand - this press release is in English and includes several photographers from Australia. They have not done a similar test (as far as I can tell - I've looked around) targeted at the US or Europe. The closest is that they have 4 global ambassadors (one of whom is a woman) talking about the D850. This big roll out test is clearly trying to show the versatility of the camera for a variety of genres.
Here's another interesting quote -
https://www.nikonrumors.co/new-nikon-mirrorless-camera-confirmed-again-…
I like how you start off by saying you don't want to bring politics into photography, but then continue to spew partisan nonsense. I'm not sure what is so difficult about debating the claims instead of resorting immediately to hyperbole and insults.
I haven't been to a ton of photo conferences, but I have seen a good balance of genders in terms of presenters in my limited experience, so I can't say that I would agree that conferences are completely male dominated. At the very least it strikes me as odd or maybe tone deaf to not include even a single woman. Not saying you need to be up in arms about it, but that doesn't seem the slightest bit off to you?
I would challenge you to show me a single example of a similar professional conference that has a majority women. I have not seen it happen, and that is the problem. This single example, while not ideal from a marketing or representation perspective (perhaps Nikon would benefit from the feedback of a wider swath of their users) could be considered a statistical anomaly. However, taken as a whole (the ratio of women to men for Nikons US ambassadors is less than 1/3, for example), then there isn't a different logical conclusion than to say that either women are less able than men at professional photography (in which case we will just disagree) OR that there is an inherent bias in the opportunities for women to get a place at this level of photography.
REAL LIFE CONFERENCE in Canada.
https://www.reallifeconference.com/
yes, but that is a conference specifically for women. I'm talking about a similar professional conference or testing arena.
isn't it so sad that that doesn't exist? women have to start and run their own kickass conference to ensure they are properly represented in the industry?
Bob and Lisa are perfect examples of subversive misogynists and gaslighters. You see, if a woman gets sexually assaulted, they are the first people to tell you that you should have taken basic precautions and that non-directly it is somehow your fault. You should have known better, you should not have put yourself in a dangerous situation, you should have not gotten so drunk so you didn't have control of yourself. Classic victim-blaming. And then, they're the kind of people to turn around and say well not all men are rapists!
Taking basic precautions and having logical fears about men--the most violent demographic in the world, statistically( be triggered all you want, its a fact), let alone sexist, makes you "over reacting".
But once you get assaulted or harassed surely there is something you could have done to improve your situation?
You can't win with people who have no logic nor common sense. You are both knee deep in rape culture and I would laugh heartily at your ignorance if it wasn't so sad and scary.
well at least they didn't take the group shot with an iPhone.
The snarky backlash in this comment thread is further evidence that this problem is deeply embedded in our culture, and that many men feel threatened by shifting demographics in the workplace. What's disappointing is that despite their reputation for being artistically inclined and inquisitive people, it would seem that photographers are not blessed with any greater sensitivity or self-awareness with respect to these issues than the layperson.
Why didn't they? Why didnt they choose a few women to test it out? I'm reading a bunch of comments saying this is bs and nonsense, but it's a legit question. Being on the marketing team is not the same as being part of these chosen few and the deflection is insulting. Is it coincidence the majorty of this comes from men? Why would you not want to see some variation of photographers? Might even learn about one you weren't previously aware of. I hope, as a user, Nikon has an answer.
I think an article on white male fragility may be called for. In an industry that already struggles with ego and lack of ability to take critique without it being taken as a personal attack, it is time to start a real dialogue about how toxic this industry is and exclusionary to women and people of color.
ALL of the big businesses that sell to photographers needs to get a Chief Diversity Officer on board to combat this. Bonus, it will increase sales and has great PR optics. win/win
HONESTLY! I mean -- what exactly is the threat to men when another man points out inequality? Why do these dudes get more bent out of shape by an ARTICLE about sexism than sexism itself? How can anyone look at a group of 32 male photographers and not see that it's a wee bit off-balance? It boggles the mind. And it's CERTAINLY not unique to Nikon. Google "100 best new photographers" and notice how hard it is to find women included....unless it's a list of "women photographers." Sidenote: you never see an article like "100 best male photographer today." Why? BECAUSE IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING. And that's irritating. The industry has been changing for the 18 years I've been a photographer. There are SO many women in photography now. Why is this so hard to understand??
Yes there are many, many women in photography now 'in the US'. In all my photo courses and seminars I was in the minority. None of this is relevant though as it has nothing to do with Nikon or Canon selecting their representatives in another region which is in most ways still extremely backwards when it comes to gender equality. You just can't apply the same expectations and ridicule a company for what is likely a reflection of the industry rather than as a result of their selection process. I'd say a more valid question is why are there likely so few pro female photographers using Nikon to choose from? Nikon seems to do better than other manufacturers in the US/EU so a) Nikon marketing managers are particularly sexist in Asia or b) there just aren't that many.
As a corrollary, when I hired staff for my team in NY/Chicago I always had a decent number of female applicants and overall the better candidates tended to be women. When I moved to London, I got virtually no applications from women for similar roles at the same company. In checking across the industry this was actually normal. I ended up hiring all men in the end. Was I biased? Not at all, yet had I needed to create a PowerPoint sheet of all the hires, in the context of this Nikon brouhaha I would likely be labelled sexist, which was not been the case. A shame yes, but I'm not in a position to change this pattern and in this case neither is Nikon.
Yes let's be sexist and racist in one comment all whilst complaining about sexism within the industry. It's comments like these which puts me off your arguments completely. But it's ok to be sexist and racist when it suits your cause, right Katrina?
One female ambassador? Come on..the whole thing is blatant sexism...great stuff Nikon..wake up..
After reading all the mysoginistic comments here, without doubt I can say: I hate the internet...
When will Nikon, Sony, Fuji, & Sony get with the program? What will it take for women to be recognized in this industry?
The portraits of the ambassadors are terrible. So many ambassadors for what?
REALLY Nikon????? I have been a Nikon user since 1981, I could have bought at least 2 more houses with the amount I have spent on Nikon gear and I KNOW MANY WOMEN that are the same as me. AWARD winning WOMEN Nikon users. Can SOMEONE at Nikon explain this to me?
Representation matters. Period. It is a disservice to everyone to not include equal representation. This was blatant exclusivity. And Nikon's reasoning was a slap in the face. It was their responsibility to get this right. I want to see all women, with a majority of women of color, in the next panel of creative professionals.
Yikes! Really goes to show how much farther things need to go in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
and all over the world...the comment section alone shows why so many need to take a gender equality class. Women face this level of ignorance and flat out condescending attitudes constantly. Hearing the thoughts of men who dismiss equality is almost to the point of boring if it wasn't so demeaning and tragic.
Katrina, your comments are the ones oozing with ignorance. You do realise that you are the one with a flat out condescending attitude right? You look at the world through the lens of what group you think people should belong to and then judge them for belonging to that group. I feel sorry for brainwashed people such as yourself who seem to think that gender equality classes are a good idea. The sad thing is that you think that because you are on a certain side that it entitles you to act a certain way but you are acting worse than the people that you oppose.
Well, what gender equality class does is make sure everyone is as dumb and angry as third wave feminists.
I met great female professional photographers with pro style cameras. And some of them I believe are better shooters than most who are on that board. However, pro photographers are not the mass of the market, enthusiasts are.
The point is, I get asked about gear questions a lot from my ethnic community. Most Asian girls I know, ruled out full-size DSLR as an option even when money is not a problem. They much prefer cameras like EOS6D and A7 series for size and weight reasons even when they demanding a full frame camera. These girls see a camera as a tool instead of the interesting object by itself. Meanwhile, men tend to get the bigger models, and they are much geekier and care more about specs. Therefore market D850 towards men in that market is more affection. This point can be proved by the overwhelming number of dudes who follows iRental's gear review on social media.
Lastly, if wasn't for this stupid article, I wouldn't even know about which gender shot what.
All social justice warriors should unite to tear this crap Nikon sexist company down. Then there will be nothing but Canon to dominate. That would be great for competition.
What a clickbait article.
Nikon Asia dose not represent the whole of nikon.
I see a mix of male and female photographers on the U.S website.
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/nikon-ambassadors/index.pa…
Yes, Asian countries are more male centric. We all knew that.
What did Nikon say when you phoned them up and asked them to explain the marketing campaign?
I am so pleased this is being discussed! I wrote 'An open letter to Nikon' earlier today:
http://www.rebeccadouglas.co.uk/blog/an-open-letter-to-nikon/
I am yet to hear back from them.......
That was Nikon Asia.
DIXIE DIXON was one of the first to test the D850
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/ideas-and-inspiration/d8…