Is the Nikon D850 for Men Only?

Is the Nikon D850 for Men Only?

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?

Jason Vinson's picture

Jason Vinson is a wedding and portrait photographer for Vinson Images based out of Bentonville, Arkansas. Ranked one of the Top 100 Wedding photographers in the World, he has a passion for educating and sharing his craft.

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Damn shame on proper representation LOL

So, going forward, all photos of any marketing materials must contains equal number of black, white, Hispanic, Asians, native Indians, 33.3 % male, 33.3% female, and 33.3% transgender. 50% must be straight, and 50% must be gay and lesbian.

Since my first photography class just 1 year shy of 50 years ago, I have given zero f's about how many men put themselves on posters and at the front of seminars since it has never stopped me from having an entire professional career as a photographer. However, it appears that *some* read: *some* men in the industry find it acceptable to exclude 50% of the industry's professional because _______________________ (fill in the blank) - 50% according to Bureau of Labor statistics (quoted in Fortune). I am CERTAIN that there are tons of men who are infuriated by this...but, keep mind, Nikon has been doing this for years. One of these days, calling them out on it is going to make a difference. For now...

I have handled my D4, with 70-200 attached, in various conditions and circumstances, just fine. I see no data suggesting the D850 would pose an additional challenge. You're stepping on some thin ice, Nikon marketing (or is there a difference between our legal tender?).

What to expect from Japanese? Usualy mens enter first the elevator then women if some place left...

I was just looking through the 'editors picks' here at fstoppers: https://fstoppers.com/editors-picks/photos

I had to go through a couple of pages before I found the first one from a woman photographer.

Of course a lot of those selected shots are of models more scantily clad than the one that got Fuji into trouble when they used Wayne Johns to promote their GFX.

Obviously the editors here are a bunch of sexist pigs, intentionally excluding women to make fstoppers men only. What other explanation could there be?

yep, noticed that too. sexualized women photographed by men. welcome to the message constantly shoved in the faces of women.

First SJWs ruin society. Now they're trying to ruin photography. Great...

Yes. Equality always ruins everything.

Don't care. I'm tired of all this nonsense.

You're tired of what nonsense? Women not being represented? Me too. Oh, you meant tired of having to consider other people's viewpoints on things that don't affect you adversely one way or the other. Never mind.

Hey Jason, Thanks for nudging this discussion into the public arena. It's something commonly discussed among my female contemporaries. I'm thankful Nikon just brought it out in the open and put such a ridiculous spotlight on themselves and NOW that they have acknowledged that THEY need to change. I'm happy to see so many female photographers I know in the industry pushing back on Nikon.

I met great female professional photographers with pro style cameras. And some of them I believe are better shooters than those who are on the 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.

Please educate yourself on gender roles and how they have effects on what men/women "care about." Also, if you're going to refer to adult males and females in the same post, please don't call males "men" while calling females "girls." Your perception of women being more fragile than men is showing.

Please educate yourself on facts. Here's a typical review article published by iRental on Weibo:

http://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404088062039716558&mod=zwenzhan... 1/45 common was by a Female.

Oh, here's one on Fstoppers,

https://fstoppers.com/gear/nikon-d850-dynamic-range-tested-and-compared-... 0/34 by Female.

Meanwhile, we have this article which has a lot of Females common on, that basically prove one thing, sex(I rather focus on this discussion than debating you on sex and gender) play a significant roll on what these two groups care about(individual cases may vary), and this phenomenon is cross-culture.

As for your girls vs men common, those females whom I mentioned are young and much prefer girls than the word women or ladies as their pronouns. If you think that has to do with fragility you need to desensitize yourself because most people don't pack that much information in a sentence when commoning on the internet.

Thank you for your reply.

Honestly speaking, Nikon is almost out of fason althouh they are still at the 2nd position in Japan. Sooner or later Nikon will be overtaken by Sony. Perhaps Sony will overtake Canon as well.
N and C don't have cool products, especially N. Both mainstream is mirror cameras. Out of date. Mirrorless cameras are getting share. Share of N goes down day by day in Japan. Their main biz is not so good as well. So Nikon doesn't have enough resources and budget for this promotion, I GUESS.

Anyway N is inconsequential company today although it's traditional and prestigious campany in Japan.

"So Nikon doesn't have enough resources and budget for this promotion."

Female photographers are more expensive as male photogs?

I wonder if any men...or women...find it the least bit ironic that so many of the photos following the comments and this article are of women scantily clothed and/or posing provocatively. Not sexist?

If the images were handpicked by the site's staff then I would have to agree with you, but the images displayed at the bottom of articles get their spot by receiving votes from users of the community. So blocking such images would in my opinion more sexist than allowing them.

This article makes it seem like that Nikon doesn't have any women Ambassadors. And it doesn't tell the reader that these picks were from NIKONMEA, Middle East and Africa. The U.S. has 7 women as Ambassadors and Dixon was the first one to get the 850 and shoot with it. She was even on the panel for the hands on discussion the other night. How about reporting on why Sony has 58 Ambassadors and only 8 are women, a paltry 14%, where Nikon is at 29%.

This IMO is a clear attempt to bash Nikon for some reason. Which, again, IMO, is pathetic. It's very clear that Nikon has pissed off someone. Not NASA! They just bought 53 D5's..............

Why is there such rift between photographers about equipment? I don't understand that at all. You shoot with what YOU LIKE. I also don't get why people just sell everything to go to another Camera brand because someone else uses the stuff, and wear the clothing the photograher wears. I don't want to copy (plagiarize), anyone's work. What happened to finding your own way and style in Photography?

Every woman photographer I know who is trying to make an impact with her work knows she is fighting an uphill battle against rampant sexism in the industry. It's not just the camera companies that display blatant favoritism towards men. Photography publications, conferences, juried competitions, and photography websites, like 500px, are so incredibly and obviously biased that it's a wonder that we women photographers manage to get any recognition at all. It can very discouraging. Thanks for speaking up for us gals, Jason!

Stop whining people and act like ADULTS and not a bunch of whiny brats. This will be old news in 2 days and market share will not change WHY???? You already have a crap load of Nikon stuff that you are not going to be able to afford to replace with another makers stuff due to cost.
Find something else to gripe about.

"Get off my lawn!!!"

Since they've already had Dixie Dixon's take on one oft those you'd think that would have been easy... (http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/ideas-and-inspiration/d85...)

Asinine, in this day & age? Shameful! What's wrong w/you idiots?

while we at it, I do not see any black photographers on that list.... :-(

Check out the Sony Alpha instagram... They just highlighted about 30 of their women photogs. definitely taking advantage of Nikon's misstep.

No black guy too

Methinks it's not for Annie Liebovitz, or is it Lennox?

Just like every other area of the internet you have your bro flakes who will defend tooth-and-nail against the fact that sexism exists! Imagine being so privileged that you think that by bringing up the suppression of talent of another demographic, that somehow means you are being oppressed. This is why the world laughs at angry white men. You have it all and you want to pretend like others getting their fair share is taking away from yours.

Well thank GOD they have one Black in the line up. I was getting worried. So I guess we cannot complain... lol.

Just because we are talking about a gender issue doesn't mean there is not a race issue as well.

Mr. Vinson, you have way too much time on your hands. Does anyone really expect to have women participate given the cultures of Asia. Women get ignored in the U.S.? OK - complain away. But, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia? Really?

Do you really believe that cultural differences are a valid excuse for ignoring half of a population? Also, if no one challenges the way things are, then things will never change. So you may view it as me having to much time on my hands, but the amount of attention this topic has received proves there is an issue and that people do care.

I'm so excited that the photography industry has recovered enough that photographers have the time and energy to focus on this issue, instead of how to stay afloat.

Female misrepresentation happens everywhere. It’s a good chance for us all to take time to look at our own organisations. https://fstoppers.com/authors

Okay, how often do you see men dominating as brand ambassadors for a single company? How come no one complains when women are the dominant choice in being well paid brand ambassadors, oftentimes not even knowing much about the product they are specializing in until they are hired for the job? Look around nowadays for brand ambassadors. Almost all women and making a good living not doing any real work. I doubt these men were even being paid as much if at all for the Nikon promo.

It's a fact that more men have spent years to even decades honing their craft of photography in order to become actual professionals that can make a living off of their cameras. Women do not. If you don't believe me just take a look at most female photogs bio or profiles nowadays. They usually turn pro within a year or two of buying a high end DSLr and not much more yet they have the nerve to start their own photography business and charge people for it?

Damn all you naysayers! I have it on good authority (my wife) that as long as the D850 has AUTO mode ANY woman will be able to use it!