Nikon’s latest compact zoom cameras now won’t be on the market until fall. The manufacturer announced Friday that the release of the A900 and A700 will be delayed until October because of damage experienced by suppliers in a series of earthquakes.
Earlier in April, Nikon said the release would be delayed until July for software updates. Now, the date has been pushed back to October 2016 because of the Kumamoto, Japan earthquakes.
This spring, a series of earthquakes struck Kumamoto over a period of several days, including a 7.0 magnitude quake on April 16. Nikon, along with Sony and Fujifilm, uses factories and suppliers in the region. Suppliers for Nikon parts were affected by the earthquakes, but Nikon wasn’t initially sure how much of an impact the damage to the factories would have on product availability.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers, business partners, and all those who have expressed interest in these models for the delays,” Nikon said in the official statement.
The Nikon COOLPIX A900 will offer a 35x optical zoom inside a compact point-and-shoot body, but one of the biggest headlining specs is the 4K video at 30 fps. The camera uses a backlit 1/2.3″ sensor. Built-in Bluetooth and a tilting LCD screen help make the compact camera one worth anticipating.
The Nikon B700, on the other hand, is a larger bridge-style camera with a 60x optical zoom. The B700 boasts the same backlit sensor and 4K recording as the smaller A900, but has only the Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth.
Sony’s facilities were shut down for about a month after the earthquake. With several manufacturers (including Nikon) using either Sony sensors or relying on the same facility to manufacture them, the delay from the devastating quake has been widespread — even affecting the production of smartphone cameras.
