Greg I can see the Nikon as a worry for other makers it's priced below the 5dMkIII (by a fair margin) though we have to see how prices settle Canon are usually well OTT at first release. I'm not sure if Canon users will jump to Nikon some might but those heavily invested would find it a big move, but the danger is there for Canon. As for Sony well I can see their users being esp vulnerable to the D800 as they already bought into the higher resolution Alpha FF vibe, I would expect quite a few to move to Nikon, same for Pentax they have no FF body and some users are getting tired of waiting.

I don't think Pentax will do FF so that leaves them open to attack at the top end. And the 645D suddenly looks irrelevant in the market with the new Nikon around not to mention badly priced. Pentax will have to up their game in MF land if they are to survive there.

Out of all of this it does highlight just how important it is to keep things moving along and products available to buy. Sony have again badly misfired by stopping production of the A900 and A850 and not updating it as they could easily have done this last year. Maybe the SLT will be good but it's not likely to arrive until the end of the year, too little too late with lots of time for Nikon to take Sony FF users away.

But Nikon are weaker APS-C right now D300s is too old and needs a D400 yesterday, Canon again need to update their 7d. It's quite an interesting time right now be it FF or APS-C. I still see Sony as a consumer player I think Carl Zeiss or not they don't have the resources or the vision to genuinely compete with the top 2 in full frame.

I see on our Nikon site they say the sensor is a Nikon one and not a Nikon ‘developed’ sensor, just because the sensor was manufactured in a Sony fab might not mean that it is a Sony sensor at all from the ground up, Sony don’t do 14 bit sensors in any case for their own use as far as I know. http://www.nikon.com.au/en_AU/homepage.page and click on the D800 it shows their description of the sensor on that linked page (which I can’t get a link working for, for some reason).

If I were to second guess the delay with the D400 I’d think about whether Nikon are happy with the Sony APS-C 24MP sensor as is, they might want numerous changes or they might not even want a 24MP sensor, who knows. It sure must cost Canon and Nikon an arm and a leg to keep updating all those high class models they run, all vying for a place in the sun, keep coming up with something that will attract customers, new ones or up graders. I haven’t studied the specs but I think Nikon is slightly over modelled now with respect to the D7000 and the supposed impending at some stage D400. If they upgrade the D400 with the 24MP sensor what do they do with the D7000 when it needs an upgrade, do they go ahead with a cheaper 24MP camera than the D400 and maybe take sales away from it or do they leapfrog it with a slightly higher sensor or maybe go for more MP’s than 24 in the D400 now, or do they decide not to increase MP’s that much and do something like Canon is doing, I’m not sure I’d like the marketing managers job trying to decide that one.
Anyway either way it’s probably a safe bet the release of the D400 was seriously screwed up by the tsunami in Japan and the floods in Thailand.

I’m not sure what Pentax can do to stabilize their product line and make it more ‘normal’ not having a FF camera is probably a big mistake these days when the main opposition all have them, with the exception of Sony of course, they don’t have one in the range at the moment either. But with Pentax they have made only modernized ‘DT’ lenses for their APS-C camera range so to turn out a FF camera would require quite a large expenditure on not just the camera but they might have to upgrade a lot of the old FF lenses to bring them into the digital age as well, a task that might be beyond Pentax now I think, they must have spent a packet on the 645D and releasing a FF high MP camera that’s something like the D800 would only take sales away from the 645D one would think.
Greg

Pentax are in no man's land some users want FF and will move to other makers when it won't turn up. FF isn't cheap but it's a heck of a lot more affordable than the 645D is and the D800 gives that a serious run in a lot of ways. I suspect Pentax thought they could challenge the MF market, but leaving a gap so massive between the K-5 and 645D is slightly insane. They also usually run a 2 model line up which just isn't enough for APS-C, they can make some nice cameras but I don't see them making any impact market share wise. It's too little too late sadly, and yes most of the lenses are APS-C that was short sighted of the company.

I don't know what Nikon are playing with the D400 I can say I find the D300s not worth the money for the asking price. It's nice..but really bar the AF and fps/buffer and build I get D300s IQ with a much cheaper D90. I think the D7000 was a half way gap an update for the D90 and an "offering" for the D300 crowd. As you say if the D400 turns up it makes it rather hard to place a D7100 in the line up, and the D7000 to D5100 gap is pretty big too.

Canon are def going to update the 7d no questions about it what they do with the 60d is open to debate.
I actually find the Nikon line up quite strange right now I've no interest in their entry level DSLR's (badly crippled despite a nice sensor in one of them) D7000 has gone up quite a bit in price and still seems to be haunted with QC issues (hard to say but too many reports of bad AF etc), D300s is too expensive considering it's age, D700 been around quite a while too though not too bad for a FF body. Everyone expects a D400 to be 24mp I think that might be right