Nikon to drop film cameras

[brownie]

Not totally unexpected but a sad day for lovers of the Photographic art.

From AP

NIKON WILL DROP FILM CAMERAS

NEW YORK (AP) - Nikon Corp., which helped popularize the 35 mm camera five decades ago, will stop making most of its film cameras to concentrate on digital models.

The Japanese company said it wanted to focus on "business categories that continue to demonstrate the strongest growth," and film cameras sales keep shrinking.

Nikon will discontinue seven film-camera models, leaving in production only the current top-line model, the F6, and a low-end manual-focus model, the FM10.

It will also stop making most of its manual-focus lenses.

Most of the company's autofocus lenses work with manual-focus bodies, however. Also, German optical company Carl Zeiss AG is widely reported to be planning a line of manual-focus lenses for Nikon bodies.

Nikon did not give firm dates for the discontinuation of its products, but said Wednesday that sales will cease as supplies are depleted.

Major competitor Canon Inc. still makes five models of single-lens reflex film cameras. At the lower end of the market, Eastman Kodak Co. announced in 2004 that it would stop selling film cameras in the United States and Europe.

Nikon was a major force in establishing the dominance of the 35 mm single-lens reflex camera, the workhorse of professionals and sophisticated amateurs until the arrival of digital cameras.

Unusually, Nikon has maintained the same lens mount over the years, meaning most lenses from 1959 will fit today's digital models and vice versa, albeit with functional restrictions.

I have kept three of the Nikon F cameras that I constantly used during my photo-taking days. I have taken them to all type of assignments and never ceased to be amazed at their quality and reliability.

Looks like they belong to museums now...

[wesbed]

I recently purchased a Sony digital camera. I like the digital camera because the pictures don't have to be developed. I don't believe a digital camera provides the same quality of picture as a film camera. However, I do like the convenience of a digital camera.

That said, I don't view a digital camera as a replacement for a film camera. But, follow the money trail. I suppose there's more money to be made in digital cameras than film cameras these days.

And, I believe it's time for a drink.

[Hardbopjazz]

Wow. No more film. I guess it was about time.

Here's a shot I took last weekend with my digital camera. The quality is as good if not better than film in my opinion

[Guest akanalog]

it has been depressing watching the small film development place across the street lose business in the five or so years i have been here. when i first got here they had the whole store and i used to bring film in there consistently and at this point they have let a little jewelry place and a little cellphone place share the store area and i know that i really don't go in there anymore and i walk by and see the film guy and feel bad but i guess he is doing what he has to to survive. though also i guess any film place would be prudent to add digital services if they want to compete.

[jazzmessenger]

That's sad. I haven't made a switch to a digital camera, yet. I have been waiting for the price of high-end SLR to go down, but sooner or later I have to buy a digital SLR.

[Christiern]

They are expensive, but high-quality digital cameras are to be had. I see the demise of film cameras as a natural development. For years, there were people who bemoaned the obsolescence of 78 rpm discs (some still do, I think), but digital recording has overcome its initial negatives.

In the end, it probably boils down to a nostalgia factor and the inherent resistance to change that handicaps some of us.

[brownie]

I use a digital camera too nowadays. Easy to use and convenient. But it's just another tool!

The reflex Nikon F camera was something else! A third eye with brain!

And even if great prints can still be made from digital images, I have yet to see the digital equivalent of the exact quality art prints that can be produced by darkrooms using enlargers.

[Christiern]

I use a digital camera too nowadays. Easy to use and convenient. But it's just another tool!

The reflex Nikon F camera was something else! A third eye with brain!

And even if great prints can still be made from digital images, I have yet to see the digital equivalent of the exact quality art prints that can be produced by darkrooms using enlargers.

Apple's new software, Aperture, is a step in the digital darkroom direction.

[patricia]

And even if great prints can still be made from digital images, I have yet to see the digital equivalent of the exact quality art prints that can be produced by darkrooms using enlargers.

I totally agree. But, there's no denying that the digital camera makes photography more accessable to those who may not have been interested before. So, that's a plus. I know that my children, seeing what I did to produce my work for years, were not at all interested in taking up photography. They saw the isolation and the pickiness, rather than the results and thought it was too much work.

With a digital camera, a picture, with the potential of doing much of what has been done in a darkroom, easily is definitely an advancement. But, no, I don't think it will ever produce work as individual as is possible with traditional methods. But, I suppose because that is what I know, I'm biased.

[brownie]

Apple's new software, Aperture, is a step in the digital darkroom direction.

Might well be!

Will wait for reports from Mac-using friends in the photography field.

[BFrank]

Nikon's own press release:

Reshaping Nikon's Film Camera Assortment

As the film camera market shrinks and the popularity of compact digital

cameras increases, demand for products that offer advanced features and extra

value is growing rapidly. Additionally, the demand for high performance

digital SLR cameras is also steadily increasing as customers shift from film

SLRs or upgrade from compact digital cameras.

With film cameras accounting for an ever smaller percentage of Nikon's

total sales volume, the company has decided to concentrate its vast resources

toward those business categories that continue to demonstrate the strongest

growth. Consequently, as Nikon focuses more on the digital camera business,

the company must adopt appropriate measures to ensure its continued success.

With that, the Nikon film camera lineup will be reshaped, allowing more of

Nikon's planning, engineering and manufacturing resources to be focused on the

digital products that now drive our thriving industry. The measures that Nikon

will adopt include discontinuing production of all large format Nikkor lenses

and enlarging lenses, as well as several of our film camera bodies, manual

focus Nikkor interchangeable lenses and related accessories. Sales of these

products will cease as supplies are depleted.

Importantly, Nikon's film camera business will continue with our flagship

model F6 and with the FM10, allowing the Nikon brand to continue

serving the two strongest segments of the 35mm film camera market. Both

professionals and dedicated amateurs who continue to view film as their

preferred format along with students in need of an economical camera to learn

the fundamentals of photography will have ideal Nikon products from which to

choose. Additionally, Nikon will continue to produce the manual focus 85mm

f/2.8D PC Micro-Nikkor®.

With the interests of its customers in mind, Nikon will offer continued

post-sale service for products whose production has ceased for a period of 10

(ten) years from Nikon Inc.'s last date of sale.

This shift in business strategy and in the utilization of resources will

allow Nikon to further its storied history and reputation as a leader in the

ever-growing digital market and continue to offer groundbreaking new products

and technology for photographers of all skill levels.

[BERIGAN]

NIKON WILL DROP FILM CAMERAS

NEW YORK (AP) - Nikon Corp., which helped popularize the 35 mm camera five decades ago, will stop making most of its film cameras to concentrate on digital models.

Headline is a bit misleading, since they are not dropping film cameras, just cutting down to two models.

Edited January 13, 2006 by BERIGAN

[BFrank]

Yes. They're keeping the F6 and FM10 models.

[J Larsen]

I think this is a good thing. Developing film requires the use of very nasty chemicals, which do harm both when they are produced and when they are disposed of. For 99.9% of all pictures taken, digital suits the picture taker's needs just fine, and is easier on the environment (with the caveat that people seem much more likely to keep upgrading their digital cameras and disposing of their old ones than with film cameras).

For the remaining .1%, there will always be high-end film cameras and darkrooms to be found.

[jazzmessenger]

Konica Minolta has just announced that they will be completely getting out of their camera business by this March. SONY will inherit their SLR line. Times are definitely changin'...

[Christiern]

Times sure have changed. In 1960, when I went to Copenhagen for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, Cannonball gave me a list of camera equipment to buy--it had to be German, because the Japanese stuff was crap!

[BFrank]

Now it's Chinese stuff that's crap.............but that'll change.

[Christiern]

Yes. I think that single car planted in the hallway at the recent auto show is an ominous seed.