Nikon F6

Does know if there will be a Nikon F6 out anytime soon?

I was wondering if they would produce it, since most of the products

are going digital. I was thinking that the F100 was the last F series

and that Nikon is going to put more focus on the the D series.

Anyone not bound by NDA and who claims to know about Nikon F6 probably suffer from tendency towards lying, confusion between facts and speculation, or outright hallucination.

I don't think there will be an F6. F5 sales are stalling, lots of them on the used shelves, so basically the market segment for that kind of product has become so small that it doesn't make financial sense to make it.

It would depend on a few factors. The Hasselblad engineers have a camera body that will use a film back and a digital back (mortgage-like price,) so it is possible Nikon may do some brain-storming for such a like-featured Nikon body. Would it be a F6 or a D2 or a D3 -- who knows?

I agree, that no one knows the minds at Nikon, wish we did. But with the large switch to Digital, that many photographers are making, I would be surprised if Nikon brings out a new and improved version of the F5. Unless, it was built in to a digital body of course, or a film and digital body. Also, how could they substantially improve the F5, in a declinning pro film market? The F100 is a great body, and they are one of the few Manufacturers, other than Leica, who still produce pro grade 35mm manual cameras. I think they saw that nich correctly.

 

Plus, Nikon, at least I've always thought, seems to be a oompany whose theory is: If it isn't broken, don't fix it. I base that on the fact that they still produce the F3, and look how long it's been since Canon and Kodak annouced and brought out the "Super Megapixal" cameras, and Nikon hasn't annouced any future changes to the D1 series yet.

 

For me, they have great film bodies like the f100, F5, F3, and the newest FM3A, and really don't need any more at this time. I would rather see them upgrade a digital to not only produce 10+ megapixals (even though I'm quite happy with 6); but also one that has an ISO range of between 50 and 1600. Not to mention upgrading the lens line to all be AF-S, to compete with the Canon USM.

 

Just my thoughts on the subject

 

Rob

It seems unlikely that Nikon would produce an F6 soon because there is hardly any improvement that could be made to the F5, and the market for this level of pro-grade SLR film camera is limited and shrinking, due to the switch to digital by most photo-journalists.

<br>F Photomic 1960

<br>F2 Photomic 1971

<br>F3 1980

<br>F4 1988

<br>F5 1996

<br>

<br>Judging by the intervals, my guess is F6 may be available in 2004 or 2005, if there will be a F6.

<br>

<br>I believe Nikon's R&D started working on next F immediately after the introduction of F5. By now Nikon should be capable of producing the next generation at any time but the question is whether there is sufficient demand for it.

<br>

<br><i>"The Hasselblad engineers have a camera body that will use a film back and a digital back"</i>

<br>

<br>Leica has just introduced a digital module for its R8 and R9 few days ago, something similar to the Hasselblad H1. If Leica has done it, why can�t Nikon? F6, D2 or a D3 doesn�t matter, as long as it is a hybrid SLR.

A few months ago, the Nikon Mailing List was swamped with emails speculating on this topic. The fact is that the F6 remains nonexistent.<br><br>

 

A more interesting topic is the next generation of pro Digital SLR. Thom Hogan did a nice write-up on his website at <a href="http://www.bythom.com/dreamnikon.htm">http://www.bythom.com/dreamnikon.htm</a>. It covered all the bases and should give the engineers and marketing geeks at Nikon some food for thought.

Well, I'd *love* a digital back for my FM3A's!!

Considering that Nikon produced the F3 for, what, 20 years without making a single significant improvement, what are the chances that they'll replace the F5 any time soon?

 

Whatever the perceived shortcomings of the F5 I'll bet most owners learn to live with 'em, just as I have with my F3.

The F3 hasn't been manufactured for some time now. Some dealers still have stock left, but it's been discontinued.

Here's a fantasy: What if, to add to its ample stable of 35mm bodies, Nikon's F6 became an F645, with provisions for the addition of a digital back of course, along with some super lenses redesigned for the larger format? Just a thought.

We can only speculate on the F6 and it is entertaining. The problem with the F5 is it has everything anyone needs feature wise but its getting dated now. So I reckon within the next year or so we will hear whether Nikon will replace it, cease production or continue. maybe even the release of the FD6 multi medium. I like the idea of digi chips for any SLR. The main problem seems to be producing a CCD and processor that will fit into the film chamber. A couple of years back I read in a digital magazine a company were designing a unit that would fit without modifying the film door. It looked like a film cassette with 4 inches of film hanging out, the film was about 4mm deep and housed the CCD. Only problem was it had no image preview however it benefitted that its power source was much smaller. . Its battery pack went onto the base of the camera and was the same size as a MB10 (grip) etc, connected to the chip via a thin ribbon cable. Obviously never worked or would have heard by now. . I supposse this is what the the Kodak Dsc / dcs? backs for the F90x eos 1n etc were. But they were to big adding a good 5 inches onto the camera height making it heavier too. The digi backs for medium format are easier because there is more room to play with. Hence the Hasselblad newest multi media mentioned above

It's a really good question, if Hasselblad and Leica can design a interchangeable back for their high end film bodies, why can't Nikon?

Can you image a F100 or F5 with a digital back as an option?? Wow

 

But will the "Nikon Gods of Photography" think about it?

 

Good idea though

 

Rob

Hate to give one of those "I heard somewhere" answers (even more vague than "I heard from a friend of a friend"), but here goes: I recall reading (somewhere) that Nikon stopped its R&D on the F6 shortly after the introduction of the EOS-1Ds; that the engineers from F6 R&D were taken off the project and put instead on the team that is preparing the upgrade to the D1X/D1H. Supposedly the engineers had been working on a digital back option for the F6 (similar to what Leica just announced for the R9). <P>

 

Whether any of this is true I'm of course not certain; though it makes sense that Nikon would be well into F6 development by now; and, that this development would include a digital component. Whether we will see an F6 now is anybody's guess; but I hope we do. I hope it's the size of the F100, with F5 build quality, mirror lockup, manual rewind option, etc.; and that it includes options for both film and digital.

An F6 with optioanl film and digital backs can't possibly be the direction Nikon digital is going. Think about it, if the film moving mechanism is incorporated into the back, the interface with the chassis will be very complex, very prone to damage and alignment problem. If the film moving mechanism is incorporated into the chassis, it would make the digital back option quite bulky and heavy. As such, a F6 with digital back would be quite uncompetitive against a rival dedicated DSLR system that offer the same sensor and buffer technology. I think Nikon will continue to produce dedicated digital pro-bodies and separate analogue pro-bodies.

You're probably right, Chuck. But, wearing its digital back, the <a href=http://www.leica-camera.com/produkte/rsystem/digitalmodul/index_e.html>R9</a> doesn't appear to be much larger or bulkier than the <a href=http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0302/cameracorner.html>EOS-1Ds</a>. Or for that matter the <a href=http://www.bythom.com/f5.htm>F5</a>. And with electronic components getting smaller all the time, certainly it's possible that it could be made smaller still. I think the real question is probably more one of whether Nikon sees a large future for film in pro use. It's beginning to look like many (most) PJs and commercial photogs aren't going to need a film option.

It doesn't seem to me that the overall performance of R9 digital back really is competitive against the likes of, say EOS-1Ds and D-1X. If Nikon were to continue making a living as a first tier manufacturer, its digital professional offering would have to be within a few month of state of the art in sensor and buffering performance while competitive in size, bulk, robustness and ergonomics.

<I>It doesn't seem to me that the overall performance of R9 digital back really is competitive against the likes of, say EOS-1Ds and D-1X. </I><P>

 

What do you base that on, Chuck? And, as good as the D1x is, does it really belong in the same sentence with the EOS-1Ds - a camera that, let's face it, has shattered the paradigm, and caused a great many serious shooters to finally take digital seriously? The D1x with its 1.5 focal length multiplier and five-point-something mexapixel sensor is clearly not in the same league as the EOS-1Ds. Nikon will likely come out soon with something that is, but for now Canon stands alone in this. (My friends who are into digital tell me that images from their new EOS-10D look better than those from the D1x; which is not surprising if you've seen the specs on the 10D.)<P>

 

The back for the Leica R9, meanwhile, is planned to be a <I>ten</I> megapixel affair - one sporting proprietary imaging software from Imacon, which up to now has only been involved in very high end medium format digital. If you follow Leica at all, you know they won't put their name on this back unless it does justice to their lenses. And if it does that, Canon won't be standing alone anymore.<P>

 

<I> If Nikon were to continue making a living as a first tier manufacturer, its digital professional offering would have to be within a few month of state of the art in sensor and buffering performance while competitive in size, bulk, robustness and ergonomics.</I><P>

 

No question about it. But their response to Canon's recent efforts will have to be far more robust than it's been lately.

I don't know if this had made it over here yet, but as heard from the forums at dpreview.com, Nikon is supposed to make a big announcement on July 24th. I don't want to be guilty of hearsay here, but one person did say that a Nikon representative did mention that July 24th would be a big day, hinting at film rather than digital.

Thanks for the heads-up, Ian. It'll be interesting to see what they announce. (Btw, exactly which thread in the dpreview forums?)

I tried looking for the forum thread at dpreview for about 20 minutes, but alas, I couldn't find it. Rest assued though, it's there. I believe the title was "I walked into my local camera store today..." or something very similar. Best regards!

I think that thread is on rogalbraith.com or whatever that site is called. Some guy in the Netherlands speaks of some gathering put on by Nikon to announce something.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/

showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=148575&Forum=All_Forums&Words=Niko

n%20&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=6months&Main=1481

55&Search=true#Post148575

Yeah, that thread does reaffirm what I originally read elsewhere (though it has been moved up from the 24th to the 22nd). Here's another thread of comments on dpreview:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1021&message=5529802

 

Also, Nikon has applied to trademark "D2x" and "D2h" in the US. Forgive me, as I have again been unable to find the dpreview thread.