nikon to phase out film camera production!!!

[ken_jeanette]

Announced on CNet today

 

They said all but 2 cameras and all lenses for film cameras will bee

phased out

[eric friedemann]

The news has already been received:

 

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Ept9&unified_p=1

 

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Epfz&tag=

 

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Ep4U&tag=

[marbing]

As we lovers of Classic Cameras can testify to; specific models and brands of cameras have come and gone through the years. Sometimes (as in the case of Zeiss Ikon) they have even come back!

 

Those of us who regularly use cameras that are 30+ years old know that they retain their usefulness long after the original manufacturer has taken them out of production. My Ikoflex probably takes pictures as well as it did back in the 1950's but the model (and even the TLR style) has been missing from new cameras store shelves for decades.

 

While it might appear that some milestone has been passed with Nikon's announcement...it is merely another similar milestone to ones that we have passed many times before. Contax users are well aware that Kyocera has decided to get out of the camera business altogether (film AND digital) thus making orphans of our Contax bodies and lenses. We know that Zeiss has started to reissue their lenses in other mounts (most recently an announcement of Zeiss/Nikon F mount series of lenses is anticipated).

 

I suspect that it is the longevity of film camera bodies that has been their downfall. How many people are still using Nikon F4's and F5's with no need to 'upgrade' to the F6? Does it make economic sense for a company to sell one or two camera bodies to a photographer every 25 years when, with digital, they can continue offering 'new features' and incremental upgrades to their digital bodies every 18 months or so and induce people to open their wallets again...just to stay on the 'leading edge' of the new technology.

 

So, I am sure that when Nikon looked at their base of film users...who only 'up-spent' every couple of decades and the base of digital users who 'up-spend' every couple of years...there was more $$ to be made in the digital stream than in the analog stream. Compared to the digital 'fish'...the analog ones 'weren't biting'.

[patric_dahl_n]

It's just natural that automatic and computerized cameras for film will go away. If so "advanced" cameras are wanted, people would choose digital instead.

 

People who still prefer film tend to get more and more interested in manual cameras and classics. :-)

[constance_cook]

Most, but not all, of your post is erroneous.

 

Conni

[mtk]

Why is this of any interest in the classic camera forum? We at the classic camera forum have been immune from most of this kind of rhetoric, this company stopping this, film vs digital etc....and hopefully this trend continues..........

[don_james]

<i>Most, but not all, of your post is erroneous.</i><p>

 

It would help to know which of the four previous posters you are referring to.

[BrianS1664879711]

"Why is this of any interest in the classic camera forum?"

 

Perhaps there is a perception by some that all film cameras are quickly becoming "classic".

[John Farrell]

I'm sure this will have no effect on my desire to acquire a Nikon F, to add to the Canons, Pentaxes, Fujicas .....

[patrick j dempsey]

Well I dont know if its not the right place for this news... I dont look in forums saturated with digital cameras or specifically in the Nikon forum, so this was the first I had heard of the news. Thank you Ken for bringing it to our attention. Its funny because I was watching the Supreme Court hearings on television and behind Alito you could see several journalists trying to wedge themselves between attendants to get a good shot. Of the 3 I spotted all of them were shooting Nikon film cameras. So they are pretty smart to keep to the F6, and the FM10, thats really a "student" type of camera so it was probably wise to keep that. Well basically except for college kids taking photography classes which usually require a manual focus film camera and professional journalists, theres not too many people who even still shoot film anymore. Its disheartening news, but its not really terribly surprising. But since they are apparently keeping the lens mount into the future, this is hardly the death of Nikon film photography. Maybe in 30 years the last of the Nikon film cameras will have their own Classic Camera status. ;)

[gene m]

Brain Shaw's comment is right on.

[tito sobrinho]

Well, I'm still happy with my first and only Nikon, which I bought new in 1968...a FTn. Still taking wonderful pictures!

[b._verschott1]

The loss of 3-4 Malaysian/Chinese-made battery-driven blobs of plastic with "Nikon" stamped on them really shouldn't be of much consequence to people here. The only company that seems to be able to keep on selling new old-school cameras is Leica and when you look at their prices you know the people who buy them have to either be status-seekers or just plain nuts.

[john_smullen]

As an owner of a Pentax SV, several Kodak Retinas, an Agfa Super Silette and a Contax II the news of Nikon discontinuing production of film cameras is not particularly bothersome - I wasn't in the market for any of their products! Nor is the news of Nikon dropping out of the film camera business particularly surprising because the irreversible trend toward digital has been obvious for 10 years. If anything Nikon is a bit late.

 

The Nikon decision is troubling because fewer companies will supply the film, paper and chemicals that allow cameras with mechanical FP and leaf shutters to record images. As someone who cherishes those old mechanical picture boxes the future looks a bit dimmer as a result of the Nikon decision.