Nikon Announcement

Robert Edge · January 11, 2006

Today, Nikon announced that it is essentially getting out of the film camera business: http://www.nikon.co.uk/press_room/releases/show.aspx?rid=201

With a few exceptions, the company is ceasing production of 35mm film cameras, manual lenses, large format lenses and enlarging lenses. The press release says that current stock should run out sometime this summer.

Not surprising.

January 11, 2006

yeah not really surprising but it still sucks. I'm glad to see that the f6 and fm10 will still be produced though.

Mike Williamson · January 12, 2006

That's interesting, especially considering that there's an expected announcement by Zeiss sometime next week that they'll be making Zeiss lenses in Nikon mounts, presumably for 35mm film cameras. As it was explained to me, the idea is that Zeiss wants to find a new manufacturer to market their lenses with now that Contax is out of the picture. Anyhow, those interested can check out the Zeiss website and look at the upcoming "solution".

Zeiss homepage

Robert Edge · January 12, 2006

The significance of this is that one of the two main players in film cameras is throwing in the towel.

It's hard to resist the conclusion that Canon won't be far behind, in which case one has got to wonder what Kodak and Fuji are going to do, not as a consequence, but because they must be experiencing the same free fall. When Nikon says that 95 per cent of its business is now digital, that says something.

Nobody is going to buy Zeiss lenses for an FM10. It is a cheap, entry level camera. As I read the press release, continuation of the F6 is a matter of prestige, and temporary at that.

I don't see why Zeiss would buy in, except on a temporary basis, to what Nikon has decided is a dead business.

Mike Williamson · January 12, 2006

Hopefully Nikon will stay committed to manufacturing a few film cameras, though it's easy to see why they're not going further with new designs. At this point, I'm not sure what kind of advancements would really be needed in a film camera, but then I'm not a professional stills shooter.

I'm curious whether upcoming Nikon digital cameras will be able to work with the current or existing 35mm lenses, anyone have an idea on how that's going to work? Seems like that might be an attractive feature for somebody who owns a nice Nikon film kit to get into digital.

Stephen Williams · January 12, 2006

I'm curious whether upcoming Nikon digital cameras will be able to work with the current or existing 35mm lenses, anyone have an idea on how that's going to work? Seems like that might be an attractive feature for somebody who owns a nice Nikon film kit to get into digital.

Hi,

I use all my old Nikon glass on my D70

Stephen

Jason Mann · January 12, 2006

Hi,

I use all my old Nikon glass on my D70

Stephen

Yeah, I just got a D70 and took a trip to Africa with two of my brothers old manual lenses from his F. They looked great. The 50mm looked a tiny bit soft (almost pro-misty) and the 200mm magically became a 300mm, which is sweet when lions are around.

Anyway, it's definitely possible and fun. That said, I want to get a Nikon film body so I can start taking some black and white stuff again.

Joe Taylor · January 12, 2006

I find it strange that for almost a century we have left ourselves at the mercy of the limits of the 35mm film frame, this is true mainly for motion pictures. I am not dissing 35mm at all, but there have been many complaints about it's somwhat awkward size and so forth. Now that digital acquisition is really beginning to threaten film based motion picture cameras, camera manufactures are still designing their technology (cameras and lens') around the 35mm format., i.e. chips and again lens'. The same thing is happening with still cameras. "Full frame" format is what everyone is after now.

If we're moving into an entirely new era, why not start from scratch? Why do the highest end motion picture cameras have to have Super 35mm chips?

It just seems like their making these brand new $250,000 cameras to support old film lens'.

Chris Fernando · January 12, 2006

I'm curious whether upcoming Nikon digital cameras will be able to work with the current or existing 35mm lenses, anyone have an idea on how that's going to work? Seems like that might be an attractive feature for somebody who owns a nice Nikon film kit to get into digital.

Nikon prides themselves on their backwards compatibility (Though it sounds like there may not be much to go back to very soon!). All F mounts will work on all digital bodies but some features maybe unaccessible.

Try these link for info on lens compatibility:

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/compa...urces/index.htm

(English isn't this guy's first language but much info nonetheless)

http://www.bythom.com/nikon.htm

I hope these new Zeiss' are going to cover the 35 frame for us dinosaurs (haven't clicked on the link yet).

Robert Edge · January 12, 2006

Mike, thanks for the link to Zeiss. Just had a chance to look at it in more detail. I didn't know that Zeiss has just come out with a new 35mm rangefinder. Looking at B&H and Robert White in the UK, the body seems to be about half the price of a Leica M. There are some comments about the camera here, including some from Roger Hicks who apparently will be doing a review for Shutterbug and the UK magazine Black and White: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-..._id=00Eq0z&tag=

The super 16 camera that I have will take a Nikon mount, so I'm kind of curious about what Zeiss is going to announce on Wednesday.