"- When I faced what seemed like a wall of used Nikon F100s at Adorama a short while back, I wondered how long it would be until Nikon started paring back their film-camera line. I got my answer today: except for the extremes of their SLR line (the new-ish flagship F6 at one end, the lowly FM 10 at the other), all of their film-based cameras are biting the dust, along with a lot of their remaining manual-focus lenses. There's a lot of demand for the F6, and presumably the FM 10 (the student-shooter's standard, affordable sidearm, courtesy of Cosina)." - Barrett
TODAYS NEW YORK TIMES
TOKYO, Thursday, Jan. 12 - The Nikon Corporation, the Japanese camera maker, said Thursday that it would stop making most of its film cameras and lenses in order to focus on digital cameras.
A company spokesman said Nikon made the decision because sales of film cameras have plunged. In the most recent fiscal year ended March 2005, Nikon said that film camera bodies accounted for 3 percent of the 180 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in sales at the company's camera and imaging division. That is down from 16 percent the previous year.
By contrast, sales of digital cameras have soared, the company said, jumping to 75 percent of total sales in the year ended March 2005, from 47 percent three years earlier. Scanners and other products account for the remainder of the division's sales....
The beat goes on, and the beat goes on... (Sonny & Cher)
3 comments:
dave- i have a 31 year old nikkormat, f/1.4 50mm lens. it works wonderfully. A thing that bothers me about digital photography is the obsolescence we are being saddled with. Whether it is equipment designed for image acquisition or image output, in 5 to 10 years it will be garbage.
Bill, that's part of the beauty of the digital age - complete obsolescence right from the start. It is perfect for business - for this reason alone. Digital has a shorter half-life than the car.
(I'm not sure how to make a tongue-in-cheek icon).
The output side of things will last longer than the input. Maybe a 2 - 4 year life cycle. But the capture side - forget about it.
I'm actually looking at old 35mm f2.8 Leica lenses right now - the ones with goggles for the M3. I stand with one foot going back fast into the past, and the other foot standing on the quicksand of the present output system.
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, bra!...
After starting with my Dad's Retina 1a at age 17, the first camera I ever bought, a year later, was a 3-year old Nikon F, Photomic T.
But somehow, I can't get too wound up over this news. Maybe because I've almost irrevocably gone over the The Dark Side for more than two years now.
Now my question is - will discontinued, high-end Nikons become cheaper or more expensive??
For me, the good thing is that I've never used a film-based Canon SLR(I shoot with a Digital Rebel now), so when they go the way of the Dodo bird, I won't be upset.
Best regards,
SteveR
Post a Comment