End of an Era...

[wordsmythe]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/01/12/n....ap/index.html


Nikon will stop making most film cameras

NEW YORK (AP) -- Nikon Corp., which helped popularize the 35mm 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" as 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 ranks fifth in digital-camera shipments in the United States, behind Kodak, Canon, Sony Corp. and Fuji Photo Film Co.

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

Its breakthrough model was the F, released in 1959. It set a standard for ruggedness and reliability and became a must-have for photojournalists.

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 was a diehard "I'll NEVER go digital!" person... That is until Nikon came out with the D-100. After I played with it I sold every piece of film stuff I owned and haven't looked back.

[lurker]

In no way have I checked them all but I don't like the digital cameras that utilize proprietary software for downloading jpgs. Sony made a rather large camera that used floppies as the media... later a small cd...

That was very cool... you could go to any cyber café and transfer the images to any other location without having to use messy cables or junkware.

ps. Thanks wordy for posting the text. I don't go to the CommunistNewsNetwerk.

[wordsmythe]

I haven't seen it on Fascist Fox so I figured you'd be missing out.

Everything I shoot goes on the CF card and I put it in the reader to transfer to my HD. A floppy wouldn't even come close to holding one of the pics off my camera at full res.

[lurker]

Maybe Fox believes that their viewers already know about the demise of film cameras. Glad you are catching up.

Just cuz I'm curious, how large are your standard images? What printer do you use for image printing?

[wordsmythe]

I have a 24"X36" print on my wall.

I've got an Epson R340 and an HP932 for the standard prints but if I need something more permanent I take it to Wolfe's and pay the $5 for a standard photo.