Nikon to stop producing film cameras/lenses

Reuters is reporting today that Nikon will concentrate on digital cameras and stop producing film cameras/lenses except for several of their top-of-the-line professional products.

Film is going the way of slide rules: no one will ever remember what we did before things went digital.

what's a slide rule?

Wow... did they happen to mention a date? I didn't think that we would see this for a few more years. I wonder how long before other manufactures start to follow suite?

-Mike

Xrunner said:

Wow... did they happen to mention a date? I didn't think that we would see this for a few more years. I wonder how long before other manufactures start to follow suite?

-Mike

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This summer.

Here's a link.

I say it's about time. Film is completely worthless in 2006. Buying a film camera would be like buying a new Pentium 1 computer...with it's original sticker price.

BatteryCharger said:

I say it's about time. Film is completely worthless in 2006. Buying a film camera would be like buying a new Pentium 1 computer...with it's original sticker price.

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Hardly!

For color snapshots I'd agree. I still cannot come close to approximating a good black and white negative with a "black and white" digital print. Wayyyy to narrow dynamic range.

Further, there is no digital camera (for under $10k) that will hold a candle to the resolution and dynamic range of my 6x7, let alone my 4x5.

I realize these are specialty cameras, but when it comes to black and white, I think film is superior...for now anyway.

And, with CDs (see the thread dealing with CD life), I'd still rather have my important photos stored on film than digitally. Currently, I store my digital images on two computers, one backup hard drive, and a CD. Belt and suspenders...maybe, but I won't lose my images.

Marty Weiner said:

Reuters is reporting today that Nikon will concentrate on digital cameras and stop producing film cameras/lenses except for several of their top-of-the-line professional products.

Film is going the way of slide rules: no one will ever remember what we did before things went digital.

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That makes sense, the market for consumer SLRs is small now, nobody wants to pay for film. My wife and I have taken about 35,000 pictures with a Canon 10D, no way we could do that with film.

Not only do I not want to pay for film anymore; I'm tired of being held hostage by the processing labs. Photo processing is way overpriced IMO,

but there is no dig camera that take a pic as good as a 35mm but them deverlpers do stink the old one i saw was such a jerk i even told him he was a jerk and i never ever tell pople what i think but he was that bad so stuck up

I;ve taken a lot of nice shots with my old Pentax 1000 before it broke; I've also taken many decent shots with my Vivitar 3mp and others. The thing about film cameras is that you never know if you really got the shot you wanted until the film comes back from the lab. By that time, you could be hundreds or thousands of miles away from where you took the picture.

i habe a pentax 1000

raggie33 said:

i have a pentax 1000

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Good choice! That's a workhorse camera and the type that I learned photography on many years ago. Mine finally lost the film winder handle thingy somewhere in Vegas - it popped off and disappeared onto the sidewalk in front of the Bellagio somewhere. I retired it after that.

I got many years of good use out of it.

It's still gonna be some time before they can replace the disposable camera market with digitals. SO for us that appreciate the art of film, we have a few more years of processing labs and film availability to enjoy.

Just today I was actually thinking about an inexpensive film SLR to back up my digital SLR. The one I was thinking of even includes cheapo 28-90mm lens with the body for less than $200. Since it's the same manufacturer as my DSLR and from a similar product family, it offers me a similar degree of control of my DSLR. Good for those situations where you would rather not risk your expensive camera, or as a backup. I believe the mainstream will go digital (the vast majority of my shots are), but film will continue to have its place and its relevance.

raggie33 said:

but there is no dig camera that take a pic as good as a 35mm but them deverlpers do stink the old one i saw was such a jerk i even told him he was a jerk and i never ever tell pople what i think but he was that bad so stuck up

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Yes, but digital is good enough for most consumers. I'm sure this decision was based entirely on sales trends. Consumers want digital. They want to see their pictures right away, they want to easily e-mail them and put them on the web, and they don't want to pay for film.

They'll still make film cameras for professionals.

I made the leap to fully digital this past Oct before I went to China.

I've had pocket-sized digital cameras for the last 5 years and loved them, especially when out sightseeing and/or hiking. The small size and increasingly better pictures/resolution pretty much did away with film for me.

I took the plunge before going far-east and got a Canon 20D with the 17-85mm lens (not the junky cheap one) and love it ! Wound up taking taking over 5000 pictures in the 2 weeks I was there. I used an Epson P-2000 multimedia storage gizmo to download the pictures to free up the CF card for the next days use. Used my little Canon S500 when I didn't feel like lugging the 20D too.

No more film worries for me !!

I bought a DSLR for my birthday this past summer. I still have my 2 film SLR's, although I don't expect to use them anytime soon. I'm sure that the used market will keep film enthusiasts well supplied with gear for quite awhile. Convenient film processing might be a different story, although I think a lot of 1-hour processing places use the same machine to print film and digital, so there is less incentive to replace those machines.

I've been doing some thinking about the greater dynamic range of film, which would be of greatest value for landscapes and things like that. I have seen suggestions that you can take multiple digital exposures, with different settings, then combine them in prostprocessing to gain more dynamic range. Of course a lot of people really serious about landscape photography will be using something larger than 35mm anyway.

it will focus on digital photography and stop producing most of its film cameras, except for a few professional photographer products.

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...do not dispair, they'll still make their high-end film cameras.

greenLED said:

...do not dispair, they'll still make their high-end film cameras.

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You could always go Canon.........



*runs as the Nikon users stone him with film cans*

Just to make it clear.. I'm only teasing and I've got nothing against them!

You could always go Canon........

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Been there, done that, don't have to do it again.