Severe crisis at Nikon

nikonhswebmaster said:
The interesting part of the Japanese article is the mention that Nikon was actually a munitions company, forced into civilian optical production by the US occupation. See attached a Nikon periscope I used to own.
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Seems that something got a bit lost in translation there. 軍需企業 can be translated as "munitions company" but in this case "military supplier company" is more accurate.

The full sentence below translates to something like "Nikon was originally a military supply company established for the purpose of creating a domestic source of weapons optics for the navy (meaning things like gun sights, gun rangefinders, submarine periscopes etc.).

もとは海軍向け光学兵器の国産化を目的として設立された軍需企業
 
jonmanjiro said:
Seems that something got a bit lost in translation there. 軍需企業 can be translated as "munitions company" but in this case "military supplier company" is more accurate.

The full sentence below translates to something like "Nikon was originally a military supply company established for the purpose of creating a domestic source of weapons optics for the navy (meaning things like gun sights, gun rangefinders, submarine periscopes etc.).

もとは海軍向け光学兵器の国産化を目的として設立された軍需企業
Click to expand...

Yeah, Canon was the munitions company.
😀
 
jonmanjiro said:
LOL 😀

座布団一枚！
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I believe the occupation defined those Nippon Kogaku, K.K. bombsights and navy telescopes as "munitions," in the sense of military weapons. That periscope I posted was used to spot from a trench.

As many on the RFF know, Nikon did dabble with photographic lenses for Canon before the war.
 
brennanphotoguy said:
What turned you off to the D750?
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I've been tempted, but... Two things, really. I don't do video personally, so a tilting LCD is just another point of potential failure. I'm hard on my gear, and while I doubt I'd be hard enough to break it, I also wouldn't really use it.

Second thing is control layout... I'm constantly swapping between center-weighted metering and Matrix, I want a dedicated ISO button, I never use the scene modes... Its a great sensor, I just want it in a D700 body.

Honestly, the Nikon ergonomics (and the small fortune I have in Nikon glass) are what's kept me from jumping ship to a 5DMkIII, and the 700 layout (which is really a carryover from the D200/300 layout) suits my needs particularly well.

Where the 700 really shines for my kind of work is that its a relatively small (if not light) body when it needs to be, but with a grip it's a poor man's D3, with a good spray-and-pray frame rate and a usable buffer. And in either configuration (gripped or not) the batteries last *forever*. In everything but IQ it's still a phenomenal PJ camera, IMHO.

D800 fps is too slow, and from my experience borrowing a pal's, the 700 still outdoes it in low light. As it stands, when, god forbid, my 700 starts to wear out, I'm going to have to jump to the single-digit-D's if I want to keep shooting Nikon
 
mothertrucker said:
I like the idea of a digital Nikon Rangefinder. They have the heritage to pull it off. The issue I see is with lens compatibility. They just can't compete with the variety of lenses that are available in LTM or M mount.

So... why not an M mount, SP or S3 retro styled digital rangefinder??? Priced lower than the latest Leica offerings, I think it would do well.

And if you still want to use your Nikon rangefinder lenses, there are adapters for that already. (Thanks Amedeo!)

I'd buy one.
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Wrong track.

As much as we like the S-mount gear, the Nikon legacy and heritage lenses are the F-mount lenses. Since 1959. At a point that they didn't change the mount when the AF arrived. So what Nikon should make now is a DSLR which would be different.

What their marketing babble said the Df would be, but what it wasn't at all. The only interesting thing on the Df is the metal and flippable Ai coupling tab (like it was on the FM, FE and F3). But the rest... Well.

Small, full metal and leather, almost no buttons, simple menus, all in all, what the most recent Leica M bodies are, but with the F6 reflex chamber and interchangeable focusing screens.

They definitely can do this. But it seems they won't. Why ? Nobody neither knows nor understands. Such a tool would sell like hell.
 
I think nikon needs to stick to the working pro market. Canon is not hurting in the same way, correct me if I'm wrong? When I go out to shoot for me, serious work or for fun, I bring along my M6. My DSLR is a tool for when I need to deliver something to an editor.
To that end, Highway 61, I think some of what you're saying is right: make it smaller, yes. Give me multiple focusing screen options, yes. Full metal, yes.
But I need buttons. If there's gonna be a matrix meter I need a way to turn it off in a split second. I need a way to select non CPU lenses quickly. I need a way to toggle AF modes quickly.
The DF made me excited when it was first announced, I'll admit. But IMHO the camera that'll get Nikon back on track needs to be a stripped-down professional tool aiming to take on the 5dMkIV, not the M10
 
De_Corday said:
I think nikon needs to stick to the working pro market. Canon is not hurting in the same, way, correct me if I'm wrong? When I go out to shoot for me, serious work or for fun, I bring along my M6. My DSLR is a tool for when I need to deliver something to an editor.
To that end, Highway 61, I think some of what you're saying is right: make it smaller, yes. Give me multiple focusing screen options, yes. Full metal, yes.
But I need buttons. If there's gonna be a matrix meter I need a way to turn it off in a split second. I need a way to select non CPU lenses quickly. I need a way to toggle AF modes quickly.
The DF made me excited when it was first announced, I'll admit. But IMHO the camera that'll get Nikon back on track needs to be a stripped-down professional tool aiming to take on the 5dMkIV, not the M10
Click to expand...

This about sums up my thoughts as well.
 
I feel that Nikon should get out of the digital imaging business and move back into film cameras...new lightweight but crafted F and F2 type cameras...etc.
Any digital image you see now could have been taken on a phone, for goodness sake! Constant chimping and idiotic selfies are taking the imaging business down a dead end alley.
No one under 25 cares about cameras and photographs any more. That needs to change. Nikon Canon and Leica have a legacy second to none in any aspect of optics, engineering and craft that you might care to mention and for that to die out because we all got too lazy to take photographs, but just wanted to snap something for Instagram or whatever the program is called is shaming.
What do Nikon need? Someone that loves photography more than accountants. Hold an early Rf camera from any maker and then compare that to a coolpix; say what?
They aren't making what people want; on the one hand people seem to want these picture phones, which Nikon don't make, and on the other, they are making what they can't sell. Duh.
Presumably the engineers are gone and the computers do all the work and that's why everything is so bland.
My 2 cents
 
CameraQuest said:
Lomography film sales are said to be the highest of any other photography group. The great majority are under 25.
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I agree. Lots of the kids who are working as photo assistants in a digital studio are packing film cameras for their personal stuff. Phone cameras seem to cover their digital needs.
 
Lomography? Is Nikon thinking of that market? Aren't they taken with plastic type lenses for effects? I realize everything you look at on a page could be a photograph, but surely Nikon hasn't sailed that far adrift of it's roots, if that's not mixing up some metaphors.
I'm sure there are a great many very talented under 25s' taking great photos all over the World, but they aren't buying Nikon cameras is the point I am making. It is too big a topic for a dim old so and so like me, anyway; if Nikon can't sort themselves out, and they don't come asking for advice(!), who can help ?
 
andybrown said:
I feel that Nikon should get out of the digital imaging business and move back into film cameras...new lightweight but crafted F and F2 type cameras...etc.
Any digital image you see now could have been taken on a phone, for goodness sake! Constant chimping and idiotic selfies are taking the imaging business down a dead end alley.
No one under 25 cares about cameras and photographs any more. That needs to change. Nikon Canon and Leica have a legacy second to none in any aspect of optics, engineering and craft that you might care to mention and for that to die out because we all got too lazy to take photographs, but just wanted to snap something for Instagram or whatever the program is called is shaming.
What do Nikon need? Someone that loves photography more than accountants. Hold an early Rf camera from any maker and then compare that to a coolpix; say what?
They aren't making what people want; on the one hand people seem to want these picture phones, which Nikon don't make, and on the other, they are making what they can't sell. Duh.
Presumably the engineers are gone and the computers do all the work and that's why everything is so bland.
My 2 cents
Click to expand...

I highlighted the only sentence that makes sense to me.
My 2 cents
 
andybrown said:
Lomography? Is Nikon thinking of that market? Aren't they taken with plastic type lenses for effects? I realize everything you look at on a page could be a photograph, but surely Nikon hasn't sailed that far adrift of it's roots, if that's not mixing up some metaphors.
I'm sure there are a great many very talented under 25s' taking great photos all over the World, but they aren't buying Nikon cameras is the point I am making. It is too big a topic for a dim old so and so like me, anyway; if Nikon can't sort themselves out, and they don't come asking for advice(!), who can help ?
Click to expand...

:shrug: not to beat a dead horse but I know a lot of 25 year old photogs slinging Canons around...
 
andybrown said:
Lomography? Is Nikon thinking of that market? Aren't they taken with plastic type lenses for effects? I realize everything you look at on a page could be a photograph, but surely Nikon hasn't sailed that far adrift of it's roots, if that's not mixing up some metaphors.
I'm sure there are a great many very talented under 25s' taking great photos all over the World, but they aren't buying Nikon cameras is the point I am making. It is too big a topic for a dim old so and so like me, anyway; if Nikon can't sort themselves out, and they don't come asking for advice(!), who can help ?
Click to expand...

Some of these kids use Lomos. These are former photo students and their friends. I also see Nikon F4's as popular. Canon AE1, etc. Not much 120 stuff except for the Lomography, mostly all 35mm cameras.. Canon and Nikon. There is a very popular rental Darkroom & B+W lab in the area.

Some of these young, film using, assistants are PhotoShop wiz kids.
 
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