colker
Well-known
As long as it´s a manual focus line of lenses i am in.
What if Nikon (and Canon) released new RF FILM cameras (and lenses)?
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colker
Well-known
Nikon still sells the F6... they still have film advance levers and sprockets in the warehouse.
Film did not go away.
colker
Well-known
You forget that without this 'foolishness' you couldn't buy a used M2/3/4/6 nowadays because at some point in the past people were 'foolish' enough to pay a lot of money when they were new. Besides, without this 'foolish' behaviour a lot of companies (and jobs btw.) would'nt exist any more. So you should better think twice before you call this people foolisheven when I get your intial thought especially whn comparing the M2 with the M-A.
Juergen
Exactly. if i really want a new film Leica i can buy a new film Leica. That´s awesome. It costs 2k more than a used M6. 2k can be a lot of money and i respect anyone who cannot afford a 4.5k camera but that sum against all the film processing billls in one year is not an absurd.
Fraser
Well-known
Before Nikon make any more RF cameras I'd rather have them making scanners again.
css9450
Veteran
The problem is, is everyone has their own list of features they'd want to see in this new camera. You want a camera with AE, but then the next guy won't buy it because it uses batteries which might die and it has a circuit board inside of it which might become unrepairable in thirty years. And someone else won't buy it because they wanted an F reissue instead. The F SLR has its fans too you know...
Fraser
Well-known
Sumarongi
Registered Vaudevillain
mod2001
Old school modernist
As far as I know, they sell but don't produce the F6 any more. And from film advance levers and sprockets to a working film camera is quite a step. Taking also the current prices for used Nikon S cameras into account I can't see that the Japanese controlling finds any way to justify such a development.
Agree with your film statement.
Jürgen
colker
Well-known
A VF that flares?
I don´t like the M6 for other minor reasons but a vf which does not perform as well as other leicas is wrong.
So you pay 1.6k for an M6 and still have to upgrade the VF.
mcfingon
Western Australia
I'd love to see that, but I think it's similar odds to me winning the lottery...
John Mc
Skiff
Well-known
That is wrong.
The F6 is in production. It is officially listed on Nikon's current product page. If a Nikon product is discontinued, it is listed on Nikon's discontinued list (and you won't find the F6 there). Just recently several journalists have visited the Nikon Sendai factory where the F6 is made and have seen the F6 line.
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166042
Out to Lunch
Ventor
''Pigs might fly''. Nikon has struggled to stay alive. I doubt it will experiment with film cameras to keep RFF members happy.
Larry Cloetta
Veteran
We have a winner!
RObert Budding
D'oh!
There are tons of classic cameras about. I'd rather buy one and pay for service. Or buy a Millennium S3 for $1,500 and be good to go.
Larry Cloetta
Veteran
Their perfect opportunity to do this was with the Df. Their pre-release teasers hinted as much. But, they punted with a plastic fantastic button pimpled thing instead. Afraid to be too bold. I’m sure they had their reasons for not going all the way, not least their experience with the S2/SP reissues which were acts of beautiful, total nutcase corporate commitment. A rarity in today’s world, they seemed chastened, so we got the Df we got. Nice in its own way due to the sensor, but hardly soul stirring. Half a loaf.
On the other hand, the upcoming Noct Nikkor .095 seems in the same gonzo crazy, pedal to the metal, vein as the 2005 SP (so wish I’d bought one three years ago when they were cheap). The people who won’t buy that upcoming lens are the same people who didn’t buy the rangefinder reissues, for exactly the same reasons, costs too much and it’s not “practical”. Which, I guess, it’s not. Neither was Brigitte Bardot.
Gotta go get more coffee.
rhl-oregon
Cameras Guitars Wonders
While Larry fetches coffee, I will introduce an amusing notion that is probably of equal plausibility to some of the soap bubbles being blown out of little personal magic wands here:
Nikon not only spends its reserves on a One More Time retro device to please the old guys (disclosure: I’m 66) whose numbers are diminishing daily plus recruit some ridiculously self-important blogospherical metro hipsters but but but *also* double down on a major media campaign—meant, absolutely to attract all active and latent Leica haters!—involving David Byrne and if possible the rest of the Heads from the Stop Making Sense era! Instead of reeling and tottering in a fat suit, Byrne will be dressed as a giant Nikon SP 21C (we have to rebrand the century too). Here’s the jingle:
Leica killer
Qu’est que c’est?
Buh buh buh buh
Buh buh buh buh buh buh
Gonna Nikon-kon-kon-kon
the night away
....followed by Burning All the Film, Nikon Is Where I Wanna Be But I Guess I’m Already There, etc etc.
What a great idea! Nikon are you listening? No? Why are your fingers in your ears?
Nikon not only spends its reserves on a One More Time retro device to please the old guys (disclosure: I’m 66) whose numbers are diminishing daily plus recruit some ridiculously self-important blogospherical metro hipsters but but but *also* double down on a major media campaign—meant, absolutely to attract all active and latent Leica haters!—involving David Byrne and if possible the rest of the Heads from the Stop Making Sense era! Instead of reeling and tottering in a fat suit, Byrne will be dressed as a giant Nikon SP 21C (we have to rebrand the century too). Here’s the jingle:
Leica killer
Qu’est que c’est?
Buh buh buh buh
Buh buh buh buh buh buh
Gonna Nikon-kon-kon-kon
the night away
....followed by Burning All the Film, Nikon Is Where I Wanna Be But I Guess I’m Already There, etc etc.
What a great idea! Nikon are you listening? No? Why are your fingers in your ears?
colker
Well-known
Nope. There is a new generation of film users.
It´s not opinon or wishes. Just check the prices of film cameras now and compare to 3 or 4 yrs ago.
The scene has changed.
retinax
Well-known
This hits the nail on the head. No one single camera could appeal to everyone in the market for a new CaNikon RF, so economic viability suffers.
In addition, no-one has the tooling for the mechanical stuff. You can get electronics, lenses, casings manufactured in China on short notice (not that CaNikon would need them from third parties, but in-house they must have a similar situation), but mechanical shutters and rangefinders need testing and tooling that probably no-one can do ad hoc nowadays. So prices would be higher than even in the old days with their economies of scale.
Most promising would be an approach with only the RF newly designed or reverse engineered, using a modern shutter, F6 film advance mechanism (if Nikon did it) and casing from modern materials. (But the traditionalists wouldn't buy such a beast.)
And what rhl-oregon suggests, of course.
colker
Well-known
Fuji experimented w/ nostalgia when designing their X line and it worked.
Cosina experimented w/ RF lenses and it is working.
It´s not about RFF or me or a couple other old people. it´s about a market for film users. It´s not dead. Not for 5k cameras maybe ... but a 1k film camera from Nikon, built like an FM, would sell.
If Nikon can fit it on their production line or not is another matter.
Corran
Well-known
You're right. But most of them are using K1000s, Nikon FEs, and Canon AE1s. Some of them maybe a Pentax 6x7 or older Rolleiflex. The high-priced cameras are often going to collectors who don't use them, or older guys who couldn't afford them when they came out.
It's a pipe-dream but you seem intent on rationalizing it. Have fun, but, ain't gonna happen.
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