Why won't Nikon re-release the Nikon Supercoolscan 9000

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scottyb70

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Did anyone contact someone at Nikon lately to see if the would do a run of their Coolscan 9000 scanner? You would think someone at Nikon would see what plustek is doing and Nikon being such a big company could release another version of its scanner or at least let some other company use their specs?
 
Zero benefit to them. They are now a digital imaging company and will be thrilled when film finally goes away and we all keep buying new cameras every 2 1/2 years or so...
 
When I bought mine new a couple years ago, most suppliers I spoke to had a waiting list. Some others had vastly inflated prices. I tracked mine down by going through an alphabetical list of all official Nikon suppliers in the US and ringing them. Took a while. I used a virtually free phone-charge plan otherwise I'd have spent the extra thousand bucks on calls.

Lack of demand wasn't the problem.
 
"Who would write the software?"

Hamrick of Vuescan fame?

But anyway, a scanner would not be "strategic" for Nikon anyway, and that comes before profit for many companies.
 
Nikon has asked to borrow my Coolscan 9000. They need it to back-engineer a 2014 Limited Edition 9000 in black paint.
 
I could never understand Nikon's logic in dropping all their film scanners.

Its not as if the billions of frames exposed by Nikon film cameras in the second half of the 20th century suddenly disintegrated in the new millennium!

There is no denying that the market is small (and probably not even profitable) BUT the goodwill generated by such a product must be worth something.

As for myself, the shameful dropping of the Nikon scanners makes me less inclined to buy future Nikon products.
 
As I said, the market was certainly there for them - and as for profitability, Nikon were patently under-charging for the 9000, evidenced by the fact that even authorized dealers pulled new stock to sell on ebay at a premium of +1000-2000 bucks.

The simple problem was that Nikon were no longer interested in the film market, nor in durable product lines. They just didn't want to sell items that you buy once and use for 10-15 (or more) years.
 
I imagine Nikon is also factoring in the next 10-20 years of repairs and servicing, and manufacturing countless parts as well.

I don't agree with the move either, but their perspective is different than our "but I want it!" point of view.
 
I agree, Nikon should kick out the bean counters and just do it, if nothing more as a showpiece product/ photographic bragging rights/ marketing benefits/ statement of intent, etc.
 
mwoenv said:
Who cares? If you're making digital prints, use a digital camera.
Click to expand...

This would make sense... if digital (even manipulated digital) looked anything like real film - even when scanned.

But anyway, sad to see the discussion deteriorate in the usual direction...
 
Nikon still has to answer to share holders who, if they pay any attention to the film market and film production (ie: Kodak's breakup, Fuji discontinuing a few lines last year alone, Efke going away completely) would be inclined to invest less if Nikon produced a dedicated product that served a rapidly declining market. They already have their hands full with servicing the existing scanners and few recent film cameras they have offered. Even if Nikon themselves don't want to turn their backs on film, their share holders want more to make money.

This is a very similar reason to why no real R&D has gone into production of a true digital back that would work with the F4, F5, F6, F100 and N90s. Some diehard fans would love to use the F4 as a full frame digital camera (I'm one of them.) The problem is that Nikon would be competing with itself and its fantastic used gear. Re-releasing a scanner only forces them to compete with their own older cameras as well as the film bodies of other manufacturers.

Phil Forrest
 
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