Nikon to stop making most film cameras!

[zedin]

Wow. Just read an article about how Nikon is going to discontinue making everything but the 3 camera models that use film. While I know digital is popular I just can't believe they are doing something so dramatic as opposed to just phasing them out. I guess I will have to make sure nothing ever happens to my f100.

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[slickhare]

yeah i was pretty upset by this too. i hope this isn't the beginning of the end of film. hopefully other companies, like canon for example, don't follow suit!

['Daniel']

I think medium format will be the last film to go probably. 35mm is going because sensors are matching it now. Only ludicrously priced cameras are matching the resolution of medium format now.

[Ajax]

They are ?!!!! ... drastic is not the word for it. A big mistake by Nikon as Canon and Minolta ( are Minolta still going ?) etc.. are going to get their customers now (35mm customers anyway).

[Don Simon]

To be honest I'd imagine Canon and Minolta (along with everyone else) will follow suit. Personally I think it's unfortunate too, but what can ya do.

['Daniel']

To be honest I'd imagine Canon and Minolta (along with everyone else) will follow suit. Personally I think it's unfortunate too, but what can ya do.

Look after the film cameras you do have. Or horde them like a camera squirrel...

[Don Simon]

Or horde them like a camera squirrel...

Heh, I'm doing that already

[zedin]

*tries to stuff his f100 into his cheeks*

[ThomThomsk]

The two models that are being continued are at the top and bottom of their 35mm range, the F6 and the FE10, which presumably means that they see professionals and students as the only remaining market, with serious amateurs buying digital. The FE10 is made by Cosina, so there is no risk to Nikon by continuing it, and as far as the F6 goes, that's fine but I don't expect to see an F7.

Film isn't going to disappear, but it will become a niche market. New 35mm cameras are being launched, just not by the big manufacturers. For example, the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder (also built by Cosina) came out recently, and from teaser advertising on the Zeiss website, it looks like they are about to announce a range of manual lenses with a Nikon fitting. That would make sense given Nikon's recent announcement. On the secondhand market there is a brisk trade in quality equipment, and I've missed out on a couple of auctions recently for enlargers, where there seems to be no shortage of buyers.

One day they will have to pull my FM2n from my cold dead fingers, and I don't think I'm being too optimistic when I say that I expect to still be able to buy 35mm film right up to when that happens. Maybe not colour negative film, and probably not the huge range of B&W film I can get now (at least 25 or 30 different films from 10 or 12 manufacturers right now as a rough estimate), but a few films at least. If not, I'll have a freezer full of film and paper. If I had the money I'd buy a new FM3a while they are still available.

[ThomThomsk]

I think medium format will be the last film to go probably. 35mm is going because sensors are matching it now. Only ludicrously priced cameras are matching the resolution of medium format now.

For most users I think that dSLR resolution is more than adequate now. How many people really print at such huge sizes that 8Mpx or so isn't enough?

But there is more to it than resolution, and the reason I sold my Canon 10d (at a massive loss, I might add) and re-invested in 35mm was the dynamic range. A £1,500 dSLR can currently manage 7 or so stops from the darkest shadow to the brightest highlight, but with b&w negative film, exposed and developed appropriately, you can get 10 or more, perhaps even double what the dSLR can manage. That probably doesn't matter to a lot of people, but it's one of the barriers that will keep me using film until the manufacturers fix it.

ThomIlfordski

['Daniel']

In reply to that I think that professionals who aren't big names will still use medium format if they use film for studio work where as film has been pretty much eradicated from photo journalism. So I think medium format will last longer because of it's better resolution that can be compromised for digital in the field, alot of photographers will still like to use in a studio.

[santino]

one thing is for sure, Leica won't stop producing film camera (even though they will introduce the "Digital M" this year) - just read their new year's report.

[ThomThomsk]

In reply to that I think that professionals who aren't big names will still use medium format if they use film for studio work where as film has been pretty much eradicated from photo journalism. So I think medium format will last longer because of it's better resolution that can be compromised for digital in the field, alot of photographers will still like to use in a studio.

I think that's right, but the last nail isn't in the 35mm coffin just yet for the professionals. I was on a course last year (bushcraft, nothing to do with photography) with a freelance photographer who makes most of her living from taking stills on film sets. She has two Nikon F5s with what they call blimps -devices that go around the camera and make it completely silent, so the stills photographer can work while they are shooting scenes on set. She said it would cost her at least £25,000 to 'go digital', which may be right or may not, but in any case she wasn't going to do it.

[Don Simon]

On the secondhand market there is a brisk trade in quality equipment, and I've missed out on a couple of auctions recently for enlargers, where there seems to be no shortage of buyers.

Actually this is what I find the most annoying - not that nearly everyone's going digital, but that instead of getting cheaper used film equipment seems to be getting more expensive as people try to buy them up, as if otherwise all the film cameras on the market are going to be confiscated by the Camera Police

['Daniel']

I think that's right, but the last nail isn't in the 35mm coffin just yet for the professionals. I was on a course last year (bushcraft, nothing to do with photography) with a freelance photographer who makes most of her living from taking stills on film sets. She has two Nikon F5s with what they call blimps -devices that go around the camera and make it completely silent, so the stills photographer can work while they are shooting scenes on set. She said it would cost her at least £25,000 to 'go digital', which may be right or may not, but in any case she wasn't going to do it.

Yep I don't think this is the death of film. Hopefully 35mm film will continue to be made for a long time. but getting cameras will get harder as they all get lder and older more will break. hopefully Canon ill continue to make film cameras. i wonder why Nikon have stopped.