I don't know how many people caught Nikon's announcement this week, but they have abandoned production on their film line. Wow. As a journalist, I find this absolutely stunning. I was aware that pros had mostly shifted to digital cameras anyway, but to me, this is the definitive coffin nail in film as medium. Every salty old photojournalist I've ever met shoots Nikon exclusively, often with lenses that are older than me. These aren't the type of people to switch formats lightly -- these guys fought autofocus technology for God's sake -- and if they've abandoned film, it's truly over. I suppose this post doesn't have much to do with DV directly, but I do think this is a watershed moment for the evolution of photography.

Nikon's announcement didn't amount to much because Nikon is only a shell of it's former self. Most working pros shoot Canon these days. Look at any major sporting event, all the white lenses are Canon, the few black lenses (and fewer at every event) are Nikon. Camera manufactures are having a tough time making a profit. I suspect you'll see more mergers, like Konica and Minolta, in the next few years.

Does anyone have a link? Being a long time Nikon fan, I find this very sad. As Jeff mentioned, I think Canons are far more popular in the 35mm pro arena. As for as new completely manual cameras, the only one that comes to mind is the M7. Even Nikon does not make a simple manual camera anymore. The FM3a is a "semi-automatic."

There's a link to the original article at dpreview.com, followed by a statement from Nikon denying the rumor UPDATE: Nikon posts press release denying rumour

Press Release:

Comment about a newspaper article on our film compact camera business in Japan

An article appeared yesterday on a Japanese daily newspaper that Nikon would withdraw from its film-based compact camera business in Japan. However, we affirm that we do not currently have such plan as this article reports.

Our film compact camera business still remains sizable although their sales shows a clear contrast to our rapidly expanding digital camera business. Our Japanese photo dealers will continue selling Nikon film compact cameras.

We apologize to our customers and photo business partners for any inconvenience eventually caused by this article.

And it was only about their compact line also. (consumer line?)

Thanks for the link Boyd. I hate to be someone spreading around rumors. I read about it on either PR Newswire or Businesswire (I don't remember exactly) both of which I monitor daily at my job. Both sites carry official press releases directly from subscribing companies. I just checked again, and the link has been deleted. In any case, I didn't get this from some obscure Japanese newspaper. I guess that's the way it is with the Internet. Things vanish and you can never go back and verify it. The press release (and I am absolutely certain it was a press release from Nikon) cited actual sales figures for their film and digital lines. There was no mention that this was just for consumer cameras. My guess is that someone at Nikon jumped the gun and the company is now backpedaling as fast as possible.

That article was at a couple places, one being Pacific Business News site, which for some reason or another decided to leave out the "compact" part of theirs. I hardly doubt Nikon's stopping production on F100 or F5 and the like anytime soon.

I think one has to take the same precautions viewing things on the net as they would reading the paper or local news. Better to check a few sources first instead of jumping to conclusions or maybe that's just me.

Bad timing, never exit a market before the holiday buying season. Best sales period of the year and you announce that your exiting a profitable market segment. When else would sell your warehouse full of dying film products? What consumer wants to buy a product you won't support much longer ( at least that's the impression an exit would give a consumer)? Nikon will go to Ritz Camera to closeout the products. If Ritz has some great deals on Nikon, you'll know a move is underway.

The Wall Street Journal reported that only 25% of camera owners own or intend to purchase a digital camera. If Nikon were to leave the film market, they would abandon 75% of the camera market.

Nikon says the rumor started at that Japanese daily newspaper so it wasn't a press release from them. This could be a hoax. I remember a few years ago an electronics company's stock fell from $180 to $60 in one day based on a hoax news release.

Nikon Japan put out an English memo stating that they were not phasing out thier film cameras as of yet....and as someone here posted- it was just rumored to be thier low end film cameras anyway- matter of fact they are thinking of outsourcing production to a Tawainese Co........but with thier Nikon D2H being such a revolutionary camera (neither CCD or CMOS) with 8FPS (for 5 full seconds!!!) shooting in any FORMAT- they took aim at the Canon EOS 1D benchmark and one-upped it! Nikon was working on that sensor for over 10 years and I can see them abandoning film very soon!!

If Canon can put out a similar camera with a 40+ image buffer at 8FPS or better for $3200 or less- I'll get the Canon- if not, The Nikon D2H will be mine in early 2004.

I would expect a killer camera from Canon. Canon has a history, dating back to the 1976 Olympics, of releasing pro photojournalist models in Olympic years. I would expect an announcement at PMA in February and the cameras to ship in late spring. I also anticipate the camera being the equal to the Nikon in most regards and superior in many key areas. It will be aimed at the needs of photojournalists but will not surpass the 1Ds in resolution, file size and chip size.

<<<-- Originally posted by Jeff Donald : Bad timing, never exit a market before the holiday buying season. -->>>

This week's BARRON'S has a feature article on digital photography "Snap-Happy" which I found interesting. They note that investors are loading up on stocks of the camera makers in advance of the holidays If big holiday sales volumes fail to materialize, the picture for investors won't be pretty. Fred Hickey, in his High-Tech Strategist newsletter, wrote last week that gadget makers could be headed for "a gigantic inventory bust."A general theme of the article was that this is a great time for consumers in the digital camera marketplace, but a tricky one for manufacturers and hence investors. The spectacular growth of the field has turned even the most feature-laden camera into a commodity that yields thin profits, if any, for its maker

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Belics : The Wall Street Journal reported that only 25% of camera owners own or intend to purchase a digital camera. -->>>

FWIW, the same BARRON'S article I mentioned above states that next year sales of digital cameras will overtake sales of film cameras for the first time ever. It cites figures from research firm iSuppli predicting the sale of 52 million digital cameras vs 40 million film cameras. The article also states that one in three Americans owns a digital camera, something which surprises me personally.

I miss the 70's and early 80's with all those wonderful manual 35mm SLRs. It must be a sign of old age. I'm just glad my SLR has a titanium shell and will probably outlast me. :)

Digital camera sales might even overtake film camera sales this year. One estimate I saw recently suggested that film and digital sales were estimated about even through the first 3 quarters.

Dating myself a bit here, but my Nikons go back to the 60's :-) And I inherited my dad's camera collection which includes leicas', contax'es, rollei's, speed graphic's and lots of other film cameras. However they all sit in a trunk in the basement and I haven't felt the slightest urge to put a roll of film in them ever since I got hooked on digital photography. But I will grant you one thing; it certainly is possible to get a roll of film and start shooting with one of those 60 year old Leica's. I doubt that my heirs will be able to do the same thing with my CoolPix 5700 in the year 2063 ;-)

And I inherited my dad's camera collection which includes leicas', contax'es, rollei's, speed graphic's and lots of other film cameras.You lucky, lucky b_gger! All I inherited was a bunch of guns.

All I have is my 1977 Olympus OM2 and lenses. But I haven't bought anything new in decades. Never even had to have it fixed.

Frank, you could always meet Boyd, go in heavy, and persuade him to make a trade. :)

Now there's a thought. But there's the small matter of airport security.

For some reason my dad loved guns. I guess because he used them in WW2. Oh, and he also liked German cameras and German motorcycles. He kept trying to talk me out of those I. T. bikes...bless his soul---I'll never sell that Beemer.

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Belics :Frank, you could always meet Boyd, go in heavy, and persuade him to make a trade. :) -->>>

Yeah, but I could get it all on film.... uh, that is if I had any film ;-)

Actually it's ironic... my grandfather left me his rifle when I was a teenager and I learned how to use it, got pretty good at target shooting. Then in college when I was a hippie marching for peace and love, I sold it. A few years later I really regretted doing that since it was something he valued and I knew he wanted me to have. Like the song says "you don't know what you've got till it's gone" :-)

(BTW Rob, St. Louis is my hometown, and my daughter is finishing up college there now. Great city!)

Interesting bit of nostalgia, Boyd. I remember reading awhile back about New Zealanders, who agreed to give up their guns after an horrific shooting by a maniac that took the lives of children and adults. One fellow turned in a rifle that was used by his father in WWII, and bemoaned the sentimental value of the gun, but at the same time understood the correctness of a law aimed at saving the lives of innocent people. Here in the States, we are subject to rhetoric about prying guns from "my cold dead fingers," in the name of upholding our Constitutional rights. But the fact of the matter is that gun ownership tends to enflame emotions, and my hat is off to those who can look beyond their emotions and have the guts to turn in their guns.

I'm not looking to start anything here, just thought I'd make a personal observation. I know this is not a popular position, and I have heard all the arguments. I confess to being an anti-gun nut, so save your time.

Wayne Orr

I don't know how this thread got here, but I have to say I relate. I inherited a number of guns when my dad died, and it was quite a dilemma over what to do with them. The last thing I ever heard my father say -- I'm not kidding -- was "What's going to happen to my guns?" I was raised around firearms, and am very supportive of gun ownership rights, but personally, I have no use for them. I do think though, that a lot of liberal types who live on the east coast have no idea how ingrained this issue is to people who live in non-urban environments. I once watched my old man shoot the head off a rattleskake seconds before it had a chance to bite him in the leg. True story.

Anyway, as the originator of this thread, I want to apologize for perpetuating what has turned out to be false information. I'm still wondering what happened, but I'm truly embarrassed.

Wayne wrote:...my hat is off to those who can look beyond their emotions and have the guts to turn in their guns.Does that include "shotgun" mics?

Here in Canada, depending on where you live, you need a firearm to protect yourself against certain animals. Almost every year in British Columbia, people get attacked and killed by bears, moose and cats. When I was a kid in North Western Ontario, black bears were a real problem. Then there's the matter of protecting your own animals from wildlife. Sometimes, a firearm is the only thing that works. Don't get me wrong, I love all animals, but some animals like to eat you and your pets and livestock.

Time-out

Please stay on-topic, if anything remains of this thread's original topic.

Issues concerning firearms (excluding shotgun mics ;-) ) are interesting but really belong in some other venue.

Nikon is struggling financially so it is possible they will abandon their film cameras in the near future and concentrate on thier digital models. Cameras like the F5 and Canon's 1V are pretty much as far as you can go in a 35mm pro camera so it makes sense leave them be and concentrate on advancing the future which will be digital. I love film, I don't think I will ever replace my 1nRS, but unless you live under a rock or on a deserted desert island, hopefully with awesome waves on your doorstep, digital is the future or pro photography and photography in general.

I can't wait to see what Canon brings out answer the D2H, it's going to be a killer, it has to be to improve on the 1D. I'm really hoping for a 6-8MP, full-frame sensor'd beast that is capable of at least 8fps for 24+ shots. If they come out with something close then my wife is going to be way p@$#^d at me because there is going to be one in my bag along side the RS.

Don't count on the chip being full frame. In fact I can almost guarantee it won't be. Most photojournalists really like the 1.3X crop factor and I would expect it to remain about that size.

That's gonna suck for me as 1.3x turns my 15mm fisheye into a not distorted enough for that cool fisheye look but too distorted to be a good wide angle. As skating and snowboarding rely on fisheye/WA use I really need that full frame. However, 1.3x is good for surfing as it get the 600/f4 out to almost 800 without losing almost 2 stops of light. That's something that sucks about the 1.4x and the 1nRS.

Nikon may not have abandoned film, but many of their customers already have. I was shooting video next to an event photographer who when asked what format she was shooting answered "35mm," but I saw that her bag contained nothing but digitals...D2X, D1X. So I guess she meant to say "I use SLRs that LOOK like 35mm" It's all good, though, as long as the pictures are satisfactory for the job.

But Paul Simon's song "Mama Don't take my Kodachrome away" may be in vain, cuz film is rapidly going bye-bye. A year ago, I had the mindset that higher-quality still sessions had to be shot on film, because there wasn't a practical-priced digitral alternative (I still shot a lot of stuff on digital, just not the more critical jobs). Now I don't even think about using film. Just as well with the deadlines I work with. ("Hey Mike, we want you to shoot this grip-n-grin today and FTP the JPEG to this magazine tonight!")

Oh yeah, and just like Boyd, I hark back to the '60s and still remember my old Nikon F. Built like an anvil. And like Boyd, my vintage gear just sits, along with my still-working tube amplifiers etc.

I'm waiting for film-type specific digital filters to be developed (if they haven't already). You know, shoot digital then apply a Kodachrome 64 or Velvia filter to the image to make it match the color tones of that film stock.

Until they develop a CCD with irregular pixels, or a filter that applies a randomizer to a digital image then digital will not be able to match film in terms of 'look'. It will be close but just as some LPs sound warmer than CDs then so will film still offer something digital can't match.

That is very true, Jeff, and when the next project comes up that requires that, I will quickly grab one of my 35mm SLRs off the shelf, load it up and shoot. (and drive the film down to the lab, and wait for the film to be processed, etc.) I do still know how to use these, including the ones with automatic nothing. (y'know, manual focus, manual exposure, external metering, etc.) Better yet, I'll borrow a medium-format cam for those huge negs.

There are many different kinds of photography...some of it is art, some of it is mere commerce. It is kind of nice that there is a tool for every job.

Hi Jeff,

I suspect that those filters you mention may already exist. I generally prefer to cook my own curves in Photoshop, so I don't pay particular attention, but here is one link to Silver Oxide (http://www.silveroxide.com/Index.htm) filters for creating classic B&W looks.

Fred Miranda (http://www.fredmiranda.com/) has a cheap Photoshop action that he calls 'Digital Velvia'.

As far as grain goes, Visual Infinity (http://www.visinf.com/) Grain Surgery does almost exactly what you describe.

Having said all that I've gone back to shooting film for the moment. A different kind of magic.

Best,
Helen

Digital Film Tools (http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/html/55mm_prod.html) has an excellent set of plug-ins for Photoshop, After Effects and Final Cut Pro. These filters, called "55M", are designed to closely simulate specific real-world optical and film processing effects. I first saw them in American Cinematographer and I've been using them for a few months. They really are very effective (and intricate) tools. Most interesting, however, is that they work with both video and still imaging.