News article describing latest financial results for Nikon,
https://fstoppers.com/business/nikon-reports-better-expected...
Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
21–30 of 371 posts
Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#22Oof, that's not a good sign. For me, Japan is the place for the best camera and lens manufacturing. Most of the makers seem to split their manufacturing between Japan for their quality models/lenses and cheaper countries for the consumer stuff, which I think is a valid compromise. But this feels short-sighted on Nikon's part and rather like they have already failed. Perhaps instead of relocating their production they…
Traditional lens manufacturing is likely in its last days (which can easily take a decade or two, but ... the end is visible).
Modern lens are made with techniques perfected in semiconductor manufacturing, and use advances in material science (meta materials in particular). I don't know how close this is to mass market, but I've seen superthin flat lens, with a marginal cost of production around ~$2 in a university facility, that work better than some $500 lens -- and the latter are expensive because they are hard to make the traditional way.
Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#23Heartbreaking, but they are a "survivor" company. They have lasted over 100 years, through a world war (including firestorm bombing), earthquakes, fires and tsunamis. They had never been particularly big, until the 1990s, with the advent of point-and-shoot digital cameras. That gravy train ended when the iPhone came out. They are probably contracting to their more traditional role, of Big Black Cameras, as well as so…
At least for the Japanese market, not ‘made in Japan’ is a big downgrade in perception.
That ship has mostly sailed, and people seem to be OK with ‘made by a Japanese company’
For instance Sony products are not seen as ‘made in China’, just ‘made by Sony’
Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#24Huh, that doesn't sound like news. I'm pretty sure that my D70s, over 15 years old by now, was produced in Thailand too. Maybe they always built the cheaper models over there?
Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#25Thailand is already a bit of a hot spot for camera and lense manufacturing. Sony has an absolute monster factory here.
Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Canon is frequently used in film for smaller productions. Nikon isn't used at all in that market.
Which is stupid, it’s just because you can’t. Most Nikon models don’t have a clean hdmi output and limit video recording to twenty minutes.
The twenty minute thing is because of device classification.
If a device records twenty minutes or more of continuous video, it is classified as a video device, which changes the regulatory structure.
If you watch movies, these days, it's almost unheard of for a single shot to be more than a minute or two in length. Even films like 1917 are really digitally-stitched montages.
I think the real reason is that Canon is ferociously dedicated to video, and they market that aggressively. It's a very different market from still images.
Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#27It's kind of scary, especially when you've invested some sum of money in lenses for their cameras.
Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#28Oof, that's not a good sign. For me, Japan is the place for the best camera and lens manufacturing. Most of the makers seem to split their manufacturing between Japan for their quality models/lenses and cheaper countries for the consumer stuff, which I think is a valid compromise. But this feels short-sighted on Nikon's part and rather like they have already failed. Perhaps instead of relocating their production they…
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Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#29The article states: > Don’t think this is enough to make them stay in the business. Troubling times for Nikon :( Is there some context on this? Is Nikon facing trouble, and if yes, why?
Mobile phones have devoured the camera market. It’s 1/100th of the size it was a decade ago. On the professional DSLR front, they’re having their lunch regularly eaten by Sony, Canon and Fujifilm.
I can imagine, I also just switched from a Canon DSLR to a mirrorless Fujifilm. Even apart from smartphones, purely in the photography space, mirrorless cameras are becoming more popular (and I'm not aware of a significant offering by Nikon in that area).
Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan
#30The article states: > Don’t think this is enough to make them stay in the business. Troubling times for Nikon :( Is there some context on this? Is Nikon facing trouble, and if yes, why?
They are slow to move and have a hard time to keep up with the world moving on.
That leads to a world of trouble for them:
- mobile phones eating the “good enough”/ “well integrated” spectrum
- Sony eating the “best value”/“modern camera” spectrum
- Fuji eating the “different form factor” spectrum
- Panasonic still hanging on the 3/4 side
They’ll survive, and keep making good camera that pros are waiting for, but it will be rough.