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Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

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Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#41

Post by petre »

robotmay wrote: post #11

Oof, 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…

I switched from Nikon to Panasonic as well aflet my grip liquified and Nikon service said it's a consumable and not covered by warranty. Panasonic make smaller and lighter cameras, smaller and ligher glass, sometimes better glass due to the fact that aspherical elements are smaller and easier to manufacture, has interoperability with Olympus lenses and also ability to use Leica M43 lenses.

Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#43

Post by numair »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #14
Aeolun wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least for the Japanese market, not ‘made in Japan’ is a big downgrade in perception.

I wonder if they will do the "Apple" thing: "Designed in California."

This is already super-popular among large Japanese companies. Uniqlo was built on that tactic.

Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#44

Post by Aeolun »

hrktb wrote: post #23
Aeolun wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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’

I can only speak to my own experience, but that isn’t necessarily be true.

There’s a scale, and ‘made in Japan’ seems to so far be better than not.

That said, if they can halve their prices by building in Thailand, maybe customers will forgive them.

Since the only thing left is the high end market though, I’m not sure cutting prices is most relevant now though.

Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#45

Post by criley2 »

beagle3 wrote: post #22
robotmay wrote: post #11

Oof, 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 f…

>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.

I find this very fascinating because while I enjoy my ever-increasing smartphone camera and use it as a daily driver, I have a about 13 year old Canon DSLR (one of the first one they made now) with a few lenses and that 2007 model Canon D-SLR with the 1" large digital sensor can RUN INSANE LAPS AROUND TOP OF THE LINE SMARTPHONES with respect to the ability to take low light photos, get a lot of good light, and of course zoom on the telephoto, macro on the macro, etc. The autofocus is probably five times faster and the ~10 zones are lightyears ahead of the phone.

There's no comparison. Sure, the 7MP megapixels are bad. Sure, the ISO noise is pretty bad compared to modern smartphone postprocessing. But the telephoto isn't some pitiful "optical zoom", it's instead incredible powerful optics. The low aperture prime lenses produce beautiful shots whose distortion is matched to human preference.

The idea that phones can "catch up" to even 10 years ago on DSLR's would be very cool.

Unfortunately, I'm not holding my breath. Phone sensors are what 10X smaller? Doing great things with 10X less light is impressive, but at some point, you need a big sensor and good quality glass.

Would love to see us get DSLR quality pics from a phone tho.

Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#46

Post by rangibaby »

robotmay wrote: post #11

Oof, 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…

Nikon have slowly been moving their camera body manufacturing to Thailand for 20+ years, starting at the bottom and moving to the top.

Agreed on customer service.

Nikon still make many of their top tier lenses in Japan as well. I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#47

Post by howtofly »

staticelf wrote: post #34

Where in the world is Sony and Canon cameras produced? I bought a sony android phone (which after a lot of research seems to be produced in Japan) to my father because he refuses to use anything produced in China and I am also very hesitant to buy stuff that is produced in countries that don't generally care about quality, the environment etc. I have thought about buying a Nikon for a long time but this maybe will ma…

LOL

Let's guess where your father's mask is made during this pandemic. Given that China has provided 200 billion masks, the answer is almost obvious. Please throw away all your masks made in China, right away!

I'm also curious how long it will take you to find a country that is both willing and able to sell you masks during this pandemic.

Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#48

Post by hef19898 »

robotmay wrote: post #32
hef19898 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cameras =!= Lenses. I always found Nikon cameras more my taste than canon. But that is just taste, in terms of quality, in the sense of the pictures, I never saw a difference. Not back the day when we still developed our black and white pictures ourselves and not now with digital cameras. Lenses on the other hand a different thing altogether. There I saw defferences between the "cheaper" Sigma and the premium Nikkor…

I think camera bodies make a much larger difference these days than lenses, actually. Obviously the lens still makes a notable difference, and for certain forms, like wildlife photography, the lens requirements are inescapable. The new models out in the past few years have absolutely incredible low-light performance that completely change the lens landscape, even; you can now ditch the requirement of carrying a hefty…

Honestly, my active days are over a bit. Back the day, so, I was part of an active group photographers, mostl ynature and outdoor. Like back when we still used film.

Can't agree more on the weather-proof part. I was ather funny to be out taking pictures all day, only to find the camera was sitting in 5 cm of water in its protective bag. Nikon did work better druing that, than. Just an anecdote so, some Nikon's didn't like it that good neither.

Some Sigma lenses were really good back than, some on par with Nikkor. Canon lenses were, if I remember well, mostly on par with Nikkor. Been used to Nikon so, I always to break the lighter Canon camera bodies.

Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#49

Post by dagw »

iso1631 wrote: post #40
tpmx wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the short term: The pandemic. "Camera Sales in 2020 Have Plummeted As Much As 54%" https://petapixel.com/2020/11/06/camera-sales-in-2020-have-p...

Weird. With people stuck at home, and less time spent commuting and socialising, I'd have imagined hobbies like photography to take off.

Most people buying new DSLRs are either professionals or freelancers who need it for their jobs (which they no longer have) or serious amateurs looking to upgrade, often in conjunction with a big event or trip (which are no longer happening). People who decide to take up photography as a hobby will in almost every case start with their smartphone.

Re: Nikon Is ending 70 years of camera production in Japan

#50

Post by rangibaby »

Aeolun wrote: post #44
hrktb wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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’

I can only speak to my own experience, but that isn’t necessarily be true. There’s a scale, and ‘made in Japan’ seems to so far be better than not. That said, if they can halve their prices by building in Thailand, maybe customers will forgive them. Since the only thing left is the high end market though, I’m not sure cutting prices is most relevant now though.

Their shift to Thailand has happened over many years, since around 2015 the only camera bodies they have made in Japan were their flagship digital (and one film) models.
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