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Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

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Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#61

Post by jdietrich »

ars wrote: post #34
thetinguy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The f6 is high end low volume product. They only make and sell a couple hundred a year.

Looks like it costs $2,549. Which doesn't really seem profitable in volumes that low.

Nikon and Canon's pro SLR ranges are product ecosystems with massive switching costs. They maintain all sorts of products and services that don't make economic sense in isolation, but are necessary to maintain a comprehensive product ecosystem. A professional or serious amateur might own tens of thousands of dollars worth of camera bodies, lenses and accessories; for a small but meaningful proportion of those customers, the continued availability of the F6 will be the key factor in their choice of camera system.

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#62

Post by bb88 »

csharptwdec19 wrote: post #19
supernova87a wrote: post #10

I love how the idea of Japanese conscientiousness has become almost a meme for how we wish companies were run. Other examples you've probably seen come across the webs: -- Hotel apologizes in advance for a brief 1 minute planned disruption of in-room internet at 4am https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+hotel+internet+apol... -- Japanese train company issues apology for train leaving 20 seconds early https://www.g…

Nikon has had other issues in the past where they were much less quick to issue recalls. This likely only happened as quickly as it did because it's a Hazardous substance issue and not an overall quality issue.

The big one I can recall was the Nikon 600 "dust" issue, I think IIRC it was because there was too much lubricant on the mechanism that splashed onto the sensor. In a film camera it wouldn't matter because any spots of oil would just be advanced with the film.

They were late, but they did the right thing, eventually.

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#63

Post by Thorrez »

lstamour wrote: post #55
supernova87a wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I loved (not really) how sometimes on Caltrain, if the trains were delayed, you could get on a delayed train after you had planned to travel, and get home sooner than if the trains had been running on time. (I'll let you think on that puzzle.)

The same often happened when I travelled by train in Ontario (Canada) where the trains shared the line with freight service, and so sometimes a train was poorly timed such that it always had to wait for freight to clear first. In those cases, if a train was delayed, the delay occurred at the station such that by the time the train left the station, the freight had already cleared and the time spent on the train was l…

The freight reason is not it. If the freight got out of the way at the same time it normally would, you would decrease your travel time, but arrive at your destination no earlier than a normal arrival.

The second reason is closer, but not exact. Caltrain has a variety of different types of trains, some stop at all the stops, some stop at only a few. Here's the scenario: there is a fast train then a slow train. Your normal schedule doesn't allow you to get to the station on time to take the fast train, so you normally take the slow train. If both trains are behind schedule, you might be able to make it to the fast train, and since it goes faster you might get to your destination earlier than normal.

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#64

Post by ashtonkem »

perardi wrote: post #17
formerly_proven wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still occasionally use a now over 40 years old Nikon FE that, despite having never been serviced as far as I can tell, still works flawlessly. It even does some things better than even the most modern DSLRs, it can, for example automatically expose exposures several minutes long correctly (far outside spec, but works). Impeccable quality. The old Ai-S lenses, too, entirely made from glass, brass, aluminium and some…

Which is why I’m always surprised the F6, to borrow a phrase from Apple, “remains a product in our lineup”. There’s so many used and seemingly indestructible film cameras floating around. I guess there’s some market for a factory-warranty film SLR, but I’m not sure what said market is. If I was going to shoot film, I’d find a Nikon F5, which would also double as a medieval flail for self-defense. (Or I’d pull my 1983…

There's also more demand for largely manual cameras.

The F6 was the flagship 35mm SLR camera once production of new film cameras stopped at Nikon, and as such it's filled with all the features you'd expect of a flagship camera. It'll take a battery grip, it shoots at 8FPS with it, it'll take a separate data recorder to record exposure info, etc. etc.

Except that a lot of people using film today don't want that. The manual old-time simplicity and thoughtfulness is part of the selling point for a lot of those who still use film, and if they wanted to shoot at 8FPS or higher, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are far better choices on any technical merit. I'd be surprised if the F6 ends up selling out easily.

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#65

Post by ashtonkem »

jacobush wrote: post #26
perardi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why I’m always surprised the F6, to borrow a phrase from Apple, “remains a product in our lineup”. There’s so many used and seemingly indestructible film cameras floating around. I guess there’s some market for a factory-warranty film SLR, but I’m not sure what said market is. If I was going to shoot film, I’d find a Nikon F5, which would also double as a medieval flail for self-defense. (Or I’d pull my 1983…

There are pros out there who want the support, but shoot film. 3000 USD for a pro is not cheap, but it's in line with other business tools.

For a pro body, $3K is cheap. The flagship Nikon DSLR, the D6, has a MSRP of $6,500.

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#66

Post by PetitPrince »

paulmd wrote: post #58
perardi wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is why I’m always surprised the F6, to borrow a phrase from Apple, “remains a product in our lineup”. There’s so many used and seemingly indestructible film cameras floating around. I guess there’s some market for a factory-warranty film SLR, but I’m not sure what said market is. If I was going to shoot film, I’d find a Nikon F5, which would also double as a medieval flail for self-defense. (Or I’d pull my 1983…

The F6 is the most advanced and capable film DSLR ever built. If you want/need to shoot film and you shoot subjects that are commonly done with modern digital SLRs and considered out of reach of a film camera, the F6 is the best game in town. The fastest and lowest-light-capable autofocus, the best matrix metering, digital recording of exposure data (just like EXIF but for film!), etc. It is a modern pro camera that…

> digital recording of exposure data (just like EXIF but for film!

Wait; how does that work ? Where is the camera writing the info and how do you retrieve it ?

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#67

Post by La1n »

PetitPrince wrote: post #66
paulmd wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The F6 is the most advanced and capable film DSLR ever built. If you want/need to shoot film and you shoot subjects that are commonly done with modern digital SLRs and considered out of reach of a film camera, the F6 is the best game in town. The fastest and lowest-light-capable autofocus, the best matrix metering, digital recording of exposure data (just like EXIF but for film!), etc. It is a modern pro camera that…

> digital recording of exposure data (just like EXIF but for film! Wait; how does that work ? Where is the camera writing the info and how do you retrieve it ?

It stores it on a CF card, but I think you need an accessory for it.

https://f6project.com/technical/nikon-mv-1-data-reader/

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#68

Post by supernova87a »

Thorrez wrote: post #63
lstamour wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same often happened when I travelled by train in Ontario (Canada) where the trains shared the line with freight service, and so sometimes a train was poorly timed such that it always had to wait for freight to clear first. In those cases, if a train was delayed, the delay occurred at the station such that by the time the train left the station, the freight had already cleared and the time spent on the train was l…

The freight reason is not it. If the freight got out of the way at the same time it normally would, you would decrease your travel time, but arrive at your destination no earlier than a normal arrival. The second reason is closer, but not exact. Caltrain has a variety of different types of trains, some stop at all the stops, some stop at only a few. Here's the scenario: there is a fast train then a slow train. Your n…

Yes.

The frustrating thing of course, is that even if the trains are severely delayed, they have (or had, depending on whether they go out of business soon) a policy of running the exact schedule for each train as if normal. So even if all the trains are piled up, delayed, they would make local stops, etc. even though everyone wanted just to get to the end by express.

Sad that this kind of issue was so common (1x per month at least) that I blame them for not having efficient accident backup plans.

Yes, yes, I realize that there's the problem of having trains go express when they're all stacked up.

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#69

Post by randomblast »

perardi wrote: post #3

Nikon still sells the Nikon F6 film camera. All existing stock was probably manufactured a loooong time ago, but it is still technically a current product, so I imagine they’re obligated to provide support and government-mandated environmental fixes. https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/filmcamera/slr/f6/ (I’d love to see the sales numbers for the F6. I can’t even guess the order of magnitude of global sales per year. 1?…

Others have mentioned the estimate of 270 derived from serial numbering. Nikon have also said very specifically in this case that they are recalling 152 pieces sold since last July. That will likely be artificially depressed by the covid situation.

Re: Nikon Issues Small Recall for a 16-Year-Old Film Camera

#70

Post by Kipters »

gruturo wrote: post #20
supernova87a wrote: post #10

I love how the idea of Japanese conscientiousness has become almost a meme for how we wish companies were run. Other examples you've probably seen come across the webs: -- Hotel apologizes in advance for a brief 1 minute planned disruption of in-room internet at 4am https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+hotel+internet+apol... -- Japanese train company issues apology for train leaving 20 seconds early https://www.g…

To be honest, a train leaving early SUCKS. You show up on time, and you find out you missed it. Maybe the next one is in 40 minutes, maybe it's the next day. (I realize 20 seconds early isn't that bad, but still, leaving early by any amount of time is a lot worse than leaving late)

My father has been working in public transportation for nearly 30 years, the only official complaint he ever received was for leaving 3 minutes early (good old times of analog wrist watches)
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