nikon quits film photography

nikon to focus on digital cameras

tokyo -- major japanese camera maker nikon plans to discontinue its 35-mm compact film camera operations in japan and focus on digital cameras, a report said on thursday. the company aims to boost profitability by focusing on the higher growth digital field, the nihon keizai shimbun reported, quoting company sources. a nikon spokesman said no official decision has been taken but acknowledged film camera sales were shrinking.

'it is a fact that the film camera business is shrinking worldwide. volume sales are also falling but for the time being, we will continue our film camera operations,' he said. global shipments of compact film cameras fell below expectations in the first half to september at 440,000, short of a target of 500,000, he added. on the other hand, the company on tuesday upgraded its target for digital camera sales to 5.5 million from the previous estimate of 4.6 million. last year, the company shipped 3.6 million digital cameras.

the newspaper reported that nikon will halt all development of 35mm compact cameras for the domestic market from this point on and end shipments to stores starting in the year beginning next april.

the firm currently does not make any compact film cameras in-house, instead outsourcing production to japanese companies that manufacture the cameras overseas, the newspaper reported. – afp

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from news i've heard all these years, i know digital photography will overrun film one.. [6mpx di digital dah lebih baik dari film 35mm], but i didn't expect this soon... for me purrsonally, this may means two things... 1) kalo mo beli digital slr macam D100 tinggal tunggu tahun tahun depan dimana harga bakal turun abis [sok teu mode on].. dan 2) film photography bakalan makin terpinggirkan [kalo katak odek, niche].. dan kalo gue mo beli kamera film macam nikon f65, f85, beli sekarang! makin dintarin belinya, makin sedikit barangnya.. meaning most likely makin naek harganya.. :)

dan kalo sampe beli pun [kalo dapet duit jatohan entah dari mana :)], ongkos mencetak film pun bakalan makin naek.. pertimbangannya, buat studio proses foto masih lebih murah beli yg digital [banyak usernya, banyak stock barangnya]...

within 5 years, "serieus/slr" fotografi nggak bakal jadi hobi mahal lagi... [sok teu mode on lagi, tapi kayaknya bakal bener sih]