Nikon Next
Nikon has put out an interesting little site called Nikon Next (spotted via The Click). With the tagline of bringing the future into focus, it combines an online digital galley of photographs with interviews with senior Nikon staffers.
There’s no product announcement here. Instead, the basic thrust of the site seems to be to communicate the principles that Nikon is using as a foundation for their future work. And most of the job of communicating those principles is left to the interviews. Here are some quotes I found interesting:
“Automation has almost evolved to its limits since the advent of the digital camera. This automation however should not result in reducing the fun and creativity of the users.”—Ken Utagawa
“For instance the original form factor of cameras was shaped to facilitate film winding. The shape has been perfected for taking still photos, but other, better forms could be developed for a camera to take both stills and video.”—Kazuyuki Kazami
“People generally use the term ‘interchangeable lens,’ but at Nikon, we hole an underlying perception of ‘interchangeable body.’ ... I see the F-Mount as our mission to ensure that the 45 million lenses circulating in the world will not be wasted and continue to be usable.”—Tetsuro Goto
What does it all mean? Who knows. Maybe Nikon is gearing up for a big push later this year. A future Nikon might adapt a completely new shape to make it easier to use as a video camera. Or, maybe not. It’s all very inscrutable right now and comes at a time when there’s lots of rumors circulating, including the discontinuation of the workhorse 70-200 f/2.8G. One thing is clear, however. Nikon is really committed to the F-Mount.
Here’s food for the rumor mills: two out of the four videos on the site were shot with RED cameras according to the behind the scenes photographs. The other two were done on other gear.
Finally, a very interesting disclosure is that the website claims that the current best selling lens is the modest AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G. The new “normal” lens for DX bodies. I smiled when I saw that.
5 Comments
Me too. I'm glad people realize the benefit of a fast prime. I just wish Nikon would make it one of the kit lens choices with their cameras. I mean, the 18-55mm is a fine lens and all, but many people want good photos in low light. Heck, if I could have gotten my D90 a couple of weeks ago with the 35, I'd have kept the lens instead of selling the 18-55 I don't need.
I'll be interested to see whether any major manufacturer tries something different with their SLR body shapes. Even the point-and-shoot market seems stagnant from that point of view -- Fuji has stopped making their elegant vertical-shape cameras of a few years ago, and no one else has stepped up. Certainly shooting video (especially with manual focus and zoom) with current SLR shapes is very awkward.
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Derek, I think the necessities of convergence are going to drive some new designs over the next few generations of dSLRs. Maybe some will retain a "stills-only" approach, but certainly, there's got to be movement of some sort for cameras like the 5D Mark II and whatever Nikon dreams of next.
The stagnation at the low-end is insane. Remember the Nikon Coolpix 900 or the Sony 808? Lots of nice thinking was happening there. I'd like to see a lot more of that back.
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It may be instructive to look at Luigi Colani's contribution to the design of the Canon T90. http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/design/kikaku/t90/top.html (look at his design sketches on page 5)
The T90 (as well as being a superb film camera) is the reason that all DSLRs look the way they do. He recognised that the removal of the film wind on and rewind cranks allowed the ergonomics of the camera body to be completely rethought.
Canon made this jump (and took all the SLR manufacturers with them) by allowing their designers to be challenged by a complete outsider. This was an astonishing thing for a Japanese company to do in 1986. I wonder if Nikon will be able to do the same in 2009?
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I saw this site yesterday and since then I can't stop thinking about the D3x. Which is a clear problem since it costs $8k.
Back to the site and what it means for the future. I think its all about reinforcing the real brand of Nikon. Because lets face it - Ashton Kutcher isn't going to sell coolpixs forever.
I'm looking forward to whatever Nikon has instore for us. Hopefully at competitive prices.
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Unfortunately "best selling" is a bit of an understatement for the 35mm f/1.8G. Camera shops can't seem to keep them on the shelves, and those that have them are selling them at big mark-ups. Very sad for me.
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