Nikon signals death of 35mm cameras

Nikon has announced that it is to shift its business away from 35mm cameras and focus on digital in what is sure to be the first steps in the end of the format

12 January 2006 16:17 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Nikon has announced that it is to shift its business away from 35mm cameras and focus on digital in what is sure to be the first steps in the end of the format.

“Following the success of our digital line-up over the last seven years, which has resulted in more than 95% of Nikon's UK business being within the digital area, Nikon Corporation has made the decision to focus management resources on digital cameras in place of film cameras”, the company said in a statement.

“As a result of the new strategy Nikon will discontinue production of all lenses for large format cameras and enlarging lenses with sales of these products ceasing as soon as they run out of stock. This also applies to most of our film camera bodies, interchangeable manual focus lenses and related accessories”.

As the film camera market shrinks and the popularity of compact digital cameras increases, demand for products that offer advanced features and extra value is continuing to grow.

High performance digital SLR cameras are performing well as users shift from film-based SLR cameras or upgrade from compact digital cameras to digital SLR cameras.

However the company is keeping one camera going - the F6, its flagship film model, as well as a number of manual interchangeable lenses to support the camera.