larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Please understand...I am in no way trying to be mean or ugly about this. It is just a reality that there is a serious shortage of the kind of enthusiasts that are capable of existing in the numbers that can fuel an industry. It has happened in home audio and model railroading, and amateur radio is barely hanging on.

The best thing we can do...for the industry and for the kids, is to work more consistently to bring them along. I'm finding that the biggest problem is not that they don't have photography as an interest...most of them don't have anything as an interest.

nervous2 Loc: Provo, Utah

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Nobody can predict the future. Look at the enthusiasm generated by digital cameras around the year 2000 and look at the decline in sales in 2020. Nikon is suffering financial losses like everybody else. When Olympus and Panasonic began to make mirrorless cameras Nikon looked the other way. It took slightly over 5 years for them to decide the making of a mirrorless camera. It was already a bit late since Olympus and Panasonic joined by Sony and Fuji were already producing excellent mirrorless cameras that were selling better than dSLR bodies. In a few words, Nikon and Canon were not only behind but also loosing business.

I have been using Nikon cameras and lenses since 1963. Like you I have a good assortment of lenses that I am sure will outlast me. I am using a D7000 and a D610 and both fulfill my needs. On the other hand I admit that I am using a lot my Olympus bodies and I do not plan going into any other mirrorless system for as long as my Olympus perform and cover my needs.

Only time will tell what will happen.

jburlinson Loc: Austin, TX

Don't be so quick to consign Olympus to the dinosaur graveyard. OMDS, the new name for the company, just issued its first new lens of the year -- the Olympus M. Zuiko 8-25mm f4 pro, and its first new camera of the year -- the E-P7.

If Olympus can continue chugging along, even with a new (kind of) name, surely Nikon can find a way to stay afloat.

whfowle Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque

Several thoughts on photography:
1) There will always be cameras, both professional grade and consumer grade. It may not be the brand you prefer.
2) Most people who use cameras could not give a hoot about quality as long as it will satisfy their needs, i.e. posting and other on-line platforms and simplicity in use.
3) You can't visit a commercial site, magazine, or video source without seeing pictures and videos. For the professional who can exploit that market, there will always be money to be made.
4) Therefore, there will always be manufacturers who will build and sell the equipment needed to support these markets. If you have enough money, you can buy these products.
5) It doesn't matter whether you are a pro or an enthusiast.
6) If you have a camera system that works for you, enjoy it while it works. When it fails, look around the market and buy something that will work for you.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I am like MAD magazine, "What, me worry". I worked for Nikon, the Nikon camera division is only about 8% of the total company, do not worry, Nikon is first and foremost a LENS company, they mold their own glass from dust particles. Currently their are only two companies in the world that do this and Nikon is one of them.
Nikon camera division is not going anywhere. Trust me. Your lenses are the finest made in the world, use them proudly. I own and still use my D3s with many "D" Nikon AF lenses. They outperform any lens out there.
Nikon will still be here 100 years from today.
This said I am also using Sony camera's and lenses for now, as soon as Nikon catches up, I will switch back.
It was Nikon camera's and glass that went to the Moon, it is Nikon rangefinders and glass that still accompany the Shuttles to the international space station, and yes, Nikon camera's are still used there, everyday of the week. Only Nikon. I wonder why, but not really, Nikon optics are used in most of the best scientific instruments used today around the world.
I am not knocking Canon, Sony, and other companies, they all produce fine instruments. And Nikon will be right there with them producing relevant products.
Nikon, at first when mirrorless camera's out, did not appropriate much R&R toward it, but over the past couple of years they have been throwing more resources toward them. That is starting to pay off. Just watch and see.

Canisdirus

Zero innovation there.
Think you would be excited if a FF lens came out at 16-50 f/8? ... for $1,100.00
The new Pen won't be sold in the west, and it also has zero innovation...no reasons for anyone to upgrade.
OM-D is pulling off the existing inventory shelf.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Oh and about the so called low light focus issues, last weekend I was able to autofocus with a 15 stop ND filter mounted on a Z 70-200 at F11 and 800 sec exposure.[/quote]

Always great to know this is just one reason to go mirrorless.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Buy a spare D850 (maybe used with a low shutter count) & stop reading these articles & you will be set for quite a while. Look at it this way, the prices of used Nikon equipent might come down. The other choice would be jump ship & sell everything now. Go out & do some photography today to take your mind off of it.

BebuLamar

I am a Nikon user since 1977 but the future of Nikon company isn't my concern. I have the Nikon I want now already. What's in the future doesn't matter to me.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Time will tell. It's all about profit. If a product line isn't making money, it's history.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

To: All the worriers
All the analysts of the future
All the Whiners

Just go out and use what you have, buy what you want to buy and make some images. The rest of this discussion is just a BIG waste of time!

leftj Loc: Texas

Pay little attention to articles. Most are not worth more than the paper they are written on.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

You mentioned the "Speed Graphic". As you know, Graflex is long gone and of course, they stopped manufacturing their 4x5 camera long ago, however, you can still buy any number of them in good working order and there are old lenses for them all over the used marketplace. And...so it will be with Nikon, not that I believe they will go out of business in my lifetime!

I purchased my first Nikon in the 1950s, it was a model -S rangefinder camera. I bought it at Penn Camera in New York. The owner, Joe Erinreich was the first major importer of professional-grade Japanese gear. Prior to that period, many photographers considered Japanese-made gear as being of inferior quality, however, many young upstarts, like me at the time, thought of the Nikon RF modes as a "poor man's Leica". Later on, as a press photographer, I used all of the "F" models, the FTN and all the later Nikon offering right up to the F-4. I had many of the lenses and the newspaper I worked for had a pool of more exotic glass from extreme wide-angles and fisheyes to very big telephotos.

Believe it or not the original rangefinder models were, right into the 1980s, still sought after by many press shooters. There was a camera shop in Montreal that had hoarded away cash of new ones (still in the original boxes) from long after they were discontinued and was selling them at outrageous prices. For me, it was false nostalgia- for that kinda money, I could buy a current, at the time, M-series Leica!

I have since (long ago) gone to portrait and commercial photography and used most large and medium format gear, however, for many years Nikon was my go-to 35mm system and my first digital camera was a Nikon.

Long history with Nikon, eh?! But, if somehow magically and tragically, if all my Nikon gear evaporated along with the company, it would not affect my photography and probably would not even put a dent in my bank account because there will be a plethora of new and used Nikon gear for eons to come and my present inventory would see me through the immediate future going forward.

I have been a professional photographer for all of my adult life and for the life of me, I can not understand why so many photographers are so preoccupied with GEAR. Since I am not a photographic equipment distributor or retailer, I usually don't read into all the trade news and rumour network as to how the camera manufacturers are thriving or not. Their annual or quarterly reports are of no interest to me. The big manufacturers and savvy marketers and do the market research and manipulate the marketplace accordingly. Competition and technological advances will drive the market and changes are inevitable.

I do have many friends and contacts in the equipment supply chain and they all agree that if they had to depend on PROFESSIONAL photographers for sales and income they would all be well on their way to the bankruptcy court. Seem we hold on to our old stuff until it disintegrates and mand manga to stick someof it together with gaffer tape and rubber bands. Yet, we still manage to churn out images to satisfy our clients and every now and again, even satisfy ourselves.

I think some folks need to decide if they want to be a photographer or a camera collector. if you have the financial resources, you may be able to afford both.

BebuLamar

I am wondering as to why we're not happy with what we have? Why are we always have to see what's our favorite camera manufacturer going to make next? I am happy with what I have because if I don't I wouldn't own them. I don't buy any of my toys if I think I would want to replace it with something better in the future. I said toys because cameras are my toys. I don't need them to make a living. I don't have to settle for what's available now. I don't buy anything that I think I would get tired of in the future.