Digital Nikonos VI?

I wonder if Nikon is working on making a digital Nikonos VI? Seems to me the time might be right. Unless of course they are waiting to develop a reasonably priced full frame sensor, then revamp the Nikonos body to accomodate it. They then could use all the current Nikonos lenses without having to come up with a new line of UW lenses. What also might be interesting would be a color LCD instead of an optical viewfinder. My guess is that at this point a digital Nikonos would not be at a profitable price point for Nikon.

Keith,

Interesting idea. There was nothing wrong w/ the Nik5 body, IMO. If Nikon could develop a digital module that would mount in the film bay, then they could upgrade the electronics and sensor every year as technology gets better.

A color LCD in the viewfinder would work, but then it would have more shutter lag...

Cheers

James

Nikon has some great UW lenses espicially in the WA range, seems to me a great opportunity for Nikon. I would consider buying one for large/fast moving creatures.

The Nikonos lenses don't have a sprung apertures so they are not suitable for using on a digi-cam or SLR - because when you close the aperure the view on the LCD would get darker.

I think a better chance would be a company like Subeye making a new UW body that could take RS lenses - like they did in the film days.

I am surprised that Nikon have not cashed in on the Nikonos name and put it on their compact housings to cash in on the current boom in underwater photography.

Alex

Good pt Alex - it's like Nikon just totally dissolved their Nikonos design team and they have no corporate memory. It would have been BRILLIANT for them to have come out w/ an inexpensive Coolpix 950 housing back in the day and called it the "digital Nikonos." If they'd done that, they would have given Olympus a run for their money.

Cheers

James

Sounds like an interesting idea. I've thought a little about this too.

The Nikonos lenses don't have a sprung apertures so they are not suitable for using on a digi-cam or SLR - because when you close the aperure the view on the LCD would get darker.

Could they not just use the optical finder of the Nik V with the same framers used on film? I guess it wouldn't be brilliant for macro, because you would still have those pesky metal framers, but it would certainly be a very attractive upgrade to those with WA Nikonos glass.

There may even be some R&D savings to be made? I've seen a dismantled Nik V and it seems almost like you could drop a digital module into the beautifully manufactured external case. I'm no camera tech, but I imagine you could keep the shutter mechanism and perhaps even the ISO selection....Hmmm thinking more, perhaps this wouldn't be that attractive - as we'd be stuck with the 1/90 sync.

You would think that the manual winder could still be used to cock the shutter (like on that Epson/Leica rangefinder), but you'd still have to replace the rear door with a "windowed" one to see your image review and histogram.

Hmmm, thinking out loud though, Keith is probably right that it might not be a profitable venture for Nikon right now and as james says, they have no doubt disbanded their Nikonos team and would have to start from scratch. Shame really...

Ahh wishful thinking only. As a long time Nikonos user, relative to my age that is, i still use the camera today, just got back 3 rolls of mantas, nice! Post em when they are scanned.

Anyhoo, the whole reason Nikon stopped the Nikonos was the fact it was not a profitable venture. With so much competition from housed systems and the advent of the consumer digital, Nikon felt it was time to let the old girl go, and so they did.

I can just see no way they would ever put the money into R&D to create another camera like this that has such a limited market. The fact there are so many easily housed little digital cameras means there is no way they would ever make a profit on such a camera as a digital Nikonos, sorry to tell you all but we (UW photographers) are just a wee drop of water in a large sea so they don't pay much heed to our desires. Even in the world of UW photographers i believe the camera would still not dominate the market like the old one did in its day, too much competition these days, so the actual market for it would be miniscule.

Would be nice to get my 15mm on digital though...

Well then...maybe salvage some of the engineering that went into the RS and come out with the new "DRS". I started with the Nikonos V and still have a mint Nikonos II. When the RS came out I thought wow here is the holly grail of UW still imaging, that was until I heard of all the problems associated with the RS and maintenance issues/costs. Looks like all of this is easier said than done....

Oh well - we can dream can't we!

Shame we're just a wee drop...

The force behind Nikon underwater photography was Frank Fennell. Look what he's doing now- selling lots of inexpensive housings under his partnership with Fantasea. Frank would be the first person to tell everybody what the market will bear. Unfortunately I don't think it will be anything related to the Nikonos cameras. Why? Nikonos buyers don't upgrade every 2 years. But a person who buys a Coolpix and cheap housing will be in the market again in a couple of years for another camera and housing.

If I worked for Nikon I would have pushed for a line of branded housings, lenses and strobes.

A Subeye with "the German" 15mm lens would be outstanding if it's feasible. That optic is a beast!

The reason they got out of the underwater camera biz in the first place was that it was not profitable...underwater cameras are not a core competency of Nikon. I read for years how diffiult it was for Nikon to simply make a decent profit on U/W cameras, and for years they threatened to get out of the U/W biz. They finally did it.

Joe