Nikon - The First
producer of a widely accepted professional 35mm
manual focus SLR
film
camera!
Until Nikon introduced the
Nikon F camera in 1959
most professional photo journalists were firmly
attached to their 35mm rangefinder cameras, and in
particular their Leica M4's or Nikon SP's, The Nikon
F soon replaced these for several reasons, if you
have the chance to look through and focus a
rangefinder camera of this period and a Nikon SLR
you will immediately see the attraction of a SLR
camera, add to this the ability to build a
customised camera for the task in hand from Nikon's
ever expanding F system, and there was little to
recommend the rangefinder cameras other than size
and weight.
The SLR did have few disadvantages, it was larger,
heavier and relatively noisy, so the change did not
happen immediately, some photographers needed to be
unobtrusive and travel light.
Nikon's main interest was in lenses and they soon
realised they were missing a major part of amateur
market who could not afford a Nikon F, their
solution was to do a deal with another Japanese
manufacturer who |
