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By Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 12, 2006

Nikon Corp., one of the flagship brands for amateur and professional photographers alike, said yesterday that it will stop making most of its film-camera products to concentrate on marketing digital cameras.

"Nikon Corporation has made the decision to focus management resources on digital cameras in place of film cameras. This decision will allow Nikon to continue to develop products that match the demands of an increasingly competitive market place," the Japan-based company said in a statement posted on a Web site for its British division. The statement said more than 95 percent of its British business is now in the digital market.

Nikon spokesmen in the United States at first declined to comment on the company's British statement, which was linked to by several technology-oriented Web sites. They later issued a similar version that said the film-camera line is being "reshaped" to allow "more of Nikon's planning, engineering and manufacturing resources to be focused on the digital products that now drive our thriving industry."

Nikon said it will immediately discontinue making all but two of its film cameras, all large-format Nikkor lenses and enlarging lenses, and several manual-focus Nikkor lenses. It expects to sell the last of those products this summer. Nikon will continue to manufacture and sell two film cameras, the professional-level F6 and the FM10 for the amateur market, and a few manual-focus lenses for those cameras. full article