- Nikon wasn't the company's name until 1988.
Prior to this, the company was officially called Nippon Kogaku K.K. - many people believe the name changed earlier, but it wasn't until the late 80's. 1st April 1988, to be precise, Nikon Corporation was officially (re)born.
Of course, they had been using Nikon as a trademarked brand for many years (history suggests the name Nikon was first invented in the mid 1940's), so why did they eventually decide to switch? Well, this little story direct from Nikon's website may shed some light.
Then-president Shigetada Fukuoka met with former French President Jacques Chirac. On hearing the name Nippon Kogaku Kogyo, Mr Chirac simply tilted his head in bewilderment. When Mr. Fukuoka said the word "Nikon," however, the Parisian mayor understood immediately.
President Fukuoka said "From hereon, I don't want us to be limited by the name Kogaku ("optics"). Let us work toward even greater advancements."
- Nikon didn't manufacture their first camera until 1948.
Thirty-one years after the company was founded by the merging of three separate optical manufacturers in 1917, Nikon launched their first camera, the Nikon I. Prior to this, Nikon made lenses under the Nikkor brand, along with binoculars and microscopes.
Demand for the camera in Japan was huge, but it wasn't without its problems. A rush to manufacture left the camera somewhat unreliable, with the film advance often failing to work, which led to many customer complaints and forced Nikon into financial difficulties. However, they rebounded with 1949's Nikon M and 1950's Nikon S, then the S2, SP and finally the classic Nikon F SLR, quality and reliability improving with each model.
- Nikon originally made all of their now arch-rival Canon's lenses.
Canon's first cameras were inexpensive Japanese Leica clones, and in 1934 it announced a 35mm rangefinder called the Kwanon. The Kwanon was just a prototype never put into production - it was followed by their first commercial camera, the Hansa Canon, in 1936. Canon had one problem, however - they didn't have any experience of making lenses, so they contracted Nippon Kogaku Kogyo, already a proven optical designer and manfufacturer, and used Nikkor lenses. The Hansa Canon actually shipped as standard with a Nikkor 50mm f/3.5 lens.
In fact, a large part of the first Canon camera was made by Nikon - Nippon Kogaku was responsible for the lens, the lens mount, the viewfinder, and the complete rangefinder mechanism. Canon did start developing lenses in 1937, but they weren't available until after WWII, and they didn't launch their fast 50mm Serenar f/2 until 1947.
- When launched in 1959, the Nikon F cost an average of three months salary.
We may think that we have it bad with the price of today's digital SLRs, but the first Nikon SLR cost 67,000 Yen - three times the salary of a Japanese government employee at the time. They still managed to sell a million of them over the next 15 years!
This was the camera that introduced us to the F mount - the very same mount (albeit with added features, especially in the electronic age) that is still in use today. This mount was revolutionary at the time, having a huge diameter in comparison to its rangefinder peers, which allowed Nikkor F lenses to be far more resistant to mechanical vignetting.
- Nikon's first Digital SLR, the D1, was developed from scratch in just two years.
We may take for granted now that a new camera will be digital, but just over 10 years ago this was certainly not the case. Although the first Coolpix (the 0.3mp Coolpix 100) was produced in 1997, Nikon's classic D1 wasn't introduced until 1999.
The order to produce a DSLR came from Nikon's president in 1997, and engineers responded by saying it would take four years, three at a minimum. They were given two.
The result was a 2.7mp DSLR with many features bettered by even today's entry-level cameras, but at the time it was revolutionary. The D1 quickly displaced Kodak from dominance of the DSLR market, and sales exceeded the target of 100,000 bodies per year even at its US$5500 asking price. With the D1, Nikon's market share eclipsed that of Canon. Strangely, the camera used the NTSC colorspace, not the SRGB or AdobeRGB we use today. - 5 things you ddint know about nikon
- when were nikon cameras invented
- when was the first nikon camera made
Footnote: As Tom Grier points out in the comments below, there were in fact Nikon-branded DSLRs before the D1. The E2/E3 series models were not pure Nikon, but co-developed with Fuji and also sold as Fuji-branded cameras. They were especially unusual in that they used a 2/3" image sensor (similar to today's high-end bridge cameras), but via an ingenious optical subsystem they captured the full 35mm field of view. Look for an article on these cameras here on NikonHQ soon.
12 Comments
Jacques Chirac was not the french president until 1995. In 1988, he was first minister.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac
Interesting article, thanks. Why did the D1 use NTSC???!
Loïc Lacmbe: "Jacques Chirac was not the french president until 1995. In 1988, he was first minister."
The fact is, Chirac is/was a former French president, that was a mayor of Paris at the time of Mr. Fukuoka's visit. That's why the quote says "When Mr. Fukuoka said the word 'Nikon,' however, the Parisian mayor understood immediately." with the key word being "the Parisian mayor".
Got it?
Loïc,
the article speaks of Chirac as the "former" president, the ex-president, as it is a present article.
The blurb tells a story of Chirac even before he was a prime minister, when he was Paris mayor...
1988 is the year NKK became Nikon, allegedly some times later...
My mistake, guys.
What a shitty post. I could not even spell my own name properly... and "prime minister" of course. Should have slept more this sunday morning...
I owned a Nikon E2 in 1997 and an E3S in 1999 ... both were Digital SLRs and both pre-dated the D1. Other than that minor factual error, interesting article.
Thanks Tom, article updated.
Interesting article. One issue, though. I think the Coolpix 100 had a .3mp sensor, not 3mp.
Another interesting tidbit of history deals with EPOI. When EPOI become the importer of Nikon cameras, they where given to AP, UPI, NY Times, Time, National Geo and etc. photographers. When the general public saw these guys using Nikon's the demand rose from the public for these cameras.
Now, the trick was that the Pros had black cameras which at that time was cheaper to make than the chrome. But a lot of people wanted the Black Nikon so EPOI price the black bodies higher than the chrome, therefore making a little more profit per camera.
I'm curious about the ad picture alongside the name change. Is that supposed to be showing that Nikon was used before the company officially changed? (I'm asking because the large kanji within the bottom border do say 'Nippon Kogaku', although the last character is no longer written that way (well, not in Japanese, anyway).)
Hmm... and now that I look more closely, it appears that the very bottom line, the second half of that is 'Nippon Kogaku Kogyo' (maybe with International, or Worldwide, or something along those lines? I can't really make out the rest of the line.)
And it appears (although I can't make it out for sure) that the focal length for the lens is listed as 5cm. When did they switch to using mm for that?
I love Nikon's. My early one is F-1, from a P.X. in Vietnam came my Nikormat, Over the years I picked up a number of lenses, some beautiful glass. When it first came out I bought a D-200; I still use it.
For years I shot "square' ,WITH HASSELBLAD. The D-200 got me digital. I look forward to a 24 M.P. Nikon D-700 X.
Very nice article on nikon history. I owned a black nikon F2A at one point. It was neat because as an employee of a store that sold nikon cameras, I was able to purchase it at half off list which was maybe 20 per cent less than customer price but also , if you wanted, nikon put your name in gold on the baseplate. Even though I sold many black body nikons, which cost the customer more than chrome, I didn't realize they were actually less expensive to make.. Great article, thanks very much