Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The following is a mail I sent to Stephen Gandy on Aug. 28. The announcement also appeared on various industry newspapers in Japan dated Aug. 28. - ----- From my sources in Nikon, I was informed that the very last production run of F3hp (F3, F3/T, F3H were all discontinued in the past couple of years) will take place this winter. Nikon Japan will accept orders until the end of October, but the quantity will be no greater than 4000. They will be delivered next spring. The monthly sales figure of F3hp has been less than hundred recently, and Nikon apparently lost money on every F3 it sold in the past few years. Not a big deal, because the quantity was so small. I have also heard rumours about termination of Pentax LX, but that's only a rumour. It's an end of an era, with the departure of the longest-running production 35mm camera (at least on this side of the former iron curtain) in history. - ----- The last production run of 4,000 camera is now underway, and the last F3 is expected to leave the Nikon factory sometime in the spring, 2000. Included in the 4,000 cameras are several runs of special F3 models with special engravings. I don't know how many of the last production run is expected to go overseas. What I've heard is that Nikon USA and other non-Japan distributors have plenty in stock, and thus may not receive the cameras from the last production run. Note that being on Nikon USA catalogue doesn't mean it's produced any more. The last time I saw the Nikon USA catalogue, it still listed the Ai Fisheye-Nikkor 6mm 1:2.8S, Ai Fisheye-Nikkor 8mm 1:2.8S, Ai Nikkor 13mm 1:5.6S, Ai Noct-Nikkor 58mm 1:1.2S, and Reflex-Nikkor 2000mm 1:11, none of which have been produced for a number of years. Ken Iisaka <first name at last name dot org> Still lost in Mill Valley, Marin County, CA.