Nikon

It's a Small World

You probably think of Nikon as just a camera company, but it has been in the microscope business longer than it's been making cameras. To show how proud they are of that part of their business, Nikon started the Small World image competition in 1974, and it's still going strong today. Over the years, the competition has included microscopic views of all sorts of things, including carpet fibers, Velcro, neurons, and more. One of the best parts about the images are that they transcend the world of scientific imaging and exist as works of art in their own … Read more

Nikon's American operations get new CEO

Yasuyuki Okamoto has been named president and chief executive officer of Nikon Inc., making him responsible for sales, marketing and customer service in the Americas, the company said Tuesday. Okamoto has spent 29 years in the company's photo and imaging business.

Most recently, Okamoto was general manager and operating officer of marketing for Nikon's imaging company at Nikon Corp. headquarters in Japan. Earlier, he ran the company's internal and external communications.

Michio Kariya is CEO of Nikon overall.

Detailed images from Nikon D3, Canon 40D

Obsessive Canon and Nikon fans are getting some early images with which to judge some new SLR cameras just hitting the market.

Canon's EOS 40D, at $1,300 with no lens, is a midrange model, and one photographer who got his hands on a sample likes its colors, compared to one predecessor, the 20D, and the 5D. The 5D's sensor is the size of a full frame of 35mm film, compared to the smaller APS-C sensors on the 20D and 40D. Wyofoto photographers Miles Hecker and Nancy Patrick offer images from the three cameras at various ISO settings … Read more

This week in cameras

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon busy week for digital cameras. Casio, Kodak, Nikon, and Panasonic all unveiled their latest cameras, and that means plenty of posts here on Crave. Here's a handy roundup of the new cameras announced this week.

Casio's new V8 and Z1080 have nothing to do with engines or HDTV Kodak brings high-def video to two new cameras Kodak's new superzoom Panasonic gets serious about SLRs Nikon introduces two new affordable amateur cameras Nikon's latest Wi-Fi slimcam Nikon's new slim shooters Two new basic budget Nikons

Two new basic budget Nikons

Amateur photographers and style-minded snapshooters aren't the only ones who can get excited at Nikon's recent camera announcements. The company also unveiled two new additions to its budget-priced Coolpix L-series: the Coolpix L14 and L15.

The Coolpix L14 boasts a 7-megapixel sensor, a 38 to 114mm-equivalent f/3.1-5.9 lens, and a 2.4-inch LCD screen. Its upscale brother, the Coolpix L15, has an 8-megapixel sensor, a 35 to 105mm-equivalent f/2.8-4.7 lens with optical stabilization, and a 2.8-inch display.

The Nikon Coolpix L14 and L15 will hit stores by mid-October, and will respectively … Read more

Nikon introduces two new affordable amateur cameras

A few months ago, Nikon released the 10-megapixel Coolpix P5000, a photographer-friendly compact camera with plenty of options for advanced users. Barely half a year after its release, Nikon has unveiled its big brother, the Coolpix P5100. At its heart, the P5100 is simply a 12-megapixel version of the P5000. It keeps the P5000's same basic design, same 35 to 123mm-equivalent f/2.7-5.3 image-stabilized lens, and its same combination of optical viewfinder and 2.5-inch TFT LCD screen. However, the P5100 does feature Nikon's new Expeed image processor, which the P5000 was lacking. This new image … Read more

Nikon's latest Wi-Fi slimcam

Nikon has been dabbling in Wi-Fi-equipped cameras for a few years now. Most recently, the company included Wi-Fi in its ultracompact 7-megapixel Coolpix S50c. The new Coolpix S51c continues this trend and includes an 8MP CCD sensor, a 3-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD, sensitivity of up to ISO 1,600, and optical image stabilization. This new model also includes Nikon's D-Lighting to compensate for imperfect exposures after the fact, as well as Face Priority AF to help make sure that the camera focuses on your friends' faces, instead of a tree or some national monument in the background. It also … Read more

Nikon's new slim shooters

Nikon gives its style-minded Coolpix S-series its highest resolution yet with the Coolpix S700. This sleek camera packs a 12-megapixel sensor into its 0.9-inch-thick brushed aluminum body. The S700 also features a 37 to 111mm-equivalent f/2.8-5.4 Nikkor lens, mechanical image stabilization, a 2.7-inch TFT LCD screen and a sensitivity range of ISO 64 to 3200. Like the majority of Nikon's other newly announced cameras, the S700 uses Nikon's new Expeed image processor, which the company claims improves processing speed and color reproduction.

The Coolpix S510 might not look quite as impressive as the … Read more

Nikon tops SLR customer satisfaction survey

Update 11:25 a.m. PDT: Some folks seem confused about what exactly J.D. Power and Associates is measuring, so I've added some more detail about the study and about Sony's rating.

Well, this news isn't going to go over well at Canon.

According to a new survey by J.D. Power and Associates, Nikon is the clear leader in customer satisfaction among digital SLR (single-lens reflex) customers in the United States. Adding insult to injury, SLR newcomer Sony came in second.

The survey doesn't measure product quality, but rather how happy more than 7,… Read more

Peering inside Nikon's D3 and D300

Update: I fixed a math error in the shutter description.

Nikon's D3 and D300 SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras, announced Wednesday, are complicated and expensive beasts, so few people outside a repair center or Canon's competitive intelligence unit are going to be cracking them open.

Happily, Nikon has provided a number of views into its new $5,000 D3 and $1,800 D300 cameras. Forthwith, a tour of what I find most notable.… Read more