see http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/mf/obsolete.html Obsolescence of Camera
Mounts - Avarice or Necessity? and ~rmonagha/brondeath.html Death Spiral
of Serious Amateur Photography...
the ability to buy older nikon lenses, while getting those variants that
have similar optical design and quality to today's lenses, is one way to
save major dollars on high quality used lenses. This is also one reason
that my Nikon FE is one of my favorite knock-about cameras - it can
easily use and meter with old and new lenses that I have, including AFs.
I have bought a number of nikkor prime lenses for $75 and under (EX cond)
However, the situation with more modern nikon cameras is now much more
complex, with many camera models (F60..) unable to meter stopped down or
otherwise with the older lenses and bellows, telescopes, microscopes etc.
The required features are only available on the more Pro models to use
the older lenses, which is a curious approach given the presumed
attraction of lower cost lenses for the budget Nikon camera user and new
buyer.
The reason, I think, has to do with the need to sell lenses and
new camera models on an accelerated, compressed cycle (from say 10 years
cycle of nikon f/, f/2, f/3 days to much faster now) in order to make up
for profits lost by the collapse in market size from 2.8 million SLR
sales per year in end of 70s to 725,000 SLR sales (all brands) in USA in
recent years...
see also ~rmonagha/mf/photostats.html for the latest (3/10/99) Kodak SEC
filing data showing further declines in film and paper sales of 7% and 4%
respectively, with professional sales down a stunning 19% this year alone!
in short, defining these previously taken for granted features (e.g.,
stopped down metering) out of lower end cameras has been a deliberate
move, in my view, towards obsoleting the mass of older lenses, or forcing
new nikon buyers to buy mid-range higher priced models in order to get
these essential functions and features, IMHO.
Is this a design necessity or avarice? - sure looks like avarice to me ;-)
* Robert Monaghan POB752182 Dallas Tx 75275-2182 [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Bronica 6x6 medium format: http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/bronica.html site *
* Medium Format Cameras: http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/mf/index.html megasite*
