Talk:Nikon FE2

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It is wrong to call the Nikon compact F-series SLRs "professional" (or even, as contributer 4.240.247.238 calls them, "semi-professional") level cameras. While it is certainly true that many professional photographers did purchase and use Nikon compact F-series SLRs for their work, this is not a necessary AND sufficient condition to call a camera "professional" level. After all, working professional photographers have purchased and used point-and-shoot cameras in specific circumstances, but no one has ever called a P/S a "professional" camera.

The Nikon compact F-series SLRs are rightly called "advanced amateur" level SLRs, because, by Nippon Kogaku's own standards, that was what they were. They may have been more ruggedly built and had more extensive accessory systems than advanced amateur SLRs from competing brands, but the compact F-series did not meet Nippon Kogaku's long-standing 150,000 minimum picture cycles before breakdown benchmark, were not moisture and dustproofed, were not eligible for Nikon professional field services and did not have the interchangeable viewfinder heads of Nikon F-series professional level SLRs.

Contributer 4.240.242.185 is also wrong to call the Nikon compact F-series SLRs a great success based on their collector value today. Time does not prove "Nikon's philosophy to be the right one." The fact that a Nikon FE, FE2 or FM2 has a good chance of working properly a quarter century after it was manufactured, combined with grossly inferior contemporary sales figures to the Canon AE-1, A-1 or AE-1 Program prove that Nippon Kogaku's philosophy to be exactly the wrong one: over-engineered and therefore overpriced for what the market would bear.

Canon Camera's philosophy with their blockbuster A-series was the right one: carefully designing their SLRs with careful consideration to the exact needs of a carefully defined market. Nippon Kogaku's insistence on the highest possible quality was noble, but counterproductive when dealing with the ignorant beginner and/or fickle amateur photographer. A camera is to be used immediately - not displayed or shown off, or collected. I "blame" Canon's triumph over Nikon on Canon's better understanding of quality versus price in a competitive market. Perfection really is the enemy of success.

References

  • Anonymous. “Nikon F3: Successor to Nikon F2 and F” pp 80-86. Modern Photography’s Photo Buying Guide ‘85. reprint from Modern Photography, June 1980.
  • Anonymous. Nikon SLRs (FA, FE2, FG, FM2, F3HP) advertisement. “Some of the world’s greatest photographic achievements haven’t been photographs.” pp 56-57. Modern Photography, Volume 47, Number 12; December 1983. [The exact term used by Nikon Inc. (USA) in this advertisement to describe the level of the FA, FE2 and FM2 is "serious amateur."]
  • Anonymous. Nikon USA 11 January 2006 press release “Reshaping Nikon's Film Camera Assortment" http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=130907&TICK=NIKON&STORY=/www/story/01-11-2006/0004247596&EDATE=Jan+11,+2006 retrieved 22 February 2006 [The exact term used by Nikon Inc. (USA) in this press release to describe the serious non-professional photographer is "dedicated amateur."]
  • Shell, Bob translator and Harold Franke. Magic Lantern Guides: Canon Classic Cameras; A-1, AT-1, AE-1, AE-1 Program, T50, T70, T90. Sixth Printing 2001. Magic Lantern Guides. Rochester, NY: Silver Pixel Press, 1995. ISBN 1-883403-26-X
  • Stafford, Simon and Rudi Hillebrand & Hans-Joachim Hauschild. The New Nikon Compendium: Cameras, Lenses & Accessories since 1917. 2004 Updated North American Edition. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 2003. ISBN 1-57990-592-7

Paul1513 21:24, 2 March 2006 (UTC)


"It is wrong to call the Nikon compact F-series SLRs "professional" (or even, as contributer X calls them, "semi-professional") level cameras."

No, they are semi-professional cameras, because although they have features and design that appeal to serious amateurs, they have a higher standard of internal quality comparable to professional-level Nikon bodies of the era, MUCH higher in quality than similar competing designs from Canon, Minolta, Pentax. Tight tolerances, bearing-mounted film wind and shutter, machined metal components, higher-quality electronics, etc, etc. Though they had a fixed prism head and no mirror lockup, they had a number of professional features as standard equipment not always found on amateur cameras from other manufacturers. As a result, many professional photographers using Nikon F F2 cameras used FE or FE-2 bodies as backups, with many switching over to the compact body for all of their shooting. Hence the term semi-professional - it reflects the real-life usage of these cameras.

"Canon Camera's philosophy with their blockbuster A-series was the right one: carefully designing their SLRs with careful consideration to the exact needs of a carefully defined market."

This is what is called an opinionated viewpoint, not a fact. Your biased praise for Canon's marketing strategy in the 1980s belongs on the Canon page, not here.

Here is a fact: Canon built its amateur-level cameras cheaply, especially with regards to internal construction, in order to outsell Nikon. That is easily demonstrated with a teardown of the cameras involved. Canon's inexpensive A-series cameras in no way compare to the internal construction quality of the FE2. You'll never get an AE1 to work dependably on Everest. This is also why the Nikon FE2 is classed as a semi-professional camera, in order to distinguish its market niche from cheaper amateur-level competitors who were 'advanced' merely in metering options, not in quality or durability. This should be pointed out in any objective historical account of Nikon's FE-series cameras.

And there is certainly no need to use pejoratives such as "absurd Nikon traditionalists" and extoll Canon marketing each and every time someone else besides you has the temerity to add relevant historical and factual information about the subject to the article. -Tim 13 AUG 2006

[edit] Attention Editor 4.240.x.x

Due to the fact that you are an anonymous editor whose IP address frequently changes, it is hard for me to find a constant place to contact you. Therefore, please read the message I have left at User talk:4.240.186.92 so that we can resolve any communications issues during the mediation case. Creating an account would also solve this problem. Thanks! Shadow1 16:38, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

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