Nikon Photo contest held since 1969 will not accept film images anymore

[EASmithV]

http://www.nikon.com/news/2012/1025_contest_01.htm


•Eligible Works
•Categories A and B
•Image data files created with digital cameras (including medium- and large-format cameras). Images that have been retouched using software or by other means will be accepted. Both color and monochrome images will be accepted. (Scans of photographs taken with film cameras are not eligible.)

Nikon makes the greatest 35mm SLR of all time, and then, while still producing it, will not allow it's users to submit thier photos to Nikon's own contest.

That's not right.

 

[mono]

No, it´s not right,
it´s a shame!!

 

[EASmithV]

I'm sending them a hot letter, I would suggest to everyone that they do the same. Nikon's been one of the longest holdouts for 35mm gear, we need to send a message that now isn't the time to stop.

 

[eddie]

Screw them... I hope they end up with a bunch of HDR crap.

 

[artonpaper]

Another corporate absurdity.

 

[Diapositivo]

That's why I like using Minolta cameras and lenses. I'm sure they cannot disappoint me any more

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Screw them... I hope they end up with a bunch of HDR crap.

I concur.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Let's flood the contest with scanned images of negs and prints anyway, as a protest.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

That is a damn shame!

Jeff

 

[j-dogg]

I'll submit all of my Kodachrome, shot on a Nikon F

 

[Vonder]

The problem is that you simply can not tell if an image was made with Nikon gear using film. That's all.

 

[Paul Goutiere]

The problem is that you simply can not tell if an image was made with Nikon gear using film. That's all.

You never could!

 

[lxdude]

Those frigging idiots.

They will accept MF and LF digital, but not film images from those formats. Like how many people are shooting 8x10 with scanning backs? And someone who makes exquisite carbon or gum prints is SOL. What arrogance!

They won't accept B&W film images, at a time when a lot of B&W photographers still shoot film because digital just does not measure up, along with those who use film for B&W or for all their personal work because of the innate qualities it has that digital doesn't have. A high quality scan of a well-made B&W print will beat the absolute hell out of a B&W shot from one of their D-whatevers. And a high quality scan of a LF or even MF color image will far outclass the gamut and outright visual quality of anything they make. And a 35mm image done right can equal their digitals, especially considering that the content is what really matters.

It's galling to think that they won't accept an image from their own current F6 or any other film Nikon, without which there probably would be no Nikon. And it's doubly galling to realize that they are willing to exclude the work of very talented people because of the medium they choose to use. And these days, if people use film, it's most likely by choice.

It is nonsensical that only the wealthiest LF or MF shooters can enter, excluding the majority. And any user of a P&S digital can enter, but those who chose Nikon's own best film cameras from the present and past cannot. Everyone knows a D1 never measured up to film quality, but it's acceptable, and an F6 is not? Sheesh.

There's no rational basis for not accepting scans- it's all digital at that point, so what's the difference?

What kind of people are running Nikon these days?



I will be writing to Nikon as soon as I am calm enough that it won't sound like a rant.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

Nikon is forging ahead as fast as it can against Canon after giving a ton of its users to Canon in the 80s and 90s. It's all digital now; why would Nikon (or any other mfg.) allow a chance that their premier contest is going to be won by a film-based entry? Especially if that entry was made with a technology they're trying to abandon. Even more, if that entry was made with products that they no longer make, or made during the period their users were abandoning them in a flood to the competition? A period, now gone, when they were the king.

This sucks, I agree, but you can't possibly be surprised by this, can you? Really?

s-a

Of fortunes sharpe adversite
The greatest infortune is this:
A man to have been in prosperite
And it remembir when it passid is.

- Chaucer

 

[Bill Burk]

I don't know if they allowed this loophole, but I use a digital camera to photograph my prints. That's not a scan.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Nikon is forging ahead as fast as it can against Canon after giving a ton of its users to Canon in the 80s and 90s. It's all digital now; why would Nikon (or any other mfg.) allow a chance that their premier contest is going to be won by a film-based entry? Especially if that entry was made with a technology they're trying to abandon. Even more, if that entry was made with products that they no longer make, or made during the period their users were abandoning them in a flood to the competition? A period, now gone, when they were the king.

This sucks, I agree, but you can't possibly be surprised by this, can you? Really?

Surprised? Not really. Pissed off? Oh hell yes.

 

[lxdude]

Surprised? Not really. Pissed off? Oh hell yes.

Exactly.

 

[Diapositivo]

These "photo contests" are ultimately nothing but a marketing instrument.

Certainly they cannot say that they would only grant the award to an image shot with a Nikon, but something tells me that by sheer coincidence the winning entries will be shot on Nikon.

They allowed the MF exception probably not to "devalue" the contest as an "amateur-only" one, and in general because even if a MF "wins" this is no big damage to the marketing effort.

But imagine a film image is going to win. How would that work as a marketing news? I imagine all the blogs and newspapers around the world: "last century technology beats modern cameras at Nikon contest".

Or imagine if an image - film or digital - wins and it is shot on let's say a Canon. The world would laugh.

Being Nikon, they cannot afford, from a sheer marketing point of view, to allow the contest to backfire.

You'll say: "it's the image, not the camera". Naahhhh The purpose of these contests is to imply, to hint, to suggest that "it's the camera". They cannot spend all the marketing effort and come out with a winner on film (or on a competitor's camera). That would be negating all their present marketing effort toward their digital line and toward their products.

The fact that it is all a marketing effort is well demonstrated by the 3rd and 4th cathegories, which are not even "photographic" in nature.

It's not very smart in any case. Smarter would have been allowing film, and not letting film win any category

 

[lxdude]

Nikon is forging ahead as fast as it can against Canon after giving a ton of its users to Canon in the 80s and 90s. It's all digital now; why would Nikon (or any other mfg.) allow a chance that their premier contest is going to be won by a film-based entry? Especially if that entry was made with a technology they're trying to abandon. Even more, if that entry was made with products that they no longer make, or made during the period their users were abandoning them in a flood to the competition? A period, now gone, when they were the king.

This sucks, I agree, but you can't possibly be surprised by this, can you? Really?

Except if they weren't so much of the corporate mindset they'd grasp that digital is so popular now that a film image winning is no threat to their business.

What really gets me is, they allow images from formats in which they have never even made cameras (lenses, but not cameras) so the contest is ostensibly open to all, but it must be digital when the cost of those formats in digital is prohibitive to most people. If they are going to allow large format, they should allow all using that format, not a select well-heeled few.

They don't want to be shown up by film, but they will be hurt far more if the winning image comes from a Canon.
I'm certain that it's not the photography types at Nikon who are doing this- it's the soulless corporate suits who claim that their business is "business", and see no reason to truly understand or even respect the business for which they work. I've seen a lot of them in my time, and there are more now than ever.

 

[ambaker]

Considering that one of the categories is limited to a function from their Nikon 1 series, it appears that this "contest" has become nothing more than a marketing tool.

I doubt any bias specifically against film, ever crossed their collective minds. It is simply set up to showcase current Nikon efforts. Do you really expect any Canon, Sony, or other winers in a Nikon sponsored contest?

Even discontinued Nikon offerings winning would be a big surprise for me. Do you really want to tell the world your current cameras do not measure up?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[lxdude]

Considering that one of the categories is limited to a function from their Nikon 1 series, it appears that this "contest" has become nothing more than a marketing tool.

Yep.

 

[ic-racer]

It is not clear that their main purpose is to sell more digital cameras?

 

[RattyMouse]

Screw them... I hope they end up with a bunch of HDR crap.

 

[EASmithV]

How would they be able to tell a film shot from a shot that had the meta info ripped out from editing? I'm submitting scans anyway, just because I cant.

 

[lxdude]

It is not clear that their main purpose is to sell more digital cameras?

Yes, it is clear. But they are far more likely to sell people on a competitor's digital by displaying images by those competitors, than they are to sell people on film by displaying film images. Most people who see the images from the contest are using digital, and won't drop it for film because of a contest-winning picture. Film is not a threat to their digital sales.

That is why I say they are idiots. They lack basic insight. Despite still offering two film cameras, they exclude and insult film photographers. Some Nikon users who shoot film but are considering digital instead of or in addition to film will wonder why they should buy from a company that doesn't respect them.