I hate to admit it, but I've not sent Nikon a dime of my money in a very long time. The last new Nikkor I bought was over 20 years ago, and the last body I bought was even earlier than that. I think their decision makes perfect sense, and I wish them good luck. I wish it wasn't so, but honestly their decision has no impact at all on me (other than a probable jump in prices for used gear for the next few months as a bit of panic buying occurs).
The only downside that I can see is that we're likely to see lenses with aperture rings slowly disappearing from their catalog over the next few years. Today you can still use a lot of new Nikkor lenses on an old film body, but I doubt that will be the case within 5-10 years. They'll have to keep at least one cheap zoom with an aperture ring as long as they're selling the FM10, but something tells me that the only reason they aren't ditching that body is that they're probably under contract with Cosina to continue building it for a while longer. The aperture ring is unnecessary with the digital bodies and with the F6, so it makes little sense to continue putting it on lenses when your cameras don't require it.
Once the F6 goes (oh, how I hate the thought of that day), Nikon won't have any reason to continue making lenses that cover 35mm film unless they bring out a full frame digital camera. I don't follow the digital realm enough to know if that's likely...last year someone at Nikon mentioned that they had no plans to do so, but things change too fast to rely on what was said last year.
There are Cosina/Voigtlander lenses available for the Nikon F mount, and the Zeiss "ZF" lenses are coming, so if you really want a new lens you'll have choices for a while. (I would really like to know what the full story is with Zeiss bringing out the ZF lenses at the same time Nikon's ditching most of the film bodies...the timing on this is just too precious. Was there a back room deal? Did Nikon do this to spite Zeiss? I could spend all evening just thinking up interesting scenarios.)
The problem that I see coming in short order is that I cannot imagine Zeiss will stay in the Nikon lens game for long if they don't sell many lenses...and Zeiss glass is traditionally very expensive. Some people will buy it...I might even pony up for a wide angle if the price isn't too out of control...but I just can't see Zeiss making enough money on Nikon manual focus lenses to keep them interested. I can imagine myself buying a Zeiss 21mm or 25mm f/2.8 wideangle lens for $250 or so as Zeiss has always done nice wide angle lenses...but I can't imagine Zeiss selling the lenses at that price point. I hope I'm wrong.
Well, I've rambled enough. I own more Nikkor lenses than anyone needs, the only Nikon LF lenses that I care about are the APO process lenses which haven't been made in a long time, and I already own all of the Nikon enlarging lenses that I want...so as much as I hate to admit it, Nikons decision doesn't impact me a single bit. I suppose that's how they got to this point...people like me who loved the cameras and lenses but bought them on the used market because they were so well made that they last a very long time.
We live in interesting times.
Be well.
Dave
