NikonWeb.com

In the latest message in the serial number thread, spreefurt suggested that the rather non-nikonian serial numbering scheme, actually incorporating the year and quarter of manufacture, suggests the cameras were not actually produced by Nikon. Ken Rockwell, on his site, makes some rather nasty comments about them and says they were produced by Fuji; I inquired by email about the source of that info and never got a reply.

I have thought they were probably produced by nikon because of their great similarity in overall controls and feel to both the late AF nikon film bodies and the D series. As far as I know, Fuji never produced a camera with any similarity to either, given that their later DSLRs are definitely adapted Nikon bodies.

Does anyone actually know whose factory they were made in?

Cheers,
Ross

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Ross Alford
http://www.pbase.com/northqueenslandphotos

It's definitly made by Nikon, after-all there is a lotta F4 in these cameras.
If it wasn't made by Nikon one would not find it here in their history:
http://www.nikon.co.jp/main/eng/portfol ... ata3_e.htm

I actually see the serial numbering system very much Nikon, look at the rangefinder serial numbers!

Kiu

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Lets talk Nikon

No. This is a hint, that Nikon delivered parts similar to the F4 for the production - and obviously many parts of the E2/E3 are made by Nikon.



No, this doesn't mean anything. The Nikon FE10 was and the FM10 is built by Cosina - and the construction is from Cosina, too. You find both cameras in Nikon's history.



As far as I know, Nikon always counted upwards from the beginning to the end of each type. Also for the rangefinders. In most cases there are additonal numbers as first and sometimes also as second digit, and maybe current popular cameras are counted in parallel rows for several markets (divided by the first digit), but I don't know an example of Nikon cameras, where each quarter a new serial number row started. But I don't know the serial number system of Fuji.

I've asked Mr. Kenji Toyoda, a former manager at Nikon's Electronic Imaging Division about this:

Q: Regarding the Nikon E-series: What parts of the camera were made/developed by Nikon, and which parts were made/developed by Fujifilm? Do you know where the cameras were assembled? At a Nikon or Fujifilm factory?

A: «Roughly speaking, the camera mechanisms and optics were developed by Nikon, and the imaging device and its driving circuits were developed by Fujifilm.

I don't remember where they were assembled. Perhaps, one of the Nikon's subsidiaries in Japan.»

Jarle