Weekend trip to Paris

[NikonWeb]

As some of you may have noticed, I've been quiet for a few days.

Here's the reason: http://www.nikonweb.com/paris2005/

Jarle

[NIKON KIU]

Thanks Jarle,
All of us have to thank your wife for putting up with this!!!
I always wanted to see one of these in person,thanks to you,I got the next best thing.
Kiu

[Brian Sweeney]

You wife had to drag you out! Same thing happens in the Smithsonian. The new Air&Space Museum near Dulles has several cases of cameras used in airborne/spaceborne photography. The ESC was not there.

Nice write-up. I remember when the original Sony Mavica was announced in 1980 or so. My Boss brought in the announcement, then proceeded to ask if we could take it apart to mount the CCD array in a Vacuum Chamber.

After reading your article, it would have been funny to have brought the E2 for taking shots in the shop. Reading the article on the Nikon website, it sounds as if the production of the QV-1000c was on the same order as the "E" series, totalling a few hundred. Compared with the 1999 D1 it is about 1%~2% of the production? The D1 team must have been ecstatic to have finally produced a camera that rivaled film cameras in production.

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Cool! Seeing the pix of the thing reminds me of a weekend at Watkins Glen back in 1990. I ran across someone actually using one of the monochrome versions of the QV-1000 and thought it was pretty darned neat. I especially liked the way that Nikon had produced a proper system around that small CCD. The FOV range of those two zoom lenses is quite impressive.

Stan

[NIKON KIU]

Hi Jarle,
I know most photographers don't like to have their pictures taken!
but would you let the wife take your picture on the next trip?
and let us have a look at our webmaster.
curiosity is killing the cat!!
Kiu

[NikonWeb]

I know most photographers don't like to have their pictures taken!

Now, there's an understatement for you!

Perhaps one of these days.. We'll see

Thanks,
Jarle

[NikonWeb]

Reading the article on the Nikon website, it sounds as if the production of the QV-1000c was on the same order as the "E" series, totalling a few hundred.

There's no doubt there were made far fewer QV-1000C's than E cameras.

According to the Nikon article 'only hundreds pieces exist in the world'. I'm pretty sure they meant to say 'hundred' (i.e. 100), not 'hundreds'.

Personally, I know of four such cameras, in addition to the one mentioned by Stan. Two of these are located in France, one in the Netherlands, and one in another European country (more details later). There are probably a few in the United States, Canada, Germany, UK and some other countries as well, in addition to Japan.

Some of them have probably been discarded years ago, or are collecting dust in a basement somewhere. For a DSLR collector, it's the ultimate piece (except for unique prototype cameras and custom made versions like Kodak's digital Nikonos).

As far as I know, no QV-1000C has ever been offered on eBay, and it has never been sold by Christie's. As mentioned before, the camera was distributed exclusively to news photographers.

I'm still not sure how many E/DS-units were sold, but we're definitely talking several hundred cameras, if not a few thousand (both Nikon and Fujifilm, all models). As we all know, there are a few of them circulating on eBay.

Actually, I've recently written Nikon in Japan and asked for some figures for these early models. I doubt they'll give me a straight answer, but it never hurts to ask. I could get lucky. I'll keep you posted.

Jarle

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Then, too, we have to think about how many of the QV-1000 units were B&W and how many were color.

The guy that had the QV at The Glen was shooting for a motorsports weekly newpaper, and his was monochrome. We talked for a few minutes about how one day these electronic still cameras would wind up replacing film in many applications once the makers came out with color ones with somewhat higher resolution.

Of course, what we had in mind was more like what the E-series is than what's our current state-of-the-art. At the time, I'd have said that producing images of even the APS format size would be too costly to produce.....

Still, finding a QV setup would be the ultimate as far as collecting goes. At least in my book. It was such a cute little SLR system.

Later!

Stan

[NIKON KIU]

But Stan,
from what I understand they are all black and whites!
Now if someone finds one that records color,that would be a real rarity!!
Thinking about it the qv-1000c qualifies more as a Nikon I than the E series!Even rarer than a Nikon I.
The E series is more like a Nikon M which has more variations.
Oh , the joys of collecting.
Kiu

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Oh, OK. That means I'm misreading the 'c' at the end of the model number wrongly, then. I figured that there were two models: a QV-1000 (B&W) and a QV-1000c (color).....

I know that there were plenty of color CCDs around by the time Nikon came out with the thing. I recall servicing CCD equipped ENG camcorders back in 1980 when I was working my way through school. So, I figured that the QV was available both ways, just like the original Kodak DCS was, depending on one's need (and pocketbook size)......

Later!

Stan

[NIKON KIU]

Very strange name for a camera indeed,I wonder too what the "C" at the end stands for
Kiu

[NikonWeb]

Correct. There's no color version. B/W only.

Canon had a similar model two years earlier (1986), RC-701 - with 'RC' meaning 'Realtime Camera', and Nikon's first prototype was named Nikon SVC, meaning 'Still Video Camera'. There's little doubt that the 'C' stands for 'Camera'.

I'm not sure about 'QV', but it's probably safe to assume 'V' stands for 'Video'.

'Q' for 'Quick'? (Remember, the camera was only sold to press photographers, and the main selling point was speed, i.e. no need to develop any film). Nikon 'Quick' vs. Canon 'Realtime'. Maybe.

'Q' for 'Quality' -- i.e. 'Quality Video'? Nah. Doesn't sound right, does it? Anyone else?

Jarle

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

I'd say that the name means Quasi Video.

We in engineering love to use the prefix 'quasi', which means 'to have some resemblance'. I always say it means "sort of, kind of, almost, close".

So, we know the QV-1000 has an imager and related circuitry from an ENG video camera. However, the frame rate is progressive and a quite a bit slower than a video camera, hence it's 'sort of, kind of, almost, close' to a video camera.....

Now, maybe the 'C' at the end stands for the third pass through development. As in there was the QV-1000, which would be called the QV-1000a as soon as there was an updated unit to be called the QV-1000b. Finally, they thought they had something to sell on the third pass and called it the QV-1000c. Maybe?

Note that engineers tend to not use a letter for the first one, but tag it with the letter 'a' as soon as there's something better to tag with the letter 'b'.

Anyway, food for thought......

later!

Stan

[NikonWeb]

I'm not sure about 'QV', but it's probably safe to assume 'V' stands for 'Video'.

Now I'm not so sure about the 'V' anymore.

Casio have a whole range of 'QV' cameras, starting with the QV-10 released in March 1995. Apparently (I haven't yet been able to verify this), 'QV' stands for 'QuickView' in Casio terminology. Could it be that Nikon adopted the same name? QV-1000C meaning 'QuickView 1000 Camera'?

Interestingly, QV is also an abbreviation for several latin expressions, all of which could be used to describe an early 'electronic' camera:

Quod Vide - Which see
Quo Vadis - Where are you going
Quantum Vis - As much as you please

Quasi is a cool word, but for some reason I don't think a Japanese company would use it to name a professional camera

Jarle

[NikonWeb]

Now, maybe the 'C' at the end stands for the third pass through development.

Don't think so. I'm almost certain that the 'C' stands for 'Camera'. In fact, I'll bet you a beer that it does!

Jarle