QV-1000C: The history of Nikon's first electronic camera

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QV-1000C: The history of Nikon's first electronic camera

Post by NikonWeb »

Finally: the complete, authoritative Nikon QV-1000C article, including historical information from several sources with unique insight into the development, marketing and operation of Nikon's first electronic camera.

http://www.nikonweb.com/qv1000c/

The article is still work in progress (as it has been for the past six years). At some point I hope to add some more detailed photos and other illustrations, but I figured it was time to share the work done so far. Enjoy!

Jarle
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Re: QV-1000C: The history of Nikon's first electronic camera

Post by Ashley_Pomeroy »

That was a fascinating read. All that talk of photojournalists having to develop film in hotel rooms and the backs of trucks makes me think of all those films from the 1980s where no-one has a mobile phone - there's a huge gulf between then and now. I've just spent an hour looking at pictures of Latvia on Google Earth, scrolling the planet around in a way that would have been restricted to NORAD only twenty years ago, and probably at a higher resolution than was available then. And it seems perfectly natural, rather than an enormous leap.

"Each time we sold a QV-1000C, the loss of Nikon Electronic Imaging Department increased significantly."

This bit reminded me of The Producers. I can picture Canon representatives trying to buy up thousands of QV-1000Cs anonymously just to bankrupt Nikon. Presumably Kodak had the same problem with the DCS cameras - the history PDF mentions that the digital imaging division never turned a profit either. Still, it was for the best in the long run. This must have been at the absolute height of the Japanese economic boom, and I wonder what other things Nikon had on the go at the time?

The physical design - with the L-shaped body that has the lens at the extreme left edge - is strangely reminiscent of the later Olympus E-10/20, although it looks a lot sleeker. In fact apart from the silver colour it could easily pass for an early digital SLR, it even looks as if it has space for a screen on the back! Perhaps if digital still video cameras had been a huge hit the company could have released a follow-up with a playback LCD built into the camera, there were definitely LCD portable televisions around then.
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Re: QV-1000C: The history of Nikon's first electronic camera

Post by NikonWeb »

Ashley_Pomeroy wrote:I can picture Canon representatives trying to buy up thousands of QV-1000Cs anonymously just to bankrupt Nikon.
Funny! Thanks!

Jarle
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Re: QV-1000C: The history of Nikon's first electronic camera

Post by ronvol »

That was a great read Jarle.
Thanks for putting the article together.
Job well done.
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Re: QV-1000C: The history of Nikon's first electronic camera

Post by Stan Disbrow »

Hi,

Not to hijack the thread, but just to put things in perspective, the mobile phone dates back to 1946. It was originally intended to keep The President, and other top people, in comm in any city they went to. All of the larger cities had operating commercial systems by 1965. The main highways between cities were covered by 1975. The systems were big and costly (both to buy and to use) and had low capacity, but they were there.

It got to be so congested that the cellular arrangement came into being in 1983 as a way to handle the ever increasing number of users. The original system used lower frequency bands with long range, so the cities could be covered by one radio site. There was one in NYC on the Empire State building and had a 100 mile range. Only 30 channels, though, so think about that: In 1975, all of NYC could be covered by one base, but only have 30 mobile phone calls at one time!

Of course, most work-a-day journalists probably didn't have one in their cars, but their bosses did. ;)

I still have a couple stacks of ex-mobile telephone radios on the shelf. At one time, they were prime sources of surplus radios to convert to service in the ham bands. ;)

This, of course, is the same old story of technology. Whatever the popular gadget is today, is a *lot* older then anyone thinks it is! :P

Just like the QV vs. the appliance digicam of today. A lot older than most people think! ;)

Later!

Stan
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Re: QV-1000C: The history of Nikon's first electronic camera

Post by nikonnl »

Hi Jarle and others!
It is a very nice and comprehensive overview of the development of Nikon's first digital camera. Please allow me to ad a little story I have written - a few years ago - on the history on digital imaging (http://www.nicovandijk.net/digitalhistory.htm) ?
All together we can unite/combine our knowledge and experience in this forum. A great and unique development as well.
Regards,
Nico

www.nicovandijk.net
D1/D1X/D1H/D2H/D2X etc.
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