Nikon
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Nikon Head Office (Shinagawa Intercity Building C)
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| Public | |
| Traded as | TYO: 7731 |
| ISIN | JP3657400002  |
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | July 25, 1917 Tokyo, Japan |
| Headquarters | Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan |
Area served
| Worldwide |
Key people
| |
| Products | Still cameras, SLR cameras, DSLR cameras, binoculars / monoculars, binocular telescope, laser rangefinder, field microscopy, precision equipment, microscopes, riflescopes, ophthalmic lenses and instrumental products |
| Revenue |  ¥708.7 billion (FY2019)[1] |
 ¥82.7 billion (FY2019)[1] | |
| ¥63.5 billion (FY2019)[1] | |
| Owner | Mitsubishi |
Number of employees
| 25,729 (March 31, 2016)[2] |
| Parent | Mitsubishi |
| Website | www |
Nikon Corporation (株式会社ニコン, Kabushiki-gaisha Nikon) (UK: /ˈnɪkɒn/ or US: /ˈnaɪkɒn/; 
listen (help·info)[ɲikoɴ]), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products.
listen (help·info)[ɲikoɴ]), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products.
Nikon's products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which it is the world's second largest manufacturer.[3] The company is the eighth-largest chip equipment maker as reported in 2017.[4] The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group.[5] Among its products are Nikkor imaging lenses (for F-mount cameras, large format photography, photographic enlargers, and other applications), the Nikon F-series of 35 mm film SLR cameras, the Nikon D-series of digital SLR cameras, the Coolpix series of compact digital cameras, and the Nikonos series of underwater film cameras. Nikon's main competitors in camera and lens manufacturing include Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Pentax, and Olympus.
Founded on July 25, 1917 as Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushikigaisha (日本光学工業株式会社 "Japan Optical Industries Co., Ltd."), the company was renamed to Nikon Corporation, after its cameras, in 1988. Nikon is a member of the Mitsubishi group of companies (keiretsu).[6]
Contents
History[edit]
Nikon Corporation was established on 25 July 1917 when three leading optical manufacturers merged to form a comprehensive, fully integrated optical company known as Nippon Kōgaku Tōkyō K.K. Over the next sixty years, this growing company became a manufacturer of optical lenses (including those for the first Canon cameras) and equipment used in cameras, binoculars, microscopes and inspection equipment. During World War II the company operated thirty factories with 2,000 employees, manufacturing binoculars, lenses, bomb sights, and periscopes for the Japanese military.
Reception outside Japan[edit]
After the war Nippon Kōgaku reverted to producing its civilian product range in a single factory. In 1948, the first Nikon-branded camera was released, the Nikon I.[7] Nikon lenses were popularised by the American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan. Duncan was working in Tokyo when the Korean War began. Duncan had met a young Japanese photographer, Jun Miki, who introduced Duncan to Nikon lenses. From July 1950 to January 1951, Duncan covered the Korean War.[8] Fitting Nikon optics (especially the NIKKOR-P.C 1:2 f=8,5 cm)[9] to his Leica rangefinder cameras produced high contrast negatives with very sharp resolution at the centre field.[10]
Names and brands[edit]
Founded in 1917 as Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushikigaisha (日本光学工業株式会社 "Japan Optical Industries Corporation"), the company was renamed Nikon Corporation, after its cameras, in 1988. The name Nikon, which dates from 1946, sounds like a merging of Nippon Kōgaku (日本光学: "Japan Optical") and Zeiss's brand Ikon. This would cause some early problems in Germany as Zeiss complained that Nikon violated its trademarked camera. From 1963 to 1968 the Nikon F in particular was therefore labeled 'Nikkor'.[11]
The Nikkor brand was introduced in 1932, a westernised rendering of an earlier version Nikkō (日光), an abbreviation of the company's original full name[12] (Nikkō coincidentally means "sunlight" and is the name of a Japanese town.). Nikkor is the Nikon brand name for its lenses.
Another early brand used on microscopes was Joico,[13] an abbreviation of "Japan Optical Industries Co"[citation needed]. Expeed is the brand Nikon uses for its image processors since 2007.
Rise of the Nikon F series[edit]
The Nikon SP and other 1950s and 1960s rangefinder cameras competed directly with models from Leica and Zeiss. However, the company quickly ceased developing its rangefinder line to focus its efforts on the Nikon F single-lens reflex line of cameras, which was successful[14] upon its introduction in 1959. For nearly 30 years, Nikon's F-series SLRs were the most widely used small-format cameras among professional photographers[citation needed], as well as by the U.S. space program.
Nikon popularized many features in professional SLR photography[citation needed], such as the modular camera system with interchangeable lenses, viewfinders, motor drives, and data backs; integrated light metering and lens indexing; electronic strobe flashguns instead of expendable flashbulbs; electronic shutter control; evaluative multi-zone "matrix" metering; and built-in motorized film advance. However, as auto focus SLRs became available from Minolta and others in the mid-1980s, Nikon's line of manual-focus cameras began to seem out of date[citation needed].
Despite introducing one of the first autofocus models, the slow and bulky F3AF, the company's determination to maintain lens compatibility with its F-mount prevented rapid advances in autofocus technology. Canon introduced a new type of lens-camera interface with its entirely electronic Canon EOS cameras and Canon EF lens mount in 1987. The much faster lens performance permitted by Canon's electronic focusing and aperture control prompted many professional photographers (especially in sports and news) to switch to the Canon system through the 1990s.[15]
Digital photography[edit]
Nikon created some of the first digital SLRs (DSLRs, Nikon NASA F4) for NASA, used in the Space Shuttle since 1991.[16] After a 1990s partnership with Kodak to produce digital SLR cameras based on existing Nikon film bodies, Nikon released the Nikon D1 SLR under its own name in 1999. Although it used an APS-C-size light sensor only 2/3 the size of a 35 mm film frame (later called a "DX sensor"), the D1 was among the first digital cameras to have sufficient image quality and a low enough price for some professionals (particularly photojournalists and sports photographers) to use it as a replacement for a film SLR. The company also has a Coolpix line which grew as consumer digital photography became increasingly prevalent through the early 2000s.
Through the mid-2000s, Nikon's line of professional and enthusiast DSLRs and lenses including their back compatible AF-S lens line remained in second place behind Canon in SLR camera sales, and Canon had several years' lead in producing professional DSLRs with light sensors as large as traditional 35 mm film frames.[17] All Nikon DSLRs from 1999 to 2007, by contrast, used the smaller DX size sensor.
Then, 2005 management changes at Nikon led to new camera designs such as the full-frame Nikon D3 in late 2007, the Nikon D700 a few months later, and mid-range SLRs. Nikon regained much of its reputation among professional and amateur enthusiast photographers as a leading innovator in the field, especially because of the speed, ergonomics, and low-light performance of its latest models.[18][unreliable source?] The mid-range Nikon D90, introduced in 2008, was also the first SLR camera to record video.[19][20] Since then video mode has been introduced to many more of the Nikon DSLR cameras including the Nikon D3S, Nikon D7000, Nikon D5100, Nikon D3100, Nikon D3200 and Nikon D5100.[21][22][23][24][25] More recently, Nikon has released a photograph and video editing suite called ViewNX to browse, edit, merge and share images and videos.[26][27][28]
Film camera production[edit]
Once Nikon introduced affordable consumer-level DSLRs such as the Nikon D70 in the mid-2000s, sales of its consumer and professional film cameras fell rapidly, following the general trend in the industry. In January 2006, Nikon announced it would stop making most of its film camera models and all of its large format lenses, and focus on digital models.[29]
Nevertheless, Nikon is the only[citation needed] major camera manufacturer still making film SLRs. Both the high-end Nikon F6 and the entry-level FM10 (the sole remaining models following the 2006 discontinuations)[29] remain a part of Nikon's current lineup as of March 2019.[30]
Movie camera production[edit]
Although few models were introduced, Nikon made movie cameras as well. The R10 and R8 SUPER ZOOM Super 8 models (introduced in 1973) were the top of the line and last attempt for the amateur movie field. The cameras had a special gate and claw system to improve image steadiness and overcome a major drawback of Super 8 cartridge design. The R10 model has a high speed 10X macro zoom lens.
Contrary to other brands, Nikon never attempted to offer projectors or their accessories.
Thai operations[edit]
Nikon has shifted much of its manufacturing facilities to Thailand, with some production (especially of Coolpix cameras and some low-end lenses) in Indonesia. The company constructed a factory in Ayuthaya north of Bangkok in Thailand in 1991. By the year 2000, it had 2,000 employees. Steady growth over the next few years and an increase of floor space from the original 19,400 square meters (208,827 square feet) to 46,200 square meters (497,300 square feet) enabled the factory to produce a wider range of Nikon products. By 2004, it had more than 8,000 workers.
The range of the products produced at Nikon Thailand include plastic molding, optical parts, painting, printing, metal processing, plating, spherical lens process, aspherical lens process, prism process, electrical and electronic mounting process, silent wave motor and autofocus unit production.
As of 2009, all of Nikon's Nikon DX format DSLR cameras and the D600, a prosumer FX camera, are produced in Thailand, while their professional and semi-professional Nikon FX format (full frame) cameras (D700, D3, D3S, D3X, D4, D800 and the retro-styled Df) are built in Japan, in the city of Sendai. The Thai facility also produces most of Nikon's digital "DX" zoom lenses, as well as numerous other lenses in the Nikkor line.
Cultural activities[edit]
In Japan, Nikon runs the Nikon Salon exhibition spaces, runs the Nikkor Club for amateur photographers (to whom it distributes the series of Nikon Salon books), and arranges the Ina Nobuo Award, Miki Jun Award and Miki Jun Inspiration Awards.
Sponsorship[edit]
As of November 19, 2013, Nikon is the "Official Camera" of Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort.[31]
In 2014 Nikon sponsored the Copa Sadia do Brasil 2014 and the AFC Champions League.[35]
Nikon-Essilor Co. Ltd.[edit]
In 1999, Nikon and Essilor have signed a Memorandum of understanding to form a global strategic alliance in corrective lenses by forming a 50/50 joint venture in Japan to be called Nikon-Essilor Co. Ltd.
The main purpose of the joint venture is to further strengthen the corrective lens business of both companies. This will be achieved through the integrated strengths of Nikon's strong brand backed up by advanced optical technology and strong sales network in Japanese market, coupled with the high productivity and worldwide marketing and sales network of Essilor, the world leader in this industry.[36]
Nikon-Essilor Co. Ltd. started its business in January 2000, responsible for research, development, production and sales mainly for ophthalmic optics.[37]
Recent development[edit]
The company developed the first lithography equipment from Japan which is essential for semiconductor manufacturing. Devices from Nikon enjoyed high demand from global chipmakers, the Japanese semiconductor companies and other major companies such as Intel, and Nikon was the world's leading producer of semiconductor lithography systems from the 1980s to 2002.[38] Nikon saw a sharp drop in its market share from less than 40 percent in early 2000s.[39][40] The company has been losing an estimated ¥17 billion a year in its precision instruments unit.
Furthermore, revenue from its camera business has dropped 30% in three years prior to fiscal 2015.[41] In 2013, it forecast the first drop in sales from interchangeable lens cameras since Nikon's first digital SLR in 1999.[39] The company's net profit has fallen from a peak of ¥75.4 billion (fiscal 2007) to ¥18.2 billion for fiscal 2015.[41] Nikon plans to reassign over 1,500 employees resulting in job cuts of 1,000 by 2017 as the company shifts focus to medical and industrial devices business for growth.[42][41][40]
In contrast, ASML, a Dutch company, has grabbed over 80 percent of the lithography systems market in 2015 by adopting an open innovation method of product development. In 2017, Nikon announced that it would cut nearly 1,000 jobs mainly in the lithography systems business and halt its development of next generation equipment.[43][44]
As of February 2018, Nikon held 10.3 percent revenue share in the semiconductor lithography market while the share of ASML was over 80 percent.[45]
In February 2019, Nikon, ASML and Carl Zeiss AG, a leading supplier to ASML, have entered into a definitive settlement and cross-license agreement relating to multiple disputes over patents for lithography equipment that had been underway since 2001 and agreed to drop all the world-wide lawsuits regarding the issue.[46]
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