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OBSOLETE |
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It has been 8 years now since Nikon USA requested the removal of the F3 manual files from this web site. Therefore, it is time to move on, so the 2 the files containing various emails (issues.htm and issues1.htm) residing in the nikonf3ver2 directory have been de-linked from the site but the files have not been removed. |
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000
00:33:50 -0400
From: xxxxx@txxxxx.com (P. Fitzpatrick)
Reply-To: xxxxx@xxxxx.com
Organization: Twinxxxxx Designs
X-Accept-Language: en
To: xxxxxx@mir.com.my
Subject: Copyright Problem
Status:
Thank you very much for making such an informative site about Nikon equipment. I
had not been involed so much with my Nikkormat or N6006 until about 1.5 years ago
when I discovered your site and had a much renewed interest in Nikon and Nikon products.
I have learned a lot about the camera, lenses and many accessories. Just to give
some perspective to the folks at Nikon that think your site with it's copyright manuals
detracts from their sales, since I started up again about 1.5 years ago I have acquired
the following:
file:///E:/nikonf3ver2_Rev/nikonf3ver2/
New Equipment from Nikon
- these I have kept
FM-10 system for my son; New N70 system; 50mm F1.8 lens; 24mm F2.8 lens
These I purchased but returned for various problems as noted:
F100 - too big and the autofocus was to confusing for me (I'm and old man, I'm confused
- credit to Seinfeld writers! ); 24-50mm 3.3-4.5 Zoom (F4.5 and 50mm too slow
to justify price) 24-120 zoom (corners fuzzy at 24mm, much too slow at 120mm
for practical purpose); 28-105mm 3.5 -4.5 zoom (liked the contrast, but vignetting
at 105mm makes portraits a problem I have one particular slide of a seagull against
a uniform out-of-focus background of water - the feathers are sharp, but the corners
are probably 2 stops lower 85mm 1.8AF-D - loved this lens, great performer, price
too high to justify (bought no D version used for 50% less) 50mm 1.4 AF Nikon refurbished
lens (too much dirt inside - and it's factory refurbed?? )
I have basically given up on the Nikon zooms, because there is always some sacrifice
and then when I an shooting, I am always concerned that I will hit the "sour-spot"
of the lens. The two above I can use without
thinking about.
These items I have purchased used - status as shown
Nikkormat FT2 - back-up for my trusted FTn - the meter is
off by 1 stop compared to the N70, but so is the FTn and when I tested the FTn at
RIT on the photometic equipment in 1978 (2 years old) it was still off by 1 stop.
So I guess it hasn't changed much.; Nikon FG-20 - my favorite for street photography and travel,
small, lightweight - about as good as N70 on RDPIII for exposure; Nikon FG
- traded out since I think the shutter/mirror box was going bad; 2 x Nikon F3's
- one and HP, one standard - I sold these recently and have tested Contax Aria, G2,
Bessa-R as potential replacements since the N80 is a plastic marvel and won't use
my lenses and the F100 is too big. Really like the Aria with the 50mm 1.4, but maybe
a little too plasticy and then it would not register the minimum aperture of a used
135AE lens, but other new models would; Nikon N70 - traded the N6006 for this used
- sold to son so we have two in the family now.
Series E lenses - 28mm, 50mm, 100mm (2), 135mm - the 100mm
is wonderful (all purchased for less then $100 each and all are better image quality
than current midrange zooms. Compare the 100mm f2.8 to the 28-105 zoom. Maybe this
is why everyone buys used stuff; Nikon 35-70 3.3to 4.5 zoom (fuzzy corners at 35mm
wide open, but otherwise good general purpose); Old F Mount lenses: 24mm Kogakyu
(my favorite - almost as good as AF version), 28mm f3.5, 35mm f2.8 (screwless back),
50mm f2 ( I got with original FTn), 85mm F1.8 - great, 105mm f2.5 - great, 200mm
f4 - great. N2020 - returned - I think this camera will never focus a lens. I have
tried and returned my Sigma and Tamron zooms - all with various
problems.
I have purchased new non-Nikon:
Sigma 50mm f2.8 EX Macro - this is a wonderful lens - good sharpness and clarity
Tamron 70-300 f4-5.6 zoom - I want 300mm, but the Nikon 70-300 at the store kept
falling back down after it was zoomed out to 300mm - at it was 2X the price; Tamron
100-300mm a little slow, but sharpness is good for the price; Tokina 17mm ATX Pro
- I use this extensively for Quicklime VR shooting of very expensive homes and some
government installations - it does have a flare problem, but it's probably no worse
than the 17-35 zoom, and it's 1/3 the cost of a 18mm Nikon.
So, I guess you could say from my long-winded story, that I have learned a lot about
Nikons, mostly from your site, and being an informed consumer, I have ended up with
used equipment in preference to new equipment. Perhaps the people at Nikon should
spend less time worrying about their copyrights and more time figuring out why most
everyone thinks that the older equipment is better.
Why can Nikon build something like the Contax Aria? Especially the viewfinder! When
you do a lot of street photography, the big clumsy SLR's is an immediate announcement
of "I'M TAKING YOUR PICTURE", while the FG-20 makes you look like a tourist
- of course they don't know it has the 24mm f2.8 on it! And I think that many users
would prefer a smaller Nikon, with more features and better viewfinders.
Relating about size, here is an interesting thing that occurred when my son and I
visited Toronto Canada recently. We went through the Chinatown area and were photographing
street scenes, people, markets and such. I had my N70 and he was using my old (not
so old 1980) Mamiya C220. When I would try to take pictures, as soon as I put the
camera up to my eye, the people would try to avoid being photographed - they new
what it was . Yet when my son was using the waist level Mamiya, people had no idea
what he was doing - some thought he was surveying things, some comments were heard
- "wow that's a really old camera" (this was from a group of Canon teenagers
walking by arguing the virtures of zoom lenses. People tended to ignore him, so he
was able to focus on true situations and expressions. I was using the N70 with the
24mm and the 35-70 zoom. I should have brought the FG-20.
Anyway, thank you and your team very much for such an informative website. I fully
relate to the copyright problem, since I have the same situation from time to time.
Unfortunately for
Nikon USA, the lawyers may now be running the show instead of the engineers. That doesn't seem too Japanese to me. I recommend that you may take
an opposite approach -if Canon and others allow you to post these old manuals in
PDF form, then emphasize it more to show up the lack of Nikon cooperation. Nikon
would just not be there. Absence would speak very loudly. Then count the number of
emails you get about the lack of Nikon presence and send it to the marking departments
of both Nikon USA and Nikon Japan. I firmly believe that Nikon Japan will listen
to what their customers want and may exert some pressure on USA to let you post the
manuals.
By the way, if you take a photo of a Nikon camera or part, you write the procedure
on how to use it, and then you create the PDF, that is your copyrighted material.
In the US we have all these xxxxxx XXXXX guides for all the camera models. They sell
well because they have more information in them than the regular manuals. So I am
not sure that all of your material may be infringing a particular copyright of Nikon.
Maybe only a part.
I have some familiarity with this and the laws were changed recently with the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act and the Sonny Bono part (yes instituted by the late Senator
Sonny Bono to have the length of time the copyright lasts extended). So you might
want to check it out at: http://www.loc.gov/copyright for the actual information.
Best Regards, and thanks for a great site.
Paul XXXXXX
leofoo: Oh.. the issue here is: I am NOT fighting to get my "home-baked" manual(s) to go online here in my server. And I don't intend to waste my time counting incoming mails and redistribute to anyone after that, Paul. If you think that is a workable solution, all those "mails" desperately looking for a instruction manuals should go to Nikon instead and ask for the free Nikon equipment manual online section to established on their respective sites. I am publishing your mail here because your experience with this site is like a booster to me. It makes me feel good because you have made me believe in myself again that stuffs in here at MIR can actually turn someone on with this recreational art again... what a perfect toast to end a week like this. Again, thanks for all the kind words.
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