This is an update to these previous blogs:
- Nikon Celebrates 100th Anniversary: 1917 – 2017, and
- You’re Invited: Nikon 100th Anniversary Special Exhibition “Naomi Uemura – Camera Techniques in Polar Regions” at the Nikon Museum, Tokyo, Japan: No Cost, January 5 – April 1, 2017.
Prototype cameras are developed to test and verify new functions and those functions that show any promise may eventually end up into production models. The prototypes are then usually discarded, but some survive. The Nikon Museum will exhibit approximately 40 such prototype cameras.
The Second 100th Anniversary Special Exhibition “Prototype Cameras — Developers’ Memories”
Dates: April 4, 2017 (Tue) – July 1, 2017 (Sat)
The Nikon Museum will hold a second 100th anniversary special exhibition entitled “Prototype Cameras — Developers’ Memories” from April 4 to July 1, 2017.
In this exhibition, Nikon will exhibit approximately 40 prototypes made from the 1940’s to the 1980’s, including interchangeable lens cameras. Each prototype was developed to test and verify new camera designs, functions and mechanics, and is the embodiment of the hard work and dedication of the developers. However, since many such prototypes were destroyed after testing, even among company employees only the developers saw them, and there has rarely been an opportunity to exhibit them to the general public. This is a very rare exhibition that includes prototypes that never reached the mass production stage.
The “Nikon F prototype” (1957) and “Nikon F3 prototype” (1975) are exhibited with special commentaries by Tetsuro Goto, Fellow and Laboratory Manager of Imaging Product R & D Laboratory, Imaging Business Unit, Nikon.