Rumored - Fuji and Nikon partnership

Koshirokun - Deviant art

Most of us photo geeks know that cameras in general are going through rough waters as smartphones have stolen much of the novelty and thunder from image capturing . Although the market is steady , and has shown some improvement , the growth is mostly attributed to the rapid success of Mirrorless ILC's from Sony , Panasonic .Fuji , Olympus  and others . Nikon , A company which is classified as one of the top dogs in the DSLR duopoly held by Canon and Nikon for decades has however hit a stagnation as many new buyers and a few old ones shift to the newer Mirrorless cameras . Although Canon is somewhat resistant and is able to hold off its territory thanks to the lower end DSLR's like the 70d /80d and professional cameras such as the 5D series , its long time arch rival Nikon is not experiencing  the same success as issues with their lithography business have taken a toll on the company , with some voluntary layoffs , shake-ups in the administration and the cancellation  of the much anticipated DL line of premium cameras' , the heat is really on Nikon's shoulder now .

Fuji , another camera giant with roots set in the days of film has so far released the most appealing mirrorless cameras to date . The XT series and the GFX medium  format  cameras , priced at attractive packages increased Fuji's reputation and apparently , this has also made them a prime candidate for a Nikon -Fuji partnership (possibly brokered by the Japanese government itself)

Nikon's previous partnership with Fuji

Fujifilm Finepix S1 Pro-imaging-resource(cicra 2000)

Nikon and Fuji did work together with the Nikon E mount cameras and Fuji's own Ninepin S pro lineup designed around the F mount .But as time progressed and markets changed , the camera business basically shrunk overnight and both companies went their separate ways ,Nikon, who has a firm foundation on DSLR's stuck with it and Fuji eventually jumped ship to become a major mirrorless player .







What Fuji can do for Nikon .

At the moment , both Nikon and Fuji are rivals at opposite ends . Nikon , with its armada of F mount glass and traditional DSLR bodies are far more numerous compared to Fuji who are still in the process of offering more lenses to its mirrorless lineup ,but they are still rival camera companies so don't expect them to cozy up for a rebadged XT-2 anytime soon (or ever). The best they will work at is to probably solve financial and marketing issues which have plagued Nikon for years now .

What next ?

So, does Nikon need help in the first place ? The short answer is ..maybe . although Fuji is probably the only one who probably  "understands" Nikon more than anyone else , but since they are basically competitors ,a cash injection /or shares will probably be the extent they will go for at first .Nikon who has remained independent for the past 100 years would probably accept this gesture from another Japanese manufacturer , but keep in mind that this is all hypothetical , and as far as rumors go , we must take this with a grain of salt , for starters ,Nikonrumors found a number of  inconsistencies in the original leak and so there's that

But what if this turns out to be true , well for starters , don't expect Nikon to suddenly do a complete about-face on its DSLR market ,it will puff out more DSLR's for the pro's  but with increased backing ,Nikon might have more cash to afford more R&D in the future , giving us a possible full frame mirrorless Df (but this is just some 420 dream anyway)

Written by Rakitha for MasHD

Sources - Mirrorlessrumors ,nikonrumors