Nikon: Digital Cameras In, Film Out

Japan's Nikon Corp said on Tuesday that it was boosting its production capacity for a hot-selling digital SLR camera, while eyeing an eventual exit from film compact cameras.

In an interview with Reuters, managing director Makoto Kimura said Nikon would raise monthly capacity for the “D70″ model to above 90,000 units by September or October, compared to 70,000 when the camera hit stores in March.

Digital SLRs are high-performance cameras that can be used with new interchangeable lenses or many of the millions originally sold for analog SLRs. They generally offer more options than “point and shoot” models, which have a fixed lens.

Canon Inc was the first to launch a digital SLR for as low as about $1,000 when it introduced its “EOS Kiss” model — known as “EOS 300D” in Europe and “EOS Digital Rebel” in the Americas — in September last year.