We tour Nikon`s Sendai factory
Covering almost 27,000 square meters of floor space, Nikon`s Sendai factory in the Tohoku region North of Japan has been churning out cameras and lenses since 1971. I had the opportunity recently to visit Sendai during events to mark the launch of Nikon`s new Z mount.
This was my second visit to the Sendai facility, and while much has changed since my first trip back in 2007, Nikon`s commitment to security at the factory has not. None of the journalists present on our tour were permitted to take photographs or notes of any kind, and all of the images in this article were supplied - without captions - by Nikon.
As such, you might find that my descriptions of the processes shown in these images are less specific than some of our previous factory tours, but I hope you find this article interesting and illuminating nonetheless.
We tour Nikon`s Sendai factory
Nikon`s Sendai factory opened in 1971, and aside from a brief three-week interruption caused by the earthquake of 2011, it has been operational ever since. Currently home to 352 employees, this facility is where Nikon`s pro-grade D5 is made, along with the new Z7 and the F6: Nikon`s professional film SLR.
We tour Nikon`s Sendai factory
At the heart of any interchangeable lens camera is the mount. Nikon makes body and lens flanges for both the F and Z mount at Sendai, from brass and stainless steel. While professional-grade ILCs (D5/D850/Z7) utilize stainless steel for their mounts for maximum strength, Nikon`s enthusiast range (D500 and below) use brass. Brass is softer and easier to machine than steel, but deforms more easily. This makes it risky for the Z mount, with its short flange-back distance of only 16mm.
On the lens side, Nikon`s low-end consumer zooms use plastic mounts, and all of the rest employ brass.
We tour Nikon`s Sendai factory
After being drilled and milled by automated CNC machines, the mounts are ...
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