Nikon House Cameras in Tokyo (Ginza) Japan
Nikon House- Ginza Tokyo
This year’s big trip ended up being Japan- I went to Kyoto and Tokyo. Kyoto has too many temples and Tokyo’s got cameras- or at least that’s how I saw it!
We stayed in the fashionable Ginza district- you should think of it a lot like Japan’s version of shopping in Manhattan.
Within easy walking distance of the hotel Dai-Ichi are:
- Nikon Salon and Service Center (google maps)
- Nikon House
- Leica Boutique
I’ll get into the Nikon Salon in a different post because it actually pales in comparison to what can be found at the Nikon House (google maps).
What’s There
The most minty collectibles- I saw F3’s in near-perfect condition. They had all of the range-finders I knew about and every SLR I’m aware of (excluding whacky variants). For good measure- they’ve got Leica bodies.
But what blew me away was, I saw two of these:
Nikon House- Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 Noct
If you’re not familiar with the spectacular night photography results this lens achieves, Ken’s got a good overview, and here is a great article by Nikon about the more technical aspects of the lens’s lack of sagittal coma flare. Nikon provides a nice example of sagittal coma- compare the Noct to a non-Noct and look at how the cars’ brake lights smear into oblong blobs on the non-noct.
Hey, notice that price? That’s only $3,822 at today’s terrible exchange rate- but they’ve been going for ~$3200 the last time I checked on ebay– IF you can get one and if you’re spending that much on a 30+ year old lens, do you want to trust some random internet guy? I once saw a person offering -5- of these for sale on Ebay, all in different auctions- all the same seller, same picture, same description. I wrote him asking how he could have 5 for sale and flagged it fraudulent and it was down the next day.
If I could blow the cash, I would have bought it- I may still kick myself for not buying one- I’ll probably never see one in person again and Nikon will never make one again (it’s clear due to the dearth new FX primes that they just don’t care to offer the breadth that they once did- nobody who buys a D5000 is going to buy any… Get your 200mm f/2 now, is my advice).
Here are some more examples (click to get a much larger version):
Nikon House- Minty F1
If that minty F1 doesn’t get your heart going, cameras may just not be for you. I think I’m now kicking myself for not grabbing one of those minty black F1’s- I’ll never see another that good probably.
Nikon House- Minty F3's
Nikon House- F5's
Nikon House- D200's
Prices
If you want to know what your used D200 is going to fetch, be prepared for tears. My F5, that I paid a whole paycheck for in ‘98 dollars is now worth even less than I thought. The reality is that the prices were higher than what we can get in the US- but let’s get serious- the dollar’s weak, Tokyo real estate is crazy-expensive and how many other places have -2- 58mm f/1.2’s on hand for you to try out?
They DO take credit card and they’ll hassle you for a passport- this is because they want to have you avoid paying the 5% Japanese sales tax
Getting There
Here’s the exact spot. I highly recommend that you find a map with the Sony Building in Ginza on it- the Ginza Metro had maps with stores on it and so did the street maps and many places are referred to by the building name as opposed to addresses. Closest subway’s where either Ginza (on the Ginza Line- 1 stop from the Tokyo station), or Shimbashi (like 2 stops from the Tokyo metro). That’s all you really need- it’s Japan, but the area is pretty small, find some map with the Sony Building on it and go there, it’s across the street.
No Photography! This is a Camera Store!
So I spent some time outside getting establishing shots and marvelling, then I go inside and get some shots of the items in the display case like the F1’s above and I hear “NO PHOTO!” Huh? “Oh, ok…” It’s a camera store that only uses clear glass- I can take shots of the inside from the outside and the entire outside storefront is one glass display case. I can’t figure this out- I guess they don’t want idiots on the internet hassling them for mint collectibles.