Nikon Offers, Nikon Z Mirrorless News & More!

The first week of September has been a busy one, to say the least. With replenished stocks of second-hand bodies and lenses we are pleased to reinstate our 10% offer for a limited time, we have more news on the Nikon Z system and an extra special discovery from the Grays of Westminster Archives. Read below to find out more…

Nikon Z 7 and Z 6 will be shipped with a free XQD card

Although we are yet to receive specific delivery dates for the new system we have confirmed that initial batches will be shipped with a free XQD for both the Z 7 and Z 6, including all kit variants.
If you haven’t yet registered your interest please do so by emailing info@graysofwestminster.co.uk to receive all the latest news and shipping dates as they come.
The Z 7, Nikon’s top-end mirrorless camera, is slated to ship at the end of the month, while the Z 6 is due to ship in November. Prices and more information can be found on our website: https://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/products/digital.php

From the Grays of Westminster Archives

The Nikkor 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P IF ED AIS mounted on a Nikon F90 body, photographed on 35mm slide film outside Grays of Westminster in the early 1990’s.

This is the 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P IF-ED Zoom-Nikkor AIS is Nikon’s largest ever zoom lens. Shown here outside of Grays of Westminster. The cost of the lens in in the early 1990s was £53,000! It became known as the mother of all telephotos. Weighing 16kg and measuring 880mm in an overall length, was first used in 1990 at the Koshien Stadium, the baseball ground at which the spring high school baseball tournament is staged.

According to Nikon “At Koshien Stadium the photographers’ seats are situated next to the centre-field back screen so as to enable news photographers to shoot the home plate, which is over 130 metres away. From this position it requires a focal length of 1200mm to capture the pitcher, the catcher, and the batter in frame, and a focal length of 1700mm to shoot a full-frame vertical photograph of the batter. In short, the 1200-1700mm was developed for shooting pictures from the photographers’ seats at Koshien Stadium.

In 1980s, a rival company was making a 1200mm f/5.6 super telephoto lens. The newspapers were beginning to switch over to cameras made by this company in order to use the lens in their coverage of baseball at Koshien Stadium.”

In May 1989, Nikon rushed to begin development of its own super telephoto lens for Koshien Stadium. The company resolved to complete the prototype by March 1990, in response to the fervent wishes of the newspapers.

Nikon says that this lens “restored the reputation of the Nikon brand in terms of news photography.”

Hanshin Koshien Stadium is often referred to as Koshien Stadium, is a baseball park located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.

Current offers on new & second-hand Nikon

For information on these or any other offers please contact us today on 020 7828 4925 or email info@graysofwestminster.co.uk.