Collectable micro-sized toy Nikon cameras are now available in the US

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Back in September Nikon joined forced with the toy company Bandai Namco to produce micro-scale toy models of four Nikon cameras. At the time, the cameras featured in the “Nikon Miniature Collection” were only available in Japan, dispensed from specialist toy vending machines called Gashapon. However, as of March this year, the Nikon Miniature Collection has also been available in North America.

Gashapon has been around since the 1960s and are hugely popular in Japan, with a growing fan base in other parts of the world. Most Gashapon are released as themed sets (like the four Nikon cameras), with the idea being the purchaser will want to collect the full set. However, this may not be easy, as it’s often difficult or simply not possible to see the contents of each capsule inside the vending machine before purchase.

The four toy cameras in the Nikon Miniature Collection include the Nikon Z9 fitted with a Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens, and the Nikon Z fc with Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR lens. There are also two 35mm film cameras: the iconic Nikon F from 1959 with a Nikkor-s 55mm f/1.2 lens, and the Nikon SP from 1957 equipped with a W-Nikkor 3.5cm f/1.8.

The lens is detachable from each camera, and the toys feature extra details like removable lens and body caps, plus a set of small stickers that add additional fine detail to the models. This attention to detail is particularly impressive when you consider how tiny these models are – the Nikon F model is only around 2cm in height.

If you want to get your hands on one or more of these micro Nikon recreations, there are 28 official Gashapon shops dotted across the US and Canada, plus an additional 138 locations with licenced Gashapon vending machines. Expect to pay $8 for each turn of the Gahsapon machine’s dispensing handle, which will vend one of the Nikon cameras at random. This is considerably more than the 500 Yen ($3.50) that the same toys cost in Japan, but that’s likely to be of little concern to keen collectors of these iconic Japanese toys.