# A 1966 Nikon factory film just resurfaced

> A 30-minute company documentary from 1966 shows Nikon cameras and lenses being built by hand, and it is now free to watch.
- Title: A 1966 Nikon factory film just resurfaced | Shortify
- Summary: A 30-minute company documentary from 1966 shows Nikon cameras and lenses being built by hand, and it is now free to watch. Nikon's 1966 film "The Eye of…
- Keywords: nikon, film cameras, documentary, camera history, manufacturing, 1966, factory, film, just, resurfaced, Digital Camera World
- Source: Digital Camera World — https://digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/film-cameras/60-year-old-nikon-documentary-surfaces-online-and-its-an-absolute-must-for-camera-nerds-like-me
- Published: 2026-09-14T13:10:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: nikon, film cameras, documentary, camera history, manufacturing
## A lost Nikon film resurfaces
A 30-minute documentary called The Eye of Science, made by Nikon in 1966, has turned up on YouTube via the Japanese science film archive NPO 科学映像館.

> The Eye of Science, Nikon
## 1966, in context
Same year England won the World Cup and Star Trek first aired. In Nikon terms, it landed a year after the Nikon F Photomic T and the Nikkormat FT/FS.
## Cameras built by hand
The film follows those then-new models down the line, assembled piece by piece by hand. Nikon F bodies also face shutter durability tests running close to 150,000 cycles.

> approaching 150,000 consecutive cycles
## Glass blocks to lens elements
The best sequence is optics. Rough blocks of glass get chipped into selected cubes, then heated, pressed, precisely ground into spheres, polished and assembled.
## Four frames a second
It also covers Nikon's reach beyond the factory, like the Nikon F Motor Drive and its 4-fps burst. Ordinary now, revolutionary then. The waterproof Nikonos I shows up too.
## More than cameras
Nikon was never only an imaging company, and the film knows it. Microscopes, telescopes and medical equipment all get screen time across the half hour.
## Key takeaway

Nikon's 1966 film "The Eye of Science" is a rare half hour inside the factory, showing hand assembly, glass grinding and shutter torture tests.