Nikon F

[Fraser]

After going through the olympus OM thread I started too feel sorry for the old Nikon F. I've now increased my Nikon F collection to five, you can never have too many Fs!
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv47/Frase_bucket/12fbpicNikonF1.jpg

[Tom A]

With 6 or 7 F's I agre. You cant have too many!

[nikon_sam]

I have one Nikon F body...picked it up last summer...don't see a need for a second one unless it's to mount this really nice black FTn Photomic Finder I bought a few months ago...hmmmm, maybe I do need anoth.....................

[Ronny]

And all Fully mechanical engineering.
One of them from early year 1959.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6969151415_6f1245b1fe.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnypersson/6969151415/)
Nikon (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnypersson/6969151415/) by Ronny Persson (http://www.flickr.com/people/ronnypersson/), on Flickr

[Fraser]

And all Fully mechanical engineering.
One of them from early year 1959.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6969151415_6f1245b1fe.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnypersson/6969151415/)
Nikon (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnypersson/6969151415/) by Ronny Persson (http://www.flickr.com/people/ronnypersson/), on Flickr

Two more than me!

[Robert Lai]

I'm sorry to be a wet blanket at the party, but I just don't see the great appeal of the F for use today. I have been an F3 user for over 25 years. I recently picked up a chrome F with plain prism and E (grid) screen. It is very nice and hefty to hold in the hand. It has the 100% finder which I'm used to. It also has all the historical significance of being the first widely successful system 35mm SLR.

But, using this unmetered camera is such a pain. I don't have the same frustration using my unmetered Leica, as it is so much lighter and smaller. Not only do I miss the meter, I miss the TTL flash control which makes macro photography so much easier. The mirror lock up that makes me waste a frame is also a problem. The big advantage of the SLR over others (TLR, RF) is in the macro and telephoto fields. These are the areas in which the plain prism F isn't as convenient.

So, if someone could provide reasons why I'd want to keep using the plain F instead of picking up my F3 preferentially, I'd love to know.

[Mackinaw]

Just one F, but it's a beauty.

I also have an OM-1. Very interesting to compare the two cameras.

Jim B.

[ray*j*gun]

I have only one also but its a mint black with photomic prism. I just had the prism calibrated at Essex Camera and its spot on compared with my Luna Pro.

[kshapero]

I have a Nikon F with meterless prism (and an M3). They both are great and wonderful in their own way. Pete Smith, RIP, modified my F so I can shoot 2 different ways One way is that the shutter is a two step process. The first step is where the shutter accepts the exposure but does not slap the mirror, as quiet as quiet can be, then the second step slaps the mirror. This works great where no sound of the shutter is key. The second way to use the shutter is to just press a little harder and it does the whole mirror movement at once as any other SLR (including unmodified F's) would. Now I ask, would I ever ever let this jewel go?

[kshapero]

F with Griptac

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6077/6082182885_afaab6171b_z.jpg

[Fraser]

I'm sorry to be a wet blanket at the party, but I just don't see the great appeal of the F for use today. I have been an F3 user for over 25 years. I recently picked up a chrome F with plain prism and E (grid) screen. It is very nice and hefty to hold in the hand. It has the 100% finder which I'm used to. It also has all the historical significance of being the first widely successful system 35mm SLR.

But, using this unmetered camera is such a pain. I don't have the same frustration using my unmetered Leica, as it is so much lighter and smaller. Not only do I miss the meter, I miss the TTL flash control which makes macro photography so much easier. The mirror lock up that makes me waste a frame is also a problem. The big advantage of the SLR over others (TLR, RF) is in the macro and telephoto fields. These are the areas in which the plain prism F isn't as convenient.

So, if someone could provide reasons why I'd want to keep using the plain F instead of picking up my F3 preferentially, I'd love to know.

Maybe because its so different from modern slrs. If I want to be practical I will use an F4 or a 1v.

[Ronny]

Two more than me!

Just one - One of them is a F2 :)

[Vickko]

One mint black F for me is enough. But have two F2's (and thinking of saying goodbye to one).

[Fraser]

Just one - One of them is a F2 :)

Ah so it is. I've still got one black plain prism F2 but I may sell as I've been on the hunt for a 20mm f3.5 and a 300mm f4.5.

[Jbig]

An F2AS but my new favorite an F3P from Fraser. Thanks.

[puderse]

Since I got my two original Fs in the early 70s I have always told myself "any F body ought to be worth $100".

I recently came by another in a cat-smelling junk shop in Waxahachie. Not really a $100 F since I got a 43~86 LNIB, nice bag, and some Minolta junk for $180.

Hardly any brass, none at strap lugs. I think it was made the last summer of F production. Some call it an Apollo but I can't find any NIKON INC reference to that name. Got the kit w/nice neveready case.

http://<a href=

Not sure how to insert PIX. see $100 NIKON set in Flickr.

http://www.flicker.com/photos/44140434@N03/sets/72157629990667285/

[AFenvy]

I have a very early F with an FTN metered prism. It has been on assignment around the world according to its original owner who was a photojournalist decades ago. In its hard life it's been dented, scratched, brassed, chipped, etc. but still works fine to this day. I love it's solid steel feeling, it's the sturdiest camera I have ever held. The viewfinder is spectacular, and the shutter makes a wonderful muffled "clomp" sound.


I recently picked up a Nikon F3, and I love everything about it except for the meter display, which is far and away the worst design I have ever seen in my life. Also it has the loudest shutter of any camera I have ever seen, a deafening "ka-klack" sound which echoes around any room. But it operates exactly as I want it to and has a lovely aperture priority mode.


I haven't been able to put down my F since I got it. Time will tell which camera I favor, as I feel like it would be silly to have more than one F mount camera.

[mynikonf2]

I've tried to maintain a certain amount of balance & perspective in all my camera ownership. It hasn't always been so easy what with so many interesting cameras that Nikon has produced, (not to mention those "other brands" that I own). The formula that I have employed to great success, more or less, has been not to own more camera bodies than there are types of film. This approach has worked in the past (at least in my mind it has) at justifying my camera ownership's bottom line from oversight by the eyes of the finance ministry. [We can never know when, suddenly, a different film will be required to "capture the moment" lest it get away from you while you fumble with a film change].
Now, ever since the digital revolution that took place in general photography and the devastation it caused within the film industrial complex, I have been forced to improvise (we yanks are great improvisers or so I remember reading we are, or did I just hear Jay Leno say we were? Hell, I can't remember! It's hard getting old, you know when all the old war wounds start coming back to haunt you. I remember back in 1968,...Tet offensive, a Tuesday...no, I think it was a Sunday afternoon, 1969... ahhh crap!, I can't remember,... you know it's hard getting old..you know when all the old war wounds start...) Oh yeah, cameras, ...cameras are really "cool stuff"...and you just can't get enough "cool stuff" in your life, it's the cool-stuff that makes putting up with all the "un-cool stuff" not feel so dang overwhelming...and dang-it, who wants to make their dang life more dang difficult than it already dang is? :cool:

p.s. I just remembered what my current camera ownership policy is ever since the demise of film by the evil "0's" & "1's", it is not to own more cameras than the number of lens I currently own. It's the sort of inspirational type policy that encourages the systematic exploration of the entire focal length range of lens production through the ownership of a dedicated camera body for each particular focal length lens. My estimates are, that if just 5% of the photographic community were to employ this type of policy to govern their own camera ownership, that the combined effect that this would have on the world economic crisis would be to see it abate in say, 6 months, Tops! Why we could even see the end of this digital mania & the triumphant return of film, ...then maybe even the return of Elvis to the building..."thank u verimuch".

[Ronny]

F is all you need.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6008/5943526616_2860b25e94.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnypersson/5943526616/)
Nikon F (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnypersson/5943526616/) by Ronny Persson (http://www.flickr.com/people/ronnypersson/), on Flickr

[mynikonf2]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/mikebrsm/_DSC00310001.jpg

...just when is it ever? What we have here is a Black F "64" (in the middle) a Black "F" Photomic FTn (nearest), Satin Chrome "F" red dot "66" (top left) & Late Black "F" Photomic FTn with F2 features AKA: "the Apollo F" (top right)


http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/mikebrsm/Nikon-F0001.jpg

...another angle, same subject. This has been posted before on another thread.

[Tom hicks]

I just can't control myself.:bang:

[kshapero]

I just can't control myself.:bang:Nice family.
A Rangefinered F? I turned my shutter button into a two step process. First step takes the shot, then the second punch on the shutter button slaps the mirror. This allows me to, 1. Make my shot almost totally silent and 2. there is virtually no vibration, allowing me to shot at 1/15 or even 1/8 of a second without shake. After that I just press the shutter button again to allow me to advance the shot. Voila it really works very nicely. Of course I can always just shot the old fashion way by pressing the shutter button a little harder for the full deal. Cool?

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6128/5961143916_4fb9c088be_z.jpg

[BobYIL]

I just can't control myself.:bang:

I wish I could be having that many plain F's... :) They are the M's of the SLR world (actually more dependable than the M's.. voice of experience..)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7071/7393364000_eef441841f_c.jpg

[kshapero]

In real world terms, can anyone pipe in on the differences between meterless F's and F2's?

[wakarimasen]

Saw a pristine F whilst on holiday his week: for sale for £750!

[Vics]

In real world terms, can anyone pipe in on the differences between meterless F's and F2's?

I only have F bodies (in Nikon), but I believe that with the F2 they moved the shutter release forward to the front of the top deck. That's the feature I'd like to have. I shoot Nikon for those rare times that I want a long lens. Otherwise, I shoot Leica M up tp 50mm, but that position of the shutter release on the F always irritates me.

[Contarama]

Improvements with the F2 = higher shutter speed, larger mirror for full image view, short stroke advance lever, repositioned shutter release, rapid rewind crank, and there are probably a few others. The F2 doesn't have the hard angles like a F either.

But this is a thread about F's not F2's... :)

[Fraser]

Some motorised Fs, one of the most impractical cameras ever but good fun!
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv47/Frase_bucket/12fbpicnikonfsmoto1.jpg

[Dwig]

Improvements with the F2 = higher shutter speed, larger mirror for full image view, short stroke advance lever, repositioned shutter release, rapid rewind crank, and there are probably a few others. The F2 doesn't have the hard angles like a F either.

But this is a thread about F's not F2's... :)

much more reliable and convenient motor drive interface, true mirror lock that doesn't require wasting a frame, hinged back instead of removable, true double-exposure provision, self-timer can be used for long exposure timing up to 8 seconds, slightly higher x-sync speed, ...

Still, I have to say that my 2 Fs still work perfectly even though they are 50 years old and neither has seen the inside of a service shop in at least 30 (one hasn't in over 40).

[Tom A]

Some motorised Fs, one of the most impractical cameras ever but good fun!
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv47/Frase_bucket/12fbpicnikonfsmoto1.jpg

But also rates high on the "cool" index. Remember press conferences from the 60's with the slam, bang of multiple F-36 motors going off!

[clayne]

In real world terms, can anyone pipe in on the differences between meterless F's and F2's?

Mainly the removable back with the F and different advance with the F2 (better). Other than that, pretty minimal. I like both.

[Bobbo]

In real world terms, can anyone pipe in on the differences between meterless F's and F2's?

Let's see... a faster shutter, slightly faster x-sync, better MLU, smoother and shorter wind stroke, the rewind knob lifts up a bit so you can have better clearance (but mostly for metered prisms). Oh, and rounder edges (there's a massive scar with tendon surgery on my left hand from when I was 3) and a lot more $$$ (like $100 for an F to $400 for an F2).

I don't mind the location of the shutter release on the F. It's like a Leica -- A REAL Leica, not one of those new-fangled bayonet mount cameras with a rangefinder IN the viewfinder (That's evil Contax II talk! Blasphemy!) Heaven forbid you mention adding a loading system that doesn't involve scissors or a back with >gasp< a hinge!

I'd live with an F. I sold a $50 KEH special with a busted Photomic FTn head in my great purge about 3 years ago. If it had been with a plain prism, I would have kept it. Put a light meter on your iPhone or learn Sunny 16 and you will need nothing else ever again unless you want to break your back with an RB67 system or a Speed Graphic.

[rbsinto]

After going through the olympus OM thread I started too feel sorry for the old Nikon F. I've now increased my Nikon F collection to five, you can never have too many Fs!
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv47/Frase_bucket/12fbpicNikonF1.jpg

As one of the greatest cameras of the Twentith Century, which continues to give excellent performance 53 years after it was first introduced, I don't think anyone needs to "feel sorry' for the Nikon F.