Nikon: Testing the Waters

T

Tom33

Established
Local time
2:30 AM
Joined
Jun 16, 2012
Messages
134
Location
Texas
View My Gallery
Thinking about getting into another manual-focus SLR system, and have been researching the Nikon off and on for a couple of weeks. I keep coming back to the F3HP, FA and FM3a bodies as the most interesting (to me). I know these are each a bit different, and I am really most interested in the FM3a. At the moment my 35mm film SLR kit (collection?) is nearly all Minolta.

Any overwhelming reason for one of these Nikon SLRs over the others? Or put another way, are any of the three (F3HP, FA, FM3a) best avoided, and why?

Best,

Tom
 
Definitely do not take the FM3a off your list too too quickly.
I cannot comment on the other 2, but I have an FM3a and loved it dearly when I shot film. It was my last film camera, before it went "under glass" in the parlor.
I still love it.
They are not cheap these days !
 
The major difference is that if you want/need very precise framing, the F3 is the only one of the three that offers 100% of the frame in the finder. I'm shopping for an FM also, as my other bodies are Nikon F, and I'd like a smaller body. The FM is tiny!
 
Paid my way through college with a Nikon F and Nikon FTN and will always have a soft spot in my heart for that model. However, the F3 was Nikon's longest running SLR, had great auto exposure, and was as indestructible as either the F or F2. Get the F3 if you don't mind the size.
 
I have both the F3 and FM3A and have decided to go back to SLRs for a while to change the way I photograph.

FM3A has a a less than 100% viewfinder (~93% or 97% per side), a stop extra shutter speed 1/4000, functions at all shutter speeds without batteries, reads DX film cases, has a proper flash shoe and nice button that removes 1-stop of flash on demand for fill, is light and SMALL (not really any bigger than a Leica M). Meter is centre weighted at 60:40.

F3HP is getting a little old now and can need some CLA'ing - felt light seals, LCD display, etc but good ones are around; offers 100% viewfinder and has interchangeable prisms - I prefer the DE-2 which is the non-HP version and is small with a higher magnification but not so good if you wear glasses. The LCD shutter speed is often hard to see and the light (button) is difficult to hit. 1/2000 top shutter speed and non-battery shutter speed at 1/90th only. Bigger than the FM3a all around and wider as it has a horizontal curtain rather than a modern vertical one. It was designed as a pro camera and as such is tough and HEAVY. Takes ALL Nikon lenses except "G" lenses. Meter is centre weighted at 80:20.

I've probably misses something but I think that probably covers most of it. Both have self timers and multiple exposure; and both are loud when you fire them. I love them both, I bought my FM3A new and my F3 was from the last batch made and still new in the box. For the least problems and easy to carry I would probably recommend the FM3A.
 
Why have these designs survived? They are durable as hell, made to be calibrated or repaired rather than replaced, and are ergonomically well laid out. I have an FM2, an F3HP and an F4. Love 'em.

Ben
 
I have an F3Hp, various FM bodies and various FE bodies. The F3Hp is a great heavy pro body with 100% viewfinder. Some have a problem with the LCD panel fading. Battery failure leaves you with one usable shutter speed. Out of the rest the FM2n is my favourite to carry being smaller, lighter and bullet proof. Battery failure leaves you meter-less but all shutter speeds are still available.

I have no doubt the FM3a is also a good camera but they are still asking used a similar price to what retailers were asking when they closed out that camera. To me that is still too much considering what you can get a good FM2n for these days. That is the only reason that I don't have one.

Bob
 
Benjamin Marks said:
Why have these designs survived? They are durable as hell, made to be calibrated or repaired rather than replaced, and are ergonomically well laid out. I have an FM2, an F3HP and an F4. Love 'em.

Ben
Click to expand...

+1 for the F4. it's a great camera with dials instead of menus, built (and weighs) like a tank, and works properly with older and newer lenses.

good luck

rick
 
I have all you listed plus an FE. The FE has match-needle metering & is amazingly tiny. It is my favorite "walking around" camera. The FA is the only one with matrix metering & I like how that works. The FM3A just feels right to me & I use it a lot. I don't use my F4(in fact, it's for sale) because, compared to the others, it weighs as much as a small car - it is almost bullet-proof, however. You can't go wrong with any of them. That's why they're selling so high - they're just great cameras!
 
What's your reason for switching?

If you wear glasses, the F3HP viewfinder is awesome. All the cameras you listed are very good.
 
Why interested in switching.... good question! I want to try to find an entre' to or trial run of Nikon kit. I find myself interested in the D800E, but I would never drop that many $$$$$ on a new body and glass without at least sampling the Nikon way of doing things. Don't get me wrong, I do like all the Minolta cameras I have collected and I use them all. I also really like my Sony A700 DSLR, which originally got me into Minolta AF glass and bodies, which got me interested in and acquiring Minolta MF bodies and Rokkor glass. I find the Minolta equipment and glass to be very, very good and I will continue to use them for film - but I do not really care much for the DSLRs (DSLTs?) Sony is marketing of late. Sooooo, I am looking at Nikon, by all accounts also very, very good stuff.

Whew, long winded and perhaps contorted logic! But there it is, the short answer: I am working my way towards a D800E!

Best,

Tom
 
I have a Minolta Maxxum 9 that I find it to be amazing in capability, but very big and heavy and really no more capable than my 7 unless I am shooting in a downpour. The big and heavy experience kind of puts me off the F6 option though - and I am really drawn to manual focus film rigs FWIW. The D800E capabilities seem to justify the mass though, and I have largish hands....
 
Can't go wrong with an FE/FM/FE2/FM2/FM2N. I did own an FM3A but never used it -- I figured any of the earlier ones in the list, of which I had several, were pretty much functionally the same. All fine cameras.

I should like the F3 better than I do. Among other things, the semi-spot metering isn't so great for me. No one has mentioned the F2, but I still think it's in many ways the best Nikon SLR.
 
Ha, I just went the opposite route, from Nikon to Minolta. It was kind of accidental, really. I found an X-700 outfit in Goodwill one day for $10 (camera with the 1.7/50, Albinar 28mm Macro, Sigma 70-210 Macro, and the 280PX flash), and figured I could turn it for a decent profit, or trade for Nikon gear. The camera had some problems, probably caused by some dolt who tried to crank the winder with no power on the camera (big problem with all electronic models). So I set about looking for another body, at the cheapest possible price so I could offload the outfit.

Hey, Minolta MF stuff was cheap! I found a 500mm mirror for much less than I would have to pay for a Nikon version. And there were lots of other things that caught my eye, particularly the macro ring flash that I got for a song. Well, $63 actually, but that was still much less than the Nikon one I used to have was going for. I wound up with six bodies (one an X-570) because to get a particular lens, it came mounted on a camera. So I have a decent kit of Minolta gear now, though I haven't abandoned the Nikon line. Even picked up three more Nikons while partaking in the Minolta GAS.

I had an FM that was my main camera until I got an N90s. A few years ago, I had to sell off most of my gear, and kept the N90 outfit because it was the newest stuff I had. And a Yashica GTN, because it was a rangefinder, and for other more sentimental reasons. But my situation improved a bit over the years to where I started to buy cameras again, always looking toward expanding my Nikon stable. But there are so many cool and great cameras out there, that it's not hard to get sidetracked once in a while.

But I found an FG decently priced, then a Nikkormat FT came in a box of stuff. I replaced that with an FTN. Then my all time favorite, the F2S came home with me one day. After that, an FM, then an FA.

The FA is one intriguing camera. It was Nikons' first foray into what would become their Matrix Metering System, and works quite well. Four different modes of operation (Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual), and a new dedicated motor drive, the MD-15 (though the MD-11 and -12 can be used on it). An MF-16 Databack, and SB-16B flash round out the options on it.

Mine came with the MF-12 databack, which is for the FM2 actually, and on my camera is totally useless because someone broke the cable that connects the back to the camera PC socket. It also had the MD-15 drive, and a 1.4/50 AiS Nikkor. I haven't shot it yet because the MF-12 doesn't fit the body correctly, and I'm afraid of light leaks. It is battery dependent, though there is one manual speed of 1/250 to use in case the battery dies. That is also the top sync speed when using a TTL flash. It also has an LCD panel similar to the one on the F3.

I would say if you would get an FA, you wouldn't find yourself lost as to what the camera is doing, since it has so many similarities with the X-series Minoltas. Well, other than the lens bayonets in the oposite direction, and the camera and lenses are heavier. Oh, and the Nikons are much more reliable than the Minoltas.

PF
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom