BURNING FILM:
The Nikon vs. Canon Motor Drive Wars, Part 1
By Jason Schneider
Before and during World War II, Nikon (Nippon Kogaku) and Canon (Seiki Kogaku) were corporate affiliates, each working largely at the behest of the Japanese military,though Canon did offer a limited number of Hansa Canon rangefinder 35s fitted with Nikkor lenses (!) on the prewar Japanese retail market. In those days, Canon was primarily a maker of cameras and precision machinery, while Nikon turned out lenses and optical instruments including military binoculars, rangefinders, periscopes, etc. After the war, under the U.S. Occupation, Japanese companies were expressly forbidden from manufacturing military items, and the management atNikon and Canonrealized thatthey would have to design and market high-end precision cameras and lenses on the world market if they were to survive and prosper.
By the late ‘40s Nikon and Canon were serious competitors, a great rivalry that has endured and intensified over the years. However, the competition didn’t really begin in earnest until about 1954 with the release of two great interchangeable lens rangefinder 35s—the Nikon S2 and the Canon IVSB, each the first of its brand to make a major impact on the international market. The Canon IVSB, the first Canon with electronic flash sync, has Canon’s ingenious adjustable 3-position (F, 1x, and 1.5x) range/viewfinder, shutter speeds from 1-1/1000 sec plus B and T, and a 39mm LTM screw mount compatible with Leica threaded lenses. It’s one of the best bottom-loading rangefinder 35s ever made, but it has traditional wind and rewind knobs, and its bottom loading system made designing an accessory electric motor drive challenging to say the least—Leica didn’t offer one for a standard rangefinder 35 until 1965! Indeed, Canon never provided an electric motor for any of its rangefinder 35s, even after they had switched to a hinged back with the Canon VT in 1956.
The Nikon S2 and the Electric Motor Drive Revolution
In contrast to the traditionalist Canon IVSB, the Nikon S2 was a breakthrough design. The first Nikon rangefinder 35 to provide a standard 24 x 36mm format (the previous Nikon S was 24 x 34mm) and a 1/1000 sec top shutter speed, the S2 was also the first Japanese camera to incorporate a film advance lever and a rewind crank, and its life size (1:1 magnification) range/viewfinder with a reflected, non-parallax-compensating 50mm frame line was copied by many successors, including Canon in the Canon P of 1959. The S2’s robust, lightweight die-cast alloy body with removable back also allowed the option of attaching an electric motor drive, and by 1956 Shigetaka Fukuoka was testing pre-production models. In March 1957 the first experimental non-productionmotor drive on a Nikon S2 (officially the ultra-rare model S2E) was displayed at the IPEX show in Washington DC. Nikon’s first motor drive has an integrated back and was initially powered by 6 AA batteries, but Nikon switched to higher capacity “C” batteries, achieving a framing rate of 2 fps at 7.5v, and 3 fps at 9v. This motor drive was marketed as the Nikon S36 Motor Drive and it will fit the Nikon SP, S3, S3M, and S4 (if the camera is adapted). To reduce the weight of motor equipped Nikon S models the batteries are carried in a separate pack connected to the motor by a 1m cable. Nearly all Nikon motor drives of that era are finished in black.
Nikon S2E outfit with Nikon S36 Motor Drive. It put Nikon in the lead in the forthcoming motor drive wars.
The S36 motor is significant not only as the first production add on 35mm camera electric motor, but more important, as arugged, reliable professional tool – a professional status that add on Leica M film motors never achieved. For the record, Nikon also made an S 250 electric motor bulk film back for the Nikon SP, but you won’t find one on eBay since only 2 were made! It’s virtually the same as the highly collectible250-exposure bulk film motor unit Nikon offered for the Nikon F.
Nikon S36 electrifvmotor drive unit with battery pack (in leather case) and 1 m connacting cable, the first of its kind for a rangefinder 35.
In 1960 Nikon also produced a grand total of 195 S3M half-frame 35mm (17.5 x 24mm format) cameras, the first and last half-frame rangefinder 35s the company ever offered. A variant of the S3 then available in chrome or black, they have modified viewfinders and 72-exposure frame counters. Most black S3M’s have a motor connection for the rare Nikon S72 motor drive, which is based on the standard S36 motor, enables a framing rate up to 6 fps, and up to 71 exposures. In rare instances the S72 motor was fitted to the Nikon SP! Most chrome S3M’s lack a motor plate, but one can easily be installed. These early S36 motors, and their successors the later F36 motors for the Nikon F, were crucial in establishing the Nikon as the leading professional 35mm cameras during the ‘60s.
Super rare Nikon S3M was Nikon's first and last half frame rangefinder 35. With S72 Motor it could shoot at a bolstering 6 fps back in 1960!
The Nikon F36 Motor Drive for the Nikon F
Announced in 1959 shortly after the debut of the game-changing Nikon F, the Nikon F36 Motor Drive is based on the same design concept as the S36—a back with an integrated motor drive, but in this case the 8 AA battery pack could be separate and cable connected as before, or mounted under the motor drive, a combo known as the F36 cordless. A 4-position switch provides speed selections of L (2 fps) M1 (2.5 fps) M2 (3 fps) and H (up to 4 fps, but only with the mirror locked up). To mount a motor drive under the Nikon F you must swap out the standard bottom plate of the camera body for a special modified plate. The Nikon F36 Motor Drive was a great success, and helped drive sales of the Nikon F among professional sports, nature and scientific photographers and a host of serious enthusiasts with a taste for capturing high speed action.F36 motor production was probably more than 100,000 motors for the almost million Nikon F cameras made – a stunning sales success.
Nikon F36 Motor Drive with integral battery pack for the Nikon F: A reliable pro caliber unit it was a phenomenal success.
Side view of Nikon F36 Motor shows how it mounted on the Nikon F, providing a handy right handed grip.
Canon wasn’t really a combatant in the Motor Drive Wars until they brought forth the remarkable 9 fps Canon F-1 High Speed Motor Drive Camera for the Olympic Games at Sapporo Japan in 1972.
Motor Drive Wars: Game On!
In 1971 at the Chicago Photo Expo Nikon showed a new Nikon 7 fps Nikon High Speed Camera fitted with supercharged redesign of the iconic motor drive back. Made for the 1972 Olympics, it achieved its sizzling framing rate without a hitch, but there was one catch—you had to lock up the mirror and shoot through a 135-300mm zoom finder when firing at the fastest burst rate, effectively transforming your precious SLR into a glorified motorized optical viewfinder camera. It was typically fitted with an HS Motor Drive, and a 16 AA-battery Power Pack Type 3 connected to the motor with a cable. Only 54 of these beauties were made, and few remain, so good luck finding and purchasing one. All subsequent Nikon High Speed Cameras used stationary pellicle mirrors, as did Canon. These include the 9 fps Nikon F High Speed introduced in 1976, the 10 fps High Speed Nikon F2 that debuted in 1978, and the strange and wonderful 13.5 fps Nikon F3 High Speed brought forth in 1996. All these High-Speed Nikons were designed for 36 exposures, but at least one specially modified 7 fps model with a pellicle mirror and a 250 exposure back was made for Life Magazine.
Nikon F 7fps High Speed Motor Drive for the '72 Munich Olympus required mirror to be locked up to attain top speed. Note optical viewfinder.
Canon’s Munich Summer Olympics camera of 1972 won bragging rights over its illustrious Nikon competitor by being able to shoot at up to 9 fps at shutter speeds from1/60-1/1000 sec and run a 36-exposure roll through the camera in a blistering 4 sec! Since it was specifically aimed at Olympics press photographersshooting high speed continuous bursts, the Canon F-1 High Speed Motor Drive Camera omitted the built-in metering system and the self-timer, and the lens must be stopped down manually with the aperture stop-down lever. The camera’s fixed semi-silvered pellicle mirror is coated with a .02 mm ultra-thin vapor deposited Mylar film, the motor has selectable speeds of 4 fps, 7 fps, and 9 fps, and is powered by 20 AA batteries that can run 30 36-exposure rolls through the camera. The interchangeable eye-level prism finder provides a 0.77x magnification and covers 97% of the on-film image.
Canon \F-1 High Speed Motor Camera for the '72 Munich Olympics earned bragging rights with a top framing rate of 9 fps!
The great Olympics Motor Drive faceoff really set the stage for the Nikon vs. Canon Motor Drive Wars of the 1980s and 1990s, which were fought on the much larger battlefield of the consumer SLR marketplace, Before Canon introduced the Canon F-1 and FTb in 1971 and followed up with the wildly successful Canon AE-1 (5.7 million sold!) and its stablemates the AT-1, AV-1, and A-1 beginning in 1976, Canon was often described as a “sleeping giant,” a company with awesome potential but lacking the effective and targeted marketing that made Nikon a photo industry legend. But once Canon emerged from its slumber, there was no stoppingit, and its thrust for dominance played out in the motor drive arena as well as in the SLR and point-and-shoot markets.
In 1971, when Nikon was still the undisputed champ of the SLR market, it brought forth the Nikon F2, a beautiful, thoughtfully upgraded camera many consider the best F-series Nikon ever. At the same time, the company announced the Nikon MD-1, a separate motor drive unit that can be installed under the F2 body after removing a small cap covering some electric contacts. To really do its stuff a separate MB-1 battery pack containing 10 AA cells must be installed beneath the MD-1, a camera/motor combo weighing over 2 kilos without a lens! The good news: with the mirror locked up it enables a top framing rate of 5 fps plus motorized rewind. While less common than the later MD-2, the Nikon MD-1 with MB-1 battery pack readily available used in clean working condition at around $100-200.
Less than 2 years later, Nikon unveiled the Nikon MD-2 Motor, basically an upgraded MD-1, which added a little red power lamp on the back and a connector for the auto-stop back MF-3. The back stops rewinding as soon as the film leader is free of the take-up spool, so the end of the leader remains outside the cassette. The 5 fps MD-2 requires an MB-1 or MB-2 power pack installed beneath the motor, the latter providing a built-in voltmeter on the right side of the rear. Both motor drives and battery packs can be used in different combinations, and both motors have detachable shutter release buttons that can be fitted to a remote release cable.A clean Nikon MD-2 Motor with MB-1 battery pack generally fetches $150-$250 on the leading online auction sites. The Nikon MD-3 Motor, a less expensive 4 fps version of the previous motors, can also be combined with an MB-1 or MB-2 battery pack or connected with an MC-2 cable to an MA-2 power pack. Used price with bottom mounted battery pack: $100-$150. Nikon also produced 250 and 750 motor drive backs for the Nikon F2 and F3.
Canon’s first generation of motor drives were all produced during the lifespan of the original Canon F-1 (1971-1980), Canon’s first successful pro-aimed SLR (the previous idiosyncratic Canonflexes were very well made but didn’t sell). The first was dubbed the Motor Drive Unit, the second was the much-improved Motor Drive MF, and the last was the previously mentioned limited production High Speed Motor Drive Camera made for the Olympic Games at Sapporo in 1972.
The original Motor Drive Unit (commonly known as the Motor Drive MD since all its accessories had an “MD” suffix) required a separate cord-attached battery 10AA cell battery pack, making it unwieldy for field use or shooting action. A later battery pack connected directly to the motor, which was better, and the unit also had a built-in intervalometer for delays up to 1 frame per minute. The maximum speed was a decent but unspectacular 3 frames per second, and with a big grip and battery pack hanging from the bottom of the camera in the later version, it was still rather ponderous. Used price: $125-175 excluding camera body.
Original Canon Motor Drive Unit worked well, and provided a top framing rate of 3 fps, but it was ponderous and unwieldy for field shooting.
In 1973, Canon introduced the sleeker, better integrated Motor Drive MF, which had its batteries (10 AAs) in a vertical grip that mounted on the front right side of the camera (held in shooting position). It had a maximum rate of 3.5 fps and was much better configured for action and sports photography, especially when paired with the Speed Finder or Servo EE finder. A special cord allowed the Servo EE finder to draw its power from the Motor drive MF, thus making a more compact, ergonomic setup than the original Motor Drive Unit. The Motor Drive MF didn’t provide a built-in intervalometer, but the Interval Timer L (and later the Interval Timer TM-1) could be plugged into the remote- control socket as could remote switches and a wireless control unit, the Wireless Controller LC-1. A used Canon Motor Drive MF goes for about $150-$200 without camera and $300-$400 with original F-1 body on the top online auction sites.
Sleek Canon Motor Drive MF could attain a 3.5 fps framing rate, and it's still a good, economical choice for Canon F-1 shooters.
Later, Canon introduced the Power Winder F, a handy compact 2 fps winder with a built-in grip. It used 4 AA batteries in the same battery magazine that the Canon A-series Power Winder A used. The Power winder F could use most of the remote switches that also fit the Motor Drive MF except the Interval Timer L and the Remote Switch 60-MF. While not as fast as the Motor Drive MF, The Power Winder F was smaller, lighter,and less expensive—a formula copied by most of Canon’s competitors. Used price in working order $50-$75.
Nikon Strikes Back: The remarkable Nikon F2 High Speed of 1978
Largely based on the MD-series motor drives, Nikon unleashed a special MD-100 High Speed Motor Drive camera that used 2 battery packs to achieve a framing rate of 10 fps! Basically, the Nikon F2 High Speed introduced at Photokina in 1978 was a Nikon F2 Titanium with a fixed semi-reflective (65% light transmission) pellicle mirror, and a modified MD-2 motor with 2 MB-1 battery packs affixed to the bottom, making for a tall, heavy camera indeed. However, it had the then fastest framing rate if 10 fps and could zip a 36-exposure roll through the camera in a blistering 3.6 sec! The MD-100 motor was exclusive to the Nikon F2 High Speed camera and supplied with a special MH-100 Quick Charger. The two modified MB-1 battery packs are permanently affixed to the ND-100 motor, providing 30 volts, and the camera’s titanium top, bottom, and back covers are painted in black epoxy paint. How much will one of these exotic beauties set you back. As the saying goes, if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.However, there’s a mint examplecurrently listed at a top online auction site. The Buy It Now price: a wallet bending $4,312.24 plus $35 shipping – which is, surprisingly, significantly lower than prices a few years ago.
Nikon F2 High Speed of 1978 was a Nikon F2 Titanium with a fixed semi-reflective (65% light transmission) pellicle mirror, and a MD-100 High Speed Motor Drive with 2 MB-1 battery packs affixed to the bottom
Canon’s Apotheosis: Canon New F-1 High Speed Motor Drive Camera
Canon's High Speed motor drive for modified Canon New F-1 with pellicle mirror was a big cahuna, but it could achieve a stupendous 14 fps!
Released in 1984 and based on the Canon New F-1 but modified by installing Canon’s state-of-the-art second-generation fixed pellicle mirror in place of the standard flipping mirror, this limited-edition camera (which sold in Japan for a staggering 1,300,300 yen, body set only) boasted the fastest continuous framing rate yet achieved—14 frames per sec! Its four-axis, horizontal travel focal-plane shutter has metal curtains and is electromagnetically controlled, and provides shutter speeds from 1/30-1/2000 sec and no B, and the motor provides 3 framing speeds. At the highest (H) setting the camera can zip through a 36-exposure roll in 2.57 sec. Its metering system provides match-needle TTL readings, and the aperture remains stopped down automatically during the exposure. The camera requires two dedicated power packs (totaling 24 volts) housing 10 1.2-volt Ni-CD AA batteries, and the packs can be attached to the bottom of the camera or detached and connected by cable. At normal temperatures the camera can shoot 100 36-exposure rolls when fully charged, and it provides user selectable motorized rewind. The suggested U.S. price in 1984: $8,000, body and motor only; equal to $23,439.05 in 2023! There are none currently offered for sale on online or actual auctions.
The Nikon vs. Canon Motor Drive Wars, Part 1
By Jason Schneider
Before and during World War II, Nikon (Nippon Kogaku) and Canon (Seiki Kogaku) were corporate affiliates, each working largely at the behest of the Japanese military,though Canon did offer a limited number of Hansa Canon rangefinder 35s fitted with Nikkor lenses (!) on the prewar Japanese retail market. In those days, Canon was primarily a maker of cameras and precision machinery, while Nikon turned out lenses and optical instruments including military binoculars, rangefinders, periscopes, etc. After the war, under the U.S. Occupation, Japanese companies were expressly forbidden from manufacturing military items, and the management atNikon and Canonrealized thatthey would have to design and market high-end precision cameras and lenses on the world market if they were to survive and prosper.
By the late ‘40s Nikon and Canon were serious competitors, a great rivalry that has endured and intensified over the years. However, the competition didn’t really begin in earnest until about 1954 with the release of two great interchangeable lens rangefinder 35s—the Nikon S2 and the Canon IVSB, each the first of its brand to make a major impact on the international market. The Canon IVSB, the first Canon with electronic flash sync, has Canon’s ingenious adjustable 3-position (F, 1x, and 1.5x) range/viewfinder, shutter speeds from 1-1/1000 sec plus B and T, and a 39mm LTM screw mount compatible with Leica threaded lenses. It’s one of the best bottom-loading rangefinder 35s ever made, but it has traditional wind and rewind knobs, and its bottom loading system made designing an accessory electric motor drive challenging to say the least—Leica didn’t offer one for a standard rangefinder 35 until 1965! Indeed, Canon never provided an electric motor for any of its rangefinder 35s, even after they had switched to a hinged back with the Canon VT in 1956.
The Nikon S2 and the Electric Motor Drive Revolution
In contrast to the traditionalist Canon IVSB, the Nikon S2 was a breakthrough design. The first Nikon rangefinder 35 to provide a standard 24 x 36mm format (the previous Nikon S was 24 x 34mm) and a 1/1000 sec top shutter speed, the S2 was also the first Japanese camera to incorporate a film advance lever and a rewind crank, and its life size (1:1 magnification) range/viewfinder with a reflected, non-parallax-compensating 50mm frame line was copied by many successors, including Canon in the Canon P of 1959. The S2’s robust, lightweight die-cast alloy body with removable back also allowed the option of attaching an electric motor drive, and by 1956 Shigetaka Fukuoka was testing pre-production models. In March 1957 the first experimental non-productionmotor drive on a Nikon S2 (officially the ultra-rare model S2E) was displayed at the IPEX show in Washington DC. Nikon’s first motor drive has an integrated back and was initially powered by 6 AA batteries, but Nikon switched to higher capacity “C” batteries, achieving a framing rate of 2 fps at 7.5v, and 3 fps at 9v. This motor drive was marketed as the Nikon S36 Motor Drive and it will fit the Nikon SP, S3, S3M, and S4 (if the camera is adapted). To reduce the weight of motor equipped Nikon S models the batteries are carried in a separate pack connected to the motor by a 1m cable. Nearly all Nikon motor drives of that era are finished in black.
Nikon S2E outfit with Nikon S36 Motor Drive. It put Nikon in the lead in the forthcoming motor drive wars.
The S36 motor is significant not only as the first production add on 35mm camera electric motor, but more important, as arugged, reliable professional tool – a professional status that add on Leica M film motors never achieved. For the record, Nikon also made an S 250 electric motor bulk film back for the Nikon SP, but you won’t find one on eBay since only 2 were made! It’s virtually the same as the highly collectible250-exposure bulk film motor unit Nikon offered for the Nikon F.
Nikon S36 electrifvmotor drive unit with battery pack (in leather case) and 1 m connacting cable, the first of its kind for a rangefinder 35.
In 1960 Nikon also produced a grand total of 195 S3M half-frame 35mm (17.5 x 24mm format) cameras, the first and last half-frame rangefinder 35s the company ever offered. A variant of the S3 then available in chrome or black, they have modified viewfinders and 72-exposure frame counters. Most black S3M’s have a motor connection for the rare Nikon S72 motor drive, which is based on the standard S36 motor, enables a framing rate up to 6 fps, and up to 71 exposures. In rare instances the S72 motor was fitted to the Nikon SP! Most chrome S3M’s lack a motor plate, but one can easily be installed. These early S36 motors, and their successors the later F36 motors for the Nikon F, were crucial in establishing the Nikon as the leading professional 35mm cameras during the ‘60s.
Super rare Nikon S3M was Nikon's first and last half frame rangefinder 35. With S72 Motor it could shoot at a bolstering 6 fps back in 1960!
The Nikon F36 Motor Drive for the Nikon F
Announced in 1959 shortly after the debut of the game-changing Nikon F, the Nikon F36 Motor Drive is based on the same design concept as the S36—a back with an integrated motor drive, but in this case the 8 AA battery pack could be separate and cable connected as before, or mounted under the motor drive, a combo known as the F36 cordless. A 4-position switch provides speed selections of L (2 fps) M1 (2.5 fps) M2 (3 fps) and H (up to 4 fps, but only with the mirror locked up). To mount a motor drive under the Nikon F you must swap out the standard bottom plate of the camera body for a special modified plate. The Nikon F36 Motor Drive was a great success, and helped drive sales of the Nikon F among professional sports, nature and scientific photographers and a host of serious enthusiasts with a taste for capturing high speed action.F36 motor production was probably more than 100,000 motors for the almost million Nikon F cameras made – a stunning sales success.
Nikon F36 Motor Drive with integral battery pack for the Nikon F: A reliable pro caliber unit it was a phenomenal success.
Side view of Nikon F36 Motor shows how it mounted on the Nikon F, providing a handy right handed grip.
Canon wasn’t really a combatant in the Motor Drive Wars until they brought forth the remarkable 9 fps Canon F-1 High Speed Motor Drive Camera for the Olympic Games at Sapporo Japan in 1972.
Motor Drive Wars: Game On!
In 1971 at the Chicago Photo Expo Nikon showed a new Nikon 7 fps Nikon High Speed Camera fitted with supercharged redesign of the iconic motor drive back. Made for the 1972 Olympics, it achieved its sizzling framing rate without a hitch, but there was one catch—you had to lock up the mirror and shoot through a 135-300mm zoom finder when firing at the fastest burst rate, effectively transforming your precious SLR into a glorified motorized optical viewfinder camera. It was typically fitted with an HS Motor Drive, and a 16 AA-battery Power Pack Type 3 connected to the motor with a cable. Only 54 of these beauties were made, and few remain, so good luck finding and purchasing one. All subsequent Nikon High Speed Cameras used stationary pellicle mirrors, as did Canon. These include the 9 fps Nikon F High Speed introduced in 1976, the 10 fps High Speed Nikon F2 that debuted in 1978, and the strange and wonderful 13.5 fps Nikon F3 High Speed brought forth in 1996. All these High-Speed Nikons were designed for 36 exposures, but at least one specially modified 7 fps model with a pellicle mirror and a 250 exposure back was made for Life Magazine.
Nikon F 7fps High Speed Motor Drive for the '72 Munich Olympus required mirror to be locked up to attain top speed. Note optical viewfinder.
Canon’s Munich Summer Olympics camera of 1972 won bragging rights over its illustrious Nikon competitor by being able to shoot at up to 9 fps at shutter speeds from1/60-1/1000 sec and run a 36-exposure roll through the camera in a blistering 4 sec! Since it was specifically aimed at Olympics press photographersshooting high speed continuous bursts, the Canon F-1 High Speed Motor Drive Camera omitted the built-in metering system and the self-timer, and the lens must be stopped down manually with the aperture stop-down lever. The camera’s fixed semi-silvered pellicle mirror is coated with a .02 mm ultra-thin vapor deposited Mylar film, the motor has selectable speeds of 4 fps, 7 fps, and 9 fps, and is powered by 20 AA batteries that can run 30 36-exposure rolls through the camera. The interchangeable eye-level prism finder provides a 0.77x magnification and covers 97% of the on-film image.
Canon \F-1 High Speed Motor Camera for the '72 Munich Olympics earned bragging rights with a top framing rate of 9 fps!
The great Olympics Motor Drive faceoff really set the stage for the Nikon vs. Canon Motor Drive Wars of the 1980s and 1990s, which were fought on the much larger battlefield of the consumer SLR marketplace, Before Canon introduced the Canon F-1 and FTb in 1971 and followed up with the wildly successful Canon AE-1 (5.7 million sold!) and its stablemates the AT-1, AV-1, and A-1 beginning in 1976, Canon was often described as a “sleeping giant,” a company with awesome potential but lacking the effective and targeted marketing that made Nikon a photo industry legend. But once Canon emerged from its slumber, there was no stoppingit, and its thrust for dominance played out in the motor drive arena as well as in the SLR and point-and-shoot markets.
In 1971, when Nikon was still the undisputed champ of the SLR market, it brought forth the Nikon F2, a beautiful, thoughtfully upgraded camera many consider the best F-series Nikon ever. At the same time, the company announced the Nikon MD-1, a separate motor drive unit that can be installed under the F2 body after removing a small cap covering some electric contacts. To really do its stuff a separate MB-1 battery pack containing 10 AA cells must be installed beneath the MD-1, a camera/motor combo weighing over 2 kilos without a lens! The good news: with the mirror locked up it enables a top framing rate of 5 fps plus motorized rewind. While less common than the later MD-2, the Nikon MD-1 with MB-1 battery pack readily available used in clean working condition at around $100-200.
Less than 2 years later, Nikon unveiled the Nikon MD-2 Motor, basically an upgraded MD-1, which added a little red power lamp on the back and a connector for the auto-stop back MF-3. The back stops rewinding as soon as the film leader is free of the take-up spool, so the end of the leader remains outside the cassette. The 5 fps MD-2 requires an MB-1 or MB-2 power pack installed beneath the motor, the latter providing a built-in voltmeter on the right side of the rear. Both motor drives and battery packs can be used in different combinations, and both motors have detachable shutter release buttons that can be fitted to a remote release cable.A clean Nikon MD-2 Motor with MB-1 battery pack generally fetches $150-$250 on the leading online auction sites. The Nikon MD-3 Motor, a less expensive 4 fps version of the previous motors, can also be combined with an MB-1 or MB-2 battery pack or connected with an MC-2 cable to an MA-2 power pack. Used price with bottom mounted battery pack: $100-$150. Nikon also produced 250 and 750 motor drive backs for the Nikon F2 and F3.
Canon’s first generation of motor drives were all produced during the lifespan of the original Canon F-1 (1971-1980), Canon’s first successful pro-aimed SLR (the previous idiosyncratic Canonflexes were very well made but didn’t sell). The first was dubbed the Motor Drive Unit, the second was the much-improved Motor Drive MF, and the last was the previously mentioned limited production High Speed Motor Drive Camera made for the Olympic Games at Sapporo in 1972.
The original Motor Drive Unit (commonly known as the Motor Drive MD since all its accessories had an “MD” suffix) required a separate cord-attached battery 10AA cell battery pack, making it unwieldy for field use or shooting action. A later battery pack connected directly to the motor, which was better, and the unit also had a built-in intervalometer for delays up to 1 frame per minute. The maximum speed was a decent but unspectacular 3 frames per second, and with a big grip and battery pack hanging from the bottom of the camera in the later version, it was still rather ponderous. Used price: $125-175 excluding camera body.
Original Canon Motor Drive Unit worked well, and provided a top framing rate of 3 fps, but it was ponderous and unwieldy for field shooting.
In 1973, Canon introduced the sleeker, better integrated Motor Drive MF, which had its batteries (10 AAs) in a vertical grip that mounted on the front right side of the camera (held in shooting position). It had a maximum rate of 3.5 fps and was much better configured for action and sports photography, especially when paired with the Speed Finder or Servo EE finder. A special cord allowed the Servo EE finder to draw its power from the Motor drive MF, thus making a more compact, ergonomic setup than the original Motor Drive Unit. The Motor Drive MF didn’t provide a built-in intervalometer, but the Interval Timer L (and later the Interval Timer TM-1) could be plugged into the remote- control socket as could remote switches and a wireless control unit, the Wireless Controller LC-1. A used Canon Motor Drive MF goes for about $150-$200 without camera and $300-$400 with original F-1 body on the top online auction sites.
Sleek Canon Motor Drive MF could attain a 3.5 fps framing rate, and it's still a good, economical choice for Canon F-1 shooters.
Later, Canon introduced the Power Winder F, a handy compact 2 fps winder with a built-in grip. It used 4 AA batteries in the same battery magazine that the Canon A-series Power Winder A used. The Power winder F could use most of the remote switches that also fit the Motor Drive MF except the Interval Timer L and the Remote Switch 60-MF. While not as fast as the Motor Drive MF, The Power Winder F was smaller, lighter,and less expensive—a formula copied by most of Canon’s competitors. Used price in working order $50-$75.
Nikon Strikes Back: The remarkable Nikon F2 High Speed of 1978
Largely based on the MD-series motor drives, Nikon unleashed a special MD-100 High Speed Motor Drive camera that used 2 battery packs to achieve a framing rate of 10 fps! Basically, the Nikon F2 High Speed introduced at Photokina in 1978 was a Nikon F2 Titanium with a fixed semi-reflective (65% light transmission) pellicle mirror, and a modified MD-2 motor with 2 MB-1 battery packs affixed to the bottom, making for a tall, heavy camera indeed. However, it had the then fastest framing rate if 10 fps and could zip a 36-exposure roll through the camera in a blistering 3.6 sec! The MD-100 motor was exclusive to the Nikon F2 High Speed camera and supplied with a special MH-100 Quick Charger. The two modified MB-1 battery packs are permanently affixed to the ND-100 motor, providing 30 volts, and the camera’s titanium top, bottom, and back covers are painted in black epoxy paint. How much will one of these exotic beauties set you back. As the saying goes, if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.However, there’s a mint examplecurrently listed at a top online auction site. The Buy It Now price: a wallet bending $4,312.24 plus $35 shipping – which is, surprisingly, significantly lower than prices a few years ago.
Nikon F2 High Speed of 1978 was a Nikon F2 Titanium with a fixed semi-reflective (65% light transmission) pellicle mirror, and a MD-100 High Speed Motor Drive with 2 MB-1 battery packs affixed to the bottom
Canon’s Apotheosis: Canon New F-1 High Speed Motor Drive Camera
Canon's High Speed motor drive for modified Canon New F-1 with pellicle mirror was a big cahuna, but it could achieve a stupendous 14 fps!
Released in 1984 and based on the Canon New F-1 but modified by installing Canon’s state-of-the-art second-generation fixed pellicle mirror in place of the standard flipping mirror, this limited-edition camera (which sold in Japan for a staggering 1,300,300 yen, body set only) boasted the fastest continuous framing rate yet achieved—14 frames per sec! Its four-axis, horizontal travel focal-plane shutter has metal curtains and is electromagnetically controlled, and provides shutter speeds from 1/30-1/2000 sec and no B, and the motor provides 3 framing speeds. At the highest (H) setting the camera can zip through a 36-exposure roll in 2.57 sec. Its metering system provides match-needle TTL readings, and the aperture remains stopped down automatically during the exposure. The camera requires two dedicated power packs (totaling 24 volts) housing 10 1.2-volt Ni-CD AA batteries, and the packs can be attached to the bottom of the camera or detached and connected by cable. At normal temperatures the camera can shoot 100 36-exposure rolls when fully charged, and it provides user selectable motorized rewind. The suggested U.S. price in 1984: $8,000, body and motor only; equal to $23,439.05 in 2023! There are none currently offered for sale on online or actual auctions.
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