My Undying Affection Towards The Nikon F2

I started my Nikon journey in the early 1970s with a Black FtN. I sold it years ago, but bought another exactly like it 10 years ago or so. Mine is in surprisingly good shape and the meter actually works well.

Since then, I've added a Nikkormat Ft, F2 Photomic, and F3 to the herd. Of these, the F is the one I still hold most dear, mostly for atavistic reasons. I was my first 35mm camera (though not my very first camera) and served me well and continues to do just that.

The Nikkormat is my "banging around" Nikon.

The F2 was "the one that got away". It was introduced right after I bought my new Apollo and I always wanted one. When I found a very clean one with a working meter for $200 I grabbed it.

My last Nikon new was an F3. I regretted ever selling it, so, when this stuff started coming up cheap on eBay, I found one I liked. Only ... it was nearly NOS/NIB and the price was definitely not cheap.

Don't even get me started on my Leica disease...
 
Sonnar Brian said:
The FTn Photomic is a 70xxxxx, the eye-level- "I'll find it..." I have a lot of F's.

These are "Questar Modified Nikon F"

Click to expand...

Thank you! Very, very interesting! 😀
So it acts like a mirror pre-fire button, similar to how Hasselblad implemented the MLU on the 500C/CM models.

I used to use the F's MLU with the Nikkor 21/4 (borrowed from my other uncle) that required it. That was a great lens, took many many photos with it, in a time when anything wider than a 35mm was something rare (and very expensive).

With all this talking about the Nikon F, I'm going to have to take mine out for a shooting spree next year. I had it out today and looked at the coupled selenium meter ... the needle does respond some, I wonder if it's just full of dirt such that it needs a thorough cleaning and calibration. It probably hasn't had any service at all for fifty years, or more. Hmm. I wonder who can do such a service, and where I can find an instruction manual for it.

G
 
Its a beast...
51265900612_9a561b12db_c.jpg
 
I used a Nikon Photomic FTn throughout college. I still have a warm spot for that camera.
I did't think the F2 could replace it but when the F was stolen I bought one anyway.

The F2 grew on me and for the battery issue alone it is a worthy upgrade.
Sometimes I get the impulse to buy an original F but in use the F2 is just a better camera.

Chris
 
Bill Clark said:
Long time ago I opted for the Nikkormat. Bought it in Subic on my way to Vietnam. I didn’t think I needed a camera that had the removable light meter, prism. I still own it and it works great. I was on a small ship in the U.S. Navy and we spent a lot of time in S.E. Asia. I made quite a large number of photographs using both black and white and color slide film.
I also bought quite a few Nikkor lenses, Sasaki hand cut crystal and Noritake china. I sent all of it, except camera and lenses, to my parents duty free and free freight. Got a few freebies for all the crap I went through. I paid $16.00 taxes for the year I was in Vietnam.

I made photographs of B-52 bombings, Navy Phantoms doing their tasks and other ships like bird farms. And the ship I was on, not much with action photographed as I didn’t want to be on deck when the big gun was firing. Wanted to be able to hear.
I visited many places I won’t get to again.
That black Nikon looks very similar to my Nikkormat. Only my Nikkormat is silver not black.
Click to expand...

Another upvoter here for the Nikkormat. My first two were FTNs, bought in Sydney (Australia) in 1977 after my well-used Mamiya 500 DTL kit - the camera, 50/1.4, Hanimex 35 and 135 lenses - which had been with me to Southeast Asia in 1974-5, including ten days in 'old' Saigon at the very end of the South Vietnam regime, was stolen during a daring night break by a band of thieves in my city home. I was in another bedroom and slept through the robbery. My home insurance made me a good payout and for the first time I could buy a 'name' camera and matched lenses.

For two years after I acquired my FTNs I had three F lenses, 28, 50/1.4 and 105. Which sufficed, but as such things do eventually my kit expanded to more lenses and accessories, as we know Nikon made (and still makes) among the best of camera bits for us to play with.

There was a joke that Nikkormats were made from sheets of cast iron held together with ocean liner rivets. This also applied to Nikons, certainly the older Fs - I had one and used it for a few years, but I never really bonded with it and eventually sold it - which must be among the toughest of film SLRs ever manufactured.

From the FTNs I moved up to Nikkormat Els, the amazing pioneer all-electronic camera, many of which have survived and go on producing fine images to this day. Mine I found were too flimsy for the rough handling I gave my gear, so I again traded up to a pair of Nikon FT2s, which I still have.

In those days I went around with one 'mat for B&W and the other for color, usually Ektachrome or Fujichrome, and usually two lenses - a 28/3.5 on one and a 35/2.0 on the other. This was an era when one could sell good images as stock, and in the '80s and '90s I did well out of my sales, good enough to pay for my holiday trip to Asia.

As for Nikons or Nikkormats, like Bill Clark I too saw no need for the bells and whistles the 'pro' Nikons had. The 'mats did what I wanted. Mine got a CLA every decade and the felts were replaced in 2010. They are now half a century old but they still work well and meter accurately. The meter needles do not 'jiggle' and the shutters still give a comforting Krump! when I press the button.

Sadly, I've not put any film through mine for a few years. I must remedy this when I go home to Australia soon.

Even in this mad everything digital era the joy of handling a fully manual Nikon/Nikkormat makes me feel happy about being alive and getting around and about - and still making good pictures.
 
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ChrisPlatt said:
I used a Nikon Photomic FTn throughout college. I still have a warm spot for that camera.
I did't think the F2 could replace it but when the F was stolen I bought one anyway.

The F2 grew on me and for the battery issue alone it is a worthy upgrade.
Sometimes I get the impulse to buy an original F but in use the F2 is just a better camera.

Chris
Click to expand...
The F and F2 were both superb cameras. The F2 was a bit more modern, given the 11-12 years or so of development that Nikon put into the F and the subtle re-design that it represented. 🙂

When it came down to it, I preferred the F due to my muscle memory, and then the later F3... I had an F3 for almost twenty years of use, both with and without the MD4 motor attached. It was another Nikon hammer. ...Then the F4 and F5 came out: they both seemed bloated to me. I ultimately had an F6 for a short time, it seemed to return to the F/F2/F3 baseline... but I didn't keep it, I was already well into digital capture with high end cameras at that point and the F6 just seemed superfluous.

I'm happy with my resurrected plain prism F now: It's a nice hammer for some of my 35mm film shooting. I'm much more likely to carry a smaller, lighter, simpler rangefinder 35mm camera now though ... I'm really tickled by the Voigtländer Vito II that I've resurrected as well as the Vitessa and the gaggle of Kodak Retina IIc cameras that I have had serviced. They're all much more compact and carry-able for day to day shooting.

Ah, the delights of the machinery... 😉


1963-4 Nikon F + Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8
Click image for small gallery...​

Thinking of which: That Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 was one of my favorite Nikon lenses back in the day. I sold that one a long time ago ... Perhaps I'll hunt up another.

G
 
bjorke said:
This show is why the kid version of me thought the F2 was the only acceptable camera.

View attachment 4851377

No, seriously. (Also, I eventually learned that a neighbor who was a news and NatGeo photographer also endoresed Nikon.. these biases can run pretty deep if you learn them early!)
Click to expand...

Yeah, in my era NatGeo was THE Leica place.
 
bjorke said:
This show is why the kid version of me thought the F2 was the only acceptable camera.

View attachment 4851377

No, seriously. (Also, I eventually learned that a neighbor who was a news and NatGeo photographer also endoresed Nikon.. these biases can run pretty deep if you learn them early!)
Click to expand...


He was called "Animal" in the show, wasn't he?

I recall going on an assignment while that series was playing on TV and a lady there looked at me and said, "You don't look like an animal."

I guess that was meant as a compliment.




............................
 
Godfrey said:
I'm a wee bit older than most of you, I think. And started a wee bit younger too. I started High School in 1968; my mom gave me her Argus C3 and my grandfather loaned me the same 1949 Rolleiflex that my uncle had learned photography with.

But as 1969 and my sophomore year dawned, I knew that I needed a modern camera to do the Photo Staff work I wanted. Of course, I had no money ... I kept looking at the NY camera shop ads and hoping I could put the money together for what was then, new, a Minolta SRT-101 ... on sale with 50mm f/1.7 lens for $159.95! For me, at age 13, that was an amount of money beyond my wildest dreams. So I worked odd jobs all that Summer and managed to put together about $90. Sigh.

My uncle came by one day. "I hear you're looking for a camera."
"Yeah, but I haven't got the money and school is starting next week." I sighed.
"Hmm. How much did you make this Summer?"
"About $90. But the Minolta is $160."
"Eh. You don't want that junk. Give me your money and I'll get a camera for you."

He showed up the next Sunday with a box for me. In it was a Nikon F Photomic FTn with Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens.
"How much was that? I don't have any more money!"
"It's yours. You don't owe me nothin'."

I lived with that camera for the next five years and made thousands of photos with it. I sold it to a good friend at some point in the middle 1970s and moved on to other Nikons (F2, F3, FM, FM2, FE2 ...), and Leicas, and Mamiya medium format cameras, and another Rolleiflex. Forty years later, a friend sold me his black Nikon F Photomic FTn and I realized just how nice it was. But i had plenty of other cameras by then, and I gave it as a gift to a High School friend who had always wanted a Nikon like mine. Another decade past and a guy on another photo forum sends me a note.

"I found a Nikon F that my friend loaned me and I'd forgotten about. It's been sitting in a box in the basement for the past dozen years ... I can't find the lens ... and he passed away. His wife doesn't want it. Would you like it?"

"Sure. Better than throwing it away." It's a 1963-64 Nikon F plain prism. I have the selenium cell clip-on meter too, the selenium cell is dead and needs to be replaced. I had it cleaned, serviced, and dug up a Nikkor 28mm f/2 and a MIcro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 for it.


Early Nikon F plain prism, Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI
Approximately 1963-1964 vintage for the body, 1971 vintage for lens​

That was a dozen or so years ago. Still have it, still occasionally take photos with it. Still feels like the perfect 35mm SLR. For me, for my old muscle memory. 😉 Funny how these things can get under your skin and bring back memories of a lifetime ago!

G
Click to expand...
Interesting story, Godfrey, thanks for posting. I have a somewhat similar story. I was 16 in 1969 (yes, I’m a wee bit older than you) and had been taking photos for my high school yearbook. I was using a borrowed Pentax Spotmatic. I was also exhibiting more of an interest in photography. An ersatz uncle of mine, Ned Westover, was a photographer as well as a builder (he was the contractor for the first buildings up at Sea Ranch on the northern Sonoma coast), and on trips between Sonoma and Los Angeles (where he had grown up and still had family), he would spend the night w/ my family in Marin to break up the trip. These visits inevitably included a slide show of his most recent overseas photography trips and inspired me to pursue photography myself. Anyway, he heard that I was interested in getting my own SLR. When he got to LA, he stopped at a photo shop he knew, where there was a nearly new Nikon F w/ Photomic light meter (in black no less) with the 50mm f1.4 lens. It had been purchased new by a local doctor who died two weeks after the purchase; Ned got it for $250. On his way back to Sea Ranch he stopped and delivered the camera to me. I paid him out of newspaper delivery money I’d saved up. I was set!

I carried that camera with me to summer jobs in Alaska, to England for stints at universities there, and to Europe for travel. The camera was a heavy beast, but it was a rugged tool that made good photos. I was shooting Agfachrome back then, and loved the rendering from the Nikkor lens with that slide film.

As the years went by, career and family responsibilities gave me less time for photography, and the weight and size of the Nikon F led me to seek out a smaller camera. On a trip to NYC in the early 1980s, I bought an Olympus XA, which I still have, and used that pocketable camera for much the 1980s and ‘90s. The Nikon F sat on a shelf at home.

Alas, the Nikon F was stolen from our house in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1994. We were having some repairs done and I surmise one of the workers walked off with the camera. I didn’t notice it was gone for quite some time. We were getting ready to move back to the California and there was no time to pursue who might have taken it. And funds were tight so replacing it was not on the cards. In the late ‘90s my interest in photography rekindled and I went looking for a more capable camera than the Oly XA. That search led down a rabbit hole of GAS as I tried out various SLR (Minolta, Pentax) and rangefindeer cameras (Canon, Leica), buying and selling, including on RFF Classifieds.

In the end, I wound up back where I’d started in 1969, as least when it comes to SLRs: Nikon, including a Nikon F (without the Photomic finder), as well as several other Nikon bodies (F2, FM2n, FM, and a couple of Nikkormats, some of which I’ll sell). The Nikons I’m keeping, including the F, form my SLR landscape kit. It seems I’ve come full circle, SLR-wise.
 
Bingley said:
Interesting story, Godfrey, thanks for posting. I have a somewhat similar story. I was 16 in 1969 (yes, I’m a wee bit older than you) and had been taking photos for my high school yearbook. I was using a borrowed Pentax Spotmatic. I was also exhibiting more of an interest in photography. An ersatz uncle of mine, Ned Westover, was a photographer as well as a builder (he was the contractor for the first buildings up at Sea Ranch on the northern Sonoma coast), and on trips between Sonoma and Los Angeles (where he had grown up and still had family), he would spend the night w/ my family in Marin to break up the trip. These visits inevitably included a slide show of his most recent overseas photography trips and inspired me to pursue photography myself. Anyway, he heard that I was interested in getting my own SLR. When he got to LA, he stopped at a photo shop he knew, where there was a nearly new Nikon F w/ Photomic light meter (in black no less) with the 50mm f1.4 lens. It had been purchased new by a local doctor who died two weeks after the purchase; Ned got it for $250. On his way back to Sea Ranch he stopped and delivered the camera to me. I paid him out of newspaper delivery money I’d saved up. I was set!

I carried that camera with me to summer jobs in Alaska, to England for stints at universities there, and to Europe for travel. The camera was a heavy beast, but it was a rugged tool that made good photos. I was shooting Agfachrome back then, and loved the rendering from the Nikkor lens with that slide film.

As the years went by, career and family responsibilities gave me less time for photography, and the weight and size of the Nikon F led me to seek out a smaller camera. On a trip to NYC in the early 1980s, I bought an Olympus XA, which I still have, and used that pocketable camera for much the 1980s and ‘90s. The Nikon F sat on a shelf at home.

Alas, the Nikon F was stolen from our house in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1994. We were having some repairs done and I surmise one of the workers walked off with the camera. I didn’t notice it was gone for quite some time. We were getting ready to move back to the California and there was no time to pursue who might have taken it. And funds were tight so replacing it was not on the cards. In the late ‘90s my interest in photography rekindled and I went looking for a more capable camera than the Oly XA. That search led down a rabbit hole of GAS as I tried out various SLR (Minolta, Pentax) and rangefindeer cameras (Canon, Leica), buying and selling, including on RFF Classifieds.

In the end, I wound up back where I’d started in 1969, as least when it comes to SLRs: Nikon, including a Nikon F (without the Photomic finder), as well as several other Nikon bodies (F2, FM2n, FM, and a couple of Nikkormats, some of which I’ll sell). The Nikons I’m keeping, including the F, form my SLR landscape kit. It seems I’ve come full circle, SLR-wise.
Click to expand...

Funny how us "seasoned" citizens that started with Fs, ended up with them again 50 or 60 years later. It's a tribute to their construction quality and durability.

My F is going back for a full CLA/overhaul in January because I plan to keep it forever. (I'm takin' it to heaven with me 😉
 
Sorry to hear about that theft, Bingley, despite it being "long ago and far away." Thieves are just despicable people. 😡

A funny coincidence is that one of my friends from my days at Apple (and motorcycling, and photography) bought a home in Sea Ranch a dozen years ago or so... I've only been there to visit a couple of times, should go more often: it is a lovely place. 🙂

G
 
bjorke said:
This show is why the kid version of me thought the F2 was the only acceptable camera.

View attachment 4851377

No, seriously. (Also, I eventually learned that a neighbor who was a news and NatGeo photographer also endoresed Nikon.. these biases can run pretty deep if you learn them early!)
Click to expand...
I remember this character on the "Lou Grant Show" showing his Nikon and talking about how he modified it to reduce vibration.
Hmmmm..... "May have had an effect on me..."
 
I'm remembering that my high school (attended from 80~82) had a number of F2's for the school paper & yearbook photographers. I was the editor and one of the main writers at that point. If I'd been smarter, I'd have realized I was a better shooter than scribbler. They were donated to the school in 1980 when the Eau Claire Leader-Fishwrap (er, Telegram) upgraded to F3's.

Hadn't remembered that in a long time but it's probably when I first really paid attention to Nikon but also realized I could not afford them.

My mom and dad took their first big vacation to Hawaii and the doctors my father assisted sent the Hospital's AE-1 with them so my mother wouldn't have to use her Instamatic. My mother started scrimping for her AE-1 as soon as she got home and I got mine at the PX in Germany in 1983 because the Nikon was too expensive and I believed the Canon was higher quality than the Minolta or Pentax (all debatable now, just saying why I thought it then).

I still wonder if I shouldn't have gone into Uncle's Green as a Still Photographic Specialist, taken a 4 year enlistment and used the Enlistment bonus for a F3HP & a 24, 50 & 105. Better than the idiots buying Mustangs! And I still could have asked to be assigned to Germany, though I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed AFN as much as I did Bavaria and 13th Armor 😎 The days of Schnizel & Weissen... 😈
 
Wow that S1R is indeed a beast.

Back in the day I never gave the size of my F2a a second thought although it seems large now. I remember climbing Long’s Peak in 1981 with it along with a couple lenses in a Domke bag. Nothing I would ever want to do today!

I haven’t run many rolls in it in recent years but the muscle memory is still there. Having the shutter speed dial ‘up high’ just worked, and diodes have nothing over a meter needle.
 
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