Brute Force

wlewisiii said:
As an aside, for a big but usable 35mm camera, there is still nothing that beats The Tank - the Canon T90. Stick a 50/1.4 SSC on that and you've got a world beater & and a self defense weapon all in one... 😉

William
Click to expand...

Not sure I'd agree. If I compare my T90 to an EOS3 (with or without the 'booster') it feels like a very compact camera.
 
ZeissFan said:
In the past year or so, I bought another Pentax MX and then I bought into the Olympus OM series. Nice cameras, although almost too small.
Click to expand...


I have a couple of the MX's and they have the MX Winders on them...so much better handling with the Winders...I'm sure the Olympus would feel the same...😀
 
Would one of these brutes fitted with a roll of Ilford possibly be known as 'Delta Force?'

And realistically how far could you 'Chuck' a rig this size if your life depended on it? :angel:
 
Keith said:
And realistically how far could you 'Chuck' a rig this size if your life depended on it? :angel:
Click to expand...

My F3P was a real "Press" camera that was owned by a Long Island newspaper. It saw action in Operation Desert Storm.

A F3 with a MD-4 is like a 5-7 pound brass knuckle, when armoured with a tripod baseplate, and especially with an AH-4 handstrap. Ever seen someone swing a motorcycle helmet held by the strap into someone's face. I have.

It also helps if you have impressive long muscular arms. In real life people get the picture. In other words: a muscular camera held in a muscular arm looks rather imtimidating.

I laughed when my girlfriend asked me, "Aren't you afraid to take your camera on the subway?"

There have been times I carry two of these rigs for a day all around the city. BTW I am 5' 10" and only weigh 155 pounds.

Calzone
 
After years of trying to strong arm one of my kids into taking the kit, I finally sold my F3HP+MD4 and all the lenses a few weeks ago. Absolutely no regrets as I haven't used it in the six years since I bought my first RF cam. The F3 was an unbelievably reliable body and I really loved using it, but I guess I'm not sentimental about these things. As I was packing the body for shipping I was struck by how top-heavy it is compared to a Leica, it seems really clumsy in comparison. Now someone else is enjoying it, and that's the way it should be.
 
I dunno, those little bitty Olympies are beautifully designed, but my hands are used to decades of handling bigass F/F2 cameras, and small cameras just don't feel right in them. They also feel as if they might fall to pieces at any time 🙂.
 
Does that Nikon have little wheels at the bottom and one of those extending handles ?

Well, it looks huge but a lot of improvement might be found these days in battery technology. I'm curious what proportion of the weight is coming from the batteries in the old Nikon ?
 
MartinP said:
Well, it looks huge but a lot of improvement might be found these days in battery technology. I'm curious what proportion of the weight is coming from the batteries in the old Nikon ?
Click to expand...

The batteries are only eight AA's.

Back when the F3 was intoduced the body was a lot smaller and lighter than a F2 or the original Nikon F.

One of my F2AS bodies is almost as heavy as a F3 with the motor drive without the batteries.

Those old F's and F2's don't need a motor drive to be big and heavy IMHO. They were very much overbuilt. Its pretty amazing how many are still around and available today.

A F3 without the motor drive is a small camera in comparison, but not as small as an Olympus or Leica. Adding that MD-4 makes it a brute for sure. The batteries are not that big a contribution. The film transport on a F3 uses bearings BTW.

Calzone
 
Amazing how well made these things were. When I was selling my MD-4 drive I had to disassemble the battery container to scrape/clean one of the contacts because a battery had leaked slightly. The coiled spring end contact was soldered to its base plate at three separate points. The solder job was beautiful and this was something that no normal user would ever see. It took me back to the days when I worked for a Japanese radio company and all we ever thought about was quality, quality, quality. No surprise those earlier Nikons last forever. I wonder if the much talked about M3 and M2 have that build quality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom