f2 advice

Brian Sweeney said:
But since you mention it,

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Brian,

Get yourself an AR-1 for that beautiful camera, she deserves it!

B2 (;->
 
thanks again for even more amazingly detailed responses, and such great pictures of the cameras themselves...
Had a check but the auction site has not yielded much but will continue the search with all this information to help, thank you so much!
 
I have at least 8 or so AR-1's and 10 or so "knock-offs". The manager of the local Ritz had a bunch and gave several to me. I did a lot of business there, they were the clearance center.

They help clear the Photomic finder. You will find the release is a bit buried behind it.

I'm partial to the Bullseye Photomic. It will meter with lenses even with the mirror locked up!
 
The F2 is a great camera - the only prisms that has had problems over the years are the Dp-2s which were re-done in seven iterations due to electronic issues (failing LEDs as I understand it). All of the prisms are repairable, either by Sover Wong (http://soverf2repair.webs.com/) or the camera repair guy Steven Gandy uses (www.cameraquest.com). Oh yeah - I like my F2 with the Dp-1, all dinged and dented but still working (thanks to Sover).
 
Ordinarily I wouldn't but I'm making an exception to posting pics of cameras seen as its F's and F2's.
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I haven't got a pic of the F2as yet. The pics show quite well the difference between the first F2's which had the shiny fine grain covering of the F with flat blade screws and the later with the dull coarse grain F2 and crosshead screws. How interesting eh, I feel suitably geekish!!!!!
 
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well...since folks are posting pictures of their F2 cameras :D

Here's my F2 Photomic (DP-1) w/ Nikkor-S 50mm f1.4, a great combo.

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Brian Sweeney said:
On the older F2 Photomic (DP-1 head), F2S (DP-2 head), and F2SB (DP-3 head), You can still meter by using the DOF preview button to stop down the lens. Just push the coupling mechanism in the up-right position, and the camera indexes to F5.6. Stop the lens down to take the meter reading. This is commonly done for Mirror lenses and others that never had coupling prongs.
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I stand corrected. :)

The F2 really is a superb camera. I still have one with a DE finder as my backup Nikon body.
 
TennesseJones said:
This is no doubt a dumbo question, but I was confused by a guy in a shop. Will the Nikon F2 work with all ai and ais lenses?

Many thanks, yuletide greetings and apologies for continued dumbness....
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TJ,

This is an excellent resource for all things Nikon:
www.nikonians.org

Best regards for the Holiday Season,

Bob
 
Jerevan said:
The F2 is a great camera - the only prisms that has had problems over the years are the Dp-2s which were re-done in seven iterations ...
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While less frequently, the earlier DP-1 also suffer the same resistor wear problem that plaqued most heavily used metered cameras of the period. Nikon developed their FRE (Functional Resisting Element) during the early '70s, well after the F2 and the DP-1 and DP-2 finders were introduced.

The later DP-1 finders, along with the DP-2 finders at some similar point) were updated to the new FRE, replacing the carbon resistor gear that translated mechanical position into electrical voltages. These DP-1 finders can be distinguished by their external meter window. The early windows hava a mask that is a rounded ended oblong with one knotch. The later ones have a smaller oblong, sitill with a knotch, plue a small tail off to the end where the needle rests when the meter is off. Most of these later FRE based DP-1 finders also have a red or green dot on the underside of the shutter speed dial coupler (seen when the finder is removed). The color of the dot indicates which subcontractor supplied the FRE. It was used by the service department to track failure information for quality control and/or manufacturing technique.

The FRE was a Nikon invention that they had subcontractor. manufacture for them. The last year or so of the Nikon F Photomic FTn finder's production also used an FRE instead of the classic resistor gear used in most of its and the earlier finders' production runs. Since the FRE was a direct replacement part, many earlier DP-1 finders and FTn finders were "retro-fitted" with FREs when they went in for service with worn out resistor gears.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
On the older F2 Photomic (DP-1 head), F2S (DP-2 head), and F2SB (DP-3 head), You can still meter by using the DOF preview button to stop down the lens. Just push the coupling mechanism in the up-right position, and the camera indexes to F5.6. Stop the lens down to take the meter reading. This is commonly done for Mirror lenses and others that never had coupling prongs.

This one, will require the external meter for all lenses:

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It is the prettiest of them all.
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This finder is pretty hard to find. I m looking for one.
 
I lucked out on this one. The Camera Shop "threw it in free" when I bought the camera with the DP-1. The DP-1 finder is also mint, but took some minor repair to get the meter working again.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
I have two of the early F2 bodies, metal tips (not plastic) on the film advance levers, no steel inserts for the lugs, flathead screws. The earliest F body that I have is shown, a 6420xxx with the 5cm f2 Nikkor-S. The early F2's were dumb luck at two Photorama shows, priced as the users that they are. I've had the 65 block F Photomic "Bullseye" shown since 1978. Had it rebuilt twice, and adapted for the F-36 with Remopak.
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Brian,
I've never seen F2's with just a metal tipped advance lever. I read somewhere about the earliest F's having cloth shutters which where then changed to the titanium. Have you got a pic of your earliest F2. Just because i'm curious!
happy xmas john
 
I'll get some of the shots of the early F2's up, have them stored somewhere.

I'll start a thread on them in the next couple of days. The first few Nikon F's did have cloth shutters, but I've never seen one. I seem to recall it being the first 100.
 
Dwig said:
While less frequently, the earlier DP-1 also suffer the same resistor wear problem that plaqued most heavily used metered cameras of the period.
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Of course, you are right. :) My own DP-1 (1977 vintage) is of the later type.
 
By the way, interesting to see the (slight) variations of the F2. I've always toyed with the idea of getting another, and seeing all these nice cameras doesn't make it easier... :)
 
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