Good Design Long Life Design Award for Nikon F6 !

I love the handsome awesome F6. It is still out of my budget line so I have settled myself for now with a F100.
 
They are as good as it is ever going to get I suspect. And certainly good enough for my lifetime. Superb design and performance.
 
Skiff said:
Good Design Long Life Design Award for the Nikon F6:

http://www.g-mark.org/award/describe/43350?locale=en

Congratulations!
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Thanks for the info. Great news.
A Long Life Design Award for a current film camera.
Yes, absolutely right. Film cameras, and especially the F6, are sustainable long life values, constructed for decades of use.
And not for planned digital obsolescense.

Skiff said:
Perfect design, perfect ergonomics. The F6 absolutely deserves this award.
I love mine :)
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+1.
From my experience with dozens of different 35mm SLRs:
The Nikon F6 is by far the best 35mm SLR ever built.

I am so satiesfied with it, that I will buy another factory new one as soon as possible (no one knows how long Nikon will continue production......better buying it now instead of coming too late!).

For those who are interested in further information about this unique camera:
Excellent test report in German:
http://www.aphog.de/wp-content/photoklassik/Nikon_PhotoKlassik_I.2014.pdf

In English:
http://filmbodies.com/cameras/camera-reviews/nikon-f6-review.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y1Q3ucFa78

Cheers, Jan
 
I have the F6. IMO the menu design is awful. Handling is nice but it should take AA or AAA batteries standard, w/o having to buy the big MB-40 battery pack addition.
I much prefer the handling and design of my FE2 (and hence the FM3A) as I do not have to crack open the owner's manual to remember what it does after not using it for 6 months.
The AF does seem to be really good, but I rarely use that, preferring to use Zeiss glass on it.
I guess it gets this award because it is still in production. Personally I would give it to the Leica MP if one was picking a production film camera, or the Nikon FM3A. Because the hybrid shutter design in that is really tremendous. No batteries, no problem.
Both the MP and the FM3A are the same size as their predecessors, not a DSLR that happens to shoot film.

p.s. the upsides of the F6 - build quality is absolutely the best. And the dampened shutter/mirror assembly really kills vibrations so you can shoot it handheld at lower speeds than most other SLRs.
 
Huss said:
I have the F6. IMO the menu design is awful. Handling is nice but it should take AA or AAA batteries standard, w/o having to buy the big MB-40 battery pack addition.
I much prefer the handling and design of my FE2 (and hence the FM3A) as I do not have to crack open the owner's manual to remember what it does after not using it for 6 months.
The AF does seem to be really good, but I rarely use that, preferring to use Zeiss glass on it.
I guess it gets this award because it is still in production. Personally I would give it to the Leica MP if one was picking a production film camera, or the Nikon FM3A. Because the hybrid shutter design in that is really tremendous. No batteries, no problem.
Both the MP and the FM3A are the same size as their predecessors, not a DSLR that happens to shoot film.
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I agree with all except the dslr thing.
Actually, dslrs are slrs that happen to be digital.
 
The F6 is not very much my taste for the choice of materials used.
I much prefer the F4 within this class of cameras. Of course if I would not exlude the F which is a different class by itself, it would be the big winner !
 
Guess opinions really do vary. I have 2 F6 bodies, as well as a FE2 and a FM3a body. IMHO it is not even close. The F6 has a far superior viewfinder with 100% coverage vs 92-93% coverage, greater size and brightness and easier manual focusing even though it is an AF camera. The camera is much quieter and virtually vibration free, even though it can do 5.5 to 8 fps (depending on power source). The F6 also has matrix metering and is the only Nikon film body that is fully compatible with newer and older Nikon speedlights. Ergonomically, it is more comfortable to hold than any other Nikon, and the rubberized coating is far superior to the cheaper coating on the F100 (which are notorious for getting sticky) and feels better than the covering of the d750.

The battery independence of the FM3a is overrated. The only times batteries become an issue if you start with reasonably new batteries in any electronic film camera is in cold weather. I bought a Nikon DB-2 (?) external power pack that uses AA batteries that you tuck into your pocket for cold weather shooting with my FE2 and have had zero problems in cold weather. Using the MB-40 power pack with the F6 -- no problems either. Sure my FM3a can shoot with no batteries at all, but do you really want to use it with no metering? At the end of the day, I rarely use the FM3a or FE2 these days, preferring to use the F6. If I use one of these manual focus bodies, it typically is the FE2, as it is much cheaper so I don't worry about messing it up using it in the rain, standing in rivers, or on boats in the ocean.

As to the F6's menus, they are not great, but what camera menus really are? The good thing about the F6 menus is that they are relatively brief (it is a film camera after all) and depending on how and what you shoot, can be set once and then largely ignored.

The Nikon F6 is an incredible camera, clearly the best SLR film camera I have ever used -- and I have tried many brands and models.
 
The F6 could be the only camera I want, and if I sold all my Nikon bodies, I could pick one up... but I'd then seriously miss my older bodies

The FM3a will always look like a cheapened FM2/FE2- not a fan of the non AR coated eyepiece, the ugly AE lock button, the ugly bottom plate stampings, the ugly Nikon nameplate- I never shot in a condition where having electronic cameras was an issue. A pair of SR44s weight nothing, and last forever. Plus, quartz timing is way more accurate and precise than a mechanical shutter
 
Huss said:
I have the F6. IMO the menu design is awful.
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From my experience with the F6 and other cameras for years I have to completely disagree.
Because
- for normal standard operation you don't need the menu
- the menu is very clear and self explaining, much better than the F5 and lots of other cameras
- the menu is mainly for the custum functions: so you once set the functions the way you need / like and - finished. Just use the camera the way you like, you don't need to go to the menu again.

Huss said:
Handling is nice but it should take AA or AAA batteries standard, w/o having to buy the big MB-40 battery pack addition.
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No modern camera offers that, because it is technically impossible: If you would do that, the camera will get almost the same dimensions as with a battery grip. Therefore it makes no sense.
I prefer using the F6 with the MB-40 vertical grip / battery pack (using that with AA eeneloop rechargeable cells):
Perfect handling and ergonomics. And perfect power supply.

Huss said:
I much prefer the handling and design of my FE2 (and hence the FM3A) as I do not have to crack open the owner's manual to remember what it does after not using it for 6 months.
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The F6 is easy to operate. When you have to look at the manual again after only a 6 month break (by the way: Why not using the F6 for six months?) then the problem is simply on your side (brain capacity, forgetfulness?), and definitely not on the camera side.

Huss said:
The AF does seem to be really good, but I rarely use that, preferring to use Zeiss glass on it.
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I am also using Zeiss ZF lenses on my F6: With the AF indicator, because it is very precise (much more precise than the split-image indicator in my older Nikons).

Huss said:
I guess it gets this award because it is still in production.
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No one would give an award only because a product is still in production.
No, the people here have really realised what a ground-breaking construction the F6 is.

Huss said:
Personally I would give it to the Leica MP if one was picking a production film camera, or the Nikon FM3A. Because the hybrid shutter design in that is really tremendous. No batteries, no problem.
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A Leica MP or FM3A without battery is a camera without light meter. Really no fun to shoot with that......
The "battery topic" in film cameras is absolutely overrated:
In about 40 years of photography I had only once (!) a battery problem with a film camera. Guess what? It was in a Nikon FM.
I've never had battery problems in the F-301, F90X, F100, F5 and F6.
Never.

Huss said:
p.s. the upsides of the F6 - build quality is absolutely the best. And the dampened shutter/mirror assembly really kills vibrations so you can shoot it handheld at lower speeds than most other SLRs.
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That is absolutely right.
 
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