I love my F3HP

[Uncle Bill]

I have been playing with my Nikon F3HP since getting for Christmas a week ago. Taking pictures with it is close to nirvana. The Nikkor AIS 50 f1.8 is a really nice lens. Top photo was shot with HP5 and the bottom with Tri-X and the developer was D76 1+1 (not developed at the same time).

 

[jky]

Nice photos! Reading threads like this makes me want to dust off the F3 - thanks for sharing.

 

[aizan]

if you love it so much, why don't you marry it? 😉

 

[mllanos1111]

Still one of my favorite cameras, I had four of them and sold two recently.
I'm thinking of selling one of my F3/T to help fund another lens I want.
Love that camera, you should try the Zeiss Distagon 35/2 on it, what a wondeful combo.

 

[mw_uio]

aizan, frickin hilarious! 😀

Bill - Nice photos ! 😀


Mark

 

[DavidH]

Glad you're enjoying the F3 Bill...

I believe that the F3 has that 'certain something' - rare among cameras...
I'm still scanning my negs from the last F3 shoot - been at it for 2 weeks now...enjoying the shooting does have some drawbacks... 😉

 

[literiter]

To date I've never found the perfect camera. (maybe 'cause I'm not looking really hard.) But my F3HP is always there beside me whan I travel.

I like the simplicity and the utility of it. It even has an "auto" setting which means I get to set the aperture and the camera figgers out the shutter speed all by itself. (amazing but true!) And I get to turn this feature off, if I want.

Then there is the battery, still working after two years without a charge. More than the life span of some of the newer cameras I suspect.

The most special feature of all, and one often overlooked is the focus system. You get to focus by yourself. Believe it!!!

Then, if this isn't enough; I lost my manual and I can still make it work. ( is Ripleys still extant??)

Well, OK, there is the little red button and someone said something about a slow flash sync. ah yeah ... well..... And the battery will die one day. And the little LCD indicator will die too....well OK! It could crap out on me.

Can I tell you about my backup camera? My Nikon F2. Well this little marvel will.......................................................!!

 

[Uncle Bill]

if you love it so much, why don't you marry it? 😉

haha.

I find it to be super easy to use and very intuitive. Pity modern DSLRs are not like that.

 

[astrosecret]

I never caught the F3 bug. I have two of them- One I inherited, and the other... well I kind of also inherited it from a friend who quit photography (one is HP). I always had issues with the in camera meter, and even though it's not as solid, I usually go back to my K1000 when using an SLR (one of the best in camera meters I've ever used). My F3 shots were always .5-1 stop overexposed, both the HP and the normal. I love nikon glass- prefer to shoot with the FM and the F100.

 

[wsriii]

Nice photos Bill!
This is great to read. I recently posted a question in Nikonians about the F3HP and wearing eyeglasses. I have heard many good things about the F3Hp for those of us who sometimes struggle with the camera-eyeglasses situation. I'm still using my FG and my N6006, but I sometimes think I want an F3HP. Of course other times ( a few minutes later!) I think I want a nice RF.

Bill

 

[sykotec]

wsriii

the f3hp is great with glasses - better than the Fs before AND after in my opinion. 100% viewfinder coverage and no 'hunting' around the edges of the frame, all without scratching glasses or straining, not a bad thing.

that said, my 'new' reference for the OPPOSITE end of the spectrum is a IIIf BD.... the truly annoying thing? I bought the Leica for the glass not the camera, and damn, I like it better than most of my Nikon glass for what I want to do about half of the time. the IIIf with glasses tho, really, not a good idea. wish I had a better option, but the price wa right for what I wanted to do, so we'll see.

f3hp tho, and an f3p as well in my case, excellent cameras in every respect.