Look very closely at your negatives. If it is blurring due to camera shake, there will probably be a rotational factor to it, as most times it is caused by stabbing at the shutter release button, rather than squeezing one off like you would with a rifle. Things on one side of the negative will look like they are moving in the upward direction, while on the other side it will be downward. It's not as pronounced in the center.
My biggest problem with any camera is I sometimes rotate my hand while pressing the shutter button, so my horizons are usually out of kilter. Try as I might, I haven't been able to kill that habit yet, especially since it will cause some blurring.
A long shot is the mirror is not returning to it's resting spot, which can cause the focus to be off.
And for a really long shot, make sure there is no diopter lens on the viewfinder, except the one that would normally come with the camera. I think this is referred to as a 0.5 diopter, but is unmarked. A +1 or -1 might not be noticeable enough to your eyes, but could throw things off just enough.
The other thing is lens variability. You could own a half dozen copies of the same lens, but at least one will not be as good as the rest. Best way to check for this is at the focal plane. So open the back, put the camera on B while using a locking release cable to keep the shutter open, take a piece of clear plastic (you can cut one from a broken CD case) with some tape on the side nearest the lens, and place it on the film rails (the inside pair, not the outside ones), then check focus at different distances. Some lenses might perform better close up, while others will be good at infinity. I have a nice little Minolta 28mm that is no good at any distance, so I suspect it had been dropped at some point in time, damaging the internal element mounts.
Of course, it just may take time to get used to the Nikkormat. It is a pretty big camera for a second tier model.
PF
