"New" Nikkormat FT2 with Photos

[Steve M.]

After reading some recent posts on the old Nikkormats, I bought a FT2 w/ Nikkor 50 2.0 Auto HC lens. Years ago I had a silver FT2, but this one is black and way too pretty for my tastes. I love the sound of the shutter (which is running more accurately than my focusing). It's a well made camera, relatively heavy, and has an excellent viewfinder. Wish it showed the aperture in the finder, but it just has the speeds on the bottom.

The lens is nice and sharp. Bokeh is OK. Nothing to write home about, but I've seen worse. All in all, it's not in the same league as the Leica R glass I usually shoot, but for a $70 kit I have no complaints. The center weighted meter did a great job in some difficult lighting.

Just finished running a roll of C-41 B&W through it to see how it was exposing. These are the usual Walgreens cheap scans, so figure on much better results w/ a real film scanner. Now to start re caulking that tub!

 

[dave lackey]

Beautiful camera...beautiful results. Dang, your Walgreen scans are worlds ahead of my local lab guy. Sigh.

Maybe I will drop a bunch of negatives off and try the local Walgreen myself.

 

[ray*j*gun]

Try using the Ft2 with a 105 AI or AIs and then see how you feel about R glass vs Nikor. No doubt the Nikkormat is THE BEST DEAL in SLR's. One of mine went to SE Asia in the 60's and has but one service.....stills kicks ass!

 

[Livesteamer]

Congratulations on a nice camera and nice photos. Nikormats are classics and the Nikon glass of that vintage is very affordable. Perhaps you should consider a few more lenses like the 105 f2.5 and the 24 f2.8. For years the 55 f2.8 Micro Nikkor was my main lens and there are many other fine ones like the 200 f4.0.

Good Luck and Enjoy. Joe

 

[Steve M.]

Thanks for the good vibes. It's a really neat kit. One of the best features is the DOF button on the top that's so easy to use. Ray, I actually had one of those non AI 105 2.5 PC lenses on my earlier FT2, and it was very sharp. Needs a good hood when you're outdoors. I did prefer the Summicron portrait shots to the Nikkor, but we're comparing a $75 Nikkor to one of the best SLR portrait lenses Leica ever built.

It took me probably a week to shoot these. I tried to avoid the usual "lens test" shots I normally do w/ new gear, and our new home town of South Daytona just isn't that photographic. The beach is great, but doesn't really translate into B&W photos. Of course, Bike Week started about the time the film ran out, so missed some great opportunities there. Next year for sure.

One thing I might mention is the lens focusing. It doesn't feel like most lenses, as there's no damping what so ever. Just takes a smooth,very light turn of the focusing ring. At first it put me off, but after a while it seemed quite natural.