Note to moderator - I am cross-posting to help reduce the clutter and mess of various threads. I will only be posting in this going forward
Just for the record... this what I wrote in an E-mail to a fellow photographer and friend after a few hours of owning and using the Nikon Df...
It is near enough to my Nikon F that I set the ISO at 400, the camera on manual and forgot about it. Focuses manual lenses right on the money, big bright viewfinder, can see the whole finder including the display below even with my spectacles on, lightweight, but solid, quiet, not much louder than my M5 and quieter than any of my Bessa cameras. Far too many buttons on the back and confusing menus, but thankfully did not even have to touch them.
Everything is where it should be on the top deck. As near perfect I will get till they build a Nikon F with a sensor. Cost far too much money, but I am tired of not taking photos and having zero inspiration to do so.
So a very happy Nikon Df owner... broke, but happy.
My criteria for the Nikon Df was that it had to be able to focus as well as my Nikon F and allow me to shoot just as if I were using the F. It did. If the Df had not passed this test by 100%, I would have not bought it, just like I have not bought a D3, D700, D4, D600, or D800, all very good cameras, but not for me and my way of being a photographer.
The Df has one of the best viewfinders I have seen on any new camera in a very long time.
Sitting on my desk is the Df, FM2n, Nikon F... all with the equivalent of an 'E-type' screen. Here is how my 3 cameras stack up... viewfinder wise... with a Nikkor 50mm f1.2 lenses mounted...
Nikon Df - best viewfinder for using spectacles... I can easily see the entire screen and the display around without putting any pressure on my spectacles. Is equally bright as the Nikon F and while the focus seems to snap just abit less than the F, my ability to focus accurately is not impaired, I am able to focus any where on the screen with equal accuracy to the F or FM2n. The Df viewfinder is the smallest of the three, only slightly small than the F, while noticeably smaller than the FM2. The Df has the brightest viewfinder of the 3.
Nikon FM2n - while the viewfinder is only slightly darker than the Df, it is much bigger, but even pushing my spectacles hard against the eyepiece I cannot see the whole screen and I subconsciously move the camera around so I can see the corners of the screen. I cannot see any of the display without moving the camera around. The focus snaps more sharply due to increased viewfinder magnification, but in practice does not produce better accuracy. I find the FM2 finder the least user friendly for me and would be my last choice of the 3.
Nikon F - what can I say... I am completely biased... so no objectivity here... the F viewfinder is probably the darkest of the 3, not by much , but you can see it if you look close. I can see the entire screen with my spectacles on and no pressure on the eyepiece, just but it is all there. As for the display... what display... there is nothing to see except the view... I like that... interesting the F viewfinder is more or less the same size as the Df, maybe just a touch bigger, hardly noticeable. The focus on the F is less snappy than the FM2, and slightly more snappy than the Df. If I must be honest, the F viewfinder comes in at a tie or maybe even a runner up to the Df... did I just write that?
I think Nikon has out-maneuvered the competition and silenced the critics with the Df and done what no other camera company has been brave enough to do... design and manufacture a camera that the majority of modern camera users think is a bad idea, over-priced, under-spec'ed, and the death-knell of the company, but provides a real bridge for us old, grumpy MF lenses owners, with a full-frame sensor and a great optical finder, that let's the old MF lenses be used to their potential instead an EVF/crop sensor wannabe concoction.
With the Df, Nikon has released a camera that supports and pays homage to the legion of loyal Nikon and Nikkor owners that still swear by and use or want to use their old Nikkor lenses from past 5 decades. But the Df also allows us manual-focusing, manual-exposure grouches to be able to 'grow' into digital and the new tech by having them 'dially-things' that work with the latest generation of Nikkor lenses if we ever decide to get with the system.
The Df is obviously not the camera for everyone, but I am very glad that Nikon finally made a DSLR for me.
