Nikon F --- All it's cracked up to be?

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

For no particular reason a Nikon, any Nikon, has yet to come my way. I've got my hands full using the stuff I have, because I do buy cameras to use, so getting into Nikon seems unlikely at this point. But when I read about Don McCullin's experience in Cambodia, and saw his camera, I was mightily impressed. I knew immediately that the one Nikon I have to own is an F.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samdoman/4329201946/

It may be the next camera I purchase. Of course the Nikkor lenses have impressed me greatly also, but for sheer toughness, I think the F reigns supreme.
Cheers
Brett

 

[_goodtimez]

Wow Nikon F

Wow Nikon F

The F is the Best ! The F2 is more complex and thus more prone to failures like broken battery chamber or shutter problems.
I just met a guy who claims owning a brand new Nikon F black paint in box, my dream, but he wants too much money for it...

 

[FrankS]

Great cameras!

 

[aizan]

Why not just send them to get resilvered?

i was talking with dean of dean's camera repair (sorry, i forgot his last name) a year or two ago, and polishing off the silver coating changes the prism's geometry enough that you can say goodbye to 100% coverage. maybe he's just being too picky. anyhow, when you add the cost of repairing the separation, which is likely, you might as well make a new prism instead.

 

[Robert Lai]

The eyepiece optics on my plain F prism did separate. Luckily, Authorized Photo Repair here in Illinois still had new old stock Nikon parts. It was a simple matter for them to exchange the separated doublet for a new old stock cemented replacement element when they overhauled the camera. New foam, and other goodies, and the camera feels very very smooth to use.

 

[redisburning]

if you want a metered camera, get an F3. plus, electrical shutter timing is a GOOD thing.

if you don't care for a meter, then the F vs F2 debate comes down to looks and if you can live with the back plate of the F IMO. plain prisms for either cost way too much but I wouldn't have any other personally. the meter heads, at least to me, are so ugly that I wouldnt own one, and don't.

I went with the F3HP because it's got a few useful things for me. If I'm going somewhere rough Im renting insured gear anyway.

 

[peterm1]

I like it with the non metered prism. Unfortunately the latter are often hard to find and expensive in good condition as there is something about their shape that seems to make them vulnerable to knocks and hence damage. And to make matters worse, the prism can delaminate. But if you get one, my goodness they make a nice camera (all the usual caveats about renewing the seals etc). I had a NIkon F (still in the box in near mint condition with the FTn metering head) and worked up the courage to take it out and use it from time to time before I sold it still in its box still in almost mint condition. The Ftn head is a little fugly to look at but works quite well although as I say I much prefer the non metering prism. I loved the authoritative way the shutter sounded. Much more manly than the clattery clunk of lesser cameras I was used to.

An alternative if you want one is an early style Canon F1 which I think looks better than the new style Canon F1N.

But both are about as good as you think they would be.

 

[nikon_sam]

I got my F body at a garage sale and it came with the Photomic Prism (it's big a ugly)) I don't like the Photomic prism and was able to find a plain prism and I like it so much more...
I didn't expect too much from this camera but am truly impressed with it now...
It still works just as good as when it was new so that says a lot about the quality of it...it's smooth and easy to use, nice clean viewfinder and has a sweet sounding shutter...
Mine has a period correct 50mm 1.4 lens mounted and it can turn heads when out on the town...

 

[David Murphy]

I recently used an F with a late model Nikkor 50mm F1.2 AIS (which it accepts with aplomb - unmetered prism deployed). I took a series of available light shots, all wide open, of my 1 y/o granddaughter. What an amazing combination that was - probably the finest super-speed prime in existence paired with the finest mechanical SLR ever. The F, umetered prism deployed at least, will take any Nikon lens as far as I know, even autofocus lenses. Not bad for an SLR that came out in 1959 to say the least!

 

[David Murphy]

When the original "F" came out there was just not anything like it. Scientific photogs I knew liked the Exacta system (you could use them with a microscope and all) but the F was more reliable and you could get it with all kinds of lenses and other goodies. I never liked the Photomic finder. You could get a second body (a Nikkormat) for about the price of the Photomic and use that to read the light. George Lucas shot his film "Star Wars" with Nikon F glass.

You are right about the Exakta. The Exakta was a great idea (I own a VX), but executed poorly. They are very cool cameras to shoot with and own, with some good lenses available, but they are simply not in the same class reliability wise AND usability wise as the Nikon - the F is light years ahead of any SLR from Ihagee. Exakta is fun to collect and all of that with its cleverness and often weirdness, but absolutely not the tool to pick up when one really needs to be sure one comes home with the photos!

 

[ChrisLivsey]

2 is the magic number :angel:

M2 and F2

 

[rodt16s]

The button was all wrong on the f and just right on the f2.

I'm with you

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

My first cameras were leica M2 with 35mm summicron :2 and Nikon F with 105mm :2,5
That´s what I made my living the first five years. then came ( with more money) Hasselblads, Sinars, Fuji studio cameras, Digital back for hassy etc etc. I sold my original F to one of my studio assistants, but was lucky to buy it back about eight years ago.
The only feature I would like to have in it is an adjustable diopter eyepiece ( old age, heh)
and the advance lever of F2 with plastic tip. That I modified myself... A truly magnificent camera with the added advantage of reloadable nikon cassettes for bulk film....

 

[Rodchenko]

Nikon F is very good for knocking nails in. 😉 At 1049g (body only), it's nearly twice the weight of my OM2SP, which I find heavy.

Mind you, I think it was groundbreaking in its time, and I agree that the OM system could only have happened (ten years later) because Nikon took a massive gamble on the F. Thank heavens it paid off, and went on to create some real classic cameras, although I think the best looking, and best shooting, example wasn't from the pro F range at all, but the FM2.

 

[Ronny]

F for Future!
(and History)

 

[DominikDUK]

My favorite 35mm camera my Photomic prism is still working and is accurate. The F2 and the F3 might be the more usable cameras though I doubt it, but imo the F is the best Nikon camera ever build a no nonsense camera of the first order that works and will probably keep on working until the next century.

 

[OlliL]

Originally I was searching for an F, but eventually got an F2, since I couldn't find the former.
To be honest, after shooting it for a few days, while the F would be enough, I'm really happy with the additional features.


Nikon F2 von oliverleschke auf Flickr

 

[yanchep_mike]

I have 2, one silver one black, both work like new, never had a problem. The silver one is from feb/march 1962 which makes it 51 years old and is still working; not many other SLRs are even around from that time.

 

[henri klein]

I had "bugs" in an FM2 and an F3. I think they appeared on a trip to Central America. It was weird to see tiny animals walking across the focusing screen. I finally put the cameras in containers with desiccant and never saw the "bugs" again. I still have both cameras and they work perfectly.

Tom

Shutterbugs I guess

 

[Keith]

Nikon F is very good for knocking nails in. 😉 At 1049g (body only), it's nearly twice the weight of my OM2SP, which I find heavy.

I find this fascinating because there has been some incredible banging on over the years about the bulk and weight of the modern SLR.

If the F does genuinely weigh 1049 grams then I take my hat off to Nikon because I just weighed my F6 which is the culmination of everything Nikon knows about building the perfect film camera and it weighs 947 grams. 🙂