Ciao Keith
I have it and I've had several other Nikon cameras, both film and digital and let me tell you that it knocks all the others off. Aside the question Film / digital, F6 is still the one with the fastest autofocus and the most reliable metering I've had til now. And, honestly (and having just purchased a D700) still the best fitting my hands til now.
Pair it with a 50 F/1.4 or a 35 F/2 depending on your shooting stile and you will have a quite compact combo to put into your shoulder pouch when you want to travel light. Again, despite the convenience of digital for paid work, if I would be asked which of the two I have to keep, just for what I like, it would be a no brain, the F6 would win hands down.
It has also that nice feature to record lots of data about your rolls and/or printing them within the frames. I use it not much by downloading data as many do, but since I stick pictures on my album and keep negatives, I can easily see the shooting data and record them on my private album once I know which picture it's the one I'm looking at. With F6 you may also leave the film leader out.
The shutter sound remembers a lash and af is silent but excellent, very classy. If the F100 might look a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, sheer power, F6 is more like an Aston Martin or Maserati, much classier.
Extra F6 I got an L-screen (with microprisms and DIAGONAL split image) just to have all what I need in case of manual focusing, as well as a DK-17M eyepiece (which magnify your vision x 1.2, especially in the middle, thus it's up to you adopting it depending if you use glasses or not) Standard viewfinder however is very large and clear
The "only" cons (!) I really find in the F6 is that it has not a built-in flash for a fill-in when required. This is why I'm looking for a nice and compact Nikon SB-22s to use now and then saving space in my bag.
Just for the files, aside the fact I could distinguish any of the camera I had by the shutter "click", this is what I could compare it with other cameras I had.
F80s - very good to start, with some nice features like grid lines on demand, data print and built-in flash. Very good especially for static subjects and general shooting. Very easy to use.
F100 - I had it just a week or two and its af (probably the inner motor that had my sample) amazed me. It looked like a dragster: maybe a bit too noisy but impressive indeed. The shutter looked like a silenced gun "thump thump thump" Definitely to choose if you need a fast af. Despite design is since 1998 it had definitely a faster af than my D200.
Cons: few "bothering" things: a strange loading / anti-opening mechanism
D70s: the only good thing I remember was the 1/500s sync flash, but then menus weren't too quick to use.
D200: very good overall, it has been my main camera for a long time, it went over the shelf just when the F6 arrived in my hands.
D700: it has been the only camera able to be intriguing to my eyes due to her obvious pro's: excellent high iso capabilities and that DX frame which looks too much like a RF viewfinder within the FX angle of view.
