What the eff?

rbiemer

rbiemer

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Hopefully the Camera Illuminati won't assassinate me for bringing this up...:D

But, What was with all the varied cameras, from different manufacturers, having "F" as part (or all) of the model names?
Nikon F, F2, FT, etc.
Canon F1, etc.
Olympus Pen F, etc.
Konica FT-1, etc.
Leica I, II, and III F.
Minolta Hi-Matic F.
Pretty sure there were others...Leotax had an "F" model too, I think.

Did the "F" actually stand for something other than the fifth model in alphabetic succession?

OK, I will admit to being a little bit bored this morning...:)

Rob

EDIT: As farlymac correctly points out "F" is the sixth letter in the English alphabet! Apparently this morning, at least, I need both hands to count more than 5...:rolleyes:
 
F is actually the sixth letter in the alphabet. :D

But seriously, some of the models you mention were just a progression such as the IIIF and G, or Hi-Matic-E, F, and G. Nikon was the first to use F as just the name of the camera, then Canon Copied them with their F1, but Nikon then beat them to F2, so that put a stop to that silliness. Thus was born the confusion of F1, F1n, and F1 New (or N).

Other manufacturers may have just wanted to emulate the popularity of the F moniker, like when everyone was trying to make an M model after the Leica M3 was introduced. Yashica got their hands spanked over that one. But it didn't stop there.

PF
 
farlymac said:
Nikon was the first to use F as just the name of the camera....
Click to expand...

Which probably really did stand for something ("Flex", or "Reflex"), but Mr. Rotolini's book suggested it was equally likely it was a tip of the hat to their longtime designer, Mr. Fuketa. Good reasons either way. :)
 
The leica IIIf was actually the sixth in the series, III, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IIId, IIIf, IIIg.
Why no IIIe, I hear you say???? IIIe would be german "shorthand" for "3rd" which it wasn't

Hth, David
 
Had you had the Sinar F as one of the cameras, I could have told exactly what it stood for. Sinar 4x5 cameras come in two major categories; the Sinar P, or precision, primarily for indoor use for something like advertising photography and the Sinar F, or field, primarily for outdoor use for nature or architectural photography.

For the longest time I was under the impression that the F in Nikon F also stood for field, but lately I've read that it stands for the name of the person who was primarily responsible for creating the camera.
 
someonenameddavid said:
The leica IIIf was actually the sixth in the series, III, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IIId, IIIf, IIIg.
Why no IIIe, I hear you say???? IIIe would be german "shorthand" for "3rd" which it wasn't

Hth, David
Click to expand...

Hmmm, but the Barnacks stopped at the IIIb and the IIIc started a new longer series with the die cast body. I think it should have been the IV then the IVa etc...

Regards, David
 
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