The F3hp! I've never been that excited using a camera before. The film advance is so smooth, the stronger-then-most center weighted meter is fantastic, the VF is awesome, and it's great having aperture priority should I ever need it (haven't so far, but it's nice knowing it's there).
I like aperture priority more and more; just set the aperture and make sure the shutter speed is what you expect, instead of having to coordinate them.
The original and the camera that revolutionized photojournalism is still my favorite, the Nikon F with plain prism. I have it combined with one of the best normal lenses ever made-55f3.5 Micro Nikkor. It actually does everything my film Leicas do and a few things they don't.
And those saying it has awkward film loading have obviously never used an M2/M3.
Well, just because an old Leica has HORRIBLE film loading doesn't mean the Nikon F's isn't bad. It just means it's not the
worst.
Macro lenses are always super sharp, but f/3.5 is pretty slow for a "fast prime". It's almost two stops slower than a cheap 50/2, and almost three stops slower than a 1.4. Not a big deal, these days with our modern films, but in THOSE days, when ASA 400 was "fast", it was crippling.
...
I've used the FM series cameras, and the killer on all those for me is the self timer hits my knuckle when I hold any of the variations of that camera, so without the MD-11 or MD-12, I find those cameras unusable.
Best,
-Tim
I grab the self timer sometimes on my FG when I've got a heavy lens mounted, but it's a lot smaller than an FM, FE, F2, etc.
...
This thread is making me want a plain prism F! Though they're selling for more than I expected.
if you can forgo the clean prism look, an F with a non-functional metered prism is a LOT cheaper...
Mine was even less; right around $100 plus or minus a few dollars in 1979. I was fifteen and taking a photography class in high school and the old Minolta SR-1 I was using jammed while on a field trip, so the next weekend my dad took me to Bass Camera in Chicago to buy the K1000. A rare gesture on his part; if there hadn't been a school grade eventually associated with it I'd have been saving my nickels for a VERY long time to replace the Minolta!
Mine (K1000 SE) cost more because it was 1995 and not 1979. Inflation and such.
I was never a fan of the FG; it just felt cheap and plasticy to me (the top plate actually is plastic, if I remember right, like that of the Canon AE-1). Try anything from the FM or FE family; you'll love it (and probably sell the FG).
You might be right, and I'm on the verge of buying an FE or FE2. The tiny FG with a pancake 50/1.8 mounted and set to P mode is
almost a point & shoot camera. The only real problem is that the small and light body becomes a DISadvantage when a heavier or longer lens is mounted. For example, my Tokina AT-X 28-85/3.5-4.5 is long-ish and heavy-ish and camera handling suffers as a result. Try to use a polarizer with it and it becomes downright slow and fiddly.
If I do sell an FG, I'll keep one on hand for my daughter, when she's old enough to take an interest.
