Nikon F

What can I say but the daddy of all SLR cameras. I have owed my Nikon F for over 20 years and although others have come and gone My F still takes great shots. Who needs auto this and that anyway just buy one and then you will truely understand the joy of photography.

Possibly one of the greatest cameras of all time

The worlds Top professional 35mm camera of early 1960's. The Nikon F camera made from 1958 to 1974, totall produced about 850,000 units. All cameras are assembled by hand. It has superior body finish, matherials are choosen very well. Nikon F was the choice of journalists and other professional photographers. This camera stared in many cinema movies as a symbol of professional photography. Camera has adpoted titan foil horizontally traveling shutter with MTBF of at least 150,000 frames. Many of theese cameras are functional even today. Shutter has practical range of 1-1/1000 speeds and flash sync on 1/60.

The only problematic point in this body is hot shoe, it hasn't standart shoe as most of manual focus Nikon F's. It's because the prism can't hold heavy professional flash. It's really on of the best ever mechanical cameras in the world. It is very solid camera that is made for hardest conditions.

As camera of end of 1950's it has very advanced design. Actually I think that this camera made the current look of modern 35mm SLR, it was starting point of professional 35mm SLR photography. I bought my Nikon F with photomic Tn finder for 1000 NIS (~220$). This camera looks very impressive, and even after so many years it is accurate as new. I made with it beautiful quality pictures that are equal to thoose made on my Nikon F4S.

The most popular Photomic prism was FTn, it's almost identical to Photomic prism of Nikon F2 by features.

I have more reare Photomic Tn prism, it was made only one year 1967-1968. The problem of all old photomic prisms that needle becomes jumpy, it's because resistor needs cleaning. As owner of all manual focus Nikon F's (F, F2, F3) I can tell that the Nikon F is the most interesting model because it was the first one.

NASA choose Nikon to fly to space and almost every Nikon from Nikon F series has seen the earth from the space.

This venerable workhorse has produced so many award winning photographs throughout history and is still capable of doing so today. I recently photographed a shuttle launch with my nikon f and the person next to me was using the latest automatic exposure af cannon camera. They had respectable snapshots, i won 1st place in a photo contest with my picture. There was a rainbow and a moon with the smoke trail. The autoexposure af camera was unable to capture the rainbow and i think that best states the benefit of the nikon f in that it captures what is there. Shutter speeds to 1/1000 - slow by some standards but what really moves fast enough to require faster? This camera is not so much show but all business when it comes to go.

Perhaps the most recognized cameras of the late 1950's through the 1960's, the Nikon F 35mm SLR camera was the 'King of the Photojournalists.' The cameras were well made had tons of interchangeable backs, prisms, focusing screens and of course those superb Nikon lenses. Early models (C.1959) had standard non-metered eye level finders. There were 4 metered prisms added: the Photomic in 1962, the Photomic T in 1965, the Photomic Tn in 1967 and the classic Photomic FTn in 1968. Although I have had good experiences with the Photomic finder, be aware that just about everyone wants the 60/40 centerweighted Nikon F with the Photomic FTn finder. (Note: serial numbers under 6900000 need to be modified to take the FTn finder. (Serial #s 6500000 through 6600000 with red dots next to their numbers have already been modified for the larger finders at the factory and are collectable.) Nikon F's have the capability of taking wonderful 35MM pictures! They are not auto focus or auto exposure or even plastic. They are heavy solid and require a steep learning curve; but there are few cameras as capable of teaching one the basics of exposure and depth of field and just good old basic photography. Few things in life will pay the kind of dividends the Nikon F's will to the dedicated photographer. The meters get 'jumpy' and need repair and calibration. Perhaps a cleaning lube and alignment (CLA,) and replacement of light and vibration baffling foam would be prudent. The main hit you will find on these solid old war-horses, is the price. Collectors and nostalgian's have caused prices to skyrocket. Repairs can be costly as these have an aura of big dollars spinning around them. Nothing about these cameras are inexpensive. Are they worth the high price tag? To collectors, yes. Oh, I guess I should confess they are worth it to me too! And if you look at it as an investment, the right Nikon could be worth more in the end paying the dividends of great photos before gracing some rich collector's shelf. (Best time waster for the kids, how many times will the Nikon F pop up in the movies in a month? Our high score so far-57, thank you Apocalypse Now.)

This camera is a good choice for photo beginners for it's relatively low price (for a used one), 100% view finder area, and fully manual overide on all functions. It will make a beginner know more about photography basics than later AF cameras. Compare to the current Nikon FM2n, it is still a very good choice on budgetwise.