Best viewfinder for NIkon MF

[Melvin J Bramley]

Which Nikon manual focus camera has the best viewfinder for viewing camera settings; F stop and shutter speed?
I have long enjoyed Nikons FE and FM cameras but these pale aside a F90 or F80 where settings are easily readable.
How good is the Nikon FA viewfinder?

 

[Chan Tran]

Which Nikon manual focus camera has the best viewfinder for viewing camera settings; F stop and shutter speed?
I have long enjoyed Nikons FE and FM cameras but these pale aside a F90 or F80 where settings are easily readable.
How good is the Nikon FA viewfinder?

The FA has a confusing viewfinder information. If the camera is also manual exposure then the F2 with photomic viewfinder has good exposure information in the viewfinder. However I have no problem with the information of the FE or FM. The only thing that the information protrudes into the image area on these cameras.

 

[Melvin J Bramley]

I am left eye dominant and as I age the metering of the FE and FM on the sides of the viewfinder are becoming awkward to see.
Perhaps a Nikon F3 HP would fit my needs?

 

[GregY]

I am left eye dominant and as I age the metering of the FE and FM on the sides of the viewfinder are becoming awkward to see.
Perhaps a Nikon F3 HP would fit my needs?

The F3HP was one of my favourites....& pretty light without the motor drive. The 100% finder of the F,F2,F3 I always preferred over the FM/FE as sturdy and good as they are.

 

[brian steinberger]

I have a F4, F100, and FE. The FE by far has the brightest and largest viewfinder. I did upgrade to the newest K3 screen which was designed for the Fm3a. It makes a difference.

 

[Chuck1]

I'm left eyed
I like the +- of the fm2
But the wind lever pokes me in the right eye

 

[250swb]

My FM3a has the brightest viewfinder, being the last in the manual line Nikon threw everything they knew at it, but the F3 HP is a very nice viewfinder as well. I think the FM3a beats the F3 for clear information though. The FM2n is clear and simple to read, but none of my others stand out, the F100 is ok, F2's kind of ok, F a bit dull. I think a manual camera benefits from a bright viewfinder more than an AF camera because lets face it you don't need to focus it, so the priority is what types of lenses you have and whether they are fast or slow. But my overall recommendation is the FM3a which is almost on a par with my Leica R9.

 

[skahde]

I'm not sure what maybe the source of the problem. The presentation of the data or the eye-relief of the finder? Maybe the thread-opener can tell us a bit more about his reasoning?
Is it about the positioning of the data or the readability, maginifcation?

 

[Chan Tran]

I am left eye dominant and as I age the metering of the FE and FM on the sides of the viewfinder are becoming awkward to see.
Perhaps a Nikon F3 HP would fit my needs?

I like the F3 best but I am afraid you may not like it because you prefer the new all LCD information in the new AF cameras. The F3 when in Manual only has the + and - indication. It doesn't even have the o indication like the FM. However, all of the information is outside of the image area and at the same apparent distance to your eye. The F3 has the viewfinder illuminator that is almost impossible to use. It looks nice as a decorated red dot.

 

[ic-racer]

In my opinion the best viewfinder info is from F6, but almost as good is the F90. That is to say, these two cameras (and some others also), with nice viewfinder information, will meter with the AI non-Autofocus lenses.

Otherwise I agree with what Chan Tran mentions about the F3.

 

[Paul Howell]

Not had a FM or FA, FE, but I thought the viewfinder in the F3 was quite good.

 

[GregY]

Me too..... the FM/FE/FA finders are all less than 100% coverage

 

[Nitroplait]

The information display in the F3 is terribly dim - even with a contrasty fresh LCD. Not to speak of the poor usability if used in manual mode - certainly no match of the FE/FE2/FM3A.
The eye relief of the HP finder can be nice but it reduces the finder magnification. The original F3 finder has better magnification and is more compact (and still great with glasses).

I am wondering if the Nikon F601M could be an option. It is the manual focus version of F601 but I don’t recall the qualities of its finder.

The best and most informative finders remains those of the higher end later AF models F801(s) F90(x) F5 F6