Coldest Extreme Weather for an F with Sandard Prism?

APUGuser19 said:

I see the F. It's pretty. I guess the D must stand for something else besides double. I was picturing something with maybe 2 lenses.

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No, I think it probably stands for "Da camera Dat took Dis picture..."

I hope to have Nikon rangefinder someday.

If you want to, put the F prism on the F2.
Newer camera, swing open back.

The internals are the same dimensions.
You may need to remove the piece directly in front of the prism. It's two screws. Put them in a baggie & swap it back when you get home.
I don't remember if there are spacers behind the plate that comes off. That may be only on the meter heads.

John Koehrer said:

If you want to, put the F prism on the F2.
Newer camera, swing open back.

The internals are the same dimensions.
You may need to remove the piece directly in front of the prism. It's two screws. Put them in a baggie & swap it back when you get home.
I don't remember if there are spacers behind the plate that comes off. That may be only on the meter heads.

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Thanks! That's actually not a bad idea. Worst case scenario I can always buy a standard prism for the F2. I'm assuming it would be so much easier to load film into a hinged back F2 than in an F while wearing gloves.

Nikon never published a temp range for the F and probably never formally designed and tested for temperature.
That said, I used two Nikon F's in the late 1960's while working for a large Midwest daily. Both were standard factory and always functioned in any type of cold weather. I remember standing in the middle of a half frozen trout stream taking a January shot for the Sunday front page, temp about -15F. Nor problems, shot made the front page.
But, that was then, this is now, Nikon F's are decades older, lube's are gone, aged or have been changed, who knows what is used in a CLA these days.
Try it but if you MUST have the camera function, then a knowledgable individual doing a CLA is required for cold temps.-Dick

Because space is a vacuum it wouldn't "cool off" as fast as you think.
The cameras were painted a bright white, likely a procedure for how long any surface could face the sun.

APUGuser19 said:

I wonder what the interior temperature inside a Hasselblad EL on the moon was. I suppose when he had his face toward the sun it was boiling hot, and when he turned his back, it was very cold in a short time.

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Because space is a vacuum it wouldn't "cool off" as fast as you think.
The cameras were painted a bright white, likely a procedure for how long any surface could face the sun.


Contrary to even Hasselblad's advertising, the lunar cameras were custom built items... nowhere near off the shelf, and as PE said, very thin film base was used in the magazines. Now "shuttle cameras" were closer to consumer equipment.

Pretty much any mechanical camera should cope if it has been CLA'd. I think some of my Pentax manuals include a warning that you should have it serviced with special lubricants if you're planning to use it in low temperatures.

I put one of my KXs through the freezer to kill some dust mites in the viewfinder. Bagged it and froze it overnight (it was halfway through a roll of film when I noticed the little dots wandering around), took it out, waited until it returned to room temperature and then opened the bag. No harm done and no more mites! I'd happily take it and its identical twin anywhere if they were properly CLA'd (as opposed to my having cleaned them, replaced the light seals and film tested them).

PentaxBronica said:

Pretty much any mechanical camera should cope if it has been CLA'd. I think some of my Pentax manuals include a warning that you should have it serviced with special lubricants if you're planning to use it in low temperatures.

I put one of my KXs through the freezer to kill some dust mites in the viewfinder. Bagged it and froze it overnight (it was halfway through a roll of film when I noticed the little dots wandering around), took it out, waited until it returned to room temperature and then opened the bag. No harm done and no more mites! I'd happily take it and its identical twin anywhere if they were properly CLA'd (as opposed to my having cleaned them, replaced the light seals and film tested them).

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Correct. I serviced my F myself, as per the Nikon manual but using modern synthetic lubricants. I don't know what the minimum temperature it will function at is, but I've used it well below zero F. and it functions normally.