F1n/AE winder - Should I?

[mw_uio]

My first post! I have a F3hp/MD4 with 2.8/28, 2.8/24. I have had it for 5 months and love it!! Now I have seen a F1n/AE. Should I get one? Or do I just stay with what I have? I had a EOS 10s once and it served me well.
I think in the FD lenses are quite cheap and really really good. I would like to team up with a sharp lens if I go ahead with the F1n.

Help me!

thanks
Mark

 

[firecracker]

My first post! I have a F3hp/MD4 with 2.8/28, 2.8/24. I have had it for 5 months and love it!! Now I have seen a F1n/AE. Should I get one? Or do I just stay with what I have? I had a EOS 10s once and it served me well.
I think in the FD lenses are quite cheap and really really good. I would like to team up with a sharp lens if I go ahead with the F1n.

Help me!

thanks
Mark

Hi Mark. It really depends on what you need a new camera for.

I use a New F1 with NFD lenses. I don't need much more to make the kind of photos I want. But I would recommend it only if you really need another system since you have the Nikon, which is also excellent.

Starting to build a new system with the FD and/or NFD lenses might take some time and could eventually cost you quite a lot because certain lenses are so popular and often hard to find cheap even in the auctions.

So, you can certainly get a backup body and more lenses for your F3 for the money you will spend. That way you will be more comfortable with what you use mainly.

Good luck.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I also use a New F-1, but if I already had a Nikon system, I wouldn't start building another system. It would make more sense to build the system you have, whether it's Nikon or Canon.

I suspect you're looking at an F-1N (officially the "New" F-1), not an F-1n. The F-1N has an AE Winder FN that lets you use shutter priority auto-exposure. The F-1n is an update of the original F-1 and came before the New F-1, but I don't think it had an AE Winder. I have an F-1n as a backup for my F-1N.

 

[gnashings]

I have a New F1 and it is a wonderful camera, and have been using the Canon FD system for a while. In my experience it is the best return foryour dollar, especially in terms of lenses.
However - you already have an excellent camera, and a couple very useful lenses, and the price difference between older Nikon lenses and Canon FD lenses, while it is there, is not all that big. You have a camera right now that is at least as capable (and I would say slightly more) than the New F1 - you would not be gaining any significant capability by the move. And then you have to go out and buy some lenses - no matter how good a value they are, they are still an expenditure. And you already started with one system, so you would have some redundancy or a system that is built at the expanse of another - not the most practical solution.
If I was in your position, I would get an affordable back up body for your F3 and invest in some of that excellent Nikkor glass - the only reason to buy the F1 that I can think of is if you just really want to have one. And this is coming from a Canon (New F1 among others) user.

Peter.

PS - The only significant adventage I can think of in the New F1 is a) the ability to install a focusing screen wich gives you a spot metering capability and b) the super fast motor drive (8.5 fps) which I think would requie the dedicated high-speed F3 to match (if I recall correctly). Unless one of, or both of these are really big on your list, the F3 does just about everything the F1 will, and some things it won't (MLU, for example).

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

You have gotten some very sage advise in the previous posts. I have a couple of Nikon F3HP's with MD4. From a practical point of view the Nikon system will do almost anything you could ask from a 35mm sytem camera and there is little to be gained by adding a Canon F1-N to your collection.

But, practicality be damned!! I have always lusted after many top end cameras but could never afford them, until the recent exodous from film cameras to digital that has made many cameras affordale. I now have a Canon F1-N, Canon A1, Canon AE-1 to keep my Nikon F3HP's and Nikon FA's company. I also have a couple of Pentax Spotmatics, an Olympus OM-2, a Beseler Topcon Super D, an Olympus Pen FTN 1/2 frame, plus a few Bronica ETR, ETRS medium format bodies. I think for all of these I have paid about what I would have paid for a new Nikon F3HP with MD4 7 years ago.

My irrational logic goes like this, I don't smoke so I consider my camera buying my addiction. It may be just as fatal as smoking, (if I believe my wife's threats about what will happen if another package shows up at the door with a camera in it).

If you want a F1-N and have the money I say go for it, they are really cool cameras. You only live once and when you die you are dead for a long time!

Wayne

 

[bohica]

You have gotten some very sage advise in the previous posts. I have a couple of Nikon F3HP's with MD4. From a practical point of view the Nikon system will do almost anything you could ask from a 35mm sytem camera and there is little to be gained by adding a Canon F1-N to your collection.

But, practicality be damned!! I have always lusted after many top end cameras but could never afford them, until the recent exodous from film cameras to digital that has made many cameras affordale. I now have a Canon F1-N, Canon A1, Canon AE-1 to keep my Nikon F3HP's and Nikon FA's company. I also have a couple of Pentax Spotmatics, an Olympus OM-2, a Beseler Topcon Super D, an Olympus Pen FTN 1/2 frame, plus a few Bronica ETR, ETRS medium format bodies. I think for all of these I have paid about what I would have paid for a new Nikon F3HP with MD4 7 years ago.

My irrational logic goes like this, I don't smoke so I consider my camera buying my addiction. It may be just as fatal as smoking, (if I believe my wife's threats about what will happen if another package shows up at the door with a camera in it).

If you want a F1-N and have the money I say go for it, they are really cool cameras. You only live once and when you die you are dead for a long time!

Wayne

MY KIND OF PHOTOGRAPHER!!!!

 

[gnashings]

...the only reason to buy the F1 that I can think of is if you just really want to have one...

Hey! I never said it was a bad reason!

I can certainly tell you this much: if I took my own advice I'd be a richer man!

You know... those F3's are such nice cameras now that you mention it...

Peter