Gotta Love Nikon

[BobNewYork]

I had four Nikon bodies (FE, FM, N90s and F100) which were sitting on a shelf when a fire took out the upper floor of my home in February last year. They were completely black (the chrome ones that is !!) I bagged them in Ziplocs because of the smell from them. Over a year later I took a look - shutters fired first time with no problems. I can't recall what the estimated temperature was according to the Fire Marshall - but you gotta love that reliability!

Yesterday I got round to cleaning one - the FE, which was my first ever SLR. Plenty of Q-Tips, microfibre cloths and naptha later, plus replacement light seals from Jon Goodman's Interslice, a new set of batteries and everything works like new. Even the meter seems accurate at first blush, but I'll have to check it more fully.

One down, three to go

Bob H

 

[FilmOnly]

May these venerable cameras live and breathe well again. I always enjoy cleaning an old camera. I have cleaned many.

 

[Excalibur2]

Well I would like Nikon if their lenses didn't sell for silly prices, you even have to be lucky to get a Tamron/Nikon adapter cheap..........My Nikon em and n2000 don't get a work out with just a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 shared between them.

 

[darinwc]

I disagree. The manual focus Nikkors are very reasonable. Look at the pentax k mount and olympus lenses and you will see crazyness.

 

[Excalibur2]

I disagree. The manual focus Nikkors are very reasonable. Look at the pentax k mount and olympus lenses and you will see crazyness.

Hmm you'd be lucky to get a MF Nikkor 24mm f2.8 under £60 now, more like £80....It wouldn't suprise me if investors have entered the market temporarily as I also had a hobby of stamp collecting many years ago and stamp prices went thru the roof until the bubble burst.

 

[Joe Grodis]

NASA has been using Nikon since 1971, Apollo 15 I believe. I think the first Modified Nikon F4 used by NASA was auctioned off on Ebay in 2005. So, yes, you have to love Nikons excellent build quality.

 

[bdial]

I don't know if they are recorded anywhere on the net, but there is a long list of stories and folklore of the abuses that Nikons have gone through, and mostly survived.

Two I've heard;

Guy is photographing in the mountains from an aircraft, drops his Nikon F which lands in the snow. The camera is retrieved after the spring melt and is functional.

U.S. Marine photographer is shooting a picture during a battle in Vietnam, when a bullet aimed for his head is stopped by the Nikon, saving his life.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Most of the Nikons are excellant cameras, but then again so are Canon, Pentax, Leica, etc.

Jeff

 

[benjiboy]

I don't know if they are recorded anywhere on the net, but there is a long list of stories and folklore of the abuses that Nikons have gone through, and mostly survived.

Two I've heard;

Guy is photographing in the mountains from an aircraft, drops his Nikon F which lands in the snow. The camera is retrieved after the spring melt and is functional.

U.S. Marine photographer is shooting a picture during a battle in Vietnam, when a bullet aimed for his head is stopped by the Nikon, saving his life.

I have an American friend who lives here in England who has shown me his Nikon F Photomic that has a bullet score across the prism that caused the camera to be shot out of his hands in Vietnam, he says he was lucky it was a ricochet or his Nikon may have been a write off

P.S I don't currently own one,although I have in the past, I'm a Canon user, but if I had to use a camera to knock 6 inch nails in with, and then take pictures with it, it would be the Nikon F.

 

[John_Nikon_F]

With respect to lens prices, yes, for mint condition lenses, they aren't cheap. I've usually had good luck with lenses marked BGN by KEH. The lenses are in nice shape, but, because KEH grades things very conservatively, they wind up being affordable. A 24mm f/2.8 Nikkor AI can usually be around $85 US in that condition. I've seen Ugly grade lenses from KEH going for as little as $16.00. That being a 24mm f/2.8 Nikkor-N with factory AI conversion ring. Was engraved, and, of course, well-used. Currently, my most expensive lens is a 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor in EX grade that I got for $150. The only other lens that I have that was that expensive is my 20mm f/3.5 Nikkor-UD with factory AI ring. Every other lens I own was purchased for less than $100, with the cheapest being my 28mm f/3.5 Nikkor-H, which I got for $11.50, plus shipping.

-J

 

[2F/2F]

If you want very reasonably priced manual Nikkors, get a pre-AI body and use original F mount lenses. I have spent $350 total on my Nikon kit, and I have a near-mint F, a near-mint Nikkormat, a 24mm f.2.8, 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4, and 135mm f/3.5...all with hoods and cases. (Also, two Vivitar lenses: 35mm f/3.5 and 135mm f/2.8, plus an extra 50mm 1.4 that I sold for $30.)

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

28mm f/3.5 Nikkor-H, which I got for $11.50

See, the man was right - they do sell for silly prices.

 

[John_Nikon_F]

See, the man was right - they do sell for silly prices.

*chuckle* Just in the opposite direction of what he meant. ;-)

-J