My first Nikon F3 was bought new in 1985 in Germany, it was thirty years old last week. I never knew what it could do, although I knew it could do a lot, but really, what it could do and what I have done with it so far, I never had any idea.
To mark its 30th birthday, I have been compiling some facts about this body in particular.
I have all four viewfinders, with the DW-4 6x magnification finder I have used the body on a microscope up to the point of near commercial quality usually only obtainable with a specialist microscope camera. This finder also works well with the body attached to bellows, allowing one to do quite extreme and accurate micro photography. Did many rainy days of fun with my bellows and extension bellows.
The DW-3 Waist level finder is really the go when the body is attached to my reproduction stand for photocopying. The waist level finder is also perfect for ground level work, as well as when the camera is against a wall.
The DA-2 Action finder was a revelation for taking pictures on the back of a motorcycle wearing a full face helmet, something I really didnt think would work as well as it did. With the MD4 motor drive attached and the camera secured from dropping, it worked a charm. I took stills facing backwards of push bike races, a different way of getting motion sickness I can tell you.
The standard HP (High eyePoint) finder that allows full frame viewing wearing either prescription or just normal sunglasses, is perfect for all other stuff and can be used at a pinch for many other iffy ways of using the camera.
Using the body without any finder attached, saved me from missing a shot once. I stood up on the saddle of a stationary motorcycle, with a friend holding my legs to give me balance. I attached a 24mm lens, held the camera upside down with my arms raised as high as possible, composed the picture on the focusing screen and fired away. One frame worked, I only needed one frame.
The F3 has about 20 focusing screens, all of my Nikons run the type E. This type has a series of horizontal and vertical lines to aid in composition, especially with vertical and horizontal alignment. I have the Type C for microscope work, the Type D for use when, (at the time) I was hiring an 800mm lens.
I have the DB2 Anti-Cold Battery Pack, this is an accessory I have never seen anyone else using. It uses a couple of AA batteries and has a 1 metre lead that ends in a substitute for the button cell in-house batteries. In very cold weather, you keep this attached to the F3 body and the DB2 inside your jacket, attach the DA-2 action finder so you can see the viewfinder wearing goggles, wear big warm gloves, and fire away all day. I used this in the European Alps down to -30ºC for one whole day of shooting. The camera was fine, but I was a wreck, my knee joints were really not too good the next day.
Photographing some stills for a television commercial I somehow got talked into allowing my F3 body be used for a particular and different look. The body had the MD4 drive attached, plus it had the MF-4 250 frame magazine back attached. An external power supply to power the MD4 motor drive continuously at the maximum frame rate of 6 frames per second with the mirror locked up was also attached. The sturdiest tripod in the world was used and we were off. We went through about 20 lots of 240-250 frames of film before the director was satisfied. Then we had a late lunch while the film was developed in a 300mm wide roller transport processor. It apparently was successful. The end product was about 8 seconds of disjointed movements in B&W, in the middle of a 28 second colour advertisement, that almost no-one ever saw. I have no idea how much that little part cost in making the commercial, but it took 2 days to source the various components, plus couriers and a couple of taxis to get everything together before we could begin.
Sometimes I attached the MF-18 Multi-Function film back to the body, this is very handy when shooting the finish line of a school race that every student is running in. I turn the numbering function on and a sequential four digit number is imprinted between frames, allowing the record to show just who came where. The kids are fine, it is the parents who demand proof that their child was so far down the score sheet. The sequential numbering fixed that problem up. I used two F3 bodies and borrowed another photographers MF-18 for that shoot. These days they use video cameras to do this, but back then, it was pretty cool.
My F3 body has been attached to a Telescope, a Microscope, a Riflescope, a Spotting scope, reproduction stand, bellows and last but not least, my myriad of tripods. I even have a Nikon Speedlight SB-17, hardly ever used, but I have it.
Probably the best things that attach to my F3, are my Nikkor and Sigma lenses. Some are pretty good, some are really good, some, are just out of this world. I own lenses from 18mm through to 600mm. I have used lenses from 8mm to 800mm.
The second best thing I attach to my F3 body, is all of the different film that has been run through it. Last year I took this F3 to Europe for a three month holiday, it was during that holiday and pretty much living with the camera whenever I was awake, I thought it was about time to give it a bit of a rest. There was nothing wrong with it, there still isnt anything wrong with it, but it was a bit tired. Not that you could name what it was, it just sounded a bit tired, but still worked faultlessly. It doesnt look too flash any more, it is heavily brassed in places, and there are wear grooves in the body in places from straps and metal things on straps and from my belt buckle before I changed my belt. My second F3 body was bought new 28 years ago, it belongs to my wife who doesnt use it any more, it is still pretty pristine.
I took the newer F3 body for a holiday of a few weeks, a short time ago. The difference was amazing. The film winder felt silky smooth, no bearing ratchetting felt through the thumb.
The LCD display in the viewfinder is working perfectly, not just when the sun wasnt shining directly onto the front of the camera.
The film back sits flat and doesnt wobble like the old one does after I did some panel beating of the film back after dropping the camera on some rocks.
The manual shutter release also works very smoothly. I found out that lying in a sleeping bag just inside a tent and having a long thin piece of plastic pipe taped to the manual shutter release, so I wouldnt have to get out of my warm sleeping bag to trip the shutter on the T setting for a 4 hour night shot, made the manual shutter release a bit ratchety.
The huge dent in the pentaprism top of the view finder, isnt there either, that happened after falling off a motorcycle taking pictures of a pushbike competition sitting backwards and getting motion sickness.
The shutter and mirror slap of the new F3 is not quiet, F3 shutters and mirrors are quite loud, but it is whisper quiet compared to my original F3. The fact that the new F3 has less than 1,000 rolls of film though it, is probably why it sounds so crispy quiet.
When I attach the MD4 motor drive, the drive and the body align perfectly, the F3 body and drive had slight alignment issues after being kicked by a footballer who missed the football and kicked the bottom of the motor drive. The footballer had his eye on the camera so he wouldnt kick it, would you believe. I also found out just what the excess insurance premium was, for a hired Nikkor 8mm lens that day.
Aside from those slight blemishes, my 30 year old F3 works virtually as perfectly as the day I bought it.
When I bought my First F3 body 30 years ago, I really didnt know what, or how good and versatile it was going to be. I now know that it is the complete camera for me, in effect, it is my holy grail.
Mick.
