Holy Trinity of Manual Focus Nikon SLRs...

[ic-racer]

Nikon F "Apollo," Nikon F2AS and Nikon F3:

 

[Horatio]

Nice set. I have one of each as well.

 

[ic-racer]

Nice set. I have one of each as well.

Which is your favorite?

 

[Horatio]

F2.

 

[mikestr]

Plain F2 Photomic: I prefer a needle in my light meter. Probably the best made SLR from Nikon, or perhaps by anybody. I'd prefer my F without any meter, as mine, like most, stopped working decades ago.No camer that requires removal of the back to load film makes any sense to me. This is not 1959. The F3 is a more functional camera than either, but it's a bit cheaply made. Anyone want mine?

On balance the F2 gets the most love. They are all larger and heavier than they need to be.

 

[skahde]

What a beautiful trio. I picked the F3. I really like cameras with a basic AE-feature but don't tell my Leicas (IIIf, M3, M4). In addition the F3 handles very well and find it to be less top-heavy than the cameras with metered prisms (I used to have a F2Sb), especially with the more compact DE-2.

 

[dynachrome]

My two Fs are a 1962 model with a plain finder and the selenium clip-on meter and a 1973 FTN. The earlier camera came with a 50/2 Nikkor-S. The FTN finder is brighter than the old plain finder. I have a number of F2s. The one I use most often has the DP-2 and it works well. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that my eye has to be well centered to see everything properly. If you take a lens like a 200 and point it up at the top of a tall building, you will not see the same distortion in the finder of an F2 that you see with a Nikkormat. Still, I have many Nikkormats and like them. My F3 has the original prism finder and not the HP finder. I prefer the original finder. If I want to use something more modern and with more eye relief, I will use a N90S. I do not wear glasses when I focus through an SLR. What three Canons do I have and can compare to the three Nikons? The original F-1 of 1971, the F-1n of 1976 and the New F-1 of 1981. I have a fleet of these and for most purposes, I prefer them to the three Nikons but for me it's not an either/or proposition. I enjoy using all of them, and many others, at different times and for different subjects.

 

[mshchem]

Nikon F "Apollo," Nikon F2AS and Nikon F3:

View attachment 410417

I love this stuff! The black FTn "Apollo" is a real gem. My first Nikon was a new F2S, 1973. I learned to really hate the + and - LEDs. I have one of the silly EE aperture control units for the F2AS, it's in need of a tuning as all it does is go back and forth. It's really cool looking