Mechanical jewel, which one? Nikon F2, F, FM2 etc or No Nikon?

[Nikon Collector]

My all time favorite old Nikon is my Nikkormat FT2

 

[Tom1956]

My all time favorite old Nikon is my Nikkormat FT2

You and me both, brother.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

We need to establish a baseline definition for "mechanical jewel".

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...Fclockfolk%2FNew%2FMercerChrono.html;1024;768

 

[E. von Hoegh]

You and me both, brother.

And what, may I ask, is wrong with an "F"? To be sure, it's no mechanical jewel (see above) but as cameras go it's pretty good.

 

[Vsanzbajo]

For me a Nikon F, A Leica M3 or a Minolta SRT 101. All jewels in my opinion.

 

[DCB12]

Nikon F with DE-1 finder...not much better!

Peace

 

[benjiboy]

why not go for the f3 over the f2

Because he stated he wants a mechanical camera, the F3 has an electronically controlled shutter.

 

[Two23]

Jewel? Obviously a Leica M6.


Kent in SD

 

[benjiboy]

He has to decide if he wants a picture making machine, or jewellery

 

[camtec]

The FM-2 is a good choice, but beware of the ones with corrogated shutter blades. I have replaced many of those blades.

 

[Les Sarile]

By corrugated do you mean the honeycomb titanium shutters?

 

[John_Nikon_F]

Les,

I suspect that's what he means. That said, I've seen a lot of the aluminum shutter curtains damaged as well. I think it's mainly a matter of ham-handed photographers poking their fingers through the curtains. The very early titanium shutters, however (serial number 725xxxx and below), did have issues with the bushings wearing out, which would cause the shutter to underexpose by a stop at 1/500 and 1/4000. Those frequently would explode. The ones with the replaceable curtains, not as much.

-J

 

[benjiboy]

By corrugated do you mean the honeycomb titanium shutters?

No Les the Nikon FE and FM are vertical running Copal Square metal shutters not horizontal running dimpled Titanium foil ones that they have on F, F2 and F3.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

No Les the Nikon FE and FM are vertical running Copal Square metal shutters not horizontal running dimpled Titanium foil ones that they have on F, F2 and F3.

As you are a Canon man, you wouldn't know this one: the FE2, FA and some FM2 had Titanium shutters.
The early FM and FE had metal shutters as you said.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

Here is a picture of the honeycomb pattern on the Titanium shutters:

http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonfeseries/fe2/fe2g.htm#honey

P.S. It seems some FE2 and later FM2N had aluminium shutters: http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonfeseries/fe2/fe2alumi.htm

I only have the early FE and FM models and they are great ! :joyful:

 

[miha]

As you are a Canon man, you wouldn't know this one: the FE2, FA and some FM2 had Titanium shutters.
The early FM and FE had metal shutters as you said.

True. I used to have two FM2 cameras with different shutter types, metal and titanium. If there is a difference qualitywise I'm not sure.

 

[Les Sarile]

Thanks Ben but I know about the variants in the FM2s shutters (honeycomb pattern titanium and plain aluminum - both vertical) and have never heard of corrugated style shutters on any camera.

More about FM2's shutter - http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonfeseries/fefmshared/honeycomb/index.htm

 

[benjiboy]

Thanks Ben but I know about the variants in the FM2s shutters (honeycomb pattern titanium and plain aluminum - both vertical) and have never heard of corrugated style shutters on any camera.

More about FM2's shutter - http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonfeseries/fefmshared/honeycomb/index.htm

I think he means that the individual slats of the shutter have become corrugated, I once had a customer who had put his finger through his FM shutter out of curiosity and it all came out like metal spaghetti so he couldn't close the camera back.

 

[Les Sarile]

I think he means that the individual slats of the shutter have become corrugated, I once had a customer who had put his finger through his FM shutter out of curiosity and it all came out like metal spaghetti so he couldn't close the camera back.

Ouch!
I've never done that . . . Knock on wood . . .

 

[benjiboy]

Ouch!
I've never done that . . . Knock on wood . . .

Yes it was a very expensive repair, I had to send it to Nikon U.K. to have the shutter replaced and the customer expected them to do it as a warranty repair !, but there was no way that were going to do this, they considered this was willful damage and he had to pay.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

As you are a Canon man, you wouldn't know this one: the FE2, FA and some FM2 had Titanium shutters.
The early FM and FE had metal shutters as you said.

Titanium is a metal.

 

[miha]

Titanium is a metal.

Well, almost. :confused:
I believe Ricardo simply followed Ben's terminology. I sure did.

 

[frank]

There's a nice f2 available in the classified right now. No connection to seller.

 

[Kyle M.]

I've owned an F, F2, and F3, and I've played with an FM2, the F is the only one I've kept. The F3 was nice I bought it in mint condition with a 50mm 1.4 and SB-16 speedlight and used it for several months last winter. I eventually decided I'd rather have something all mechanical, the F3 is now on permanent loan to a friend. I bought an F2 Photomic with 24mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, and 135mm 3.5 non ai lenses a short time later. All in all I really liked the F2, but decided to focus more on medium format so I sold it and went back to using my RB67. About a month ago I decided I need at least 1 good 35mm slr so I bought a Nikon F with FTn head. The meter works but I prefer to meter by hand with my Gossen Luna Pro F. So far I couldn't be happier than I am with the F and the Nikkor H.C 50mm F2. Some would say the F is lacking compared to the F2 but really all I've given up is 1/2000 top speed, better mirror lockup on the F2, and 2-10 second shutter speeds. I honestly think I can live without them, plus I kind of like the removable back, and don't find it to be a pain like some do. The FM2 just felt cheap to me when compared to the F, and F2, just really not my style, I'm sure there excellant cameras but not for me. Plus I love good cheap non ai lenses, and stop down metering is not my thing.

 

[chip j]

The various F2 models are the same body (or essentially, so, some small tweaks may have been introduced over the years), with the prism determining the model.

If you are really after the "execellence on mechanical technology", I can only repeat my Leicaflex SL reccomendation. It really is a step above the F2 and the F.
The SL2 is even more of a mechanical marvel, but would be over budget.
As pointed out, lenses will usually be more expensive than Nikon ones, though not as much as legend has it.

Re Spotmatic: lovely camera, but viewfinder is a bit dark. Also, if you change lenses often, screw mount is a PITA.

Also, depending on which lenses you're using on your Contax and Rolleiflex, you might find Nikon lenses to be a step down, though if you choose very wisely, that can be minimized. Unfortunately Rolleiflex's mechanical SLRs (SL-35 and SL-35M) are neither jewels nor tanks. While not a mechanical jewel by any means,your SL-35E is actually a very sweet camera - as long as it keeps working. I use mine a lot!

I've read many times that the Leica slrs have silvering problems in their prisms