Need to get a Nikon body, tell me about the Fxxx/Nxxxx series

[Mark Crabtree]

F3's are amazing bargains now and were great cameras. I think they had the longest production run of any Nikon pro camera (maybe any Nikon camera).

F80's, F90's, 8008's, and 6006's for $50 and less are also hard to beat. I've owned a fair percentage of the "good" Nikons and still have some, but usually grab the 6006 when I'm going out the door. I'd probably use my F80 if I had more autofocus lenses. All have way more features than I have any real interest in.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

F3's are amazing bargains now and were great cameras. I think they had the longest production run of any Nikon pro camera (maybe any Nikon camera).

F80's, F90's, 8008's, and 6006's for $50 and less are also hard to beat. I've owned a fair percentage of the "good" Nikons and still have some, but usually grab the 6006 when I'm going out the door. I'd probably use my F80 if I had more autofocus lenses. All have way more features than I have any real interest in.

I remember back when the F80s came out. I lived in Beijing at the time but got to Hong Kong to snag one. I liked it well enough but it was so cheap and plasticky feeling vs my FM2 and FE2 that since AF was not all that attractive to me I sold it off. Sold off all my Nikon gear not long after and went pure Contax with the G2 and RX, RTSII. Jumped back into Nikon again few years ago when I got a clean FM2 (the one with the honeycomb shutter) for a song and saw how cheap all the classic prime "F" glass from the 60's can be had for now. Such awesome lenses for B&W work! Later got a beat up but perfectly working F3 for $150. That was my unattainable dream camera back in the early 80's. Still have the Contax's and their great Zeiss glass but love my two classic Nikons and sweet Nikkor glass all the same...

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Oh ya' got me all excited! But then I checked eBay and they're still going for mostly way over a thou'. I'm sure that's a huge discount to when new but not quite the bargain I was hoping for....like F3 bodies for $150 that were $2000 when new....oh well.

Don't get me wrong here. I was not expecting to see F6 bodies for one-fiddy. But if they we're as low as $500-600 I think I would have grabbed one. Hmmm, maybe in a year or three??

 

[SafetyBob]

If you like the FE, why not just find another good used one. I know I like mine well enough to have a backup "just" in case. I also love photographing just about anything with my old FA too (it has a backup also).

I got an nice F4S probably 4 years ago when I decided to get back into film. My first venture back into film after 20+ years of basically not photographing anything....boy did I notice the slow AF, but for the most part it worked well for me. Even got a AF teleconverter and routinely slap an old MF prime on it......focus in the ball park, then the autofocus seems to work better and faster for me that way.....I maybe fooling myself, but I sure like the fact I can autofocus my old MF lenses using a teleconverter with autofocus....I have much less difficulty taking pictures of small kids moving around.

Finally, please tell us who worked on your camera twice and couldn't fix it......I can't believe that a big repair facility wouldn't stand behind their work.

Bob E.

 

[Pumalite]

F-100, according to your prioridades. I still like my FM, FE, F, F2, F3, F4