Nikon F 3000 $

Photographerfromsud · Feb 20, 2018

A Nikon F just popped up on eBay this week, i have never seen one like this; black F combining plain prism and red dot !!! i am thinking to bid on it whats your opinion?
Thanks in advance

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-F-bl...287211?hash=item2ccf86eceb:g:6MkAAOSwG7Fai1gx

guangong · Feb 20, 2018

Not being a Nikon collector, I have no opinion regarding its worth as a collectible. Collecting has nothing to do with practicality. (I discovered this fact when I visited an antique collectibles show and realized that through my life was squandered a small fortune in beer cans). I have a black Nikon F w black prism that I bought used in mid 1970s that’s still going strong.
However, $3000 is a lot of money. I would do a lot of research first. From my limited interests keep in mind that ebay has many Leica and Minox forgeries offered for sale. Also, Russian lenses masquerading as rare Leica l ness. If this is what you want, buy from a respected dealer.
You can buy a black Nikon F for a lot less money.

benjiboy · Feb 20, 2018

I know it's rare, but I'm a photographer, not a collector, I would be afraid to use it at that price and, it's too much money to put on a display cabinet, and not use, it also occurs to me that if anything happened to it, if it was damaged or stolen you would have a hell of job convincing an insurance company to pay out that kind of money out for a claim for1965 Nikon F.

summicron1 · Feb 20, 2018

Nothing rate about it, so i suspect this auction is a scam, or over-hyped at least. Any collectible camera, especially for this money, must be regarded as an investment, and like all investments you need to study the market before investing. Something like this, you must consider that there is more down-side than up-side because the market for cameras such as this is pretty specialized and very picky.

And shop around.

Here's one for 10 cents on the dollar at buy-it-now. It's chrome, not black, but so what?: https://www.ebay.com/i/132480729937?chn=ps&fl=a

AgX · Feb 20, 2018

I only know red-dots from Leitz. And as design-award.
So what is this Nikon-dot about ?

cramej · Feb 20, 2018

It's not particularly rare. On top of that, the only difference is that the mirror housing is modified to take a photomic prism and it has a red dot. I'm guessing most of them were sold with the plain prism anyway. Big whoop.

Seems that chrome red dots in much better condition are going for $5-800. Still too much IMO since there were thousands of them made.

Dennis-B · Feb 20, 2018

The "Collectibles" business is never for the faint of heart or those with a dearth of money. At all collectibles' shows, your stuff is junk, and the dealers' stuffs are treasures, worthy of great amount of dollar expenditures.

I've seen two Leica M3's go for huge differences with only a minor body mark as the difference. I've seen Parker Duofold fountain pens prices at levels that are absolutely insane.

It also brings out the charlatans and fakers. I also have a few collectible firearms, and I considered investing in Winchester pump shotguns; that is until I found out that people are actually making parts for older Winchesters, buying junker guns, and rebuilding them, selling them as perfect condition guns. Talk about "caveat emptor"!

blockend · Feb 20, 2018

Lovely, desirable camera, but I can't see it being worth half the asking price. The Nikon F was more of a workhorse than a jewel, so you're paying a huge black premium.

Photographerfromsud · Feb 20, 2018

Thank you all for your replies, i have a collection of some early Nikon Cameras including some early F and one chrome F with red dot so i am interested on this one because it is black with plain prism and i think its value can go higher in few years, i dont afraid of buying from a new seller cause there is return policy and eBay money back guarantee, as long as i know new sellers can receive the money only one week after we received the item.The problem is not that, the problem is that i can not find an estimation for the value of this camera cause there is no other one like this on eBay.

Theo Sulphate · Feb 20, 2018

Not all that rare or valuable:

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/michaeliu/cameras/nikonf/fbody/fspecial.htm

summicron1 · Feb 20, 2018

Photographerfromsud said:
Thank you all for your replies, i have a collection of some early Nikon Cameras including some early F and one chrome F with red dot so i am interested on this one because it is black with plain prism and i think its value can go higher in few years, i dont afraid of buying from a new seller cause there is return policy and eBay money back guarantee, as long as i know new sellers can receive the money only one week after we received the item.The problem is not that, the problem is that i can not find an estimation for the value of this camera cause there is no other one like this on eBay.

well, obviously, if you pay $3,000 for this one, then the value of a black paint red-dot Nikon F with prism, with some signs of usage, is $3,000 and future catalogs will show that.

Sadly, that doesn't mean you will ever be able to sell it for that much. To do so you will need to find some other guy on the planet who thinks it is worth $3,000-plus.

If every other person on the planet thinks it's only worth $1,000, then you either hold onto it, with the receipt for what you paid, or you don't. That's how it work. Folks in the bitcoin market are leaning this same thing.

If I were you I'd look outside ebay and see if there is record of previous sales, by auction companies or anywhere else. If nobody else but you is bidding on this one, that's a hint.

macfred · Feb 20, 2018

Stephen Gandy (cameraquest.com) on the Nikon F variations - for the 'red dot' scroll down : https://www.cameraquest.com/nikonf.htm

benjiboy · Feb 20, 2018

Photographerfromsud said:
Thank you all for your replies, i have a collection of some early Nikon Cameras including some early F and one chrome F with red dot so i am interested on this one because it is black with plain prism and i think its value can go higher in few years, i dont afraid of buying from a new seller cause there is return policy and eBay money back guarantee, as long as i know new sellers can receive the money only one week after we received the item.The problem is not that, the problem is that i can not find an estimation for the value of this camera cause there is no other one like this on eBay.

Things don't have intrinsic value they are "worth " what " you can get for them.

E. von Hoegh · Feb 20, 2018

The lens is muticoated (Nikkor S C) and not "correct" for that body. $3000 sounds way too much.

RalphLambrecht · Feb 20, 2018

guangong said:
Not being a Nikon collector, I have no opinion regarding its worth as a collectible. Collecting has nothing to do with practicality. (I discovered this fact when I visited an antique collectibles show and realized that through my life was squandered a small fortune in beer cans). I have a black Nikon F w black prism that I bought used in mid 1970s that’s still going strong.
However, $3000 is a lot of money. I would do a lot of research first. From my limited interests keep in mind that ebay has many Leica and Minox forgeries offered for sale. Also, Russian lenses masquerading as rare Leica l ness. If this is what you want, buy from a respected dealer.
You can buy a black Nikon F for a lot less money.

+1

Kodachromeguy · Feb 20, 2018

I will be another spoilsport and urge you to pass on this F. As the MIR article noted, there is nothing all that rare about the red dot bodies. And other respondents have pointed out how the collectable market is inflated by shill buyers and items that have been modified. If you really want to spend $3000, one of the gorgeous Nikon S3 Silver Year 2000 Limited Edition cameras might be an interesting buy. Magnificent old-fashioned hand-made craftsmanship, but assembled in 1999 or 2000! And with their best 50mm ever. Amazing.

Helios 1984 · Feb 20, 2018

Ebay is a big pond, and there’s a lot of fishes to fry.

mshchem · Feb 20, 2018

I just bought a (another) perfect "Apollo" F FTn perfect condition, I did replace the strip of foam. It's chrome but mint condition with a mint soft leather case, $225 and $13 shipping, has all the original paperwork and receipt. Red dots appeared briefly to indicate compatibility with TTL finder.

Best, Mike

ic-racer · Feb 20, 2018

Here is another list of some black bodied ones with the red dot. http://www.matthewlin.com/mynikon/RedDot/RedDot.htm

Kodachromeguy · Feb 20, 2018

Helios 1984 said:
Ebay is a big pond, and there’s a lot of fishes to fry.

And that means??

Helios 1984 · Feb 20, 2018

Kodachromeguy said:
And that means??

Nothing suspicious, just that some sellers set extravagant prices hoping to reel in a buyer, and sometimes it works.

Photographerfromsud · Feb 21, 2018

Please don't worry for me.Usually, people who pay this extravagant prices are enough intelligent not to lose their money.I am a photographer and also collector but they are absolutely two separate things, I rarely use my collectible cameras for shooting, i usually shoot digital and when i want to shoot film i use an Olympus Miju that i bought 25$ and a Nikon F2 (140$ with 50mm1.4) lens.So you may ask why would I pay 3000$ for a Nikon F when I have an F2 for 140$?

Helios 1984 said:
Nothing suspicious, just that some sellers set extravagant prices hoping to reel in a buyer, and sometimes it works.

Photographerfromsud · Feb 21, 2018

The answer is that I made a lot of research, all these red dots mentioned in forum are chrome and the chrome red dots are not rare, Nikon modified some of the cameras in 6597xxx serial number with red dot, most of them are chrome and few of them black, there is a list of these cameras here : http://www.matthewlin.com/mynikon/RedDot/RedDot.htm , there is until now only 49 known Black F with red dot in the list, lets say something around 100 of these cameras exist. So my question would be if is enough rare to pay 3000?

E. von Hoegh · Feb 21, 2018

Photographerfromsud said:
The answer is that I made a lot of research, all these red dots mentioned in forum are chrome and the chrome red dots are not rare, Nikon modified some of the cameras in 6597xxx serial number with red dot, most of them are chrome and few of them black, there is a list of these cameras here : http://www.matthewlin.com/mynikon/RedDot/RedDot.htm , there is until now only 49 known Black F with red dot in the list, lets say something around 100 of these cameras exist. So my question would be if is enough rare to pay 3000?

Anyone who is researching this camera will probably see this thread, and the above info on production. So, it might be interesting to watch this auction

Helios 1984 · Feb 21, 2018

Photographerfromsud said:
Please don't worry for me. Usually, people who pay this extravagant prices are enough intelligent not to lose their money. I am a photographer and also collector but they are absolutely two separate things, I rarely use my collectible cameras for shooting, i usually shoot digital and when i want to shoot film i use an Olympus Miju that i bought 25$ and a Nikon F2 (140$ with 50mm1.4) lens.So you may ask why would I pay 3000$ for a Nikon F when I have an F2 for 140$?

Leicashop.com has 2 ongoing B.I.N for 700$ less. Ebay Link Site Link

Nikon F 3000 $

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