Nikon F4

CMoore · Jul 10, 2016

Is the F4 still a "serviceable" camera.?
Barring something catastrophic..... can you buy a decent offering on Ebay, send it to a tech for CLA, and be fairly confident that the camera can be made straight for several years to come.?
Thank You

chriscrawfordphoto · Jul 10, 2016

The F4 rarely requires a CLA. Mechanically, they're indestructible. Electronics can give problems if contacts get dirty; I have not heard of any having any known electronic problems like the LCDs that often go bad on old Minolta Maxxum cameras or the Olympus OM cameras that eat batteries. I would look for an F4 that was bought by an amatuer and not heavily used. They're not much more expensive than heavily used ones. I doubt you would need a CLA.

CMoore · Jul 10, 2016

Whatever Battery/Winder unit might come with a given F4...can they all be used without the bigger unit.?
That is, can i take off the larger unit from any F4, and use it in its smallest form...would i need Another/Smaller battery holder, or is that integral to the camera.?
Thanks

chriscrawfordphoto · Jul 10, 2016

CMoore said:
Whatever Battery/Winder unit might come with a given F4...they can all be used without the bigger unit.?
That is, can i take off the larger unit from any F4, and use it in its smallest form.?
Thanks

No. The larger units have a handgrip and the bottom part. Both have to be removed. The smaller handgrip that lets you use the F4 without the large bottom unit us rare and expensive, expect to pay more than $100 for it. In the USA, Nikon only sold the F4 with the MB21 battery holder, which is the one with the bottom part. To get the smaller MB20 handgrip, you had to buy it as an accessory, since no new cameras were sold with it. Few people bought them, so they're hard to find now.

Ricardo Miranda · Jul 10, 2016

chriscrawfordphoto said:
In the USA, Nikon only sold the F4 with the MB21 battery holder, which is the one with the bottom part.

That isn't exactly the truth: in the USA, Nikon elected to offer "off the shelf" at the retailer only the F4S. If you wanted the F4, and therefore the MB-20, you had to order it.

To CMoore,
I hope you can handle the weight of these cameras.
Even the F4 with the MB-20 weights a ton.

goros · Jul 10, 2016

I have had two (stil have one) F4s and they are, by far, The most ergonomical cameras I have used, including F3, F2, Olympus OM4, several Canon, Ricoh, etc. They weigh,but nothing unbearable, and they are very balanced.

macfred · Jul 10, 2016

Here's mine - F4 with MB20

Nikon F4 - MB-20 - Nikkor 35mm f/2 by Andreas, on Flickr

In Germany the F4 (without s) is easy to find and often in very good shape and not so expensive. I bought mine in September 2015 for 220 Euro (245 US- Dollar). It's a solid piece of gear.

--
No problems so far - no CLA needed !

Drew B. · Jul 10, 2016

Great camera without a doubt... I wonder, though, how the F5 stacks up to this?

Chan Tran · Jul 10, 2016

Although the F5 offers about the same feature set as the F4 it's user interface is completely different. So it's kinda if you like the F4 you don't like the F5 and vice versa.

CMoore · Jul 10, 2016

Thanks for the info so far.
If i do buy an F4, it would be for (mostly) the fast Flash Sync. The other Nikon i am considering is the FM2n. But THOSE are going for a lot of money these days, so i thought i would get the F4,because it less expensive.
I do not plan on using the F4 as a "Daily Shooter".

Drew B. · Jul 10, 2016

CMoore said:
Thanks for the info so far.
If i do buy an F4, it would be for (mostly) the fast Flash Sync.".

If you're using a dedicated flash...does it not matter what speed it fires at? Ie, the F100 has variable flash speed...

narsuitus · Jul 10, 2016

CMoore said:
The other Nikon i am considering is the FM2n.

I was considering a Nikon FM3a when I discovered the F4 was selling at a steep discount to the FM3a.

Nikon F4 and Nikon F4s by Narsuitus, on Flickr

CMoore · Jul 10, 2016

nars- Yeah...that F4 in front, if i could find a "small" one like that i would be happy.

Drew - It is Very Possible i do not understand the workings of flash. If a camera 'Syncs' at 1/250, is that the max speed it will sync to a flash running from the PC Connector.?
Thanks

markbarendt · Jul 10, 2016

CMoore said:
nars- Yeah...that F4 in front, if i could find a "small" one like that i would be happy.

Drew - It is Very Possible i do not understand the workings of flash. If a camera 'Syncs' at 1/250, is that the max speed it will sync to a flash running from the PC Connector.?
Thanks

Sync speed is simply the shortest time the shutter curtains can be open and not "get in the way" of the flash.

A direct connection like a PC connector will generally work fine at sync speed.

sepiareverb · Jul 10, 2016

I shot F4 bodies for years doing nature stock. I had three bodies, and only one ever needed any service, that for a broken shutter blade due to magnificent operator error while attempting to load film while circling around a field at a good run to shoot a flock of turkeys moving across.

Great camera on a tripod as all the controls can be accessed with physical dials. No having to constantly wake the camera up and read an external LCD to adjust exposure compensation, something that drove me mad with the F100. The internal LCDs can develop bleed. But the camera does have the physical window to display aperture off the lens, so one less readout to worry about.

Theo Sulphate · Jul 10, 2016

The F4 is Nikon's last professional camera where all the controls are external and have singularly dedicated functions. After the F4, they gave you dials and mode buttons to select settings from an LCD.

Ken Rockwell has correctly called the F4 the Rosetta Stone of Nikon lens compatibility, since all lenses from pre-AI to the very latest AF G lenses will work with it (yes, there are restrictions - any given Nikon camera seems to have roughly a 20 year sliding window of full lens compatibility).

Anyway, for these reasons I love my two F4s bodies. They were inexpensive, fully functional, and have no issues. I think they are the underpriced bargain in the Nikon world.

swchris · Jul 10, 2016

If you buy one, watch out for "the aperture stop down" problem. I think quite a few of them could exhibit this.

The problem is that when you take the picture, the lever which closes the aperture doesn't go all the way, leaving the lens more open than expected or set.

It can be repaired. It might be a bit expensive, since AFAIK the problem is deep inside the body and it needs to be dismantled.
Recently I sent one F4 to repair for this problem to an official German Nikon Service Point. It costed ~300€, but I also told them to do an overhaul while they're at it.
The alternative, buying another one, didn't appeal to me since I don't know what I will get, and now with the repair I've again a reliable camera for many years to come...

frank · Jul 10, 2016

I used an F4s with sb24 flash for weddings back in the day. Colour neg film in the Nikon, B+W film in a medium format camera. Never let me down until I used a lens with oil on the aperture blades that damaged the camera's aperture stop down function (mentioned above.) It was a $100 fix.

MartinCrabtree · Jul 10, 2016

Why not an F5? Especially if you're coming from the digital realm it's an easy camera to learn. Great examples can be had for $300 and up.

frank · Jul 10, 2016

F4 and older if you prefer traditional camera controls. F5 or 6 if you prefer digital menus.

chip j · Jul 10, 2016

Isn't the F5 Matrix metering a quantum leap over the F4's?

frank · Jul 10, 2016

Coming from a Rolleiflex tlr, Hasselblad CM500, Leica M2, Nikon F etc, the metering on my F4 is luxurious.

nsouto · Jul 10, 2016

Got two from that online site. For 10 years now. They are just about indestructible.
Heavy as anything, but that helps to stabilize them: I don't recall ever getting a bad shot due to mirror vibration.

One of the bodies has developed bleed with the LCD. I'm told by a local mechanic that it's an easy fix, but hard to find the replacement part. I've put that one in the locker waiting for a chance to get the part online.

Other than that have only had problems with the data back MF23.
Got two, one has stopped working. The other is still going strong.

Chan Tran · Jul 10, 2016

chip j said:
Isn't the F5 Matrix metering a quantum leap over the F4's?

I like the F5 better than the F4 but the matrix metering system in the F5 is what I don't like. It doesn't work for color negative film.

MartinCrabtree · Jul 10, 2016

Chan Tran said:
I like the F5 better than the F4 but the matrix metering system in the F5 is what I don't like. It doesn't work for color negative film.

Could you elaborate? I've had no problems with color negative exposure.

Nikon F4

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