Nikon F6 - old vs new

Ricardo Miranda said:

Yeap, but perhaps it is the best way to evaluate interest in film.

Click to expand...

True. If you ain't got a line in the river, you're not gonna catch a fish. And street photography requires a lot of bait!

Chris Livsey said:

Define mint?
The film count, frequently quoted to demonstrate "only five films through" can be re-set from the menu quite easily by the user and thus cannot be relied on S/H.
Page 121 in the manual:

http://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manuals/F6-en.pdf

The camera counts shutter activations but accessible only at a service centre.

New is new not mint

BTW The internal "battery" is replaceable by a service centre.

Click to expand...

Congrats! I set mine up so it focuses with the AF back button, and the AE locks and holds the metered setting with the AE/AF lock button. It only releases the AE lock if I then push the button again.
The build quality is far superior (and heavier!) than a D750 that I recently acquired to test the 24-120 VR 4 ED lens that I was using on the F6, but to not very great satisfaction. This lens is sharp on the D750, so it may have been because I had the VR setting on all the time when I used it on the F6. It should not be on at speeds greater than 1/250. Anyway, a test roll shot on the F6 w/o the VR on is currently being processed. It may determine whether I keep that lens.

But I digress! Congrats on the best AF 35mm film SLR ever made.

Huss said:

But I digress! Congrats on the best AF 35mm film SLR ever made.

Click to expand...

You know, I'm a big fan of both Canon and Nikon cameras, whether film or digital, new or old. I am very fond of them all. I have F-1's and F2's, FTb's and Nikkormats, FG and AE-1P, T70 and T90 and FE/FE2, Elan 2e and N80, and an F4. So I ask this question objectively. I don't own either an F6 or an EOS 1v, but I'm curious, is the F6 clearly a better camera than the 1v? And if so, do you think it's because the F6 is a more recently released product (released in 2004 as opposed to the 1v being released in 2000)? Or is there more to it than new tech eclipsing old?

cooltouch said:

You know, I'm a big fan of both Canon and Nikon cameras, whether film or digital, new or old. I am very fond of them all. I have F-1's and F2's, FTb's and Nikkormats, FG and AE-1P, T70 and T90 and FE/FE2, Elan 2e and N80, and an F4. So I ask this question objectively. I don't own either an F6 or an EOS 1v, but I'm curious, is the F6 clearly a better camera than the 1v? And if so, do you think it's because the F6 is a more recently released product (released in 2004 as opposed to the 1v being released in 2000)? Or is there more to it than new tech eclipsing old?

Click to expand...

I don't think the F6 is clearly better than the Eos, unlike comparing it to something like an F100. I think the main difference is the fact that the F6 can use any Nikon F mount lens, while the Canon only uses the AF lenses, and the Nikon has a better manual focusing screen.
The rest becomes which feels better to you in your hand.

Huss said:

I think the main difference is the fact that the F6 can use any Nikon F mount lens.

Click to expand...

Just for completeness the "use any" needs some qualification.
The recent E series (not the earlier E-economy series circa 1980) have an electromagnetic aperture diaphragm mechanism and no Nikon film SLR can control the aperture on E lenses from the body. You can shoot wide open and meter modes work. On the tele lenses such as the recent 200-500 f5.6 for example that may not be a major issue. The limitation applies to the digital range before the D3 as well, with a couple of later exceptions.
In an F6 with an E lens aperture priority or manual modes will work but the aperture remains fixed, in shutter priority the camera will use the shutter speed you select, within the limits.