Nikon F6 updates

[miha]

Could you post that email here?

Sure, here you are:

ニコンイメージングをご利用くださいましてありがとうございます。
[お問い合わせ] と [回答] の内容につきまして、ご連絡いたします。
追加のお問い合わせ等ございましたら、当メールに返信でご連絡ください。

【返信時のご注意】メールの件名はそのまま変更せずにご返信ください。

お問い合わせ番号：05180747へのご回答です。
*****************************************************
このたびは当窓口にお問い合わせいただき、誠にありがとうございます。
お問い合わせいただいた件について、ご回答いたします。

F6は、生産・製造を終了させていただきました。

現在は販売店の店頭在庫のみの取り扱いとなります。

以上、ご回答申し上げます。
今後ともニコン製品をご愛顧いただきますようお願い申し上げます。

Translation:

Thank you for using Nikon Imaging.
We will contact you regarding the contents of [Inquiry] and [Answer].
If you have any additional inquiries, please contact us by replying to this email.

[Notes on reply] Please reply without changing the subject of the email.

Inquiry number: This is an answer to 05180747.
****************************************************** *** ***
Thank you for contacting us.
We will reply to your inquiry.

F6 has been discontinued.

Currently, only in-store inventory is available at retail stores.

I would like to answer the above.
We look forward to your continued patronage of Nikon products.

 

[ic-racer]

Got my F6. As expected it is new but the box is not sealed. SN of camera matches box. Box contained everything it is supposed to contain, including the Worldwide warranty card, instruction manual, batteries, body cap and strap. Serial number seems to put it around 2018, just prior to the recall.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Need a couple rolls of film?

 

[ic-racer]

Actually this mornings project was to make some DX coded cassettes for N75 and N55 Nikons. Those cameras do work fine with the exposure compensation for non-DX cassettes, but the Manual mode cancels the exposure compensation. And I like using the Manual mode. Of course I can put the DX cassettes in the F6 and it should read them also.
Too bad I can't figure out how to open the back of the F6....wait...It wouldn't open like a 70's camera, by lifting the wind knob, would it....

 

[larfe]

Sure, here you are:

ニコンイメージングをご利用くださいましてありがとうございます。
[お問い合わせ] と [回答] の内容につきまして、ご連絡いたします。
追加のお問い合わせ等ございましたら、当メールに返信でご連絡ください。

【返信時のご注意】メールの件名はそのまま変更せずにご返信ください。

お問い合わせ番号：05180747へのご回答です。
*****************************************************
このたびは当窓口にお問い合わせいただき、誠にありがとうございます。
お問い合わせいただいた件について、ご回答いたします。

F6は、生産・製造を終了させていただきました。

現在は販売店の店頭在庫のみの取り扱いとなります。

以上、ご回答申し上げます。
今後ともニコン製品をご愛顧いただきますようお願い申し上げます。

Translation:

Thank you for using Nikon Imaging.
We will contact you regarding the contents of [Inquiry] and [Answer].
If you have any additional inquiries, please contact us by replying to this email.

[Notes on reply] Please reply without changing the subject of the email.

Inquiry number: This is an answer to 05180747.
****************************************************** *** ***
Thank you for contacting us.
We will reply to your inquiry.

F6 has been discontinued.

Currently, only in-store inventory is available at retail stores.

I would like to answer the above.
We look forward to your continued patronage of Nikon products.

Actually, would you mind sharing this Japanese email address for Nikon? There's a few things I would like to ask them myself but cannot locate their email address on the Japanese website. You may send it via PM if you prefer that.

 

[Huss]

Got my F6. As expected it is new but the box is not sealed. SN of camera matches box. Box contained everything it is supposed to contain, including the Worldwide warranty card, instruction manual, batteries, body cap and strap. Serial number seems to put it around 2018, just prior to the recall.

Does it have the gold Nikon USA sticker under the back ISO flap?

 

[ic-racer]

Does it have the gold Nikon USA sticker under the back ISO flap?

No it is gray market to the USA. The camera's Nikon 3-year Worldwide warranty card is stamped Nikon Europe. The dealer offers their own 1 year warranty on the purchase per the sales receipt.

 

[ic-racer]

Here is there group of the most recent design AF Nikon SLRs. Per the chart below, the F6 is newest design, followed by N75, N55 and F100 last for the group.

 

[George Mann]

Whoever put that timeline together is wrong about the F-301, which is essentially the same as the F-501, and certainly not entry-level.

Also, the timelines for the F-801 and F-90 are wrong.

 

[ic-racer]

Whoever put that timeline together is wrong about the F-301, which is essentially the same as the F-501, and certainly not entry-level.

Also, the timelines for the F-801 and F-90 are wrong.

That table is from the Nikon Wiki. I''m not sure I know how to edit it. Do you have some specifics, I can try to get the table changed. Also, the F6 needs a stop-date.

 

[George Mann]

F-801 produced from '88 to '91, replaced by s variant '91 to '95.

F-90 produced from '92 to '94, replaced by x variant '94 to '99.

 

[miha]

Actually, would you mind sharing this Japanese email address for Nikon? There's a few things I would like to ask them myself but cannot locate their email address on the Japanese website. You may send it via PM if you prefer that.

PM sent.

 

[larfe]

So apparently there are 2 versions of the F6 and they are more than firmware differences between them, for which only technicians can tell the difference. The versions number are F6 FAA41001 as well as F6 FAA41051, only one document on the net for reference, page 6:

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/20554209/service-period-list-procirep-belux

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Nikon F6 - pain galore to shoot film these days.
***
Sorry guys, just venting off some other stuff.

 

[ic-racer]

Nikon F6 - pain galore to shoot film these days.

Unless you are referring to the somewhat confusing F6 menus, I'd have to disagree. I can't recall any other time in my history of photography when it was as easy to do photography as today. Yesterday on the way home from work I picked up these supplies to use with, perhaps the most sophisticated cameras ever created. B&W image making has never been so easy.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

@ic-racer I was merely alluding to the clear and very unfortunate to me convergence of film shooting with digital mind set. I'm not saying F6 or many other highly electronic cameras don't make shooting film easier and in fact nearly bullet proof, but this is not a way to promote shooting film, and has nothing to do with quality photography.

I'd spoken on this before and will say it every time: digital and film needs to coexist, but just to take this thread alone, one considering shooting film might get a wrong idea of what he needs or at least may need, in order to make his film shooting "better". Same silly argument on all digital forums going around: more is better, automation is better, newer software is better, this and that. And of course we still need this and that or we stall in evolving.

You and others who enjoy using F6 may not see it this way. Yet, nothing like F6, or anywhere near it, is needed to make well exposed photographs, especially since big part of the devil comes later in processing, printing, scanning etc.

I don't want to offend any F6 owners' feelings, it's a box that Nikon managed to make (again) light tight, luckily they did not forget to put in the basics like shutter, shutter release, lens mount, etc. so the box is just as well capable of taking great images. Then they stuffed it with electronic gadgetry many clearly enjoy having.

Have fun with your F6. It is not best of anything, even if it is to you and many others. If one wants or needs a tool as stuffed as F6 in order to shoot film with a smile, great. The more film we all shoot, the better the market and offerings. In the end that is all that matters.

 

[Nodda Duma]

I think “most advanced 35mm camera” is the best label for the F6.

 

[NB23]

I think “most advanced 35mm camera” is the best label for the F6.

I don’t know. I feel totally unfulfilled when I finish a roll with my F6. Like, was I sleeping the whole time? There is a total lack of feedback that I need from a camera when I use one.

I dunno but I don’t need some fancy matrix metering to come up with 1/60@f8. I’d be mesmerized if at least it was 1/63456734564th@f8.0234335.

“As damp as the Best of Beds” would be my personal label for the F6.

 

[Nodda Duma]

I don’t know. I feel totally unfulfilled when I finish a roll with my F6. Like, was I sleeping the whole time? There is a total lack of feedback that I need from a camera when I use one.

I dunno but I don’t need some fancy matrix metering to come up with 1/60@f8. I’d be mesmerized if at least it was 1/63456734564th@f8.0234335.

“As damp as the Best of Beds” would be my personal label for the F6.

then, like me, you’d prefer a less advanced camera.

 

[NB23]

then, like me, you’d prefer a less advanced camera.

actually, IMO the f5 is more advanced and I prefer it to the F6. But yes, the S3 is all I need.

 

[ic-racer]

I guess I must have pretty crummy 35mm gear with which to compare, but indeed the f6 towers over all other 35mm cameras I own. Nothing comes close in terms of lenses, exposure or focus and handling. Matrix metering, Autofocus, Modern Lenses without fungus or haze. That is why I bought it and it is the best. I have plenty of the other.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

I guess I must have pretty crummy 35mm gear with which to compare, but indeed the f6 towers over all other 35mm cameras I own. Nothing comes close in terms of lenses, exposure or focus and handling. Matrix metering, Autofocus, Modern Lenses without fungus or haze. That is why I bought it and it is the best. I have plenty of the other.

I don't have plenty of others. 35mm cameras here include only the two OM-1s I purchased in 1976 and 1979, as well as a Yashica T4 Super bought several decades after that for snapshooting with negative film. The SLRs haven't been used much since Kodachrome 25 Professional was discontinued. The point-and-shoot hasn't had film run through it since digital appeared on the scene around 2008.

It was availability of 35mm ACROS II and a test of it in Perceptol 1+1 last June

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...ble-soon-in-europe.173224/page-3#post-2296262​

which reignited my interest in the "miniature" format. That led to an F6 order in August and its delivery two weeks ago:

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/nikon-f6-updates.176693/page-10#post-2342121​

I don't have experience with the F5, S3 or any other cameras mentioned above by others, but an F6 with Sigma Art lens is certainly "best" for someone in their late 60s who wishes to once again shoot handheld, spontaneously, assured that every frame will be sharply focused and perfectly exposed.* It's very different from the slow, contemplative view camera work I usually (still) do, but very satisfying too.


* Note that I cut my photographic teeth a half century ago shooting weddings with unmetered medium format cameras. Totally automation free, manual flash, etc. The techniques of pre-focusing and knowing exposures cold are completely familiar to me. I'm glad to have left behind both wedding photography and handheld cameras without modern technology.

 

[larfe]

I don’t know. I feel totally unfulfilled when I finish a roll with my F6. Like, was I sleeping the whole time? There is a total lack of feedback that I need from a camera when I use one.

I dunno but I don’t need some fancy matrix metering to come up with 1/60@f8. I’d be mesmerized if at least it was 1/63456734564th@f8.0234335.

“As damp as the Best of Beds” would be my personal label for the F6.

then, like me, you’d prefer a less advanced camera.

No, what nb23 is saying is that the non-fancy matrix metering of the f5 is far more fulfilling than the fancy one on the f6 when it comes up with 1/60@f8

 

[Helge]

Matrix metering is only important for slide and mainly high contrast, low ISO stuff like Kodachrome and Velvia.
For 95% of scenes shot with negative film, the film will easily pick up the slack without the slightest possibility of detection, if the exposure is within plus minus one stop.

Furthermore, the matrix meter has no way of knowing when you want to expose for the little detail that takes up 10 percent of the frame. Or completely ignore the sky.
That’s what matrix metering attempts anyway.
Same with predictive autofocus, like face detect.

It homogenizes and trivializes photography.
It only has the bank of statistical information and use cases to compare against.

Fine if you’re a photojournalist, who is just after basically documenting stuff fast. But it’s not really a photographers tool.

 

[Craig75]

If you want to shoot it manually you can
If you want to shoot it like a 1970s centreweighted camera you can
If you want to shoot it spotmeter you can
If you want to shoot it with the most modern metering system you can

You can put every lens nikon ever made on it (i think this is true of f6 - there are no exceptions like with other nikons)

To me it looks utterly brutal. Use it any way you want with anything you want.