Plastic SLRs

Our only plastic 35mm is the Nikon F-301 (N2000 in the US) - my wife bought it new in 1986 - still in use today.
OOT : In meduim format 120 I have actually two plastic cams from the FUJI GA645 series (great shooters).

I always thought many of those N-{whatever} Nikons felt too light! I remember at one of the shops picking one up and actually thinking it was a "shell only demo" or something, but that's the way it was. It seemed like it was a fraction of the weight of the K1000.

One of my cow-orkers had one of them (N60? N70? not sure) and he was the last one in the office (except me of course) to admit to still shooting film. He now shoots some kind of a Nikon DSLR.

dmr said:

I always thought many of those N-{whatever} Nikons felt too light! I remember at one of the shops picking one up and actually thinking it was a "shell only demo" or something, but that's the way it was. It seemed like it was a fraction of the weight of the K1000.

One of my cow-orkers had one of them (N60? N70? not sure) and he was the last one in the office (except me of course) to admit to still shooting film. He now shoots some kind of a Nikon DSLR.

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I've got a few of these plastic N series but no auto focus lenses. One wont even work with my AIS glass. Any recommendations for a walk around lens? 35-135 range?

The F60/N60 of 1998 was the Nikon counterpart to the very lightweight Canon EOS 500N/Rebel G of two years earlier. The Canon may be a bit better specced; I know it has three autofocus sensors.

dmr said:

I always thought many of those N-{whatever} Nikons felt too light! I remember at one of the shops picking one up and actually thinking it was a "shell only demo" or something, but that's the way it was. It seemed like it was a fraction of the weight of the K1000.

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After I fill up my N90 with the four AA batteries necessary to operate it, the camera isn't all that light anymore. Perhaps the camera you picked up in the shop did not have batteries in it yet.

TheRook said:

After I fill up my N90 with the four AA batteries necessary to operate it, the camera isn't all that light anymore. Perhaps the camera you picked up in the shop did not have batteries in it yet.

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Entry level SLRs are nothing like the N/F90 or 801. They have more in common with compact camera construction of the same era. Which for me is their charm. As fully spec'ed compacts attract high prices nowadays, consumer SLRs may be an alternative so long as you can handle the extra bulk.

Theo Sulphate said:

The F60/N60 of 1998 was the Nikon counterpart to the very lightweight Canon EOS 500N/Rebel G of two years earlier. The Canon may be a bit better specced; I know it has three autofocus sensors.

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I have the 500N. It's an excellent camera lacking only one thing, back button focus.

dmr said:

I always thought many of those N-{whatever} Nikons felt too light! I remember at one of the shops picking one up and actually thinking it was a "shell only demo" or something, but that's the way it was. It seemed like it was a fraction of the weight of the K1000.

One of my cow-orkers had one of them (N60? N70? not sure) and he was the last one in the office (except me of course) to admit to still shooting film. He now shoots some kind of a Nikon DSLR.

Click to expand...

I have a Nikon U2 which is a Japanese version of the N75. Tiny like the newer 3000/5000 series dslrs and lightweight. Excellent meter and surprisingly pretty fast AF.

A friend recently gave me his N60 Nikon. I was surprised... I kind of like it.

Right now I have two - Nikon F80 and Ricoh XR7. Both are okay to use, although feel a bit hollow due to low weight (Yes, I know XR7 is partially metal, but top and bottom plates are plastic).

The EOS Elan was mentioned earlier. I've owned a couple of these. Currently own a IIe with battery pack. I like the battery pack because it provides additional purchase as well as more heft. These are really nice photographic tools, I sold a II on eBay several years ago. The camera had been my mother's and I know for a fact that she never used it. So a brand new Elan II in mint condition. I made the mistake of putting it up for auction with an opening bid of $10 instead of with a Buy It Now price. The camera sold for -- you guessed it -- $10. I still wince whenever I think of that. So there's a great example of a really good camera that can be picked up for next to nothing.

I also owned an original EOS Rebel for over 20 years, used regularly. Only reason why I sold it is because I bought the Elan IIe. I actually got more for it on eBay than I did for the Elan -- $20 I think. That was really a decent little camera. All plastic, even the lens mount. But it was reliable and took great pix. Shortly after I bought it I also bought a good flash for it -- a Canon 220 EZ, I believe it was. The camera didn't have a pop-up flash so it needed the accessory flash. We used that flash until it finally expired. And that's about when I sold the camera. Of the many photos I took with that camera (most of which were of my growing daughter), a lot were published. It was really that capable I didn't think twice about using it for photo shoots. With the right EF lenses it worked just fine.