It depends, I would say about 70% of the time on Aperture-Priority.
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Those that use a Nikon F3 a lot.....
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That's because you're in the southern hemisphere and things fall downwards; I'm in the northern hemisphere, so the buttons stay on.
Here are mine, still intact after 30+ years:
(sorry for blurry phone photo)
I've owned F3s and F3/Ts for over 35 years, and never lost any buttons or parts from any of them.
I suppose if you bang one around...
- Leigh
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Most of the time I shoot on manual. It helps me to think about exposure for the scene, and if I need to under or over-expose a bit. I will use auto for quick shooting or sports photography. The meter in the F3 is one of the best I've ever used, especially for slide film.
The MD-4 actually fits my hand pretty well, allowing me to hold the camera securely regardless of the extra weight, even with a zoom or telephoto attached.
I've read that the sound of the camera motor drive at the beginning of the Duran Duran '80s hit "Girls on Film" is an F3 with MD-4.
Here's one with this combo and the 300/4.5 AI lens:
The MD-4 actually fits my hand pretty well, allowing me to hold the camera securely regardless of the extra weight, even with a zoom or telephoto attached.
I've read that the sound of the camera motor drive at the beginning of the Duran Duran '80s hit "Girls on Film" is an F3 with MD-4.
Here's one with this combo and the 300/4.5 AI lens:
Nikon made this camera for professional-grade use. Initially F2 users were reluctant to switch from their sturdy F2's, but the F3 won them over.
This is not a cheaply built problematic camera by any means.
My first Nikon F3 was given to me for my Birthday when I was 16, this was 1985. This was my main camera body for the 3 years I was the High school Yearbook Photo Editor. I was shooting 10-15 rolls of Kodak Tri-X 400 a week! After high school, my Nikon F3 and N8008 camera traveled to Europe for 5 years, I was shooting on average 1.5 rolls a day for 5 years. My film of choice was Fujichrome 100 and Kodak Kodachrome 64. The Nikon F3 has severed me vey well, it has never let me down over the 31 years I've owned it! They are built very well and can take some abuse!
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They only thing needing replacing is the mirror and light seal foam, this you can do yourself for $10.00. Now that the camera is over 31 years old, the LCD metering is very dim, but still readable. Something to lookout for when buying used Nikon F3's on Ebay. Check with the seller if the LCD screen in the view finder is still bright! My next 35mm film camera purchase will be a Nikon F3P Press model!
-Rick-
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They only thing needing replacing is the mirror and light seal foam, this you can do yourself for $10.00. Now that the camera is over 31 years old, the LCD metering is very dim, but still readable. Something to lookout for when buying used Nikon F3's on Ebay. Check with the seller if the LCD screen in the view finder is still bright! My next 35mm film camera purchase will be a Nikon F3P Press model!
-Rick-
EV lock button tends to fall. Not the first time it has happened.
Red button that turns on the LCD illuminator, or the lamp itself, tends to fail.
You can search the forums, i'm not making this up. My F3 had both problems.
The F3 was manufactured for more than 10 years I think, so most likely they revised over the years the problematic parts, so a later production model should be just fine.
As for the "switch from the F2", the jury is still out, the "F2 versus F3" debate has still not ended. I owned F, F2 and F3, at the end I stayed with the F2 and F. F2 viewfinder is equally bright. And I can have wide-open metering with both pre-AI and AI lenses by use of the appropiate photomic (the DP-1 photomic will give wide-open metering with pre-AI and AI lenses). The triggering point of the shutter button can be precisely felt with the F2. With the F3, it can't (it's a continuous "mushy" feeling...)
My F3 -as i've mentioned elsewhere- worked perfectly, then i just let it sit on my camera bag, inside my room, normal temp conditions, for about 3 months. When i got it back again to use, the light meter was dead (always measuring the lowest EV value). It could never get repaired. Another friend of mine also bought a F3, body in good shape, dead meter.
I can think the high humidity of my city wasn't too kind for F3 cameras, at least the early revisions...
I bought my Nikon F3HP new in 1983. It's had many rolls of film run through it over the years and it still functions perfectly. I've never replaced any seals and certainly never lost any buttons! It's built like a tank.
I also generally have the camera set for aperture priority and use manual only in some problematic exposure situations, such has high contrast sky to ground (quite common here in the desert Southwest of the U.S.!).
Jim
Send it to the Nikon USA repair folks.
The problem independents have is that Nikon will only sell parts to authorized service centers.
I would take it in, but without knowing the problem and no reasonable source of spare parts...
- Leigh
I first started using the F3 about 25 years ago, so I was already kinda late to the party. But back then, I shot slides almost excluslively, and I was still new to Nikon, having just switched from Canon, where I used the original F-1 mostly. I read about the F3's 80/20 metering pattern and reasoned that, in "A" mode, it might actually work pretty well even for slides, but still, after many bad experiences shooting with Canon's A-series in auto modes, I was reluctant to try shooting in aperture priority on my F3. But as situation would have it, I was at an air show one day and things were changing so rapidly I was having trouble following along with my still-new-to-me F3 in manual, so I bumped it up to A and shot in A for the rest of the show. When I got the slides back, I was literally stunned to find that I had not a single poorly exposed slide. Not one! Well, this went a long way toward selling me on the F3's A mode, so I began using it more. It eventually got to the point where the A mode became my default metering option with my F3 and it's been that way ever since.
Oh, and I find my F3 with MD-4 to be quite comfortable to hold. It isn't particularly heavy compared to the F2's MD-2/MB-1 or the motor drives for Canon's F-1's.
Oh, and I find my F3 with MD-4 to be quite comfortable to hold. It isn't particularly heavy compared to the F2's MD-2/MB-1 or the motor drives for Canon's F-1's.
Hi,
I'm a few years older than you and I've grown from no meter at all to a cds coupled meter, match-needle, to auto. It never mattered what I was using and when auto came out it was a pleasure (once I learned how well it worked). My first auto body was a Minolta XK which allowed me to shoot in auto, match-needle, or manual. I was using auto 99% of the time in no time and getting perfectly exposed slides. My F3 in auto always produced perfectly exposed chromes as well. IMO if your intent is to shoot manual you might of been better off with a F2 with a standard (non metered) prism (no batteries). Give your auto a chance.
Rick
I'm a few years older than you and I've grown from no meter at all to a cds coupled meter, match-needle, to auto. It never mattered what I was using and when auto came out it was a pleasure (once I learned how well it worked). My first auto body was a Minolta XK which allowed me to shoot in auto, match-needle, or manual. I was using auto 99% of the time in no time and getting perfectly exposed slides. My F3 in auto always produced perfectly exposed chromes as well. IMO if your intent is to shoot manual you might of been better off with a F2 with a standard (non metered) prism (no batteries). Give your auto a chance.
Rick
Hi,
About the post regarding sending it to Nikon for repair. I live near Nikon and have talked to them about repairs many times. They don't want anything to do with MF bodies or MF lenses anymore. With a few exceptions to items that were in their catalog 5 years ago. They have an obligation to that. Call or email them first, they will probably tell you to send it to an independent repair company.
For those of you who own Nikon Coolscan scanners, Nikon will no longer service them. They said there is a very limited number of parts (pc boards, etc). I regret it at times, but after speaking with them after servicing my 9000ED for the second time (@ ~$270) I sold my scanner and bought a Plustek 8200i for 35mm and a Epson V850 for MF. I lik ed the Nikon better but felt if it died again I'd not only have a $300 bill but a huge shipping charge and wait.
Sorry for rambling on, hope someone finds this info helpful.
Rick
About the post regarding sending it to Nikon for repair. I live near Nikon and have talked to them about repairs many times. They don't want anything to do with MF bodies or MF lenses anymore. With a few exceptions to items that were in their catalog 5 years ago. They have an obligation to that. Call or email them first, they will probably tell you to send it to an independent repair company.
For those of you who own Nikon Coolscan scanners, Nikon will no longer service them. They said there is a very limited number of parts (pc boards, etc). I regret it at times, but after speaking with them after servicing my 9000ED for the second time (@ ~$270) I sold my scanner and bought a Plustek 8200i for 35mm and a Epson V850 for MF. I lik ed the Nikon better but felt if it died again I'd not only have a $300 bill but a huge shipping charge and wait.
Sorry for rambling on, hope someone finds this info helpful.
Rick
+1
In general, the F3 is a more ergonomic camera than the F-1N (except for having to do match-needle metering with the horrible, clumsy, ill-designed, LCD display). However overall i preferred the F-1N and sold the F3.
I agree that once you put a motor drive, the F3 is more comfortable as well. The motor drive for the F-1N is a monster!
I know that from experience Flavio, it uses 12 AA batteries and with an FD 100 -300mm lens on my F1-N at an air display this summer with it all hanging on a strap around my neck I felt like I was being beheaded.
There were no Pansies in photography back then.
Unlike to day, where it is all mirror-less this, and quiet and lightweight that.
Took a real man to operate a camera in my day.
By God...if Nikon had only had the time to fully develop that 8x 'D Cell' winder they had in the works.
Unlike to day, where it is all mirror-less this, and quiet and lightweight that.
Took a real man to operate a camera in my day.
By God...if Nikon had only had the time to fully develop that 8x 'D Cell' winder they had in the works.
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