What is the most rugged F and why?
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Now speak in Pig Greek instead.
I wonder how many went to that number, or something "similar".?
It was much better than the $400 to $500 I’ve seen some pay. It showed up today and is in much better shape than described. My F2 has a fair amount of brassing. But I wouldn’t call it abused like some would. It’s just been used. Plus I believe black bodies wear faster as they’re painted as opposed to chrome plated.
My F2S also arrived today, after delays due to holiday USPS demand. And believe it or not, I don't find the DP-2 to be that bad in comparison to the DP-3! It's a less technically capable unit and it doesn't have the three-segment display that I like but I don't find it that different overall. It has things I even like over the DP-3! Overall I don't think I'd want an unmetered prism--I'd just use my Nikkorex F if I wanted an unmetered F-mount body.
Mine are both brassed to a significant but not extreme extent, mostly on the base but also on the prism housing, the wind lever hub, et cetera. I like the yellow it adds to the color scheme--fits the Nikon brand!
What focusing screens do you like?
I've only ever used the DP-1 as far as metered prisms so I don't have any input on the LED versions. This is my fourth F2 in seven years, I just keep coming back to them, the first three had DE-1's and all died in the short time I had them. I guess there getting to that age. I've been wanting an all mechanical body without a meter recently and that's why I went with the plain prism. I prefer the standard split image focusing screen. Though this F2 came with the T screen which is a very odd screen specifically designed for preparing slides for TV broadcasting use. The camera came from an ex sports illustrated editor. It also has the split image and is very bright so I doubt I'll spend the money to change it.
IMO, the most rugged F is the F5. It is really bullet proof, you can throw it in the mud or to the ground and it will resist. Polar climate, a sand storm in the sahara or the jungle are no challenge for it. You only can scratch the surface. The F5 sports the ruggedization later copied in the D1 to D6 series...
Half a million shots are not a problem, shutter and the isolated film transport will stand in place. The shutter is auto calibrated so you have always perfect exposure, even after the 1 million shots several units are known to have surpassed. It is something not easy to destroy, even a war photographer would have problems to destroy it.
The F5 also has very reliable electronics, but it has a computer inside...
The F6 is as good and a bit more refined, still in production so with good oficial service, less armored than the F5.
Of three friends sharing F experince one uses the F5 and the F100 (and other...), another one has the F2, 3, 4 and 5. Me I use the F5 and the F80. We only have seen problems with the F100, in the shot mode dial (single, silent, multi). All the F are great to shot, I've tried well all the models, what I want is the 5 because it's fast to shot as a lightning, for protraying people you enter and exit in the scene with the perfect shot before somebody noticed something... Also it starts VR system of modern lenses... Some will prefer the 6 which is more refined and less armored, I like the 5.
Robert Capa used Contax II in the D-day. In 1996 he would have used F5, I guess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Eleven
Anyway the F and the F2 saw combat in Vietnam... and the 3 and the 4 are not inferior. It is a legendary series... but the most rugged is the 5, IMO.
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I could probably get used to that screen too. As it is the P has the central vertical and horizontal lines that form a crosshair, like the T. I do architectural stuff sometimes, so that'll be useful. It also isn't scuffed up like the K from my first F2, which somebody clearly cleaned with their flannel shirt or god forbid their jacket.I've only ever used the DP-1 as far as metered prisms so I don't have any input on the LED versions. This is my fourth F2 in seven years, I just keep coming back to them, the first three had DE-1's and all died in the short time I had them. I guess there getting to that age. I've been wanting an all mechanical body without a meter recently and that's why I went with the plain prism. I prefer the standard split image focusing screen. Though this F2 came with the T screen which is a very odd screen specifically designed for preparing slides for TV broadcasting use. The camera came from an ex sports illustrated editor. It also has the split image and is very bright so I doubt I'll spend the money to change it.
As for F2s dying, what happened? I don't know what the typical failure mode of this camera is. Did the shutter stop opening? Stick open? Film advance jam up?
My own experience with the two F3 cameras i've owned, plus the cameras i've found and tried for sale, plus one of my friends' cameras, is that the F3 mechanics are superb and reliable, but the electronics for the meter are questionable. More than one F3 in my city (including one of mine) have experienced meter failure. Fortunately the electronics for shutter timing seem reliable as well.
The newest F3 is almost 20 years old. One could expect them to begin needing help to remain in top shape. The early electronics have not had the R&D of more modern stuff.
Sorry but the Canon New F-1 was released almost at the same time (1981) than the F3 and its electronics never fail. Year 1981 isn't "early electronics" at all. Yashica Electro 35 cameras were introduced in the late 1960s, withfully electronic operation (meter and shutter timing), and their circuits are also very very reliable.The only thing that goes wrong is a rubber pad that is easily replaceable.
The A-series Canons exist since 1976-1982 and they also for the most part have very good electronics reliability (on the AE-1 what can fail is a little tungsten rope that couples the asa dial to the rest of the meter.)
I'm a Nikon fan but I think most knowledgeable Nikon fans would accept that their electronic cameras, in particular the EL, EL2, EM, FA, and FE, don't have the best reliability record. Even though they're great. Nikon wasn't an electronics company. Canon was (starting from the mid 1960s a big part of their sales came from electronic calculators).
Only this month i've seen on sale two (two) mint looking FE2 cameras with broken electronics... btw.
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never?
Of course, what you wrote is anecdotal at best (too few cameras to be representative) however my experience agrees with your observations. Most of my Nikons had electronic issues. F90 (N90) purchased brand new had issues with film winding to the point that it was unusable! FA and FG also showed all sorts of quirks. FM2s were fine.
Its just the DP-1 meters I’ve had die on me not the bodies. That’s why I went plain prism this time.
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I have three N90s bodies that I do not treat well at all, and none of them complain. I think Nikon’s newer electronic cameras are pretty stout. My D300 was bought “as is”, and it looks like someone took a hammer to it. But it works. The older electronic Nikons may be a different story, though both of my FEs work fine.
I’ve never seen a Nikon mechanical camera that didn’t work, though they surely exist...
I’ve never seen a Nikon mechanical camera that didn’t work, though they surely exist...
I think you mean DP-1.
The DE-1 is just a prism. It has no meter and therefore, nothing to die.
So far i've not seen, found, or read any report on the electronics failing. Which doesn't mean the complete camera is bulletproof; for example the meter movement tends to get stuck at the rest position (this is a common issue).
Rugged seems to be related to trashing use. I don't use my cameras like this. For longevity, F2 seems to be great. For durability with some not ideal use ... iPhone in the Otter case 
. I didn't took a bath with it, but dropped it into another thing with water...Likely it was just water... It worked after it.
. I didn't took a bath with it, but dropped it into another thing with water...Likely it was just water... It worked after it.
Yes I meant the DP-1 that was a typo.
The two F5s I checked out had flaky electronics. The dials weren't working properly, and when I tried to manually set ISO, they both showed random numbers.
The dial issue seems commonplace with those cameras.
The F5 also is notorious to drain batteries.
IMO your judgement is pretty wrong... The F5 is Super reliable, of course you may find one broken but if you look the Ebay listings right now you will notice it's super reliable, you have there more than 200 listed for sell in perfect operating condition https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=nikon+f5&_sacat=0 you have: 226 listings with total and 206 real cameras (offers of accessories discounted) in perfect condition !!!!
But if you look the for parts section you have 5 listings (https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr..._sacat=0&_ipg=200&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=7000)
One in "submerged" state, one not tested "sold as is", one with evident battery leaks inside the receptacle, and one that not changes the Program mode with the rest working and one with shutter not responding... so we have only 2 units with a breakdown, probably one button (to change mode, easy to repair) and one shutter. Who knows what they did to brake that ? Finger in the shutter? Diassembled by amateur personel?
5 for parts (2 breakdowns) and 206 perfect in an ebay listing. Look, this is an impressive reliability record for a kind of device that had been tortured with heavy dayly usage by Pros.
Here, well explained:
https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/NikonF5/reliability/
The F4, for example, has at least x2 more "for parts units vs OK" reletionship than the F5, still they are older in average.
Being the F5 filled with (5) computers the long term reliability it shows has some merit in the Nikon side... but what is most remarkable is the endurance of the precise and fast mechanics it sports, it is a miracle that those powerful motors cannot destroy the mechanics in the long term, pointing total quality in the design/manufacturing.
There are reports around from several National Geographic photographers that shot hundreds of thousands of shots without a single issue, with the F5 endorsing quite a misstreating (mud, dust, polar, impressive drops, rain, reheating) and the thing never complained. Of course not many will beat the camera like that, not requiring that ruggedness, but the F5 is the advanced film camera that is also fully armored.
Of course, the F5 consumes a 8 battery pack every 30 rolls, nominally IIRC... so buy rechargeable batteries...
The F5 has powerful motors everywhere, it has a powerful focus motor that even destroys the AF gearings of some 3rd party discount glass, it also has powerful drivers for internal lens motors, it has a fast isolated film transport that never fails. I shots 8 frames per second and between the short time the mirror is up it is able to focus anything fliying over the photographer (say a boy riding an skate...).
The F5 has a drawback, it weights like a D1, or a D6, this is the weight a news/action/fashion/wedding usually Pro wants for a camera. A D6 (or an F5) could weight the half, but a 80-200 2.8 would unbalance the thing and then photographer has to advance his left hand, less convenient and slower for many, and in the long term provocating pain in the back for those spending all day long behind the finder. The F6 and the F4 can mount a grip... of course...
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My D1's (h/x) were well balanced. Very comfortable to use with my large, heavy telephoto zoom lens.
But they are not reliable over time. The selector button breaks, and the card bus fails.
Well, D1 was the fist one figure D... so we should not crucify much Nikon for that... Still, what IMO is remarkable is that 1996 body concept for the F5 (jumping over the F6) remained until the today's D6. I feel there are design concepts reused from the F5 until the D6...
> true armored skin, isolated from the internals
> conterweigthed mirror mechanism
> enhanced resistance aganist vibrations, drops, impressively wheather sealed
> 1.5kg in the solid body, what a hard shooter Pro wants.
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