Where have all the Nikons gone?

Theo Sulphate

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TheRook said:
After a well-known blogger writes about how awesome a camera model is, the demand for that camera goes up. Everyone wants one ...
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That's the way I've felt when reading about certain cameras - so I think you're right. I can't think of specific cameras where I've seen this phenomenon (I'd love to see a list), but it must happen.
 

E. von Hoegh

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Theo Sulphate said:
That's the way I've felt when reading about certain cameras - so I think you're right. I can't think of specific cameras where I've seen this phenomenon (I'd love to see a list), but it must happen.
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I'll leave out any comments un the misuse of the word "awesome" (seemingly a favorite of the less informed blogger, bloviating on that which they know little of). Oops, oh well.
But, I gotta start me a blog. Those Leica IIIs really suck. They suck even worse with a Summar, becoming a veritable singularity of suckage. They're small, old, heavy, and expensive to get fixed. Modern film casettes don't really fit right. The lens is uncoated. They are almost impossible for modern fingers to load film in, it takes almost a minute ffs! The lens is really slow, and has no bokeh. There's no advance lever, just a frigging knob!.TWO shutter speed dials, and a top speed of only 1/500 of a second, wtf? Plus, where do you put the battery, and why is there no pc port? U
 

Theo Sulphate

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Not only that, there is a separate viewfinder just to focus!

Terrible camera. Simply terrible.
 

George Mann

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E. von Hoegh said:
Those Leica IIIs really suck.
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Tell me about it! Film cameras suck in general, especially the manual focus models which actually take considerable time and effort use (can you imagine such an inconvenience?).

In fact, most of them require some type of service before you can even shoot a single frame (which often includes a mandatory change of its light seals).

Do you want a camera with a built-in meter? Most work poorly (if at all), and require a battery that is no longer available!
 

Sirius Glass

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Evidently you either have not gotten good equipment or neglect to get cameras checked out before or immediately after buying them. But heck I only have sixty five plus years of experience. What is your excuse?
 

George Mann

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Sirius Glass said:
Evidently you either have not gotten good equipment or neglect to get cameras checked out before or immediately after buying them. But heck I only have sixty five plus years of experience. What is your excuse?
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Once again, the King of sky photography doesn't get it!
 

MartinCrabtree

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Can't tell if sarcastic humor or don't belong here.
 

ciniframe

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Popular big name brands are going up, but perfectly serviceable SLR's still go cheap. I bought a Sears KS-500 (rebadged Ricoh KR-5) with the standard 50 f2 lens for $5 at a photo show. Even had good meter batteries and they are modern silver oxide type. Plastic top and bottom covers but I didn't buy it to pound down loose nails. Very good VF and a 1/8 to 1/500 + B fully manual and mechanical shutter. Very common PK mount with a slug of reasonable lenses available.
Nope, it sure ain't no super rugged F2 but for a basic 35mm SLR it's cheap and will last plenty long enough.
 

George Mann

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MartinCrabtree said:
Can't tell if sarcastic humor or don't belong here.
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All of my old stodgy film camera's are likely to seriously inconvenience youngsters today, let me tell ya! Hell, it takes up to ten whole minutes just to load film into my Contaflex's!

That's nine minutes and thirty seconds these youngsters could have spent doing other things on their phone after the 30 seconds it would take them to take a picture with it!
 

CMoore

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OK, those things on the top of a Rangefinder. How do they assist with focusing.?
Thank You
 

MattKing

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On the post previous to yours, the accessory viewfinder you see is just that - a viewfinder and framing aid. It is bigger and brighter then the viewfinder built into the camera, and is matched to one single focal length. It may also be better aligned with the lens itself.
The finder built into the camera may have different framing lines for different focal length lenses and, if the built in finder is designed to be usable with a lens of shorter focal length than the 50 mm/5 cm lens (something like a 35mm lens) the framing lines for 50 mm will delineate a relatively small portion of the total view through the camera's built in finder.
Some rangefinder cameras have a single window to look through - you can see both the finder frame and the focus assist rangefinder itself. Others require that you compose with one window but use another to use the focus assist rangefinder.
 

Theo Sulphate

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CMoore said:
OK, those things on the top of a Rangefinder. How do they assist with focusing.?
Thank You
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They don't assist with focusing - they are used mostly for quick framing, as one might do with street photography. In such cases, when using that type of finder, the lens and aperture would most likely be set for a useful hyperfocal range. For example, one might have the lens set so that everything from five to fifteen feet would be in reasonable focus.

In mshchem's photo, the auxiliary finder is for 50mm - so it's for the "normal" lens and the finder is just being used in place of the camera's own built-in finder (which is slower to use). However, when using any lens other than the normal 50mm on these Barnack Leicas, people would typically use an auxiliary finder for their chosen lens, e..g 35mm, since there aren't multiple frame lines in the camera's viewfinder.

With the advent of the M3, Leica's finders allowed for different framelines to appear in the camera's viewfinder - selected automatically when the lens was mounted.
 

CMoore

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I see...thank you.
I am an SLR guy, and have no experience with Rangefinders.
 

GarageBoy

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I see a bunch of F2AS for $4-500 on eBay right now - not rare at all, and a bargain, considering my father paid $600-800 each for his 3 over 20+ years ago
 

cooltouch

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I just took a quick look on eBay and found several F2s with different finders that looked pretty clean for under $200. So there doesn't seem to be a shortage of them at this time.

I have a couple of F2s -- one that originally came with the non-metered finder which I later added a DP-1 to, and the other's an F2S (DP-2 finder). I actually like the big LEDs of the S. Anyway, both of my F2s have been stone cold reliable. One of them I've owned for about 30 years and the other about 7 or 8 years. One's due for light seals, but that's about it. And I love the MD2-MB1 motor drive. Probably the finest motor drive ever made
 

David A. Goldfarb

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I got this whole stack o’ glass things and there’s a 1A, 25A, K2, G, O, ND this and ND that, and I can’t figure out which one is the irony filter.
 

Ben Hutcherson

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I kind of have lost track of the number of F2s I have...and even bought one from the classifieds here last week.

Offhand, I think I have

1x DE-1
3x DP-1
1x DP-2
1x DP-3
2x DP-11
1x DP-12

My cheapest one was my first one-a niceish one in chrome with a DP-1 and it set me back all of $50 or $75 from a local shop. My most expensive was the near perfect '80 SN with DP-12(F2AS) and MD-2 that was $500 at the same shop.

All of mine are functional. I do have one(actually the one that came with the DP-3) that won't reliably power a meter-I understand that broken wires in the battery chamber are somewhat common. The DE-1 I have actually came to me on an F(I bought it mostly for the prism, and fitted an FTN to that F), so I just stuck the DE-1 on the one with battery issues and cycled the DP-3 onto a DP-1-equipped camera. The spare DP-1 then ended up on another camera I bought that came with a dead finder. I also have a couple of late ones that make sort of a "whir" when advancing the film, but as best as I can tell this doesn't impact the operation of the camera.

I have found DP-1s and DP-11s to be a bit more prone to jumpy needles and often being off 1-2 stops. The DP-3 and DP-12 seem to always be dead-on, and you can of course read the display easily in any light(I have a DL-1, which is an accessory light to illuminate the meter read-out of the DP-1 and DP-11, but these aren't common). All said and done, I don't know that there's a better camera for coupled metering with non-AI lenses than an F2SB(DP-3). The Nikkormat EL is close, but I don't like having to set the lens to f/5.6 before mounting it on any of the non-AI Nikkormats.

I've never heard of this alleged shutter "ping"-and aside from meter issues mine just keep ticking away.

I am on Sover Wong's waiting list, and should hopefully come up some time this summer. I need to carefully decide which I'm going to send, as I can't afford to send them all but this may be the only chance I get.

I guess my point, though, is that they're out there. My last was $200 with an MD-2 on it.
 
OP
OP

BradS

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but....these go to eleven....
 
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