Your favorite Nikon MF SLR film camera

[macrorie]

I've owned or used the Nikkormat FTN, F2A, F3HP, FM, FM2n, EM, and N2000. My favorite is the F2A - I like the 100% viewfinder, the meter, the ability to take non-AI and AI/S lenses, and the way the thing was built.

 

[Ap507b]

Probably my FA as back in 1986 that got me started with Nikon, although I could happily toss a coin between that & the F3. Rather like F3's. Have two of them. After that it would be the FM2. Of my MF Nikon's these see the most use. Bringing up the rear would be the FE2 & then the F. The F is a joy to shoot but it sees the least use of the bunch.

 

[Les Sarile]

So many to choose from. Which would choose if you could only have one?

It's a great thing we don't have to choose one

As the song goes . . . I still haven't found what I'm looking for . . .

 

[parkpy]

i preferred my FM2n to my FE2, only because I got used to the LED meter indicator on the FM2.

However, I'm finding I'm still getting used to meter readings in the FM2. It tends to overexpose more than I'd like. But, as with any tool, you learn how to compensate for oddities.

But it'd be nice to have something that worked perfectly without any adjustment...a la my old Olympus OM4T.

 

[ic-racer]

I only have one it is Rolleiflex SLX. I would like to have an SL66 also.

 

[John Koehrer]

I only have one it is Rolleiflex SLX. I would like to have an SL66 also.

That's a Nikon?

 

[semi-ambivalent]

Not so quick there

In the end, it is about how well a camera provides you with what you need in order to do what you want to do, not some romantic feeling about how great it "feels" to shoot it.

Why should those two clauses be mutually exclusive? If I'm shooting for money then I can agree, but then I'm really shooting to do what someone else wants, aren't I. The persistence of physical things through time provides a link to those times we can not re-visit, to those things we can no longer do, to those people who have moved on in one manner or another.

A very few cameras are, for me, fetishes. I remember where this dent came from, how these scratches got there. How this F is a little less than perfect unless I also use that lens I dropped in the dog shit in Chamonix. Romantic? Sure, call it what you will. Nobody's on APUG because analog image making is taking the world by storm; there's Science here, but there's voodoo too.

 

[2F/2F]

Why should those two clauses be mutually exclusive? If I'm shooting for money then I can agree, but then I'm really shooting to do what someone else wants, aren't I. The persistence of physical things through time provides a link to those times we can not re-visit, to those things we can no longer do, to those people who have moved on in one manner or another.

A very few cameras are, for me, fetishes. I remember where this dent came from, how these scratches got there. How this F is a little less than perfect unless I also use that lens I dropped in the dog shit in Chamonix. Romantic? Sure, call it what you will. Nobody's on APUG because analog image making is taking the world by storm; there's Science here, but there's voodoo too.

I didn't say they are always mutually exclusive. I simply explained why my choice was the F2 instead of the F. It has enough of the F's "juju," (feel) while also having some practical improvements. The question is which one camera would we pick, and I would pick the camera that I felt had the best set of features between the F and the F2. I enjoy shooting the F more, but the F2 would be a better tool for me if I could only have one camera.

Sorry, but I don't believe in voodoo. Love/lust for inanimate object, yes, but not the supernatural. I love old cameras for many reasons, but having a supernatural a link to the past is not one of them. I understand the notion, but all I really care about in the end is taking pictures.

 

[narsuitus]

I have owned and used the F, F2, F3, and F4. At one low point in my life, I had to reduce my inventory to one body. I chose a chrome F2.

If I had to make the same decision today, I would keep the F2 titanium that I was forced to sell.

 

[ic-racer]

I only have one it is Rolleiflex SLX. I would like to have an SL66 also.

Ooops posted in wrong thread, too late to delete

 

[Uncle Bill]

You mean I have to choose??? Where to begin, ok F2S, F3HP and FM2 in a three way tie but I also love my Fs and Nikkormats.

 

[Eric Rose]

My Nikon F5, in manual focus mode, ha ha. Beyond that my old Nikkormat Ftn,

 

[elcabezagrande]

My favorite is the FM2n. Of course, that is most likely because it is the only manual-focus Nikon SLR that I have ever used. But it is a great camera.

 

[Steve Smith]

I only have one Nikon manual focus body and it's the much maligned (by some) but well featured and compact FG.

There are two Fs in my father's collection which I have inherited (they are staying in display cabinets in my mother's house for now) but I haven't tried them out yet other than looking through them and marvelling over how 3D like the viewfinder appears compared with some other cameras.

My father's collection totals about thirty cameras. Occasionally I borrow one and run a film through it. I was planning on taking back the Contaflex I have been using tomorrow and this thread has made me think that I might come back with an F to try out!


Steve.

 

[elcabezagrande]

Oops, I forgot about that FG. It is a very nice compact body, easy on the hands, and a perfect complement to the Nikon E series lenses. I also have a Nikon EM that I have never shot because I need some parts for the rewind crank, and every junk body that I run across has the same broken crank. What is it with that?

 

[Ralph Javins]

Good morning;

Of all of the Nikon Manually Focusing SLR Film Cameras, my preference is still for the Nikon F2. Yes, I still like the Nikon F, and my various versions of the Nikomat or Nikkormat are also appreciated, but the overall package of the F2 still gets my vote. One obvious point over the Nikon F is the location of the shutter release button. I do not need to really work to get my finger back to where the button is located on the F when I am using the F2 with the button more to the front where my finger seems to find it more naturally. The improved non-frame wasting MLU of the F2 is also appreciated, as is the easier loading of the film by just swinging open the back. I do not go much past the F2 due to the growing dependance on a working battery for the later cameras. And, in the F2 series, I think I prefer the F2AS for most things, but a straight F2 with the standard pentaprism is still nice for an earlier era feeling.

Then there is that last personal thing about the F2; I just like the way that it feels when I am using it.

 

[André E.C.]

My black F2 with meterless prism, a jewel of mechanics.

 

[fstop]

I have FMs,FEs, FE2,FAs,Fs,F2,F3

I prefer the F3 out of all of them for one reason, the power switch. You don't need the film advance lever pulled out and poking you in the forehead if you are left eyed.

 

[Richard Kelham]

I also have a Nikon EM that I have never shot because I need some parts for the rewind crank, and every junk body that I run across has the same broken crank. What is it with that?

Because the rewind crank was even cheaper and nastier than the rest of that camera, arguably the worst Nikon ever produced. And yes I am speaking from experience.

 

[Carl V]

I think I would be struggling to pick just the one camera as a favorite, but I am perfectly happy with the FM, FM2n and the FM3a - simply because they are lovely cameras to use and can operate without the aid of any batteries (apart from the meter, of course). This would be closely followed by the F3HP.

Although I don't own one at present, I was lucky enough to borrow an F2 many years ago from a friend of mine and have to say it was a delight to use.

 

[Selidor]

For those keeping count at home:
Nikon F2: 13
Nikon FM2: 7
Nikon F3: 5
Nikon FM3a: 2
Nikon FM: 2
Nikon EM: 1
Nikon F: 1
Nikon F5: 1
Nikon FA: 1
Nikon FG: 1
Nikon FM10: 1
Nikkormat: 1
Nikon "Rolleiflex" SLX: 1

Ive only used a F5, FE2, FG-20 and a EM. Out of those, I prefer the F5 for all the obvious reasons, even though I sold it to go on holiday - it was worth it though

 

[Rombo]

Nikon EM with 50 mm 1.8 lens. My first camera ever. I have one since 1983.

 

[fstop]

For those keeping count at home:
Nikon F2: 13
Nikon FM2: 7
Nikon F3: 5
Nikon FM3a: 2
Nikon FM: 2
Nikon EM: 1
Nikon F: 1
Nikon F5: 1
Nikon FA: 1
Nikon FG: 1
Nikon FM10: 1
Nikkormat: 1
Nikon "Rolleiflex" SLX: 1

Ive only used a F5, FE2, FG-20 and a EM. Out of those, I prefer the F5 for all the obvious reasons, even though I sold it to go on holiday - it was worth it though

Thanks for keeping track.

 

[benjiboy]

The Nikon F, because if you hit anyone with it who was trying to mug you with it they didn't get up before you got away

 

[Frank Chambers]

It's difficult to say because they are all so different. So I would prefer the F5 over the F6 and the F3 over the F. But another day it's the opposite.