Nikon F GAS attack

[Steve Smith]

The Nikon F with an unmetered prism finder is neat. The Photomic finder made it a beast.

I now have one of each.




Steve.

[bobwysiwyg]

The Photomic finder made it a beast.

I prefer to think of it as a distinctive profile.

[Someonenameddavid]

Both the F and F2 have their devotees: I have a beautiful black F which is so immaculate that it is doomed to be a shelf queen. It was an early model and is just a few numbers off being 6543210. Imagine the premium on that one(!) it did not have a red dot however, but was skillfully widened at the back of the viewfinder to accept the upgrade Photomic Tn meter. Probably ruined it as a collectable. So: 64 series carry a premium for being original, 65 series a premium for the old style "Nippon Kogaku" in a lens logo 65 red dot carry a premium for the dot which indicates factory built acceptance of the new Photomic. Apollo Fs have the F2 cosmetics(imagine Nikon produced the F and F2 side by side for a while... You would expect that from Leitz or Zeiss, but not the Japanese)

I still love my F: feels like a Contax IIa with a pentaprism

David

[E. von Hoegh]

+1 for Sover Wong. He brought my F2 to like-new condition. He only works on the F2
and he knows everything there is to know about it. He also has repair parts.

F2 > F because you can still get the meter batteries for the F2.

You can get cells that work in the F finders, too. Use #675 hearing aid cells, block off 3 of the four airholes and use a thick O-ring as a bushing to keep it centered in the compartment. Another fix is to use an F2 finder on an F, it's a simple modification.

[Someonenameddavid]

How is putting an F2 Photomic head on an F a simple modification when the F2 battery is on the bottom plate and the on switch is the window lever, unlike the F where battery switch and meter are one unit????

[E. von Hoegh]

How is putting an F2 Photomic head on an F a simple modification when the F2 battery is on the bottom plate and the on switch is the window lever, unlike the F where battery switch and meter are one unit????

The unmetered finder. I should have been more clear.

[Les Sarile]

Thanks to the mir.com site, I am now having a serious bout of GAS for the Nikon F!

They are responsible for most of my acquisitions too!

If you didn't already know, this is another excellent Nikon F site -> http://www.destoutz.ch/nikon-f.html

[semi-ambivalent]

Aside from the finders, later ones have a plastic grip on the wind lever, which is a little nicer. Also as I recall, somewhere in the history they went to putting the manufacture year in the first two digit's of the S/N. Not sure if the switchover year is documented though.
The meter finders are a bit ungainly, but I'm not sure the "value" of the plain ones matches the reported cost.

If you run into a chrome one with a plain finder and a black name plate, made in circa 1970, it may have been stolen from a house in Thailand 40ish years ago

The ser. num./date thing is not strictly true for the F. At some later point in its production there was a rough correlation between the serial number and the date but I think it was almost circumstantial. I have a couple Fs I purchased new and as I recall the digits are a year off, but I can't right now recall in which direction.

The F2 does indeed use the method you describe.

Condolences for your loss in Thailand. Sometimes 40 years is not that long, is it.

s-a

[Mark Crabtree]

I love the F's with straight prism finder. I have the older style, plus the later with plastic wind lever tip; both are fine, but I probably slightly prefer the older metal lever. I've never really liked the Photomic heads; in addition to other issues mentioned, the Photomic makes the aperture adjustment and lens changing fussier. The straight prism camera is a lean, all business, machine.

F's and many of the lenses are bargains now. In general I'm not as thrilled with the lenses as the bodies, but there are some that are exceptional and others that are incredible performers for their price.

[Yashinoff]

I used to really want an F. Then I got a Miranda. The F2 is everything the F was but better too.