Reliable and durable, AA batteries easily available and the camera does not drain them quickly at all, lots of features (e.g. adjustable self-timer), easy to use controls.

Heavier than average, AF is sometimes slow and "searches", no built-in flash.

I am an intermediate photographer, with dreams of "fine art" shots but facing the reality that most of my pics are snapshots. I agree with dclarhorn on all points. This is a solid, reliable (just got back from lugging it 71 miles through a New Mexico backpacking trip) with no problems. It IS heavy (add the Nikon 24-85 prime focus zoom) but I connected a holster-type bag to my backpack belt and the setup was comfortable and convenient. I think for future outdoor/trek photo work I will buy an N80 body and take it instead. It is ligher, and even with the bright lens, you need a flash for a lot of pictures if you use 25, 100, or 160 speed film, and lugging the full featured external flash for this puppy would be a bit much.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta SLRs

Uses AA batteries, good solid feel, spotmeter.

A bit noisy, may be a bit heavy for some.

My favorite camera (I have the "s" version). Chose it for the spot meter, faster AF than the reg. 8008, and because it uses easy-to-get AA batteries. Has a sensible layout that's very simple to learn and get comfortable with. People have said that the AF is a bit slow but when I use it with my Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 it snaps into focus. No complaints there. Like other full-featured Nikons, some may find it a bit heavy. I like the weight and it allows me to hold the camera steady when shooting at lower shutter speeds. Overall, a fine performer.

Customer Service

Never needed.

Similar Products Used:

6006, n65

Spot metering, matrix metering, balanced fill flash, slow sync, DOF preview, meters with manual focus Nikkors etc ...

Slow AF that sometimes searches when you don't want it to. Noisy film advance. I have obviously accepted these limitations

I have owned my N8008s since it was brand new about 15 years ago. At that time, the top Nikons were the N8008s and the F4 which was more than I needed. My 8008s has had thousands of rolls of film put through and has never given me any sort of discomfort. It has been completely flawless. I will never give up this good old friend even though I am gradually moving to digital

Customer Service

I never had a problem so there was no need for customer service. I wore out my 85 1.8 and that needs serviced though.

Similar Products Used:

Various manual focus Nikon cameras

uses AA Cells heavy - stable DOF preview easy to use

electric cable release - I had to buy the MR3 to use it with my mechanical cable release

I bought mine at Ebay a couple of months ago. And I'm very happy I did choose the F801s / 8008s. It gives me all I need. Very good shutter speeds (1/8000s-30s)and flash sync. 1/250 !! what do you need more?? Very reliable exposure metering. It is heavy as a brick, but I like it, I can shoot at speeds like 1/30 or 1/15 (without a tripod) and I still get a sharp photo. It uses cheap AA cells. Unfortunately it has a slow AF, for me it isn't a big problem, because I use it rarely, but one may unhappy about this fact. And one may say it is loud... yes it is.. but it isn't a problem for me. The control buttons are easy to understand, and the whole camera is easy to use. But the best part for me is the mechanical DOF preview. I cannot believe people can live without it!! I say the Nikon f801s is a workhorse that gets it's job done!! I'd strongly recommend it to all the amateurs that need some better equipment but don't have too much money. I bought my nikon together with a 35-135mm / 3.4-4.5 nikkor for 370 Euro (about 390$)and it was in mint condition.

Very strong.40 rolls with a battery set.Good metering even with ais lenses.Easy to use Muti exposure.

Looks a bit plastic.No PC plug No remote cord No pop up flash

I heve been using a F801since 1995.This camera is perfect for landscapes and outdoor pictures .The metering is ;i think; exellent even with mf nikkor lenses.The one I have has worked à lot about 70 rolls a year and is still perfectly working.I also used it for weddings where flash control was pretty good.Af is terribly slow in low light or inable to focus on costal scenes.I now use a F5 which is much more faster .

Customer Service

never used

Similar Products Used:

F,FM,F301 andF5

Tough and durable. Good vision in finder for eyeglass wearers Good battery life Matrix metering &fill flash is a snap which really improves some photos. Really sets up well with MF lenses. Autoload is very reliable. Metering is incredibly good. Repairable.

Heavy, loud No PC plug No cable release Continuous autofocus is a bit slow for truly effective action use. Try using focus priority avaiable with the MF21 back instead.

Good solid kachunker! This camera has many really nice features that some don'' need and it doesnt have a few that some do need such as cable release and a pc plug for external flash units thought that is easily surmounted with Nikon cords and flash units. A particularly strong point for this camera is that it uses AA batteries --- always available even in the most remote corners of the world. Others experience may vary but I can usually shoot about 50 rolls of film with a set of 4 batteries. I dropped mine and caused lots of damage to body and lens. While expensive, Nikon USA restored it to like new function.

Customer Service

Nikon (and probably many others) can repair this unit. It is built for service

Similar Products Used:

FM10, K1000, F3,

multiple exposure double self timer easy to use controls

no pop up flash for fill light

I am very new to my N8008s, but so far I think it is great. I am glad I got it instead of a new N80. I love the double self timer. That should be great for group shots that I will also be in. I also like how easy the multiple exposure is to use. I was used to the camera in a matter of minutes. It is my favorite camera I have used so far.

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

F3, FE, FE2, FM2, Fm, N2000, K-1000, X-370n, X-700

availability, cost 1/250 second flash synch flexible program, A, S, M meters with mf Nikkors Uses AA batteries good enough Matrix metering to give modern cameras a run for their money 3.3 FPS

weight slow AF wont autofocus AFS lenses looks very plasticy

I have disliked this camera (8008) for most of the 4-5 years I''''ve had it. It''''s noisy, sometimes if the batteries are low and you hit the shutter release nothing happens, the af is painfully slow with any kind of telephoto lens, it has no spot meter, it''''s heavy, it''''s plasticy, it won''''t autofocus with AFS lenses, or use VR etc. etc. etc. But in the end you cannot argue with results. To put it bluntly it gets the job done, like an ugly coat that keeps you warm. It meters with mf lenses, it has possibly the best multiple exposure control I''''ver ever seen, you just press the ME button and roll the control wheel until you get to the number of exposures you want to take, and then fire away with the number counting in the viewfinder down every time you hit the shutter release. But the most important feature of any camera is what the slides look like, and while the af is slow, it is dead on, and the metering is likewise excellent. What it means is sharp contrasty photos with surpising consistancy. If you are a casual photographer the faster AF and lighter weight of an N65 or N80 is probably preferable. But if you are more serious or proffesionaly minded and you need things like a 1/250 flash synch (with excellent fill flash metering) and you want to be able to use excellent lenses like the unequaled 28mm f2.8 AIS, and if you also want your camera to use easy to find AA batteries, and you would rather spend your money on lenses than a better camera body, this might be the ticket. You also get that 1/8000 second shutter but I''''ve only used that maybe once, and even then it was just because I could and I wanted to try it. Just remember that if you want spot metering you have to get the N8008s, the N8008 doesn''''t have it, and remember that the N8008(s) won''''t autofocus AFS lenses or use VR. I''''m planning to upgrade to an F100 eventually. When I started considering new camera bodies the first requirement was that it had to at least duplicate every feature of the N8008, nothing below an F100 would do that except an N90, which I don''''t consider enough of an upgrade. To me the F100 looks like a quieter faster N8008 with with a 5 point multicam 1300 AF(ala F5) The fact that the N8008 is so close to an F100 is a tribute to the design of the 8008, not a knock in any way on the F100

Customer Service

Never used

Similar Products Used:

none, this is my only AF SLR The FG is an excellent mf Nikon The Mamiya 6 is great for medium format, but for situations that require an AF SLR my N8008 still performs well.

Stable, balanced, user-friendly. No questions to exposure metering. High-eyepoint.

Spotmeter is the only thing which lack is really painful. AF is not good, but just don''t consider it as AF camera. Loudy. Not for the theater.

Everything is good except AF: it''s acceptable with AF 50/1.8 but with 70-300/4-5.6 at 300 mm it is horrible. It simply is not. :-) Spotmeter is also desired sometimes. Someone in the net said that F801 is good manual camera. It is. For the modern technology level. It is not autofocus box, it is a camera with automatic focus feature.If you don''t demand more, its'' excellent. Why not FM2, FM3A? Does they have high-eyepoint for glass-wearers? Then FM3HP? Ok, can it do 1/8000"? And handling at last. It''s much better than F90x/N90S or F80 for my taste. I suggest to buy this camera if you need a time-proofed workhorse with excellent exponometry and some nice electronic features and you don''t need fast AF. If you need fast AF and/or spotmeter buy F80. If you need fast AF and/or spotmeter and compatibility with MF lenses buy F100 or F5 (maybe f90[x] or f4).

Customer Service

er... too late, huh?..

Similar Products Used:

no electronic cameras before

Multifunctional. all program modes to satisfy any situation and then expound on them. Legendary Nikon durability and Optical strength. Uses 4AA''s as opposed to 6V lithium. Use this camera in some severe weather condtions and it has always soldiered on.

Noisy AF drive and film advance. AF sensors not quite up to par with current cameras, it has problems with horizontal subjects. Easily overcome but an annoyance none the less.

This camera rules (or it did when it first came out) all the features that you could possibly think of and then some. This was the first camera I owned which tied all the components together into a seamlessly operating system. The lenses provided the camera with the info it needed, the flash used the camera to optimize the light required. Everything works in harmony.

Customer Service

No problems...Was cleaned two years ago and all specs were within tolerance for the age of the camera.

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Canon EOS, Elan