I haven't used one since the 70s when we traded up for F2s, but I have no doubt that it's still one of the greatest cameras of all time.

Removing the back to load/unload is definitely a pain (this was fixed in the later Nikkormat and F2) - the camera looses a point in my Overall rating for this. The sheer weight of the thing can be a drag. The various Photomic meter prisms frequently read quite a bit off before they finally die (and getting the right batteries for them nowadays isn't so easy either).

A mega-classic, right up there with the Leica, Rolleiflex, Speed Graphic, and the other members of the small pantheon of trend-defining camera designs.

Built to endure in ways that will shock folks used to currently manufactured cameras, a great many mid-60s models out there on the used market still operate perfectly. There's no question, a Nikon F - with or without a meter prism - and a couple of classic Nikkor lenses (50/2 or 1.4, 35/2, 45/2.8 GN, 55/3.5 Micro, 105/2.5) is still a heckuva fine kit!

Get one to pretend you're a 60s fashion-photog swinger and you'll produce awesome images; when it breaks, put it in a display case as one of the pinnacles of 20th century industrial design (and get another one to shoot with)!

Customer Service

No significant experience - we always used to use Marty Forscher of the legendary Professional Camera Repair in NYC.

Similar Products Used:

Assorted Nikkormats and F2s, later OMs

It is absoultely the most dependable camera I have ever used. I dropped mine on concrete on it's prisim 16 years ago and it still works today! (unmetered prisim)

The F is a heavy, ancient camera. Some of the best work I have done has been with this camera but having to remove the flash to rewind film, take off the baseplate to load the camera, having no meter or a big photomic prisim is sometimes a demerit.

This is a camera that makes you think and slow down. This is a 100% manual and 100% dependible camera. User friendly it probably isn't (but look at the slr's before it! EEK!

Customer Service

don't know!

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I have other nikons, rangefinders, and 6x6 cameras.

Tough!
Few things to go wrong.
only the required basics, no fluff.

none... unless you are one of those "photographers" who never shoots off of program... then consider this camera unusable.

Every website forum has the same questions being asked... "How do I....(fill in any basic procedure)? The problem today is everyone jumps into a "super duper auto mega flex" and can't even begin to figure it out. Anyone who wants to learn... really learn, needs to look no further than this camera. For well less than 200 dollars for a camera and lens, it is do or die, but you will learn photography. If possible, look for a meterless, pointy prism. It reduces the weight, and is simply more beautiful. One lens, a handheld meter, and you are on your way.
This is a great camera!

Customer Service

not required

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Nikon F2
Nikon F3

This camera never fails! I own two of them since the late 60's. I only use the prism finders because I knew that the FTN's would eventually fail. I have been on the highest mountains and the lowest desert(s) in the world with two of these fine machines. I would recommend them to any "beginner"! Get a Minolta hand held meter and a Nikon "F". You will learn Photography!

Qwerky back removal.

My Son is starting High School this year and needs a camera. He can use one of my "F" bodies and I'm not worried!

Customer Service

Nikon will laugh at you when you ask for service or parts. My 1964 Hasselblad 500c was serviced by the factory with original parts in 1999.

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I own 2 "Fs", 2 "F2s" and an FE2 for flash

solid, functional, basic

funky film back

Great basic camera, nikon quality, lens selection,
this is my number 1 camera, I'm going to find another on soon just because its so fun. The Ftn works fine and batteries are at Hendrick's Photo in Syracuse.

Customer Service

none needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikon FG, Exacta

The F is in a league of its own. Its legendary reliability and ruggedness make it my primary body. I love being able to run non-AI lenses (so does my pocketbook), and the finder with 100% coverage is appreciated when I'm shooting slide film.

Unless you are into equipment snobbery and high-tech gadgetry, this could very well be the first and last camera for most photogrpahers.

I don't know if you can call the F's ideosynchrosies "weaknesses". We are talking about a 40+ year old camera. But, I would have to say that the unorthodox accessories (motor drive that is part of the film back, for instance) make it tough to accessorize this camera. For motor drive junkies, I think the F2 is the better way to go. And, the flash mount over the rewind knob is a source of complaints. Then again, I'm running a Metz 45, so that's irrelevant to me.

You either love or hate the F. It's the antithesis of the modern camera; clunky, heavy, hard-edged, and extremely manual. I find all of these characteristic enduring, and frankly, it looks more aesthetically pleasing to me than all the plastic crap that is so rampant on the market these days.

Although it may not be your primary body in the end, it is still worth having at least one in your Nikon bag of tricks. When the plastic autofocus lenses crack in the cold and the batteries give out and the LCD screen turns into a blue blob, the F will still be taking pictures as reliably as always.

Customer Service

The metered prisms are a bone of contention when they stop working. The body, however, just seems to keep going and going ...

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Many Nikons ...

Built to last forever. I inherited this camera from my father, and will no doubt pass it down to my son; something that can't be said about my spiffy N90s.

Surprisingly light! Fitted with an eye-level prism, it's lighter than the F3/T.

Silky shutter and shutter release.

No meter, no batteries, no hotshoe, no problem!

It might not have a hot shoe, but it has a conveniently located PC socket.

These are all minor quibbles:

Squared-off corners don't fit the hand as nicely as later models in the F-series.

Metal wind lever can really rip up your thumb.

Mirror lock-up requires wasting an exposure.

Unique cable release socket or adapter required.

Unique flash foot adapter required.

I have Photomic heads (first and second versions), and I've used an FTn head (TTL, 60:40 metering). I've also have the eye-level finder, which is the one I use most-often. All are great; the ability of the Photomic head to take an incident reading is very handy. I wish the eyepiece had a rubber bumper to keep my glasses from getting scratched. With the eyelevel finder, there are no viewfinder indicators at all, so you have to remember your settings. The back is quirky - neither strength nor weakness, but an integral part of the F's character. I think collectors have driven the price up, which is why I've given it a lower "value" rating.

Customer Service

On an F?

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F3/T, FM, FM2/T. Also, some newer bodies like the FA, N8008s, and N90s.

* Unbelievably failure/damage-resistant engineering and construction
* Battery-free operation
* Nikon F lens mount (40 years worth of lenses)
* removable prism/view screens
* Sharpest Nikon

"Weakness" and "Nikon F" can't be used in the same sentence - logical impossibility!

Features you may find disadvantageous (but I don't) - back-off film loading, limited shutter speed/flash sync range, lack of automation, lack of reliable motors & meters

I have owned at least one F body since 1974 except for a couple of years experimenting with Canons. I've never had one wear out or break down. Whatever the Nippon Kogaku engineers did with ball bearings and titanium foil back in 1959 worked, because this is absolutely the most reliable and damage-resistant camera ever designed. Even now that I use Contax G-2s for their fancy features and Zeiss glass, I still keep an "F" and a couple of Nikkors around "in case of power failure" like the glass-encased slide-rule in the computer lab.

About the time I bought my first "F", Nikon ran a magazine ad written by a photojournalist working in SE Asia somewhere who fell in an irrigation ditch, soaking his F body. He carried it out to civilization over several days in a bucket of water (to keep away oxygen), air-dried it in a slow oven, and then worked the wind and shutter for a couple of hours, and it functioned perfectly again.

The worst I've ever treated an "F" was 3 hours shooting a winter warehouse fire in Chicago at 26 below - the F was still going strong when I lost the feeling in my fingers and ears and had to quit.

The Nikon F with a plain prism is the SLR equivalent of a Leica M2/3/4, closer even than Leica's various SLR attempts. No batteries, no meter, basic shutter speeds, bottom-off loading, and a total of 10 controls: thumb wind, shutter button, shutter-speed dial, rewind switch, rewind crank, back latch, depth-of-field preview, lens release, focusing ring, and aperture ring. The shutter is way-overengineered for the stresses actually imposed at 1/1000 second, which is why they're good for 500,000+ exposures.

It's fun to occasionaly field-strip an "F": lens off, back off, prism off, screen out, all lined up on a piece of red flannel. It reminds you that you own a picture-taking machine, not a plastic calculator with a lens on the front.

You can mount a 1959 58mm f/1.4 or a 1972 fisheye or a 2001 80-400 IS zoom on an "F" and all of them will function equally well.

Finally, I've found that the "F" gives me sharper pictures than other Nikon bodies - I shoot with a lens on an FM2 or and F3 or a N90s and get mediocre results, and then put it on an "F" and it's beautiful! I think it's a combination of the following factors:

* Metal-framed glass focusing screen clamped into place by pins is more accurately positioned than snap-in plastic screens or F3's drop-in screens.
* Shutter release mounted far back on top of camera means downward finger pressure at firing balances against lens weight and shutter/mirror movement for steadiness.
* Horizontal shutter movement imparts less torque to body than vertical shutters.
* Mirror-up shake is very light - most of the noise and vibration come during mirror-down, when the shutter is already closed.
* For my hands, at least, the "F" is the perfect size to nestle into place for the ideal low-shake grip, especially with the finger arched 'way back to reach that weird shutter button.

I've never owned a metering prism, and never want to. Even if they work, they totally destroy the lines and ergonomics of the F body, and you'll get more accurate exposures with an incident meter or eyeball that measures the actual light and ignores the color/tones of the subject.

I strongly recommend you seek out a body with a plain prism - quick - because the plain prism values are skyrocketing as the meter prisms die off. The prisms are running $200 alone, so any body/prism combo under $350 is a steal.

Customer Service

1. "Customer service? F's don' need no stinking customer service!"

2. If you can quality for N.P.S. at least they'll fix/maintain your lenses in 3-4 days.

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Nikon F2-F5, Canon F-1, M-Leicas

Exactly how can you measure something that is in fact perfect. This camera will be clicking away while all those digitals will be filling up landfills. It is accurate, fail resistant, attractive and for the most part darn perfect piece of machinery. You can fully compose your work, control your photographic outcome, predict the final work from from the viewfinder. I mean, heck, this workhorse was the tool that was used to photograph Marilyn Monroe, Vietnam War, The Lunar Landing, President Nixon, The tearing of the Berlin wall, the Paparatizzi, ect, ect, ect.
Try using the camera with the non-metered photomic head a really nice handheld light meter.
Expensive and worth every single penny plus lots and lots more.

I was going to mention cost, but in a way, I am glad they are expensive. As expensive as they are people are not going to just toss them in a gym bag or throw them in a drawer like lost of those not-so-cheap-but-pissed-that-I-bought one digital point and shoot.

The bottom line is how sharp are your photos. How close was it to they way you composed the shot, to how they appear as a print. With the cost of photo processing nowadays, every shot is becoming more and more an ordeal. Even I find myself sometimes shooting a bit less.

Customer Service

You know.. .I never have used any kinds of Customer Service... they don't need one, and if they do, they should fire them, cause they are not doing much these days.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon FE, Nikon FM, Nikkormat FTn, Nikon Rangefinder, Nikon EL, Nikon Coolpix, and so on and so forth.

Indestructible and wonderfully funky-looking (with the Ftn prism)

None

I bought my first F in 1971, and did a lot of street photography with it that still looks great; much work in my photo shows came from that F. I later replaced the FTn prism with a plain prism, then stupidly traded it all off for only $70. I found my current F (with a dead FTnprism) for only $50. Best photo bargain I've ever found. I still use it occasionally. One of the greatest cameras ever. Mine will outlive me, I'm sure.

Similar Products Used:

FM, FM2, FE2, FG, Nikkormat, 8008s, Spotmatic