On the beach with some heavy metal.

<p>After the move one of the first boxes to be opened contained my Nikon F and a few lenses. I just haven't used the old girl in quite a while so I took it for a walk on the local beach after some stormy weather had cleared.<br>

Quite forgot how nice the F with the plain prism handles, love the bright crisp viewfinder with the all over microprism that I fitted. I took just two lenses, the older Sonnar style 105mm 2.5, and the original 28mm F2, which I believe is one of the very first Nikkors to get the multicoated treatment.<br>

My darkroom is still a while off, but I did manage to dig out the film processing paraphernalia, so that's a start!<br>

Film was some Fuji Neopan 400, not a film that I use much, but there are a few rolls that need to use. Developer was my usual Pyrocat HD, which gives fairly high contrast on this film, along with generous grain.</p><div></div>

<p>Whoops, forgot the porn!</p><div></div>

<p>N0.2</p><div></div>

<p>No.3</p><div></div>

<p>No.4</p><div></div>

<p>No.5</p><div></div>

<p>No.6</p><div></div>

<p>Last one.</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks for looking, scans on my Epsom V700.</p>

<p>Tony--excellent photos! I love the first one and the one of Jack--looks as if he's a pretty content pup! Hard to beat the F and the 105--thanks again.<br>

Paul</p>

<p>Inspiring as usual. I need to use my Nikon F more often.</p>

<p>Nice images, Tony. "Down the Beach" is lovely. Not too heavy with the plain prism at least with a clean, clear view. Certainly, one of the best looking 35mm cameras of all time</p>

<p>Lovely pictures. Specially like the receding clouds, The depth is awesome! Thanks. sp.</p>

<p>Very pretty pictures -- and camera also! I agree with Louis that "Down the Beach" is particularly nice, and very deftly exposed.</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing Tony, I always wanted a Nikon F/F2 but I always end up with an affordable Canon heavy metal. Jack seems to enjoy his time,"down the beach" too..........</p>

<p>This is one good looking camera. I too own Nikon F and consider it one of the finest of my camera collection. Lovely shots too, Tony. If I may, do you use OEM holder with your V700, or do you use ANR glass? The sharpness is just superb.</p>

<p>Ah, good to see you back in action,<strong> Tony</strong>. A new beach, perhaps? The old "F" is such a clean, uncluttered design, and it does justice to the strength of your compositions. While "Down the Beach" is great, I like the textures in "Falling Sand". Keep them coming!</p>

<p>I was amazed! Wow..</p>

<p>Thanks all. Kris, I just use the standard oem holder, seems to work ok, especially with 35mm. I guess that if you were really serious some sort of better holder would be the go, especially with MF.<br>

Rick, new home new beach....5 K's of goodness. You will probably need an F now, plus an F2...you know how it goes!</p>

Tony, you really make your cameras sing!

<p>Great series, Tony. the Pyrocat HD and Neopan 400 seem to work well for this subject matter. I may be missing something by not trying this developer. Thanks for posting.</p>

<p>Great work Tony. I agree with everyone that said that first shot is great. I also liked the Old Pipe. I was just thinking the other day that we hadn't seen anything from you in a while. Now I know why. I've moved quite a few times in the last few years. Seems like every time I got things just the way I wanted them, it was time to pack it all up again. Hopefully we won't be going anywhere anytime soon. </p>

<p>I have that same version of the 105/2.5. Got it from KEH and it was listed as AI'd. I was expecting a hack job, but when it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find it had the original AI kit installed. Some say that the Gauss version is better, but it's hard to find fault with the Sonnar. It holds up well with high rez digital too.</p>

<p>Really nice shots, and the contrast and grain is IMHO, right on.No mistaking these for anything other than "CMC" goodness. <br>

I'm a recent recipient of an F model (my only Nikon, strangely). I've had it for a year and never used it because I only had the Photomic finder, and it didn't work. Just got a plain finder (which cost way too much money). This F model with a plain finder is really a great camera! I've been looking at the 28mm and 105mm options...now I'm settled.</p>

<p>The Nikon F with the plain prism is so pretty, and with the Photomic prism is so <em>ugly</em>.<br>

The Better Scanning large format film holder makes my Epson V750 pretty darned good for medium format and larger. I've scanned 127, 120, 116, 122, and 5x7 with it, all to dandy results. But it just can't get as much detail as the Nikon Coolscan V on 35mm. But the V750 is a lot faster than the Nikon on 35mm, I've been using it to scan a large number of vintage negatives shot on a Univex Mercury II, which is a very strange frame size.</p>

<p>After buying an F w/1.4/50 in 1971 the 2.5/105 was the second lens I bought. We're still dancing together!</p>