Nikon Photomics Photo

Here is a pix of my three black Nikon F's with Photomic meters.

 

Nice - looks left to right F Photomic, F Photomic Tn and F Photomic FTN, though the self timer lever on that looks like the one on the F2. The only one I never had is the F Photomic. Great cameras all. I still have them and a couple later models as well. Good fun!

I'll see your Photomic Fs with a brace of F2As and a Spotmatic F - the meters in all of which can take a currently available battery. (The Spotmatic meter works just fine with an alkaline 625 cell.)

And I'll raise you a battered old Mamiya 645 1000s than can easily trounce any puny 35mm camera's image quality.

Edited May 9, 2021 by rodeo_joe|1

Lets shuffle, cut and deal up to the land of the giants - F2, F3HP, F4, F5

Nah, let us go to the original

All original Nikon F finders

Nice!

 

Please post photos of your Photomic bodies.

 

Mostly use this camera with a non metered prism but this meter does work and work well.

I bought my Nikon F Photomic T in 1965 while serving in Japan in the USAF for $189.00 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. They just came out with it and it was my first "real" camera. Unfortunately, I lost it on a NYC subway years later. Maybe one of those in the pictures is mine? :)

 

You guys and your porn ! Lov'in It !

Here are a few more:

Sorry, but for me Nikon didn't get it right until the F2.

Who wants finger cramp from a release button in entirely the wrong place, and a grazed and dented thumb from a leverwind with a stupidly sharp serrated end?

Sorry, but for me Nikon didn't get it right until the F2.

Who wants finger cramp from a release button in entirely the wrong place, and a grazed and dented thumb from a leverwind with a stupidly sharp serrated end?

I used the Photomic F Tn and then the Photomic FTN for a lot of years without similar experiences. We are all different. I agree that the F2 was an design improvement.

They all work

I don't think I ever handled a Nikon F (in any of its many model variations) - my dream camera when I got interested in photography in the late 70s had been the F2AS - but for lack of funds I had to settle for the FM instead. When I could afford the F2AS a few years later, I opted for the F3 instead; it's now the only film SLR I still own (but no longer use).

Sorry, but for me Nikon didn't get it right until the F2.

Who wants finger cramp from a release button in entirely the wrong place, and a grazed and dented thumb from a leverwind with a stupidly sharp serrated end?

 

With the right motor drive, you can avoid both of those.

 

My dad had borrowed a Nikon F with motor drive about 1969, which was used to take

pictures in places where a hand couldn't reach. With the motor drive, you can trigger the

shutter electrically. I got to use it for one weekend at the time.

I don't think I ever handled a Nikon F (in any of its many model variations) - my dream camera when I got interested in photography in the late 70s had been the F2AS - but for lack of funds I had to settle for the FM instead. When I could afford the F2AS a few years later, I opted for the F3 instead; it's now the only film SLR I still own (but no longer use).

 

In the late 70's, many of my college friends were buying FMs.

I hadn't thought I could afford a Nikon, but then found that I could.

I don't know by now the price of the F2 at the time, though.

 

But the FM did what I wanted a camera to do, until time for a D70s.

I don't know by now the price of the F2 at the time, though.

IIRC, then the price in Germany in 1979 for a black FM was some DM 550; an F2AS was close to three times as much. As soon as I could, I got the MD-12 for the FM - mostly for the grip and so that I didn't have to flip out the leverwind to turn on the meter.

IIRC, then the price in Germany in 1979 for a black FM was some DM 550; an F2AS was close to three times as much. As soon as I could, I got the MD-12 for the FM - mostly for the grip and so that I didn't have to flip out the leverwind to turn on the meter.

 

My black FM and AI 35/2.0 were about USD200 each. (plus tax)

My black FM and AI 35/2.0 were about USD200 each. (plus tax)

DM vs USD were about a factor of 2 back in 1979. I might misremember the cost of the FM - maybe it was closer to DM 450. I purchased the 105/2.5 Ai with it and the 35/2.8 Ai and 200/4 Ai later.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Dieter Schaefer

DM vs USD were about a factor of 2 back in 1979. I might misremember the cost of the FM - maybe it was closer to DM 450. I purchased the 105/2.5 Ai with it and the 35/2.8 Ai and 200/4 Ai later.

 

It is US tradition to give prices without tax, but then they add the tax on when you buy things.

It looks like the tax was 5% at the time. The supposed reason is that each state has their own tax,

but the real reason is that it makes prices look lower, so people buy more.

Sorry, but for me Nikon didn't get it right until the F2.

Who wants finger cramp from a release button in entirely the wrong place, and a grazed and dented thumb from a leverwind with a stupidly sharp serrated end?

Didn’t matter. Only pretentious amateurs used F’s without motor drives back then.

Today, those of us using Nikon F use them as an excuse for a manicure.

Anyway, a perfect F sounds much better than perfect F2. That’s what’s matters!

With the right motor drive, you can avoid both of those.

Did Nikon ever make the 'right' motor drive?

 

I bought an MD for the F2. It was a heavy and pernickity thing that ate batteries and jammed itself and the camera solid if you looked at it wrong. A high price to pay for finger and thumb comfort, and not needed with the ergonomically designed F2. So I sold the motor drive after putting about 5 films through it.

 

Hindsight is a great thing, and we can appreciate how much better (some) cameras got as they evolved over time. So why use a model-T Ford for your daily drive when there are cars that are much faster, more comfortable, reliable and economical to run?