Any still use their old Nikon Film Cameras

<p>A couple of weeks ago, while getting ready for a trip to New York with my wife for our anniversary, I was getting my photo gear together and planning the trip when I came across my old camera bag. It was in the very back of my closet and I pulled it out and set it on the table while I dug some other stuff out. My wife came in and said, "Hey isn't that your old camera gear" I said yea but I haven't used it in many years. She asked me why not. I went into this long dissertation of how everything was digital now and film was old and no one used it anymore etc. etc... She just listened to me and walked off with a smile on her face like she knew something I didn't. So I continue my getting ready regiment when finally that old camera bag got the best of me... I opened it up and there in all of it's pre-digital days of glory was my old Nikon N6006...<br>

I took it out and played with it thinking of the many hours I spent using this camera and learning the craft, then one day all of sudden it was retired for a new whiz bang D1 digital camera. Well in this bag was a 35mm AF Nikon lens, a 50mm e Nikon lens, a 24mm sigma, a sunpak flash and several colored filters and a Sigma 28-200 lens. I tried to turn it on, but there were no batteries in it... I looked around in the bottom of the bag and found two Duracell batteries and I promptly loaded them in the camera and turned it on and to my surprise the N6006 came to life. The camera still had a roll of Tmax in it, with a couple more rolls in the bottom of the bag. I re-wound the film after finally remembering how to rewind the film. I then thought let me take this camera out and give it a run through. I loaded one of the old rolls of Tmax and went out to my yard and started shooting. I shot my wife's flowers, our shih-zu dog and a very large yard lizard dining on a insect of some type. <br>

I went to my local pro lab and had them develop the film including the one that was still in the camera. I have to tell you, I had a lot of fun with that old Nikon N6006 film camera, so much so I took it and only it to New York the following weekend for our trip. I left my Nikon D3s home and I did not miss it a bit.<br>

I really had a whole lot of fun with that old Nikon N6006. Here is my flickr site I set up just for his camera and the pictures I took with it. Please check it out and let me know what you think. I think more people should break out their old Film cames and give it a try. I think you will find like myself that the fun is still there. Now I know what that smile on my wife was all about that day, I pulled my old camera out of the back of the closet.<br>

Oh the pictures in the camera were of my son playing baseball when he was in middle school, he is now in his third year at Central Florida University, that is how long it has been since I used that old N6006.<br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35bwshooter/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/35bwshooter/</a></p>

<p>You have a modern Nikon film camera. :) Except for an F3HP, which is new to me last year, all my 35mm cameras are Nikon F's and a couple of Nikkormat FTNs.<br>

No digital SLR's here. :)</p>

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<p>I occasionally dust off my FM and N8008 just for fun but always as a companion with the digital on outings. </p>

<p>To me, old cameras are like old cars we keep for nostalgia; good for occasional weekend fun but totally impractical as daily drivers. </p>

<p>I frequently use film (besides digital). I use a F100, n80 and n55. One for slide, one for negative, and one for special film (bw, high ISO) I also use a Yashica Mat 124 and Mamiya M645.</p>

<p>Yea I guess you are right Sunley, it is new compared to the F3HP, still pretty old in my book though... I think I am going to look for an old Nikon Manual body camera to play around with next. I use to have an old Nikon FG... who knows???</p>

<p>Congrats on re-discovering your film camera.</p>

<p>There are a number of us around here that are still shooting film cameras, Nikon and otherwise. The Classic Manual Cameras and Modern Film Cameras forums are all about it.</p>

<p>I recently picked up an N2000 for dirt cheap so that I could shoot some film with my old manual focus Nikkors. Not long after that, I picked up an older Nikomat for even less money. I don't shoot a lot of film since I don't have a lot of available funds for developing costs, but I enjoy shooting film every now and then because it makes me slow down and think about what I'm doing. There's something to be said for being limited to 24 or 36 frames. You tend to try to make them all count.</p>

<p>'I think more people should break out their old Film cameras...' Perhaps fewer people should relegate them to the depths of a closet in the first place? ;)</p>

<p>Film is alive and quite well here. Just finished a roll of TRI-X in the F100, an FE2 has Pan F Plus, the F2SB is midway through a roll of TRI-X and I just gave away as a birthday present a beautiful, black FM2n and 28/2.8 AIS loaded with HP5 Plus. Sover Wong, master of F2 repairs, announced in recent months that he has replacement resistor rings for the DP-3 (F2SB) and DP-12 (F2AS) prisms so mine have been seeing more action as I use those bodies with impunity! Amongst casual conversations over the past couple years I have noticed more people taking a break from their digital bodies, and associated tasks(!), to burn film. More than one person has remarked that the experience is liberating. No argument here.</p>

<p>I still use a Nikon FE2.</p>

<p>The camera I normally shoot is an F100. I print black and white in my darkroom. I have the color negative film developed, scan it on a CoolScan V, and post process in CS5.</p>

<p>One of these days I may purchase a DSLR. Until then, it is the F100, a Bronica S2A, and for digital, a point and shoot Canon PowerShot Pro 1 for digital. Oh, yes and my old Ziess Contaflex IV if I feel nostalgic.</p>

Now, as far as Nikon is concerned, nothing older than an F2 (or newer than an F4S); but until recently I often went out with an F over my shoulder or an S2 in my pocket.

<p>I still shoot Nikon film cameras: F5, F100, N90S, Nikkormat FT, FT3 and FG20. I love these cameras and often use them with color films, occasionally with B&W.</p>

<p>I have 4 frames left in my F100 since my Xmas trip, then I will export my 6 rolls to Dwaynnes, I live in NZ. It is cheape and I import new film as it is v expensive here, at maybe $18US a pop for slide film or perhaps $10US for negative film.</p>

<p>I also have about 20 frames in my FM2N now also since my Xmas trip, that has Fuji 160 ProS. I wanted to compare how neg and slide film are side/side.</p>

<p>My fav of the two is the manual focus body as it is more simple and less bulky. Also the lenses can be smaller. I just like to shoot slides. Even if I take my digital D70 I only shoot off 25 frames per day on average. I like slides because there is no post processing, I like to look a them on a lightbox. When they are scanned on my V700 they just don't look as good. I might get a Coolscan sometime but there would still be differences thru this intermediate step. I pretty much only shoot scapes and if I pick slide film, the colors just jump at me.</p>

<p>If I did sports, streets, portraits, I guess digital would make more sense from purely to get the right shot by shooting more and the financial side of things.</p>

<p>I still have some neg film in the freezer and some Provia 400s. Other than that .. my slow slides are used up. Next order might be medium format but I may get a few rolls for 35mm just to stock up.</p>

<p>I have an F601 which is the European name for the N6006 (why have different names?). For old Nikon, I also have my FG and a couple of Fs in my late father's collection which I should put some film through soon.</p>

<p>I love my F90 and use it daily. Along with a Nikon p&s. Great fun and awesome results!</p>

I like them.

 

Less the sepia ones though.

<p>My wife hasn't joined the DSLR world yet and still uses her F100 shooting slides. All my Nikon film cameras have been sold off with the exception of my first F3HP that is now 30+ years old and likely will not see another film run through it. If and when I feel the urge to shoot some film it will most likely be B&W and I will use the two Leica rangefinders that I inherited; I purchased some XP2 a while back for that purpose. I also have some XP2 waiting to go into the two Rolleiflex SL66 cameras that I also inherited; just can't get myself to part with either system. Neither is as convenient as using a DSLR - but I may take either for spin in the not too distant future.</p>

<p>I have just come back from a photographic holiday. I took my F3, 20mm, 28mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135mm manual primes and many rolls of Fuji Reala. I took no digital camera at all and despite the film and processing costing over 50 pounds I am happy with the results. So film alive and well here.</p>

<p>I used film because I appreciate the bright and open look that does not have odd (washed out)blue skies or burnt out bright areas (or sooty and dark) I get with digital. That is probably my fault in some way but I wanted to relax and enjoy the experience and the easy going nature of the Reala film made that possible.</p>

<p>I used my F90 twice since I bought my D70 in 2004. One time in a photo class where the teacher told she could see the differences in color and she could see, but she was 100% wrong all film photo's were picked as digital and the second time was for the last two 3200 asa film.</p>

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<p> She asked me why not. I went into this long dissertation of how everything was digital now and film was old and no one used it anymore</p>

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<p>I don't know what ever gave you that idea. Still using and enjoying my F2, F3HP and FM2n. Try some of the new Kodak Portra films and prepare to be amazed.</p>

<p>I only shoot film, except for the times I wish to post something to the internet, then I use one of them new fangled digital gizmos; a Canon G11.</p>

<p>Not being a professional, whatever a professional digital camera would give me, I don't need. Instead, for 35mm, I prefer a Nikon F3HP or a F2 where I get to focus, set the speed and aperture all by myself. In the case of the F2; completely battery independent except for the meter. Or even my my old Leica M2 where I gotta do everything by myself.</p>

<p>The Hasselblad 501CM has as much electronics built in as the M2. The pictures that come out of this camera will kick the poo out of any digital camera, I personally, could ever hope to afford.</p>

<p>Part of it must be the familiarity and simplicity of my film cameras that I prefer, then there is the fact that when I have only 36 frames on this roll of film, with only 4 left to go, I tend to take my time and enjoy the process a bit more.</p>

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<p>I love shooting film but I don't do it as much as I would like. I don't know why.<br>

Have two F80s with split screens that I use with AI/AI-S lenses, mostly 35mm f/2.</p>

<p>I'm pretty much a weirdo with digital and film. I grew up as an avid film photographer, with mediocre results at best. When digital became affordable I sold off most of my film gear. The thing is, digital gave me the instant feedback I needed to learn what I was doing wrong. I could see what happened in various situations, with various settings, and finally got the results I wanted.<br>

<br />Or didn't want! While I got better technically, and now most of my digital shots are in focus and properly exposed, they still don't grab me or move me. So I switched back. I now take more time and get more satisfaction shooting a roll of TMAX than from any of my digital cameras. I capture a lot of stuff on slide film too, and color print, and recently began printing color in my darkroom. What a hoot! <br>

<br />I took 3 Nikon film cameras on vacation last month, an N75, N80, and an Action AF waterproof camera. The results were very very nice. Here's a shot on Provia 400 with the waterproof wonder<br>

:<img src="http://wolfeye.smugmug.com/Vacation/MinnesWisc2011/i-TJbhfNM/0/M/2011Roll3sl37-M.jpg" alt="" width="303" height="450" /></p>

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<p>I was fed-up with the D200's DX sensor just before 2010's summer holidays. So I brought the F3T along with slidefilms on our trip to Norway. It worked just as intuitively as it always did.<br /><br />After our return, I had the films developed. They looked all good! Even my way of exposure with the camera was still intuitive, apparently. But..<br /><br />I STILL HAVEN'T FRAMED AND ACTUALLY VIEWED THE SLIDES since then. It just isn't in my workflow anymore.. :-( </p>

<p>Hi Mike, film very much alive in my house....Each of my sons have an FE, I shoot with an F100, FE,FM,F3 and a 1967 F. Full wet darkroom. All beside my D90 digi.<br>

Thanks for sharing your story!<br>

Mark</p>