Best MF Nikon Photos

<p>OK, so I really really want a Leica m series rangefinder system with a whole set of lenses, but in all honesty I dont really need to spend that kind of money right now. Especially when I have a perfectly good Nikon FA and FG and a complete set of lenses including a 24mm f2.8 NC, 50mm f1.8 series E, 105mm f2.5 Nikkor P, 200mm f4 Nikkor Q, 55mm f3.5 micro Nikkor, and a whole set of AF lenses including a 20mm f2.8 and 80-200mm f2.8 D.<br>

So what I am asking is for a little inspiration! I'd like to see some cool photos taken on any Nikon manual focus gear, especially any of the gear I listed above. I'd like to see all film images too, as that's what I'm interested in shooting! Hopefully with your help I can overcome my lust for a Leica system right now and appreciate the fine gear I already have! Please list what equipment you used to make your picture!<br>

-P.S. I know the camera doesnt REALLY matter, but I think it would help me to overcome my lust for Leica if I saw some cool images made on Nikon gear!<br>

Thanks for your posts!!</p>

<p>Here's some stuff....all Nikon F3 , mostly Fuji 200 & Neopan 400, and lenses ... 50 1.8 AIS, 35 1.4 AIS , 105 2.5 AIS</p><div></div>

<p>another</p><div></div>

<p>Sorry, I made them too big.try again with 2 more</p><div></div>

<p>last one</p><div></div>

<p>Hre's 2 shots... one taken with a Leica Summicron 50 2.0 converted to Nikon F-mount, on my F3, and the same scene with Nikon 50 1.8 AIS a minute later. Which do you think is which ? I can't remember myself !</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

Leica or Nikon 2<div></div>

<p> <img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/185/384514627_b27b5d8bc8.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="336" /><br>

Tanji, The Gambia ▬ © A.Hunia ▬ Nikon F4, 24/2.8, Sensia100</p>

<p>..I am still in love with the 24/2.8 !</p>

<p>I don't know what kind of photography you into. I have a Nikon F3 and 24, 55, 135 and 300 mm manual focus lenses. I bought everything about 10 years ago and it was all used when I bought it. I am mostly doing nature photography and my gallery here at photo.net has several images all taken with this equipment. All images are slide film scanned with a Minolta dimage scan II scanner. It's not the best scanner but it's good enough for putting images on the web.</p>

<p>To cure Leica lust I think you should take a trip to a fantastic place with your current gear and a great tripod. Make wonderful images with the gear you have and be happy you can.</p>

<p>The truth is , all cameras are great , and the differences are really meaningless compared to the subject matter at that particular moment .... I have gone through the whole " Leica vs Nikon" and everything else......and believe me , they're all great........I love Leica , M & R systems , I have both , and I have Nikon , Canon, Rolleiflex etc., etc., .......they're all incredible in their own ways, but ultimately, they're just a box with film in them with a nice lens. It's your own mind which is the real camera !! believe in your own vision, that's all that really matters in the end.</p>

<p>In the two shots above with Leica and Nikon gear, the first shot looks better to me. What did I win?</p>

<p>The below shots are made with a Nikkormat EL I bought 35 years ago this coming December, non-AI 50mm F1.2 lens and Fuji Superia400 with world reknown and lavish Walgreens $1.99 negative processing only and this past summer they had a free CD too tossed in for a few weeks.<br>

It doesn't get more old school/manual or cheap than this ... well maybe pinhole :o)<br>

Screw the Leica, buy some film & have fun!<br>

Jim</p><div></div>

<p>Hi Rebecca..... I took those 2 shots, and I honestly can't remember which was which, so i'm not sure who wins<br>

what !</p>

<p>Mark provided the best example - if you can't tell which image was taken by a Leica and which by a Nikon, then you aren't ready for a Leica and don't need one. How's that for curing Leica lust?<br>

And why would your inspiration depend on what gear or medium was used? The thousands and thousands of pictures here on PN aren't inspiration enough? So grab your gear and head out to do some shooting - that's yet another way to cure the Leica lust.<br>

Aside from that - a rangefinder is an entirely different beast from a SLR - if you can't resist the Leica lust, make sure before you buy that you will be comfortable with a rangefinder.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"...it would help me to overcome my lust for Leica if I saw some cool images made on Nikon gear!"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I suffer from gear obsession as much as the next wonk, but you can't tell anything useful about a camera or lens from small JPEGs viewed online. Too many variables.</p>

<p>Over the years I've occasionally seen folks upload the same photo to different forums, each time claiming the photo was taken with a different brand or model camera or lens. And each time at least one viewer would heap effusive praise on the unmistakable characteristics of the camera or lens, based on an illusion.</p>

<p>I could post a bunch of small monochrome JPEGs made from my scanned b&w negatives, scanned from my b&w prints and converted from color digital captures - and you wouldn't be able to reliably tell which was which in 800x600 or smaller JPEGs.</p>

<p>The only useful information you'll find online, other than tests using standard methodology, is in the maximum resolution photos themselves. We can't accommodate that here on photo.net, but if you dig around Flickr, dpreview, photozone.de and other sites you'll find plenty of high resolution photos that can reveal some nuances of difference between certain cameras and lenses.</p>

<p><strong>Mark</strong>, the pictures you posted are great! A couple of questions though, you mentioned that some of them were Fuji 200, I assume you mean the cheap fuji 200 I think its SUPER HQ? And also, your shots look a little pastel, are you overexposing the 200? It really looks good! And as for the leica vs nikon shot comparison, well at first I though the first photo might be the Summicron, but now I dont know. What I forgot to tell everyone is that I have a Leica R4 with 50mm Summicron and a LeicaII rangefinder with a 5cm f3.5 elmar, so I do know my way around Leicas, just wanting some new ones! (which is tooo expensive!)</p>

<p><strong>Jim</strong>, the Nikkormat EL photos look awesome! I also have a Nikkormat EL and I rarely ever use it, you've tempted me to pull it back out of the Ebay pile! Also you said that you were shooting with Fuji Superia 400. I've shot tons of this film and never had that good of luck, it's always extremely grainy when I scan it on my Coolscan 8000 @4000 DPI, am I perhaps scanning it wrong, or am I just shooting it wrong in the first place, I always shoot it at ISO400!</p>

<p>Thanks everyone! Keep the photos coming this is really great inspiraton! I'm enjoying seing some of the things that good old film and a manual camera can create!</p>

<p>I've got a couple of Nikkormat FT2's that I use quite often. Here's a photo taken last month at a reenactment meeting in The Netherlands.<br>

Nikkormat FT2 , Nikkor 35-105mm RolleiRetro 100<br>

<img src="http://picasaweb.google.nl/wombat106/Beers2009BWPhotoSWithNikkormatFT2#5389840683613873282" alt="" /></p><div></div>

<p>And another one........</p>

<div></div>

<p><strong>Mark</strong>, the pictures you posted are great! A couple of questions though, you mentioned that some of them were Fuji 200, I assume you mean the cheap fuji 200 I think its SUPER HQ? And also, your shots look a little pastel, are you overexposing the 200? It really looks good! And as for the leica vs nikon shot comparison, well at first I though the first photo might be the Summicron, but now I dont know. What I forgot to tell everyone is that I have a Leica R4 with 50mm Summicron and a LeicaII rangefinder with a 5cm f3.5 elmar, so I do know my way around Leicas, just wanting some new ones! (which is tooo expensive!)</p>

<p><strong>Jim</strong>, the Nikkormat EL photos look awesome! I also have a Nikkormat EL and I rarely ever use it, you've tempted me to pull it back out of the Ebay pile! Also you said that you were shooting with Fuji Superia 400. I've shot tons of this film and never had that good of luck, it's always extremely grainy when I scan it on my Coolscan 8000 @4000 DPI, am I perhaps scanning it wrong, or am I just shooting it wrong in the first place, I always shoot it at ISO400!</p>

<p>Thanks everyone! Keep the photos coming this is really great inspiraton! I'm enjoying seing some of the things that good old film and a manual camera can create!</p>

<p> Taken with Tri-x. Not Leica this time.</p><div></div>

<p>Nikon F2 50mm 1.4 s Nikkor<br>

<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/9172614-md.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="481" /></p>

<p>Hi Josh .. the film is mostly Fuji Superia 200, and sometimes I use Reala 100, which is also great.<br /> For B&W I use Fuji Neopan 400 & Tri-X...both in HC-110<br /> The pastel look is actually from the scans done on the machine at my local photo guy, and he always sets the thing to oversaturate a bit. If I was to scan each shot myself, the color would look a bit more natural...although I quite like this look too.<br /> To Lex..you are correct , it's very hard to see real differences in small jpegs here, but believe me, at home , full size on my Apple 20" screen, those 2 shots do look remarkably close ...in fact I took a whole roll to go between my Leica R lenses, a 50 Summicron & 90 2.8 Elmarit, and my Nikon ones , and I was pleasantly surprised just how good the best of my Nikon stuff i.e. 35 1.4 AIS, 50 1.8 AIS & 105 2.5 AIS stands up with Leica. I have the 180 2.8 AIS & 85 1.4 which are also both great lenses.<br /> I feel the color balance of Leica is ultimately the most beautiful, but the great Nikon lenses look very, very good too. I've been obsessed with these things for many years, and realize now that it doesn't really matter what gear you use in the end .... the real camera is your mind.</p>

<p>Hi Josh... You really can't go too wrong with most any old Nikons. I have my trusty old Nikkormat EL as well as 2 F2SB's. The attached pic was taken about three weeks ago with the one of the F2's.</p><div></div>

I have both Nikon MF and AF plus Leica (M3 & M5). Anyone who says they can tell the difference between two prints done of the same subject at the same time, one with a Nikkor 50mm at f8 and one with a Leica 50mm at f8, is full of bull doo doo.

 

Some of HCB's greatest photos were out of focus for crying out loud! And they are still considered great images. There is a lot more to it than what brand of camera you pack.

 

You want to see some cool images taken with Nikon MF cameras, just check out a lot of the stuff done for National Geo in the 60's, 70's and 80's.

 

Just my humble opinion, YMMV, etc etc.