leigh_marrin Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Recently I bought for $75 a fairly clean Nikon F with a Photomic FTn viewfinder and a clunky 70-210mm/f3.5 Asanuma (Tokina) zoom lens. I'm shopping around for a smallish 35mm lens. I really like the solid feel and clean lines of the Nikon F body, but that klugey viewfinder badly offsets its good looks. I took the corroding batteries out of the viewfinder, and there probably is a little internal damage from leakage. As the correct mercury cell bateries are no longer available in the US and the scarce prism-only finder costs as much as the body, wonder if anyone ever attempted to stream-line the klugey Photomic viewfinder? I'd like to bust out all the e-lekt-tronikal stuff, mask off the prism and optics, and use a belt sander and wood rasp to give it cleaner lines, and cover the whole mess up with epoxy. Yes, there are fixes for the Photomic finder/battery problem, but I usually prefer meterless cameras. With "pulled" Tri-X and Fuji 100 C-41 film I can get acceptable exposures most of the time by previous experience. (And wild guesses + luck.) A new after-market prism for the Nikon F and F2 might be a good new product for an innovative company like Cosina, who has done well filling in a long-needed niche for affordable Leica-mount lenses and RF bodies. I'm mostly joking about the belt sander, but all comments and suggestions are welcome. --Leigh in Santa Barbara, Calif. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pshinkaw Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Nikkormat or Nikomat -Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbon_dragon Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Assuming the batteries are something like PX-13's or PX-675's you can always use silver batteries if you can clean up the contacts. It might or might not be accurate, but it might be better than nothing. I'm not sure what kind of technician you would have to be to "build" your own finder, but my suspicion is that it would be cheaper to buy the meterless finder at collector prices. I see KEH selling a working metered finder for $90. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig_h1 Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I have a plain meterless F2 finder on my F. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryp Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 <i>I really like the solid feel and clean lines of the Nikon F body, but that klugey viewfinder badly offsets its good looks.</i><p>NO! NO! NO! The beauty of that monster IS the way the Photomic head sits on top of the body like a rakishly tilted hat on Tom Waits. You have to learn to appreciate the lump of ugly metal. Please do not mess with it. If you <p> Henry Posner<br> B&H Photo-Video, Inc. Henry Posner B&H Photo-Video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryp Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 <i>I really like the solid feel and clean lines of the Nikon F body, but that klugey viewfinder badly offsets its good looks.</i><p>NO! NO! NO! The beauty of that monster IS the way the Photomic head sits on top of the body like a rakishly tilted hat on Tom Waits. You have to learn to appreciate the lump of ugly metal. Please do not mess with it. If you want another look find a Nikon meterless eye-level prism finder. <p> Henry Posner<br> B&H Photo-Video, Inc. Henry Posner B&H Photo-Video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_shriver Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 It should be do-able. You probably can bend up some brass to make a new lid. You will have to remove the photocells from the prism proper. You may also need to fashion a new prism retention mechanism. BUT... Please, try some batteries in it, even the alkaline ones. If it works, and has a good ring resistor, PLEASE swap it with someone who has a kaput ring resistor before altering it. Or, at least take it apart really carefully, and save the ring resistor as a spare part for someone who wants to fix their finder. Should be obvious, it has a wiper connected to the aperture index pin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Currie Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 As an FTn user I will join the chorus. Unless you're a really skilled craftsman it will look like junk. So if you're going to end up with something that ugly, you just might do better to shop for even the ugliest, brassiest, beat-up prism available. It will be easier to spruce that up than to reproduce it. Black FTn finders look nicer than the chrome ones, even on a chrome body. The only part that differs is the front cover. Consider a paint job. Also, the FTn finder is not terribly hard to recalibrate for modern batteries, so if it's not broken, you can actually use it with either alkaline or silver oxide batteries. Whatever you do, save the parts. They're getting rare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh_marrin Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 Photomic FTn fans, I happy to say I don't even own a belt sander! Heh... after such passionate responses I'll promise not to harm it; perhaps future generations will appreciate it more than I do. So as I like the classic lines of the orignal '50s meterless Nikon F, guess I'll budget for a plain prism, and try to ignore the irony that it will cost more than the body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_503771 Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Just take the thing off and look down onto the screen. You could lay a loupe on it, or get some of those magnifying glasses from Edmund Scientific or a dental supply. Then not only would you have a camera with no hat, but also with no forehead. Meanwhile, you could send the prism finder to me, maybe it would fit properly on my old F (which needs a clean and lube) ...tee-hee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis triguez Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Apologies if I am so repetitive.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Currie Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 You could send it to this Photomic junkyard, where I promise it will be lovingly disembarrassed of any useful parts, especially if it doesn't have any prism rot! Notice how nice the black one looks, even on a chrome body. Notice also that the black body has not only a chrome finder but a chrome back. A motley rag-tag fleet it is!<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis triguez Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Nice fleet Matthew, and harder to defeat than the Spanish Invincible Fleet:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gib Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 if the viewfinder is clean, start lifting weights, buy a hand held meter, and carry the camera, change arms you dont want to get lopsided, and use the thing, the body is a beautiful mechanism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. C. S. Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 I love my F/FTN's!!! I have a chrome and and a black. I use Wein Aircells. Direct fit and the right voltage. I get them from Micro Tools by the carton at about $3.50 each (cell, not the carton). I've heard the don't last too long, but mine seem to last 9-12 months. I also have plain prism finders, but like my FTN's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tri-x1 Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 It could be argued that The Nikon F with a metered finder is really the "classic" F. That how most were used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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