In Praise of the Nikon F100

[photo5]

<p>I have one. It is a great camera. I bought it from a pawn shop for $150 a couple years ago, it looked like it had never been used. Still has the tacky rubber grippy feel to it. The F100 is the 35mm film camera I grab first when shooting slide film, with my Nikon FE2 a close second. Last year I bought a Nikon N8008s for $25, just because it was so cheap and such an advanced vintage AF camera body. It is noisier than the F100, and doesn't have quite as nice of a grip. But it too has the same superb high-eyepoint viewfinder that glasses wearers like myself learn to love. </p>

<p>I can switch seamlessly from my Nikon D700 to the F100 at events. They feel virtually the same in the hand, though the D700 is chunkier and heavier. I would love for a full frame digital SLR exactly the same size and weight as the F100, and able to take AA batteries as well! </p>

<p>Will 35mm film go away? I hope not. Shooting slide film still makes me feel like I'm on vacation more than anything else digital. And shooting with the F100 is such a pleasure. I laugh when shooting with the FE2 because sometimes I just forget to advance the film! </p>

<p>I'll probably keep the F100 until the end, when 35mm film isn't sold anymore. The FE2 is sentimental as it was a gift from my parents when I graduated high school. The n8008s is a camera that I would feel comfortable shooting with in even the most riskiest situations, like at night in the city, or in light rain. But the F100 is the camera I wanted before it was ever announced. In 2000 it retailed for $1299. Nine years later I bought one for $150 at a pawn shop. Incredible.</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>Dave, it is a bit sad to me that Nikon was at the pinnacle of its film camera art, when everything switched to digital. I've owned the F5, F100, and F6, and they are an absolute sensation to use. I sold the former two in order to buy the latter, but wish I could have kept all of them.</p>

<p>I agree that the next step in digital cameras for pros should be to work on the size and ergonomics. And my FM's and FE's were used when I was a photojournalist. My colleagues all used F3s, but I preferred the size and ergonimics of the FM/E cameras, especially with MD-12's attached. I know and love every nick and brassing, and they are like children to me. I could never sell those.</p>

[mtk]

<p>You guys crack me up! I know now that I am not the only one.....My film cameras are:<br>

F100<br />FE/MB-12<br />FM<br />F3/MB-4<br />F<br>

It's like asking which one of your children is your favorite!<br />I feel the same way about all of them.....</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>Mark, I introduce my dog as "my son" when people ask me his name. Does that surprise you?<g></p>

[lachaine]

<p>In terms of the more modern film cameras, the best I could achieve in the camera ownership pecking order was at the F80 level . It wasn't as "good" a camera as the F100 in build and perhaps autofocus, but of course, since there was no sensor, one camera's pictures were as good those of any other camera.</p>

<p>I think ALL of the popular Nikon cameras were great in the film era. Remarkably, the feel of various models carries over fairly closely to their current digital equivalents in some cases. For example, I can close my eyes and easily imagine I'm shooting with my old F80 instead of my current D3000. It almost feels like it's the same body (with only size differences which you can't really tell that much unless you have both cameras side by side). The digital cameras still have a definitive Nikon feel to them compared to the other makes, just as their film predecessors did 10 years ago. Now, I have to say, I also had an FM3a at the time, and I preferred it over any autofocus camera. If I could go out right now to buy either a brand new F100 or an FM3a, I would go home with the FM3a, no contest.</p>

<p>I think there will be some kind of 35mm film available for a long time, but certainly, the choices will be more limited, and perhaps the overall quality won't be the same. I suspect that processing is what what will become less convenient, long before the actual film disappears from the market. It will become like alternative processes have long been... something you have to really want to go to the trouble of using for its own sake. Even now, many needed supplies can't be had locally. You have to go online.</p>

[SCL]

<p>The F100 was my last film SLR before I started using digital cameras. After the initial rush, I saw film cameras decline in price like a rock dropping into a pond, and began buying ones which worked well for me. I did sell the F100 but eventually picked up an F3HP, F4, and F5 (and somebody gave me an EM). My favorite of the lot is the F4 which gives me the ability to use my AF lenses and manual lenses with matrix metering on a film body. I also started building my Canon FD collection which I had long ago abandoned, and I tried out the old Exaktas (short love affair). I recently picked up a great Spotmatic for a song, and an Olympus OM2n for the price of a sandwich. I still also had some Leica gear...kept the M4 and Leicaflex SL from 1974, but sold the rest of it. In my mind....the good old film cameras are just that....really good, a lot of fun and capable as they were designed to be. I've told my daughter when the time comes....she'll have a task of disposing of these beauties (hopefully) to caring new owners who will get as much enjoyment from them as I have.</p>

[photo5]

<p>Stephen, interesting you mention that. The F100 was also my last film body before I got a digital SLR. I had been shooting with a Nikon Coolpix 990 alongside my film bodies, but the 990 could never hold up to the quality of a 35mm slide so it never could replace film. But when I sprung for the Nikon D70 in June, 2005, I finally saw that the F100 would be left at home, and sold it. Strangely enough, I decided to sell the D70 that September and picked up an F3HP, my first F3! Bought a D70s in June, 2006, when I was hired for a shoot in Vancouver, BC, Canada of an old ocean liner (Peace Boat). Then the F3HP was sold (but I bought another one a few years ago and it was sold last Spring as it just wasn't getting used enough, and the F100 was chosen as a favorite over the F3HP as I knew I couldn't ever sell the FE2 for sentimental reasons).</p>

<p>Pierre, very true about the N80(F80). I had one and it was a great camera, lightweight, advanced metering, and superb results. But it was sold when I bought my F3HP and good thing too as the prices for N80 bodies fell fast after that. I bought my F100 a couple years ago for less than I sold my last N80 body! </p>

<p>I also have a couple Olympus Stylus cameras (one original and one Epic) but they sit in the bag. Now that my iPhone has an 8 megapixel camera built in, no more need for a film camera in the glove box...</p>

[richterjw]

<p>I feel the same about the EOS 3 I was able to buy on Craigslist a couple of years ago for 1/10 the original price, when I was a poor college student trying to earn enough to travel a bit and get by on what I had. JR</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Hey, why no pictures?</p>

<p>We want to mentally caress the leather covered bodies, ......</p>

<p>And see pictures taken with them! If you want film to survive, use it.</p>

[yardkat]

yep! Love my F100! My first Nikon was the 8008, my husband gave it to me for our wedding with a pile of lenses that

I still use. I mostly use the D70 these days, but I do wish it were as enjoyable to use as either of my film Nikons.

[photo5]

<div></div>

[JDMvW]

<p>Thanks, Dave. :)</p>

[photo5]

<p>And when this camera (and most other pro-level Nikon 35mm SLR bodies) was made, no one could have ever predicted that the camera would outlive its demand for pro-level work. I hang on to the F100 just in case any of my clients ask for 35mm film as part of their wedding or event, but so far none have asked for it. But "just in case" it will remain in my bag at home in the closet, with batteries uninstalled, waiting to be picked up and brought back to life again for another day.</p>

<p>I may take it out this weekend and shoot some stuff in Seattle. They're tearing down the southern section of the viaduct, so I might go down there and shoot photos of it before its gone forever (with film and digital of course). </p>

<p><img src="http://hull534.smugmug.com/photos/i-PxXNzV4/0/L/i-PxXNzV4-L.jpg" alt="" /><br>

<strong> Nikon F100, July, 2011 - Nikon 35mm f2.8 PC-Nikkor, Kodak Panatomic-X</strong></p>

[Andy Collins]

<p>I have an F100 that I absolutely love. It comes in a close 2nd to my 1vHS in terms of being a favorite film camera. I remember when they came out and all of the hullabaloo that surrounded it. I was impressed because it was what Galen Rowell used, but being a Canon shooter, I was more interested in the EOS 3 around that time. I bought my F100 a little while ago because I wanted to try out a Nikon AF camera, and promptly fell in love with it. It often rides in my bag along with my Canon 7D; the two feel remarkably similar.</p>

[User_276104]

<p>I bought my first F100 in June 2000 and paid $1,199 for it from B&H. The fact that you can get one for $200 or less these days doesn't make me regret what I paid for it. I bought a 2nd one from a fellow photo.netter in 2007 for $300 with an MB-15.</p>

<p>I've acquired quite a collection of Nikon film cameras since they've become so inexpensive - N70, N75, N8008s, N90s, F4s, F100, F5 plus Nikkormat FT2, FE2, & F3. The manual cameras have their own thing going on, but for AF the F100 and F4 are my favorites.</p>

[mfophotos]

<p>I recently bought a like-new F100 from KEH to replace my dead N80. What a great camera body! I have been shooting with it only for a little bit so far, and my favorite lens with it is the 24-50 AF-D Nikkor.</p>

<p><a title="Lake Superior Shoreline by mfophotos, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6226/6255614867_b05014a556_z.jpg" alt="Lake Superior Shoreline" width="640" height="428" /></a> <br /> Taken 2 weeks ago up near Christmas, MI, on the shore of Lake Superior.</p>

[wmwhee]

<p>Just today I was photographing with my f100 and a friend's 20mm ais lens. One of the things I like best about the f100, over my fm3a and n80, is the viewfinder. Large, bright, clear. What a pleasure to use!</p>

[wmwhee]

<p>Just today I was photographing with my f100 and a friend's 20mm ais lens. One of the things I like best about the f100, over my fm3a and n80, is the viewfinder. Large, bright, clear. What a pleasure to use!</p>

[mjferron]

<p>Love my F100. I shoot all B&W when it comes to film and though I love the feel of a quality manual camera the F100 in the end just does most everything right. Metering in most light is dead on too.</p>

[photo5]

<p>I started this thread because there are so few posts in this forum. Are modern film cameras going extinct? Are all the "hipsters" in the Classic Film Cameras forum? I love classic film cameras as much as the next guy (or gal), but in the end, when I am actually out there shooting, I prefer the F100 and a good AF zoom lens over anything else in 35mm. I've become accustomed to zooms and appreciate being able to dial in my focal length from 17mm-35mm, or 28mm-105mm. In the 90s I used to shoot all primes, but not anymore. The F100 and its quick AF combined with a zoom lens is fantastic. I can't imagine needing anything better. </p>

[ian_gordon_bilson]

<p>Yep,it's a slow thread. Modern film cameras -what's to love?<br>

Over in Classic Cameras people can drool about the quality of the machining,the rarity of the machine,the first use of the instant return mirror,etc,etc.<br>

Nobody is going to wax lyrical about the innovative use of engineering plastics,the first use of Matrix Metering,multi-element zoom lenses which cost less than a weeks paycheck.<br>

Maybe most of that audience are in the digital forums. Since I still shoot film, my 801s Nikons are good to have.</p>

[rashed_s]

I like the Nikon film cameras, I keep the F5 with chargeable batteries and a charger, it is in perfect

new condition, I also keep the Nikon F2A and the F3HP.

 

I am also having in mind to go for the F6, I believe that we might run out of films one day but by

then who knows what will come in between, some one might come with digital backs for these

cameras as the case with the MF.

[Andy Collins]

<p>Yes, it's slow in this forum but it'll pick up. I'll have shots from my F100 to share soon, and other modern film cameras to discuss as well. Fall colors will get a lot of our modern film cameras in action!</p>

[photo5]

<p>I think we are at peak fall colors around here. Unfortunately I had to work today or I'd have gone out to photograph them!!</p>

[flatulent1]

<p>I got into Nikon gear a few years ago with an F4s, wonderful camera. A year later I picked up a like-new N80, also a wonderful camera. My local pusher had a lovely F100 earlier this year. I played with it for 20 minutes or so, but it was so like my N80 I just couldn't bring myself to buy it. I had visions of ultimately adding an F6 to the arsenal; a month or so later I sold all my Nikon gear and picked up several Contax lenses and an AX. I miss the F4. I even miss the N80. I don't regret not buying the F100. I think if it hadn't been for the N80 I would have jumped at the F100. Very nice camera.</p>