cgarrett

I am in the process of upgrading cameras from my Nikkormat FTn, and I have found it

hard to find a straight answer to my question: What is the best manual, mechanical

Nikon camera body to accept Non-AI lenses? I have grown to love my Nikkors, and

the low prices of used non-AI lenses has convinced me that I should stick to the old

mount for my new camera. I am not looking for any 'new' fearures in my new camera,

but rather just a solid, versatile camera that runs on currently available batteries (one

of the few shortcomings of the Nikkormat). I am really interested in the original Nikon

FM thanks to its existance as an improved and (slightly) modernized Nikkormat, but

does it accept the old lens mount? Thanks for your help, and any other suggestions

for new cameras would be welcome as well.

Darn, I figured there would be a glitch in my stroke of genius... The Wein Cells do

work well, albeit shortly and expensively. I guess I'll just have to stock up or buy a lot

on ebay. Do any of you know of any similar solutions to the one I originally thought

up? I have access to a lot of resistors, a sodering iron, and plenty of people who know

how to use them (a benefit of going to a school with a good physics department), and

any suggestions would be great.

While thinking of a viable option for replacing the 1.35v mercury PX625 battery in my

Nikkormat FTn, I had a possibly great idea: Could a 1.5v AA battery (mounted on the

outside of the camera) be used with a series of resistors to produce the needed 1.35v

for the meter? I am more or less clueless about circuits, so would there be any

problems with this idea? How would I best go about it? If I go through with making

this contraption, I will be sure to post my results.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't there 'bayonet mount' (the mechanical coupling

mentioned above) adaptors, which convert the old Nikkor mount to the newer Nikon

mount?

In my experience with Ilford film, the finest grain I have seen is with FP4 (iso 125),

and like HP5 it has a wide latitude and is a real workhorse. I personally dislike HP5's

grainyness and I prefer the richness of FP4, but I have never done any reproduction

work...

If you have access to a traditional enlarger and black+white chemicals, color negs can

be used just like B+W negs, although the time/ contrast filter needed might be a little

weird.

I have an FTn and I was shelling out for Wein Cells and wondering why they were

dying so soon, and I suspected a short circuit somewhere inside the camera... In fact,

I was just about to crack it open in a desparate attempt to fix it. I tended to rely on

the sunny 16 rule (exposure=f16@ 1/film speed ) which works fine as long as there

aren't any clouds in the sky, and indoors/on cloudy days I just used an external

meter. What got me thinking after reading this is, couldn't one simply use the 1.5v

'replacement' battery, and just determine how many f stops off of the actual exposure

it is? Would it always be a constant number of stops off?