I enjoy collecting and using older film cameras - particularly cameras that were out of reach financially when I was younger. Last night I picked this up and I figured some of the classier members here would enjoy seeing this.

This is the Nikon F4. It weighs close to 4 pounds, and takes 6 AA batteries. This is the M1 Abrams of film cameras!



Can't wait to go shooting!

You probably do it yourself but, if you didn't, where would you get your film developed?

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:
You probably do it yourself but, if you didn't, where would you get your film developed?

I only shoot B&W, so it's pretty easy to do myself.

Very nice!

Waaaay back (‘80’s) when I was really into photography I had a pair of motorized Nikon F3’s and lenses from 20mm to 500mm.

Thanks for the memory trigger!

Nice! Always wanted one of those.

I have an N90s that doesn't get used anymore. Haven't used film in many moons...

I had a couple of those back in the day…never really like it much, so I went back to my F3hp bodies.

I did, though, really like my F100 bodies before moving into the D series.

A Nikon F4. That's the Hasselblad of cameras, right there (channeling a late night show host).

It's been so long ago that I forget whether the F4 was the apex of 35mm cameras back then. I do know their lenses were like primo stuff.

Out of all the film bodies I owned over the years, this was by far one of my favorites.

Back in my younger days I was a Canon guy, but never had anything nicer than hobbyist level.

That being said, my AE-1P with the giant powerpack attached was heavy SOB for sure. But I was cool with my automatic film advance.

Picture borrowed from the web..

Very cool. I also lusted after that kind of stuff back in the day. My Pentax ME Super just didn't measure up. These days with digital, it's been years since I've played with film. I always enjoyed the development process back when I did that sort of thing...would be fun to get back into it now, but I need another expensive hobby like I need another hole in the head!

I still use my F3 and even my really old FE2.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
I still use my F3 and even my really old FE2.

Both of these are excellent cameras! I have an F3 myself, and apart from needing 3 hands to change the exposure compensation dial, I think it's my favorite camera.

While we are back in the day, Let me add this.
Pro photographers were extremely depressed when Nikon introduced the F3 body.
Nobody wanted a full electronic camera. The older Nikon F and F2 were cherished and horded because of there all mechanical construction. Most all Pro's do not use the light meters that are built into or on to the cameras, ALWAYS hand help meters.
The electronic cameras were feared to malfunction when exposed to hostile environments like wet, and hi or low temps.
Even when a photographer was forced to buy into the electronic versions you could be sure there was an F,F2, or Nikkormat in the camera case.The F3 did have a back-up that would allow one shutter speed that could be mechanically triggered in an emergency.
The "old" mechanical Nikons were beasts as far as tolerating abuse. I still have my F2 and Nikkormat.
On the other side of the 35mm use was 2 1/4" cameras that were mechanical. The Hasselblad was the premier unit. The hasselblad was a good studio camera but had a miserable fail rate and bringing several body's and back up lenses was mandatory.Most pro's had them but mostly because that's what an Art Director expected to see when the Photographer he booked brought his cameras out. Always problems with the lenses and the camera synchronizing with the strobe units.
The Mamiya RB66 was a good alternative. Rugged,mechanical,had the better format 2 1/4"x2 3/4"). Hardly any layout for billboard, magazine, news, or brochure, proportions out to a 35mm or 2 1/4" format.
View cameras were always the first choice, 35mm the last choice.

Wow what a memory.

In College in the late 70's I took 3 semester hour classes in both B&W and then Color the next semester.

It was a blast. I loved B&W back then, still do to this day. We learned to develop our own negatives and many tricks to printing them.

I loved Tri-X. I had about a dozen of the reloadable cassettes and would reload them from a large roll. Saved a lot of $$$ as a Student back in the day.

I still have my Nikkkormat and I have packed away either an F or F1 or F3, maybe all 3, can't recall right this moment.

And as mentioned above, I did it all manually, I had a couple of exposure meters. I have a bag packed away of Nikkor lens, all manual focus.

I'm sitting here at my desk with an older D70 which works fine most of the time but has an intermittent issue, it sometimes won't recongize the memory card and it to be reformatted, I've gone through multiple memory cards and get the same issue, so I think the problem is in body, aren't electronics just so nice, until they're not?? lol That's one reason why I love the old so-called obsolete quality manual beasts.

Thanks for posting this.
.

For a short time in the late 80's I was the staff photographer for the local newspaper and I used to dream about having an F4.

The first camera I bought and paid for, myself, at the beginning of my career. Was expensive at the time. My employer provided a Hasselblad and older F3 bodies … but the F4 was a cut or two above those.
And was most certainly, a tank.
I shot hundreds of games, college and pro sports; did spot news and studio illustrations; won some awards. All with the F4.

Way cool. I fought going digital for a very long time and finally gave in. I've still got my 35mm stuff, But I have not taken it out of the box in years.

I have a feeling I'm still fighting the same battle going from DSLR to mirrorless. But I'll still keep fighting that battle. In part because I can't afford the mirrorless setup that I want. The other part is Nikon still hasn't caught up in availability and versatility of their Z series lenses compared to what's available for their DSLR's.

That is a monster! I bought my wife a D800 several years ago. I assume that is bigger being that it is film?

My wife wanted to get back into photography. Bet she hasn't taken 500 pics yet. My son is in college and asked for a camera for Christmas for his photography class. He's going to get quite a camera indeed! Including a laundry list of very good glass.

I found two in my email reciepts that I'd bought in 2013. NIKKOR AF-S 70-200mm f/4G ED VR Telephoto, AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Lens. I know we'd also gotten a "prime" lens. I think like 40 or 50mm.

I still have this and 3 lenses [Note the name, Japanese home market example I bought out of the New York Times classifieds many years ago].

quote:

Originally posted by kz1000:
I still have this and 3 lenses [Note the name, Japanese home market example I bought out of the New York Times classifieds many years ago].

Wow! I've seen a Nikkormat EL, and a Nikon EL (which is actually an EL2), but I've never seen a Nikomat EL! This would eventually become the Nikon FE.