In praise of old Nikons...

[nerwin]

BITD -Back In The Day.

Oh geez. I guess I never seen anyone use that acronym before haha

 

[Rickbb]

And tranny is most likely Tri-X pan film.

 

[JoolsW]

Sorry I thought the term 'tranny' for Transparency film was universal. Ektachome or Kodachrome BITD.

 

[DigiFilm]

No you wouldn’t, I have several shelves full of Kodak brownies, instamatics and some Polaroids. Talk about undesirables! Anyone who’s gives us flack for crappy old cameras just doesn’t understand collectors.

How true! Not only Brownies, but I have a decent collection of Argus, for no real reason other than local history, the factory was very close to my hometown. Here's a sample. That beige one on the shelf below is the same model Colin Creevey uses in the Harry Potter movies, an Argus C3 Matchmatic. How's that for a claim to fame?

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Beautiful ! (not sure the F5 is old enough, though the glass may qualify)
Oooh the Photomic - especially with the 'brassing' -Love it.

The F5 is 23 years old. It just looks like I bought it last week. The FM2n is a late one maybe same age as F5. Restored by Gus Lazzari. The F is a '71...at least the main body. It as well as the FM2n were gifts from forum (not this one) members. Love the F5 but the FM2n is a real gem to carry and use.

 

[cgw]

I'm partial to the tiny(underrated)FG with the equally tiny 45/2.8 AiP--one of the "chipped" MF Nikkors.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

The 35-50 f4 on the FM2n and 50-135 f3.5 on the F5 I posted earlier are "chipped" for use on my F5 and digital cameras.

 

[JoolsW]

I know it's a bit of a 'brain-dead' Nikon, but my EM is such a cool, neat little camera, and actually has everything you need for off the cuff street photography. Shame it appears to have an electrical problem... no meter (with new batteries). I'll need to lug the Photomic around!

 

[RAZKY]

I know it's a bit of a 'brain-dead' Nikon, but my EM is such a cool, neat little camera, and actually has everything you need for off the cuff street photography. Shame it appears to have an electrical problem... no meter (with new batteries). I'll need to lug the Photomic around!

The EM is aperture priority only - it cannot select the proper shutter speed if the meter.is kaput.

 

[RVT1K]

And I thought my D3 was old...

 

[Dougrrr]

The more I go into 'it', the more I love my old cameras. I have a modest collection of film cameras, and one digital.
This minty EM - yes I know it's 'prosumer' I suppose, fairly basic. But it does everything you REALLY need for 95% of circumstances.
The real point is that it's so compact -beautiful feel and great handling. I'm going to start using it as my 'street' camera (not that there are many streets 'round here).
Film of course yes, but I'm building a camaera/scan setup. I have been looking at getting a ZFc which perhaps is a D equivalent. I'll know on Sunday.

It weighs 440g and is 130mm wide.
View attachment 277381

And I thought my D3 was old...

HOW OLD WE TALKIN 'BOUT? :-D My modded Nikon S33 with 43mm lens hood with Hoya 43 mm CPL filter. I also have a press on Olympus 43mm ND4X filter for it that I found on ebay.

 

[coastman6]

I thought I might as well join in, I have quite a collection of various oldish cameras, but here's my three lovely trustee old Nikons, an F70 with a fun LCD top panel, an F301 with built in motordrive, and my go to D90, all of which I still use, ....happy days

 

[Dougrrr]

The more I go into 'it', the more I love my old cameras. I have a modest collection of film cameras, and one digital.
This minty EM - yes I know it's 'prosumer' I suppose, fairly basic. But it does everything you REALLY need for 95% of circumstances.
The real point is that it's so compact -beautiful feel and great handling. I'm going to start using it as my 'street' camera (not that there are many streets 'round here).
Film of course yes, but I'm building a camaera/scan setup. I have been looking at getting a ZFc which perhaps is a D equivalent. I'll know on Sunday.

It weighs 440g and is 130mm wide.
View attachment 277381

How old you wanna go?

I thought I might as well join in, I have quite a collection of various oldish cameras, but here's my three lovely trustee old Nikons, an F70 with a fun LCD top panel, an F301 with built in motordrive, and my go to D90, all of which I still use, ....happy days
View attachment 280739

I have kept my little Nikon S33, bc I have modded it. Now sports a hood, w CPL filter attached. See pic.

 

[JoolsW]

How old? The EM is slightly flawed - sweet little thing but without the function of being able to set the speed and aperture independently, but I swapped it for an FG which is a beauty, -perfect small 'street camera' -I'm just waiting to see the the first roll, but the film processors tell me the exposures are spot on. My N-4004 and F-401S are both absolutely mint,- auto focus, motor drive. Catch is that the rotating exposure dials have such tiny numbers that my ageing eyes can hardly make out the figures. But I'll probably run a roll through them. (I wish now that I'd never sold my Darkroom). Shall I go back to my beautiful Old F2 Photomic? yeahh!
But my excellent D90 does everything I want from a camera. Only problem is that it's digital

 

[AlanKlein]

I still have my Nikkormat FT3 which I bought new in the 1970's when my Nikon F Photomic T and lenses were lost on a NYC subway. I had bought the F in Japan in 1965 when it first came out. I also have a N6006 and Nikonos IVa underwater camera. The N6006 works perfectly including the metering. The FT3 meter's is intermittant and of course has no auto focus.
N6006 samples using Tmax 400. Flickr Search