What is the best Nikon 35mm Body?

[Luke_H]

I have a Nikon N80 body I bought used on ebay. It works great, and I gave under 150 bucks for it a year ago.

If you can trust yourself to not drop it on the ground or in the water, it has nearly every feature you'd ever want for pro photography.

Probably my pick for the best buy in nikon film, because you get nearly all of the features of the F100, and I love the ergonomics of the body. In my case, using it and my D50 are like one in the same.

The camera I lust after is the Nikon FM3a. Just to have a piece of Nikon film camera history in my arsenal. I have handled one and it was very nice. I like electronic shutters with the mechanical backup feature. Electric is more accurate, but it's nice to know it'll work without batteries.

For now I'll just keep using my N80 since I have my sights set on grossly overpriced rangefinder bodies from the German L word.. Not because I need them, but because I like collecting nice stuff.

Your F65 will take great photos just like anything more expensive in most cases. My N80 is my fallback camera when I want to just go have fun and know that I'm going to get the images nailed down right with no hassle.

 

[Don Simon]

For now I'll just keep using my N80 since I have my sights set on grossly overpriced rangefinder bodies from the German L word..

Linhof?

 

[ted_smith]

Well, I am now the proud owner of a second hand F80! I got it for £70 off e-Bay (about $120) last night. I figured it's one up from the F65 and it enables me to manually set the ISO setting as opposed to relying on the DX coding which is one of my major bug-bears about the F65. And now I have a main camera and a backup in the form of the F65. I found a great review of both cameras BTW (and many other Nikon cameras) at www.bythom.com. I was surprised to see that the F80 bought brand new still retails at about £350-£400 - ($500 - $700 approx). So I consider myself fortunate to have bought one in good condition for just £70. And of course I have my super 60mm Nikon Macro lense to stick on the front of it! Exciting.

I didn't want to go mad, because, as I said earlier, I've not yet fully explored all of the F65 options, but there were several things that held me back in certain situations. The F80 seems to address these, and the reviews seem to be great, both on here and the wider Internet. I read it described as "The poor mans F100"! In other words, all the features of the F100 (pretty much) but not quite as robust.

The F6 can wait until I'm rich!

SelmaDave

PS really nice photos, obviously you're getting great results from your F65.

Thanks a lot. On a site like this with so many superb photographers, praise like that is welcome indeed

Regards

Ted

 

[ironsidephoto]

i love my 1991 nikon n6006, but i bet you want something newer than that. it does the job very well, though.

 

[Michael Humle]

If you ask 5 different people who own five different Nikon cameras, you'll get five different responses...Take all the answers you receive, check out the different cameras find the one that best suits your needs and feels the best in your hand and you will have your answer! Good hunting!

 

[Flash Harry]

F90x, I've managed to drop mine 3 times now without damage, it also has all the modes/contols and features that i require and you would probably pick one up for 200 quid now, a real good workhorse and a pleasure in the hand.

 

[Don Simon]

Excellent choice Ted! And congrats getting one for that price. Thom Hogan's site is a really good resource, he tells you exactly what each camera/lens does, what it doesn't do, the good, the bad and the ugly, and he compares them with the alternatives, with a very clear site layout, no BS. Some people like certain other reviewers but as far as I'm aware Thom hasn't reviewed a product that he's never touched. Obviously that wasn't meant to be seen as a reference to those certain other folks whose initials may be KR... aaaanyway happy shooting with the F80!