Spotlight: Nikon F2

Nikon F2 with Standard DE-1 Finder, 50mm F/1.4 Nikkor, and AR-1 Soft Release

The Nikon F2 was first introduced in 1971, and is the last fully mechanical professional camera Nikon ever made. As the successor to the original Nikon F, the F2 attempted to improve on its predecessor in every way. Here's a list of the more significant improvements and additions Nikon made with the F2:

- A faster top shutter speed (1/2000th vs. 1/1000th).
- A special self-timer that allows for 10 second timed exposures, as well as delayed shutter action.
- A swing-open back, making film loading way easier and faster than the original F, where the back came completely off.
- A shutter locking mechanism! (Just twist the dial around the release)
- Multiple exposures!
-A way more convenient mirror-lock-up mechanism (Doesn't make you waste a frame).
-A much comfier film advance lever

Top view

What's amazing is how Nikon managed to make all these improvements while still retaining the size, weight, and beauty of the original F. In fact, to the common eye, the F and F2 look nearly identical, and that's a good thing. It wasn't until the F3 that Nikon started making its cameras look hideous. The F2 is the last of it's kind: Pure elegant mechanical brilliance.

Yes, the F2 is a masterpiece of design, but it has one downside: It's LOUD. The shutter makes a violent "CA-CLACK!" during every exposure. The F lets off a muffled "clunk" when the shutter is fired, making the original model my preferred camera for candid photography.  However, for just about any other kind of photography, I'll have an F2 in my hands.

I took my F2 out over the weekend and put its multiple-exposure capabilities to the test. I mostly used my 20mm F/2.8 Nikkor lens, but also utilized my 50mm F/1.4 and 35mm F/2. Everything was shot on Kodak Ektar 100.

Thanks for looking!

Spotlight: Nikon F3

The Nikon F3 was released in 1980, and is the successor to the immensely popular F2.

The F3 is Nikon's first professional camera to feature a battery-operated shutter, complete with aperture-priority mode! Unfortunately, it's also Nikon's first pro camera not to support a traditional pyramid-shaped interchangeable prism (such as the F2's DE-1 finder). I'm stuck with an ugly High-Eyepoint (HP) finder on my F3.

The entire design of the F3 is a drastic design departure from the F and F2 cameras. Gone is the manly brick-like body, in favor of a smoother, rounder, more feminine form. The F3 has a small non-removable grip that's shallow, yet comfortable. I never felt like the camera was ever in any danger of falling out of my hands. Overall, the ergonomics are much improved over previous F cameras.

Top View, sans prism

As already stated, the F3 has a battery operated shutter, with manual speeds selectable in full stops between 8 seconds and 1/2000th of a second. A single mechanical speed of 1/90th is available, should you lose battery power. What's odd is this speed cannot be fired with the normal shutter button; you have to use a secondary switch on the front of the camera, below the aperture preview button. It took me a while to figure this out! Multiple exposures are easily performed by flicking a tiny switch next to the shutter button each time you want to take an additional exposure.


I have to say I don't much like the metering readout on the F3. You view your current shutter speed on a small LCD screen in the top left-hand side of the finder. A tiny "+" and "-" appear next to your speed when you are overexposed or underexposed, respectively. These "+" and "-" signs are very miniscule, and you have to take your eye away from the middle of the finder in order to read them. I much prefer a simple match needle, or a dot-light system as found in the superior Pentax LX.

The F3's full-information viewfinder

Around a month ago, I bought a Nikon F3 from a dude on Craigslist. It's a bit "sweaty", as I like to say; the rewind knob handle and motor drive cap are absent, and there's a dent on the prism, but the camera still works all right.

I took my F3 with me when my wife and I went with my brother-in-law to get his latest tattoo. I used my Nikkor 50mm F/1.8 and 20mm F/2.8 lenses, with Ilford Delta 400. I pushed the Delta 400 to 3200, so the photos are pretty grainy.

Thanks for looking!

Spotlight: Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera Model 2

The Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera Model 2 was first introduced in 1974. While many younger people are familiar with the point-and-shoot plastic-fantastic viewfinder Polaroid cameras of the 80's and 90's, this vintage beauty is a full blown SLR. Not only is it an SLR, but it's a folding SLR. It's this folding design that allowed Polaroid to market the camera (which is about the same size as a VHS tape, and twice as heavy) as "pocketable". The Model 2, pictured above,  is the same as the original SX-70, with the addition of a split-image focusing screen, flash contacts, distance scale, and a new color scheme.

Folded up and ready for your "pocket"

Operation is simplicity itself; the SX-70 is a fully automatic camera. You stick the film in, focus on your subject, and press the big red button. The camera, unfortunately, does the rest. You have a small amount of input over the exposure via an exposure compensation dial, but I would much rather have full manual control, or at least an aperture priority mode. But for the mid-70's, this level of automation, not to mention instant self-developing photos, was exciting stuff.

View of the focus screen

I've owned this camera for a long time. I even sold it on our Etsy shop over a year ago, but it was returned because the buyer said it wasn't working. Many months it sat on my shelf, and for many months I wondered whether it was truly broken. This past weekend I decided to find out for myself. I went to the closest store near me that sells Impossible Film, Urban Outfitters, and bought a pack for $30, plus tax, of course. You get 8 shots in a pack. That's $3.75 a shot. Holy shit.

Anyway, my SX-70 turned out to not be broken! Despite my initial excitement, I was pretty disappointed in the quality of my photos, which is most likely the fault of the film. No matter how I adjusted the exposure compensation dial, my images all came out overexposed. Some images had strange imperfections in them as well. However, the developing time is the most frustrating aspect about Impossible film. You have to wait 30-40 minutes for an image to develop. That's hardly "instant" photography! With real Polaroid film I remember only having to wait a couple minutes at the most for a photo. This wait time wouldn't be so bad if you could watch the image slowly form, but no, you have to let the photo develop in the dark. Ugh.

I know I'm sounding really negative here, but despite all these downsides, I still had fun shooting Impossible film on my SX-70. I hadn't used a Polaroid camera since I was a little kid in the 90's, and this really took me back. Will I use my SX-70 again? Maybe if the price of film comes waaaaaay down. Until then, this camera is staying on my shelf.

Here are a few of the photos I shot on my SX-70:

Thanks for looking!

Spotlight: Kodak Medalist II

This last weekend I was at an antique mall when I came across this big beautiful beast, a Kodak Medalist II. The Medalist II was first introduced in 1946, and was marketed toward professional photographers and wealthy enthusiasts (It cost around $270, which is over $3,000 in today's money). The camera has a surprisingly easy to use viewfinder/rangefinder system, and a cool retractable "double helix focusing tube" lens. Unfortunately, the Medalist II takes 620 film, which means you have to go through the arduous chore of re-spooling 120 film onto 620 reels each time you want to shoot. Negatives are 6 x 9 cm, and you get 8 shots per roll.

Once again, the Medalist II was a professional's camera, and therefore had professional features. You get a full range of shutter speeds, from 1 second to 1/400th of a second. Once loaded, the camera's advance system will stop automatically at each new frame on the roll, meaning you don't have to look through a little red window and manually stop turning the advance knob when the next frame number pops up (Though a red window is included as a fail-safe). Multi-exposures are possible by cocking a lever next to the viewfinder. The Medalist II has a really awesome depth-of-field scale that spins around as you focus the lens!

The Kodak Medalist II is compact for a 6x9 camera, but it weighs over 3 pounds!

I took my Medalist II with me on a walk through some local woods. Here are some results I got with the camera:

I enjoyed shooting with the Kodak Medalist II. Its Ergonomics leave a bit to be desired by modern standards, but it has some serious deco charm. The 100mm Ektar lens is pretty sharp for its age (most of my examples were shot wide open at F/3.5 or F/4). Thanks for looking!

Print: Motor Crust

I finally got around to getting a new bulb for my D5 enlarger! Here's a print I made this evening from a negative from the mini junkyard behind the Huntley grease factory. I think this engine is in need of a tune up...

I used my Pentax LX with an SMC 50mm F/1.4 lens, on Ilford HP5+. The physical print is 7 x 10 inches.

I'm not sure if I like this print of not. It's a bit busy. Still, it shows some nice texture, and the subject is pretty interesting.


Thanks for taking a peek!

Spotlight/Roll: Nikon FM vs. Nikon FM2n + Greenberg Cancer Center

FM with 24mm F/2.8 Non-AI Lens and FM2n with 50mm F/2 AI Lens

Since I started shooting film back in college, I have always been a Pentax guy. My first manual film camera was a Ricoh A-100 Super (that had a Pentax K mount), which I soon traded for a Pentax MX, and then an LX. However, since buying my first Nikon F a little while ago and learning the important history of that camera, I have become increasingly interested in Nikon. About a month ago, I swapped a few items at a camera show for a Nikon FM2n, and then just yesterday I bought an FM for just $17(!) at an estate sale.

The FM was first produced in 1977, while the FM2n came out in 1984. Both are excellent fully manual 35m SLR cameras, which require batteries only for the light meter. However, there are some pretty significant differences between the two nearly identical looking models. This post is meant to highlight these differences (as well as the similarities) and help you decide which FM is right for your needs.

BODY

FM

FM2n

The basic shell of the FM and FM2n bodies are identical. They're both made out of copper-aluminum alloy; there is no difference in build-quality. The DOF preview switch and self timer lever are of slightly different aesthetic design, but on a functional level, the difference is completely negligable.

Controls

FM

The FM has shutter speeds from 1-1/1000th of a second, plus bulb. Metering range is 12-3200 ISO (ASA). Flash sync is 1/125th of a second and slower. Double exposures are possible by sliding the switch below the shutter speed dial to the left while cocking the shutter. The shutter has a locking mechanism, which works by twisting the dial around the shutter release so that the red line meets the white line. The shutter release accepts both standard and nikon-brand AR-2 cable releases. The meter is activated by pulling out the advance lever part-way.
 

FM2n

The FM2n has some important differences when it comes to the controls. Shutter speeds range from 1 second to a much faster 1/4000th, plus bulb. The metering is one stop more sensitive on the high end, ranging from 12-6400 ISO (ASA). Flash sync is one stop faster at 1/250th. Multiple-exposures are still possible, but the switch has been moved to the right of the advance lever, making it easier to operate with one hand. The shutter release is more comfortable, but is unable to accept AR-2 cables releases. The shutter locking mechanism is terrible on the FM2n. To fire the shutter, the advance lever HAS to be pulled out slightly (like in the above photo). If the lever is pushed in flush with the camera, the shutter will NOT fire. Ugh. Awful design. This is by far the worst "feature" of the FM2n. I just love having that lever poke me in the face while I'm trying to compose by shot. Metering is activated by half-pressing the shutter release.

Lens Mount

FM

Both the FM and FM2n sport F mounts. The FM has a nifty retractable meter-coupling tab that allows for the use of older non-AI Nikkor lenses. 

FM2n

The FM2n does NOT have a retractable meter-coupling tab. This means non-AI lenses will NOT work. Why? Why would Nikon omit this feature and severely limit the FM2n's lens compatibility? It makes absolutely no sense to me. Maybe they wanted to sell more AI lenses?

Focusing Screen

FM

The FM's focus screen has a split-image rangefinder with microprism ring, and an overall matte area. It's perfect for general photography. It's also not interchangeable.

FM2n

The standard FM2n focus screen is the same as in the FM, but it's interchangeable with a couple of other screens, making the FM2n a bit more versatile in this regard.





Conclusion

Both the FM and FM2n are great all manual cameras. If you absolutely need faster shutter speeds and flash sync, go with the FM2n. If you have older non-AI lenses you like to use, and don't like getting poked in the face with advance levers, go with the FM. You can't really go wrong with either.



I took both cameras out today and photographed an old abandoned cancer treatment center in Highland Park, Illinois. Here are my results:


FM2n:

(Six Exposures of Six Loading Dock Doors)

FM: