|
Modern Classic SLRs Series
Nikon F - Variations & Special
Models
|
| |
Well, I have to admit I
don't know all of the available Nikon F variation, as there are literally many other
models, one-offs, and custom modifications to the F floating around out there. These
are a few of the more famous ones. A much nicer source of information is at Stephen
Gandy's Cameraquest.
(* Also refer to some special and prototypes models of Nikon at MIR).
Nikon
F Red Dot This is probably the most misrepresented special model, thanks to some
inadvertent misinformation in Peterson's Nikon System Handbook.
Red Dot models may be identified by a red dot next to the serial number; the appropriate
serial numbers are 659xxxx and 660xxxx. When the Photomic T finder was introduced
in 1965, the top plate of the camera body was slightly revised; the eyepiece of the
T finder was slightly larger than on previous finders, to accomodate the relay prism
and lenses which allowed for through-the-lens (reflected, continuous) light metering.
Previous meters had a direct path to the source of light via either a light-gathering
window ("Model x" meters) or a lens (Photomic prism). Thus, the red dot
indicated those bodies shipped from the factory which originally had the eyelevel
prism mounted, but which would take the Photomic T finder without modification. Previous
serial number-model F's will require (or have had) modification to accept the T and
later Photomic finders (Tn, FTn); this modification consists of grinding out the
top plate slightly to accomodate the extra eyepiece size.
 |
 |
 |
<<< ---Credit: All images courtesy of
Mr. Peter Kunst <tinakunstt@hotmail.com> . Peter and Tina operate a pupular
Ebay Store, selling many interesting used Photo
equipment of various brands. Image
copyright © 2003. All rights reserved. Please respect the visual property of
the contributing photographer.
|
 |
 |
 |
Red Dots are neither rare
nor specialised enough to warrant their rarefied prices. They are slightly more exceptional
than your run-of-the-mill F, but all later bodies (67xxxxx +) incorporate their "refinement"
and a lot of earlier bodies have been modified to the Red Dot spec. Personally, if
I had $1 000 US to invest in a collectible F (I'd look for an interesting lens, first
off, but that's a topic for later discussion ...), I'd rather get one of the early
(6400xxx) models to trace the evolution of the F; heck, for $1000 US, I could almost
afford an SP. One word of warning: for those of you shopping on eBay, virtually anything
that is collectible will have an inflated price, whether calculators or cameras.
It's nice to have whatever you want right at your fingertips, but remember that you're
dealing with "experts", real and self-styled, who have plenty of money
to throw at these auctions. Watch out for "shill" bidders; though eBay
tries to control them, I have heard they're still operating.
Nikon
F - High Speed Motor Drive Camera
(A Picture is available at here -MIR Site). There
are two extremely rare F high speeds, 1971 and 1976 models. It is a testament to
Nikon's fundamentally sound professional-body design that they are able to regularly
offer slightly modified bodies and motors which far outperform their peers (and even
some modern counterparts).
|
|
|
However, it seems likely that,
unless we see a Cine-Nikon in the future, the F3-H represents the pinnacle (13.8
fps) of manual focus high-speed design; the performance of the F5 (8 fps with AF
tracking) is honestly not too far behind and, compared with the F3-High Speed Motor Drive Camera, seems a relative bargain (it's
really strange to say "F5" and "bargain" in the same sentence
...).
|
|
F2 High Speed-Motor Drive
Camera
(Courtesy
of R. Johnson)
|
F3-High Speed Motor Drive
Camera
(MIR's
Pix)
|
 |
The 1971 F High Speed delivers
7 fps with the mirror locked up (regular F/F36 combinations offer 4fps with MLU).
I am still sketchy on the details of this model, but it apparently ran off a (cordless?)
pack containing sixteen "AA" cells (although 24V may seem like a lot of
potential, the later F2 High Speed-MD would use four MN-1 packs, for 30V
of potential).
|
-
 |
The 1976 Nikon F High Speed delivered 9 fps for photographers
at the Montreal Winter Games. Although similar to the previous 1971 model, the 1976
model reputedly came in a 250-exposure subvariant, although very few of them were
produced.
<<< ---
Picture Courtesy of HIURA Shinsaku of Nikomat Club, Japan.
|
Whenever collectible F's
are mentioned, and especially F High Speeds, I continue to hear the name of the late
Jose Wu Chang; perhaps one of you out there would be so kind to shed some light on
his collection. These cameras had a pellicle mirror.
Nikon
F APOLLO
| Click here for
Nikon F Apollo Model
| Courtesy
of Mr Marc
Vorgers <marc@v3d.nl> Apollo is the nickname given to the
F's in the last year(s) of production, 1972-74, and refers to the use of plastic-tipped
winding and self-timer levers. Although it's useful to know that such F's incorporate
all of the lessons Nikon learned from its devoted corps of photojournalists and users,
and are fairly refined, it again seems to be a source of overinflated prices. The
plastic tips are a bit nicer on your fingers and thumb, but for similar or lower
prices, both the F2 and F3 offer the same refinement as well as shorter winding strokes
and smoother overall operation. Then again, if you're assembling a collection of
F's ...
Nikon
F NASA You can pick
up one of the rarest Nikon F's in existence for free; the only catch is that it's
on the moon ... Hasselblad advertised something similar a few years ago, but the
Nikon F's that the Apollo astronauts brought there were just as rare and rugged as
those 'blads.
 |
The later professional bodies
were also featured on space missions, and I've seen pictures of the space shuttle
version of the F3: very purposeful and massive; probably easy to operate with gloves
on.
|
<<<<<---- Picture Courtesy of HIURA Shinsaku
of Nikomat Club, Japan.
Nikon
F NATO I don't know
much about these other than that they were produced in either white or olive and
distributed for NATO use. It is possible that their specifications were similar to
those made for the US military (KS-8xA series). "Did you know there some Nikons
F with a "T" ingraved in the film rewind crank? This means that such a
camera is bought as taxfree on a militairy base." - Ted Wengelaar - [Updated info]
Nikon
F White Leather These
are the rarest F's that I know of: total production of two. They were built on request
for John Faber Mountain Lakes, New Jersey in 1963, serial numbers 6507770 and 6507771.
The production count was later confirmed by Nippon Kogaku in 1982.
 |
Nikon
F Navy KS-80A This
F came with an F36, the pistol grip, and a 43-86f/3.5. It was built mainly for the
US military as a "grab shot" kind of camera -- i.e., with one hand driving/flying/whatever,
you could use the other to take pictures with it. Actually, I think that it was used
mainly for aerial photography, with the 43-86 sporting an infinity lock of some kind
(it would make sense, too, that you wouldn't want to take both hands off of the airplane's
controls). Stephen Gandy
knows a lot more about the KS-8xA series (apparently, different models were built
by a single person, to fulfill a contract that EPOI had taken out with the military),
and his much
better page dealing
with these cameras is the best reference that I know of.
Credit: A beautifully captured photo of the Nikon
F US Navy KS-80A model by Matthew Lin. Image courtesy of Matthew Lin®. Matthew
also maintains an excellent Nikon/Nikkor personal site where you can access to some oldies.
Images copyright 2008.
All rights reserved.
Please respect the visual property of the contributing photographer.
|
Early/Prototypes on Nikon
F Early Nikon F's
have a hollow winding lever, a squarely-shaped and cross-hatched (knurled) self-timer
lever (rather than the usual "stripes" along the lever's length), "Nippon
Kogaku" engraving inside the eyelevel prism, a fairly coarse Fresnel pattern
on the screen, which should be notched on both the left and right sides (sot that
you can insert it in either orientation), and some patent numbers engraved inside
the slip-off back. See also Cover III (inside back cover) of the September 1969 Modern
Photography. Some of the very earliest F's have cloth shutters, instead of titanium
foil. Of all the collectible
Nikon F's, I would most want this one (of all the collectible Nikon products, I'd
most like a 300f/2.8 Preset Nikkor-H ED, but that's not happening any time soon).
I feel that, along with the KS-8xA's and High Speeds, these are the most mechanically
distinctive and, as such, deserve the highish prices I'm beginning to see for them.
-
 |
Nikon
F Specially Numbered
- Similar to Leica's issuing
the MP to famous Leica users, such as Eisenstaedt, Nikon gave the 500 000th F to
the American photographer who perhaps most aided the ascendance of Nikon: David Douglas
Duncan. I believe that there was no mechanical or functional distinction of this
camera, unlike the MP.
*
Please
contribute pictures
of those models mentioned here, it will make this site more complete.
My personal Nikon F Gold with Non-Ai 50mm
f/2.0 standard
lens.
|
With a lot of help from
my friends:
Contributing
Site: Nikon F in Black outfit
by
Marc Vorgers <marc@v3d.nl
Nikon
F all-Black
finished
- courtesy of John F Britten
Main Reference map in HTML &
PDF:
Body
with FTN Finder
| FTN finder | camera body |
External
links
for F & F2
-
Other
Nikon Variants - Mixture
|
Back | to Nikon-F - Main Index Page
Michael
C Liu's Nikons Classic Site
Other
Nikon F Variations
Nikon Auto Focus Nikkor lenses:-
Main Index Page
Nikon Manual
Focus
Nikkor lenses:- Fisheye-Nikkor Lenses - Circular | Full Frame |
Ultrawides Lenses - 13mm15mm18mm20mm | Wideangle Lenses - 24mm28mm35mm | Standard Lenses - 45mm 50mm 58mm | Telephoto
Lenses - 85mm105mm135mm180mm & 200mm | Super-Telephoto Lenses - 300mm 400mm 500mm 600mm 800mm 1200mm |
Special Application lenses:
Micro-Nikkor Lenses - 50mm~55mm -60mm 85mm -105mm 200mm Micro-Zoom 70-180mm
Perspective Control (PC) - 28mm 35mm
PC-Micro 85mm
Dedicated
Lenses for Nikon F3AF: AF 80mm f/2.8 | AF 200mm f/3.5 EDIF
Depth
of Field Control (DC): 105mm 135mm
Medical
Nikkor: 120mm 200mm
Reflex-Nikkor Lenses - 500mm 1000mm 2000mm
Others:
Noct Nikkor |
OP-Nikkor | UV Nikkor 55mm 105mm |
Focusing Units | Bellows-Nikkor 105mm 135mm
Nikon
Series E Lenses: 28mm35mm50mm100mm135mm |
E-Series Zoom lenses: 36~72mm75~150mm70~210mm
MF Zoom-Nikkor Lenses: 25~50mm | 28~45mm | 28~50mm | 28~85mm | 35~70mm | 36~72mm E | 35~85mm | 35~105mm | 35~135mm | 35~200mm | 43~86mm | 50~135mm | 50~300mm | 70~210mm E | 75~150mm E | 80~200mm | 85~250mm | 100~300mm | 180~600mm | 200~400mm | 200~600mm | 360~1200mm | 1200~1700mm
Tele-Converters: TC-1 | TC-2 | TC-200 | TC-201 | TC-300 | TC-301 | TC-14 | TC-14A | TC-14B | TC-14C | TC-14E | TC-16 | TC-16A | TC-20E
Recommended links to understand more technical details
related to the Nikkor F-mount and production Serial Number:
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-153.html by: my
friend, Rick Oleson
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/fmount.htm by: Hansen,
Lars Holst
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/nikonfmount/lens2.htm
http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html
| Back | to Pictorial History of Nikon SLR / rangefinders
/ Nikonos / digital cameras.
 |
|
| Message
Board
|
for
Nikon
F
Series SLR Camera(s)
| Message
Board
| for
your Nikon Optics in a shared environment
| Message
Board
| Specifically
for Dispose or
Looking for
Nikon/Nikkor Photographic Equipment |
|
Modern Classic SLRs Series :
Nikon
F - Index
Page
|
Copyright
© 1998. Michael C. Liu ®
Site
rearranged by: leofoo ®.
Credit: Hiura Shinsaku® from
Nikomat Club of Japan for feeding some useful inputs on the introductory page.
The great 3D logo by Kiasu; Ted Wengelaar®,
Holland for his continuous flow of input of early Nikon bodies. Stephen Gandy's Cameraquest; Marc Vorgers from Holland for
his additinal images on Nikon F Apollo; Hayao Tanabe
corrected my Red Dot and Early F assertions. Gray Levett, Grays of Westminster
publishes an excellent monthly historical look at Nikon products, from where I learned
about the high-speed F's. Made
with a PowerMac, broadcast with
a Redhat Linux
powered server.
 |
Home - Photography in Malaysia
|
 |
