Nikon F Accessories
For the gadget freak or the serious professional photographer, Nikon has always carried a line of accessories that can (supposedly) tailor the F into a picture-taking machine that can intimidate the uninitiated. Once you learn about Nikon's semi-rational methods of naming accessories and part numbers, you'll be able to rattle off with the best of them a long string of seemingly disconnected words to intimidate the uninitiated. Unfortunately, Nikon didn't get into the letter/number craze until the F2, so you probably won't find yourself saying, "So yeah, after I jammed a couple of MS-1's into the MB-1, I made sure that the DS-12 was all juiced up and then me and my F2AS and MF-1 made short work of the time-lapse exposures making sure that I had all the film I needed in the MZ-1 and using the MT-1, it was all a snap ..."
F36/Cord Pack
The F36 was a direct descendant of the S36 motordrive for the SP rangefinder. In
fact, it was probably the same mechanism in a slightly different package. It was
designed so that it replaced the back of the F completely when mounted, which meant
that loading film would quickly become a chore. Since it was so similar to the S36,
it also came with a separate corded battery pack that you could sling over your shoulder.
The motor ran on eight "C" cell batteries, mounted in the pack, which (I
believe) had a shutter release on top of it (as a remote release, I suppose). Just
like the later MD-1/2, the F36 had a shutter/framerate selector -- based on the shutter
speed in use, you could select a firing rate for the drive. Basically, it was so
that the mirror and shutter could cycle before the drive pulled the next frame of
film through. The back of the F36 also had a C/S selector, which selected a continuous
or single-shot mode.
$219.50 (1959)
Cordless Pack for F36
After several years (during which competitors introduced alternatives), Nikon introduced
a semi-sculptured handgrip for the F36 that contained eight "AA" batteries.
It had a firing button on top of the handle, just like the current MD-4 and -12,
and also had a C/S selector on the side of the handle which overrode the selection
on the back of the F36. One feature worth noting is that the grip was sculpted to
allow the self-timer lever to travel through its entire range, something that the
MD-1/2 did not have. There were several versions of the cordless pack and I'll eventually
get around to listing them here (although I must admit that change here is rather
glacial ...).
F250/Cord Pack
I think that it was Leica that first introduced at 250-shot back (or really a 250-shot
camera); Nikon produced a back and integrated motor for the F similar in concept
to the F36, but with two cassettes (feed and take-up spools, if you will), one of
which had to be loaded with 33 feet of bulk-film using a special loader. Unfortunately,
I believe that it was only with the introduction of the MF-1 that Nikon standardized
on the use of the MZ-1 250-exposure cartridges, so F250 cartridges are somewhat rare
and difficult to come by nowadays.
Bellows 2 (and) 135f/4 Short Mount
Nikon made the Bellows 2 ("1" was for the rangefinder thread mount) available
soon after the introduction of the F. It had a fixed tripod mount on the rear standard
(near the body) and had a maximum extension of 135mm, to match the 135f/4 short mount
(which focussed from infinity to 1:1 on the bellows). A Nikon F mounted on this bellows
with the 135f/4 sat in the reactor room of the UC-Berkeley nuclear engineering department
for several years, which is where my experience with it comes in; as far as I could
tell, it seemed to give fairly decent pictures from a very simple (four-element)
lens, although the bellows proved to be a bulky, fragile beast.
Extension Tubes
Slide Copier
200f/5.6 Medical
The 200f/5.6 Medical was, as its modern equivalent (120f/4 IF) is today, a very specialized
lens. It has a built-in ringlight and came with a huge set of diopters (fifteen?)
to provide reproduction ratios from 1:15 to 3:1. The ringlight was designed to provide
shadowless illumination for various body cavities and/or surgical purposes, while
the 200mm focal length would provide enough working distance so that you weren't
constantly in the way of the doctor. However, it's really not an easy lens to use.
There was no provision for focussing the lens -- you added diopters until you got
the desired repro ratio and then you'd walk back and forth to get sharp focus.