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The
Nikkor 50mm f/1.2s has the fastest lens speed among ALL manual
focus lenses in the Nikkor lens
family.It was the fastest
standard MF lens among the FOUR 50mm Nikkor lenses, 50mm f/1.4s,
50mm f/1.8s and Series-E 50mm
f/1.8s. It replaced the
long serving Ai-Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 standard lens which was
introduced way back in 1976.
It debuted in 1981 with a native AI-S coupling, allowing
it to be used freely with all available exposure modes such as
program AE and shutter priority AE found in many subsequent Nikon
body offerings introduced over the years. This high speed
standard Nikkor is famed for its exceptional definition and
superior neutral colour rendition. Many features were revised to
improve its handling and characteristics over it's predecessor,
including more compact and lighter which garnered immediate
acceptance. The transition from Ai to AI-S coupling was not
entirely tuned for the Nikon F3, but as a core system camera
during this period, it signified an important milestone in the
evolution of the Nikon/Nikkor development process, where
automation and MF optical excellence were simply at their very
best.
Credit: Images of this Nikkor 50mm f/1.2s lens courtesy of
Keith
Weinman®, US <layoutpad@attbi.com> Image
copyright © 2004. All rights reserved. Please respect the visual
property of the contributing photographer.
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The Nikon F3was the third generation of the
professional class Nikon F-series 35mm SLR camera model. Introduced in 1980, it
was the successor to the
original Nikon
F of 1959, and the
hugely successful Nikon F2 of the '70, where both the earlier
models were commanding a distinctive supremacy in the professional users'
market. When the F3 was first announced, the heavy automation in the
camera sent cold shivers down the spine of most purist photographers. As
one can still recall, the price of a discontinued fully mechanical
Nikon F2AS had a retail price higher than that of
a new automatic Nikon F3 during those early days of its introduction, which
was Nikon's way of saying 'move on', to the photographic community
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With the
creative mind of a famous Italian industrial designer,
Giorgetto Giugiaro , the replacement model for the Nikon
F2 has been given a fresh modern look and feel. The vertical red
lining near the hand grip is now a distinctive hallmark of any
modern Nikon camera, and over the years the "red line" has
evolved into many forms and designs on the plethora of Nikon
models that has followed.
One can now
instantly recognize the unique "Nikon flavour" of all subsequent
body offerings, originally adopted in the Nikon F3, making it the
first camera body to depart from conventional oriental
design.
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One important aspect in the
design of this classic Nikon is that it replicated the successful concept
of mudularity, similar to the previous F and F2. With a modular body
design, the F3 was enabled to accept a multitude of dedicated components
and accessories to cater to individual requirements and specific
photographic needs. The Nikon F3 had the most extensive collection of
system accessories built around a body, which has made the F3 one of the
most desirable system cameras in the market, by professional users, with
many still employed as front line equipment to this day.
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The first
auto focus Nikon SLR was born out of the basic design of the
Nikon F3, when in 1983, a Nikon F3 AF, with two dedicated
AF-Nikkor lenses, was introduced to showcase Nikon's first entry
in the AF technology race to perfection. The F3AF was 3 years
ahead of Nikon's first fully integrated AF body design, the Nikon
F-501 of 1986, and 5 full years ahead of the professional class
series Nikon F4 of 1988 !
<<<---The viewfinder of Nikon F3 AF uses a FIXED
matte type screen type built directly underneath the DX-1 finder,
with viewfinders other than
DX-1, more than 20 other types of interchangeable screens are
available.Picture was from my Copyright-free© Images Collection,
2003. leofoo®
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The Nikon F3AF, with its dedicated AF
optics and removable AF-prism, that can also serve as an electronic
range finder to provide visual focusing indication when fitted on any F3
camera (except F3P, F3Hand F3
Limited where all
came with a non standard DE-5 prism), moved the ball distinctively further
down the evolutionary trail. The Nikon F3 series has the most variant
models among all single digit professional F models. Strangely, unlike many
other competing professional SLR cameras of the time, the feature
that contributed to its popularity was its bare basic simple exposure mode
of aperture priority AE while maintaining full manual exposure control.
Most professionals never got around to turning the shutter speed dial to
'A' and used the F3 in manual mode 100% of the time. The F3 was never
intended to be "the greatest thing since sliced bread", instead it
was designed to shine in functionality - its strength being realized
over time. Soon photographers started to appreciate the level of
versatility and hence what a great camera it truly was. I think most of the
credit has to be given to its creator, while I personally believe the
Company had shown a lot of courage in deciding the specifications, by
turning their top of the line reference professional SLR model
toward full-automation (well, almost..because the F3 has a mechanical
backup shutter even if the batteries failed and with a superior MD-4 Motor
Drive that supports its power management). This was an important
feature during the early '80, the market was still very much dominated by
traditional mechanical battery free manual cameras and users. Competition
was keen from rivalling brands where we saw the likes of the Canon New
F-1 and Pentax
LX that debuted
after the Nikon F3 (and other great SLR bodies such as Contax
RTS II or even the
Olympuses). All of these benefited directly as
well as indirectly by the decision of Nikon to stamp a mark of excellence,
and thus confidence, on the electronic SLR camera for real life
professional usage.
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Strangely, despite most of
the rivalling labels offering richer feature sets in comparison to
the F3, the F3's status was never truly challenged, even
after 20 plus years of product cycle. The Nikon F3 was, and still
is, very much in demand. It was the only Nikon professional F
series (single digit) model that co-existed with,
and survived beyond, the successor professional model Nikon
F4,
which was intended to replace it.
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A
Self confession from a guilty father.... Picture was
from my Copyright-free© Images Collection,
2003.leofoo®
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In fact, many of its variants have developed as collectors'
favourites. Other than the bare basic camera body which has so much to offer
in strength, and for users to explore its potential as a reliable imaging
tool, it marks an important point on the development curve of both SLR
camera design as well as modern photography. The Nikon F3 was the first
professional SLR camera that has truly bridged between mechanical and
electronic engineering in camera design, where it spearheaded popular
adoption of automation in photographic usage. Its strength and reliability
have influenced even the most hard-core users of mechanical SLRs in
accepting the fact that automation was an inevitable route to modern
photography, without the expense of sacrificing reliability. But most of
all, the simplicity in its design and handling, along with an unsurpassed
ruggedness, efficiency and great system compatibilities, has made this
Nikon body widely acclaimed as a true classic camera of modern times ! This
site, along with many other classic SLRs featured in this site, chronicles
yet another photographic legend from Nikon.
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| Message Board |
for your favourite
Nikon F3
Series SLR models |
| Message Board |
for your Nikon Optics in a
shared environment |
| Message Board |
Specifically for
Disposing or Acquiring Nikon/Nikkor Photographic
Equipment |
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