Nikkormat/Nikomat - Guestbook/Message Board

1. From : Tristan (Macerias84@hotmail.com)
Url : http://
Date : 01:13 AM Tuesday 02 August, 2005

Hi i have a Nikomat EL, 1972/12 series camera, i cant seem to find the damn battery on it. iv been to a few camera shops, no go. if you could tell what i haft to take apart to get to it i would appreciate it. Thanks

2. From : rick oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com)
Url : http://rick_oleson.tripod.com
Date : 08:18 AM Thursday 28 July, 2005

Hi Pete: You have a Nikkormat FT; these were made from 1965 until 1967, so it's a 1966 camera +/- a year .... that's the best I can do. It's not rare, they were quite popular so there are a lot of them around, and it's not especially valuable because it was the first model and each one tended to be a little better than the last. A dead meter is not uncommon at this age, though there are certainly some around with good meters in them. The cost of repair is likely to be as much as it would cost you to buy another Nikkormat with the meter working I agree with you about the feel and the aesthetic experience of using the new digital cameras, or for that matter the autofocus film SLRs. However, some of them are capable of very good results in terms of resolution and image quality; certainly at least as good as I get, with my penchant for 400 speed film in 35mm. rick :)=

3. From : pete jones (derekjustjazz@aol.com)
Url : http://
Date : 04:02 PM Wednesday 27 July, 2005

hello, I have just come accross your site, and strangely enough just yesterday blew the dust off my good old friend Nikkormat. I bought this new but can't remember when, serial number Ft 3140965. Is there any clue as to the year hidden in this? Some while back the meter stopped functioning, new batts failed to cure this, is this a common fault, and is it worthwhile getting fixed. I'm hoping this is by now a very rare collectors item worth???? but probably I'm wrong.I guess the lens is std, it's the 50mm Nikkor-H Auto No 653411. I've always kept this in the bottom section of its leather case, and despite carrying it around on various motorcycle trial events, it is in excellent shape. This little camera has never once let me down, ok the meter doesn't work, but most photographers have a pretty good idea of what shutter and aperture to set by guess work. My Dad used to say " Guess work is the best work as long as it's right" Oh yes also have a Nikon FM with 43-86 zoom fab' camera, and even with the zoom is lighter than the Nikkormat, and once again metering has also failed on this. Obviously contact etc all cleaned. Each time I think about going digital, the feel of the Nikon camera that by now has formed part of my arm, makes me have a change of heart. I've held the new D50 and 70 and staight away miss any sign of metal, and dislike the feel of the lens functions. It's not just Nikon, Cannon is the same. Doing a little swatting seems to show that to get the best result the pic's need to be saved in RAW mode and worked on in a computer! OK I'm not too young anymore and can see the way things are going to produce more profit etc, but I just wonder how long any of these cameras will be around, and how long before they can match resolution of film? Let's hope film will be available for years to come. A 40 year habit is hard to break! Pete

4. From : rick oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com)
Url : http://rick_oleson.tripod.com
Date : 12:30 AM Wednesday 20 July, 2005

Hi Eileen: Try setting your 105 to the smallest aperture and opening the shutter on B. Does the lens stop down when the shutter opens? The DOF button on the camera just moves the same lever in the body that is used to stop the lens down during exposure... there is no special feature on a lens to enable the DOF function. So if the lens is not stopping down when you press the button I suspect that it's not stopping down for exposures either, which would mean the diaphragm needs cleaning. As for the aperture coupling pin popping out, I think that would be a cleaning issue too, but with the body rather than the lens. I can't think of anything in a particular lens that would cause that to happen, but a dirty linkage on the pin in the body can do it.

5. From : Eileen roulis (asterope1@optusnet.com.au)
Url : http://flickr.com/photos/asterope/
Date : 12:06 PM Tuesday 19 July, 2005

sorry to post again... another thing to add.

i also noticed this lens doesnt couple with the maximum aperture ring on the camera properly (when i attach the lens and turn the aperture ring forward and then backward again as i do to set my max aperture on other lenses) i can set it manually, but once i use an aperture of more than 5.6 the ring clicks away and resets itself. Is this why i cannot get it to work with the DOF preview?
the 50mm lens that i use is a k-type lens, this lens is an a-type... does that make a difference? they both have the same attachment prong and the same base except the 105mm has 5 single slotted screws and the 50mm has 5 phillips-head screws.

any help is greatly appreciated!
Eileen :)

6. From : Eileen Roulis (asterope1@optusnet.com.au)
Url : http://flickr.com/photos/asterope/
Date : 11:05 AM Tuesday 19 July, 2005

hi all, thanks in advance for your help! i have been using nikkormats for almost 10 years now, my dad gave me his nikkormat ftn as a present on my 16th, when that got stolen 3 years ago i went and bought an ft2 because i love them so much!! i recently purchased a nikon nikkor-p auto 105mm f/2.5 (i think its from 1974, s/n 441672) lens because i had heard about how amazing they were and realised they would be great for the kind of photography i like to do... portraits, nature and shiny cars!

after playing around with this lens, i realised that it doesnt couple with my ft2 to allow me to use the DOF preview, a feature which i find handy and use alot! i was wondering if there is any way to get this lens converted to be able to use this feature, as i also have my dads hanimex tele-zoom which has the same problem.
it doesnt bother me overly, but its is a feature i would like to use. i live in brisbane, australia just incase someone knows of somewhere local that can do this sort of work. thanks again!

7. From : rick oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com)
Url : http://rick_oleson.tripod.com
Date : 08:50 AM Saturday 16 July, 2005

Hi Plastic Surgeon: Personally, I would replace the lens, for a number of reasons:

1. I don't trust fungus. I might try to clean up a lens myself, but I would not invest much money either in the lens or in the repair job to fix it, because it often causes permanent damage to the lens before it gets cleaned out.

2. Zooms are more difficult and costly to clean than other lenses.

3. The damage done to a lens by fungus is more severe in a zoom than in a regular lens (this is because the damage causes flare and contrast loss, and these are already typically high in zooms - especially early ones)

4. An 80-200 zoom is not a particularly exotic lens

5. A zoom of Non-AI vintage is unlikely, generally speaking, to be as good as a later lens. This is one area in which optical design, technology and material have continued to make significant improvements in more recent years. That's my 2 cents' worth.... rick :)=

8. From : plastic surgeon (plasticsurgeo@nm.ru)
Url : http://plastic-surgeon.nm.ru
Date : 04:49 AM Saturday 16 July, 2005

I have a non-AI zoom Nikkor-C 80-200mm with a fixed 4.5 aperture. It is with fungus and needs a pretty good and expensive cleaning. I would like to know if this is a VERY good lens that one must keep at any cost, or if it not worth to get it serviced. Thank you, in advance...

9. From : rick oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com)
Url : http://rick_oleson.tripod.com
Date : 08:19 AM Wednesday 13 July, 2005

Hi Anthony Usually, you set the lens to f/5.6 for mounting if I remember correctly - in any case, so that the fork aligns with the pin as you place the lens into the mount. The dot at the upper right of the lens mount on the body is to line up the top index of the lens for mounting. Then, seat the lens and rotate it counterclockwise until it clicks home. Now twist the aperture ring back and forth to both ends of the scale. This sets the camera meter so it knows what speed of lens you have mounted. A little odd today, but quite an advance over the previous Nikkormat FT which required you to reset your ASA dial every time you changed a lens.

10. From : Anthony (adc@etla.fi)
Url : http://
Date : 07:27 PM Tuesday 12 July, 2005

Hello! I just bought a Nikkormat FTn with an original non-AI lens. Could someone tell me the specifics in mounting the lens to the body of the camera. I'm a fairly experienced user of later generation Nikon cameras, but I don't want to risk anything especially since I don't have a user's manual for the FTn. Thanks to anyone who can help.

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