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Digital Nikon FM2

peterb

Member
Maybe Nikon or someone could come out with an all mechanical "retro" camera that needs no batteries, has interchangeable focusing screens and some other means of capturing images besides these pesky noisy electronic sensors. :)
 

djonesii

Workshop Member
Just a question, I read a good hand full of the previews, and can't sort this out.

I mount and AF-D lens, with an aperture ring, lock it to the highest FNumber, then change the aperture with a spinning knob that is mounted the wrong way round on the front of the camera??

Can that possibly be right ...... PURE PHOTOGRAPHY still disables the aperture ring??

Lets see, my Fuji X-Pro, change aperture on the lens, shutter speed/Comp on the body, and ISO in the quick menu .... to me a bit more pure.

Dave
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Just a question, I read a good hand full of the previews, and can't sort this out.

I mount and AF-D lens, with an aperture ring, lock it to the highest FNumber, then change the aperture with a spinning knob that is mounted the wrong way round on the front of the camera??

Can that possibly be right ...... PURE PHOTOGRAPHY still disables the aperture ring??

Lets see, my Fuji X-Pro, change aperture on the lens, shutter speed/Comp on the body, and ISO in the quick menu .... to me a bit more pure.

Dave
Don't know. The D700 and the F6 use the aperture ring, at least with AIS lenses, no problem.

Actually, the Canon 6D is in many ways more suitable for what I would use the Df for, without the switches and dials obviously. Except for the larger grip, it's exactly the same size and weight, it has exchangeable focusing screens and can mount any Nikkor lens... and Zeiss CY, Olympus OM, Pentax K etc. lenses. It's $1,000 cheaper too. Not as cool looking of course, with it's "whale design" and I'm sure I prefer the Nikon sensor, but, but, but...
 

monza

Active member
Just a question, I read a good hand full of the previews, and can't sort this out.

I mount and AF-D lens, with an aperture ring, lock it to the highest FNumber, then change the aperture with a spinning knob that is mounted the wrong way round on the front of the camera??

Can that possibly be right ...... PURE PHOTOGRAPHY still disables the aperture ring??
Yes, any CPU lens would operate that way.

It's even more convoluted for older non-AI lenses…enter the lens in the system, meter using using the dial, then turn the aperture ring on the lens to match.
 

monza

Active member
Actually, the Canon 6D is in many ways more suitable for what I would use the Df for, without the switches and dials obviously. Except for the larger grip, it's exactly the same size and weight, it has exchangeable focusing screens and can mount any Nikkor lens... and Zeiss CY, Olympus OM, Pentax K etc. lenses. It's $1,000 cheaper too.
The 6D can do that, as long as one doesn't mind all the fiddling and tweaking required to get accurate focus.

For adapting purposes, nothing can touch the A7, tho.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
The 6D can do that, as long as one doesn't mind all the fiddling and tweaking required to get accurate focus.

For adapting purposes, nothing can touch the A7, tho.
That is correct. I used the 6D example because that too is an SLR. Some of us prefer that sometimes.
 

monza

Active member
Indeed. Sometimes nothing but a DSLR will do!

But never again will I try adapting lenses to one…it's native or nothing!
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
I am quite thankful for the DF- for saving my cash! ;)
Hm, the more I think about it the more I feel the same ....

Shooting a D800e for purpose with some selected glass and soon the EM1 with nice m43 lens collection for flexibility and small weight/size I do not really see where I should fit the Df in for me.

If I really like retro, then I should go for the M240 and finally start using my M glass. Adding a Df with some of the better Nikkors would be the same price as the M240 - but never be a Leica in the end.
 

peterb

Member
So as I understand it, the DF is a video-less 16mp camera that uses the same sensor as the D4 so it has nearly identical imaging capabilities (which isn't bad by the way...just slightly $2000 less in overall system adaptability) in a magnesium clad, weather-sealed body that's roughly the same size as a Canon 6D and weighing a scoshe less than a D7100.

While the imaging is certainly going to be impressive, the DF is not exactly what I'd call svelte for 'purer' for photography as Nikon's teases were alluding--which is always a danger when you do advertising like that. When Nissan's Infinity was first introduced years ago the mysterious teaser ads they used made one wonder whether the thing even had wheels.
 

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member
back to pure nonsense


Yes, advertising is usually pure nonsense :rolleyes:

Anyway, I like this retro D610 camera with all its mechanical dials, only not at the D800 price.

Here's to hope for a competitively priced Df2 within the next couple of years.

.
 
Last edited:

white.elephant

New member
Yes, the focusing screen is a big disappointment for manual focus with legacy glass. Bad Nikon!
Well, I'm not going to judge the good or bad (I would have preferred a split-prism, but oh well). My question is this: what changed in the way they handled their internal focussing screens between the D700 (where you CAN get a Katzeye) and now (when you can't)?

I just would like to understand the differences.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Hmm, Well, I wasn't really up for one anyway, but the fact that they're $2750 dollars in the states and £2749 in the UK would be quite enough to irritate me into not buying one.

Still, like most of these things, if you were a D700 lover, then this will seem like a nice incremental upgrade I'd say.
 

rayyan

Well-known member
Let's talk price..rather than hookers ( :eek: ) that are not sexy ( :eek::wtf: )

For many belonging to this forum, price is relative..US$ 10,000.00 for a lens; US$ 8,000.00 for a camera and so on.

If the Df price is the bother, then either the cam is not for you or wait till the price falls within your range.

The D4 with the same sensor costs..how much? Granted one gets other things with it, but the sensor, I am told by professional users here is second to none.

So the Df has the same sensor...' shines ' in low light, high iso.

Besides the Leica Ms and the Sony A7/R, the Df is the lightest FF 35mm cam. In fact, I think it is the lightest 35mm FF DSLR.

I am liking the dials..iso, aperture, speed..all set with dials. It is, imo, more of a street, portrait, wedding shooters cam more than for wildlife or sports.

For me, I shall wait for some judicious reviews. And why not..you only live once.
 

Shashin

Well-known member
It is just like my old Nikon FM. The FM had exactly one dial, the shutter speed (the ISO was built into that). The FM did have an advance lever, a shutter release button, a lens release button, DOF preview button, a self timer, a multiple exposure button, and a rewind button, so in a sense it is just like the DF, except the DF does not have a rewind button. But it did have the little lens thingy you could get out of the way for non-AI lenses, just like the DF. But at least the faux leather on the prism housing is the same.

So the DF is exactly like the old film cameras had they built film cameras like that.
 
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