Godfrey
Well-known member
The Nikon F is like a comfortable old truck: All the newer ones run away from it with their fancy interiors and bazillion conveniences, but the old clatterbox just keeps krumping along regardless. When the new ones are put down because they don't have the latest stereo conveniences, the F just keeps going and going.I totally understand the feeling. I left a Nikon F, 55 macro and 105/2.5 in a friend's garage when we left the country around 2000. They were what got me started in the 1960s. A divorce and various vicissitudes (not mine) mean that they are no longer to be found. I can still recall the "ka-whomp" of the F shutter when shooting from the audience seats during a quiet rehearsal.
My first SLR was a 1969 Nikon F Photomic FTn with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens. I used it through the rest of my high school years and through my first years in college. Gave it to a friend in 1976 when I bought the Olympus OM-1...
This one belonged to a friend, who got it in turn from a friend, and for reasons unknown he took the lens off it and put it in a box in his cellar with other junk for a decade. When it turned up in conversation a few years back, he mentioned that he didn't know what he'd do with it (he's a Pentax shooter) and couldn't find the lens. I offered that I'd be interested and he just gave it to me, body with lower half of the case and the original selenium clip-on meter (not working, of course). I tested the body and found it was so full of dirt that none of the slow speeds were working, so off it went to the shop for a thorough cleaning and overhaul. $170 later, it came home in sparkly nice working condition with just a little bit of roughness to its cosmetics... perfect! I'd picked up the Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 Pre-AI for some other project for the grand price of $80 about then. I don't use the F often, but I enjoy every moment with it that I do. It's very much a case of revisiting my errant youth in photography.
The F6 and D750 are sold. The 25-50 and 18mm are sold. Time to post another couple of lenses...
onwards!
G