About the product.
The camera that ended the German era. When Nippon Kogaku launched the Nikon F in 1959 it was not the first SLR, but it was the first complete professional system — interchangeable prisms, interchangeable focusing screens, motor drives, a 100% viewfinder and a lens mount that, remarkably, Nikon still uses. Photojournalists took them to Vietnam and came back saying the things would not die, and the F held the professional market almost unchallenged for fifteen years. Everything about it is mechanical: a titanium-foil focal plane shutter, a fully removable back rather than a hinged door, mirror lock-up, and a body machined out of brass that feels closer to a tool than a camera.
This one wears the Photomic T finder from 1965 — the first Nikon F prism to meter through the lens — and carries the Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f/1.4, the fast standard lens of the era, seven elements in five groups.
Specifications
- Type: 35mm system SLR, fully mechanical
- Mount: Nikon F, non-AI with meter coupling prong
- Shutter: Titanium-foil horizontal focal plane, 1sec to 1/1000sec plus Bulb and Time
- Viewfinder: Interchangeable prisms, approximately 100% frame coverage
- Flash sync: 1/60sec
- Extras: Mirror lock-up, depth-of-field preview, self-timer, interchangeable focusing screens
- Back: Fully removable, in the F-series professional style
- Finder: Photomic T, the first TTL metering prism for the F, introduced 1965
- Lens: Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f/1.4, 7 elements in 5 groups, 52mm filter thread
- Production: 1959 to 1974
Condition
- Cosmetic: Good, with some visible signs of age and use. Some coating loss and fungus inside the Photomic finder, which does not affect viewing or image quality. The lens is fully clean and clear.
- Functional: The light meter does not work. Mechanically the camera works well at all speeds. The film back shows slight resistance when sliding out, but shuts securely and works properly.
Included
- Nikon F body
- Photomic T metering prism finder
- Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f/1.4 lens
- Lens cap
- Camera strap
In short
Three things stated plainly. The meter in the Photomic T does not work — this is close to universal on these finders, because they were calibrated for 1.35V mercury cells that have been banned for decades and the CdS circuits are now sixty years old. It changes nothing about how the camera shoots: use a handheld meter, a phone app, or Sunny 16. The fungus sits inside the finder housing, not in the taking path, so it has no bearing on your negatives, and the finder still works as a finder. The removable back is slightly stiff coming off but latches securely. Everything mechanical — every shutter speed, the mirror, the advance — works as it should.
