Nikon F
What a Nikon F actually produces — 11 photographs shot on one by members here.
Find one at KEH Nikon F → Affiliate link
The Nikon F is where the Nikon SLR system starts. Introduced in 1959, it was the camera that convinced professionals the single-lens reflex could replace the rangefinder, and its F mount is still on Nikon's cameras today.
It is entirely mechanical. The titanium-foil shutter runs from 1 sec to 1/1000, and with the plain prism finder there is no battery anywhere in the camera. The finder and focusing screen both come off. That modularity was the point: the F could be configured as a press camera, a scientific instrument or a motor-driven sports camera from the same body.
Metering arrived through a series of Photomic finders — the original Photomic, then the T, Tn and FTn — each fitted in place of the plain prism. Those finders are bulky, and their meters are often tired, so many people shoot the F with the eye-level prism and a handheld meter.
Lenses from the F era use the meter-coupling prong of pre-AI Nikkors, and most later Nikkors with an aperture ring mount too. A working F is a piece of history that still does the job. Load it with Tri-X 400 and it shoots the way it did in the newsrooms of the sixties.
Images taken with the Nikon F
Four Windmills in Spain PahaPlager · Polaroid 8x10
entered as “Sinar f”
An Elaborate Totem in Brabant PahaPlager · Fujichrome Provia
entered as “Sinar f”
Lottumse Castle PahaPlager · Polaroid 8x10
entered as “Sinar f”
Orvie - Pinnacle Gulch Beach, CA FogdogPhoto · Kodak Tri-X 400
Toledo Clock Tower with the Requisite Clothes Out to Dry PahaPlager · Fujichrome Velvia 50
entered as “Sinar f”
Studebaker bonneville skylarkbuick63 · CineStill 50D
South Bronx La Pompa Osu530 · Kodak Tri-X 400
Toledo PahaPlager · Polaroid 8x10
entered as “Sinar f”
Spanish Village PahaPlager · Polaroid 8x10
entered as “Sinar f”
Don Quixote's Bane PahaPlager · Polaroid 8x10
entered as “Sinar f”
Catedral Primada de Toledo PahaPlager · Fujichrome Provia
entered as “Sinar f”
Lenses people use on it
Taken from what members recorded on the frames above, in their own wording. Counts, not recommendations.
Film shot on it
Each one links through to every frame on that stock, from any camera.