# Nikon F3 owners, speak up!



## AndrewG (Jul 7, 2008)

So, was this the last of the great 35mm SLR's? I've handled and used more modern, mainly AF, SLR's but, to my mind, the F3 is in a class of its own especially coupled with the superlative-and now inexpensive-Nikkor lenses.
Your views?

_______________

Nikon F3HP (x2), Nikon FM2N, Nikkors 28 f3.5, 50 f1.8, Micro-Nikkor 55 f2.8, 135 f3.5.
Yashica 635 TLR.


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## compur (Jul 7, 2008)

I have owned F3s (I buy and sell a lot of stuff) and I think they are certainly
one of the top manual focus 35mm cameras of all time, for sure.

Other similar models that I also rate highly are the Canon F1n and the Pentax LX.

They just don't make 'em like that anymore.


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## Helen B (Jul 8, 2008)

I think that the Leica R6.2 was the last of the great manual SLRs, though it is a close call between that and the earlier SL2 MOT. From the Nikon lineup the F2AS would get my vote, for Canon the F1n. In MF, the Rolleiflex SL 66SE. These all happen to be mechanical cameras, as well as being manual.

Best,
Helen


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## jwkwd (Jul 9, 2008)

Tough call, I have a F3HP and F3, but also a F2 and F2s. To add to the mix I have a Canon F1, which is one of the first ones ( longthrow ) that I like to use. I think that if all of them were on a table and there was something outside that was a one time event, I think I would grab the F2 to get the shot.


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## Kiron Kid (Oct 9, 2018)

Love my new F3. The F3 and FE-2 are my go-to rigs.


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## Gary A. (Oct 9, 2018)

I’ve had F3’s ... a great camera, refined and sophisticated.  But ... the big but, I vote for the F2 ... big and robust.  It feels like it was craved out of a single block of metal. Working with an F2 was similar to the F ... you had confidence in the hardware knowing it wouldn’t fail.  If you missed The Shot, it was due to your skill not the camera.


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## Gary A. (Oct 9, 2018)

F2 is in the hand, the FM hangin' off the shoulder.


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## Kiron Kid (Oct 9, 2018)

The FM, FE, FE-2 and the F3, all feel quite solid and robust in my hands. I’ve yet to have any of them fail on me yet.


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## jcdeboever (Oct 10, 2018)

Yup, I have a FM, F, F2, F3. I use the banged up F the most because it's always closest to grab on the way out the door. My wife keeps telling me it's not part of our kitchen decor.


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## Kiron Kid (Oct 10, 2018)

jcdeboever said:


> Yup, I have a FM, F, F2, F3. I use the banged up F the most because it's always closest to grab on the way out the door. My wife keeps telling me it's not part of our kitchen decor.



What? Dozens of NIKON SLR’s add to the decor of my abode.


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## jcdeboever (Oct 10, 2018)

Kiron Kid said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> > Yup, I have a FM, F, F2, F3. I use the banged up F the most because it's always closest to grab on the way out the door. My wife keeps telling me it's not part of our kitchen decor.
> ...


Lol, my decor sense is non existent.  My wife wouldn't even let me decorate my man cave.


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## Kiron Kid (Oct 10, 2018)

jcdeboever said:


> Kiron Kid said:
> 
> 
> > jcdeboever said:
> ...


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## bhop (Oct 10, 2018)

I have an F3, but I don't use it much. It's not my favorite Nikon, although, I enjoy using it more than I used to. I just hate the viewfinder/meter readout. It ruins it IMO.  Also, I hate the lock on the shutter speed dial. If I turn it too far when i'm trying to shoot fully manual and it gets stuck in 'A', I have to push the button to unlock it again... nitpick, but annoying.

My favorite film Nikon is probably the FM2 at this point (opinion could change), but I also really like the F4 (with small grip)


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## Derrel (Oct 10, 2018)

The F3HP, the model that has the HP or High Eyepoint viewfinder, was the easiest-to-frame-with Nikon ever for eyeglass wearers. The other models, F,F2,F2A,FE,FM,FE-2, all had viewfinders that were difficult to SEE through,at least seeing all the way to the corners, when wearing eyeglasses. The F3HP rectified that with a long eye relief optic system in the prism finder, and the eye could be as far away as 25mm from the rear eyepiece, and the shooter could still see all the way to the corners.

I loved the F3HP for the viewfinder....the ability to see the entire field of the lens, surrounding by a black area, was invaluable for me. it was also a 100% viewfinder, and did not crop off all the edges of the negative area...none of that 96 or 97 percent viewfinder coverage: 100 percent! I did not much care for the match-diode metering display however.

I shot the F3HP for close to twenty years, almost always,always,always with the MD-4 motor drive attached. With the motor drive attached, the camera's two button cell batteries no longer powered the light meter; instead, eight 1.5-volt AA cells powered the meter. The MD-4 offered motorized film rewind, if desired, and that was handy when speed was needed in reloading the camera.


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## Dave Colangelo (Oct 11, 2018)

I've got a bunch of stuff in my collection and my F3HP is constantly my go to 35mm SLR (usually mated with the 50mm 1.2). Im not as old as some others and have not lived long enough to yet use a camera for more than a decade so its hard to make a call for me. Is it the best 35mm camera ever made? Hmmm not sure. Is it the best camera ever made? hmmm not sure. It was surely the first nikon SLR to shoot 1080p...

Ill say this, the F3 was both the last camera of a generation and the first of another, making it sit, at least historically, in a very interesting place. The cameras that came before it were (largely) all mechanical and built to the highest of standards. They are to this day serviceable and will remain that way long into the future. The cameras that came after it were chock full-o electronics, modern convinces we know and love and while built well were not the all metal bricks of those that came before them and are not nearly as easy to fix should something go wrong. For me the F3 sits in that perfect spot of build quality along with a reliable, accurate, built in meter and basic appeture priority just enough to be a little lazy when you want to be. This means that unlike my other film cameras, I dont need to carry a meter with me, I don't need any accessories I just need my trusty F3.


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## Kiron Kid (Oct 11, 2018)

I just realized how much heavier my F3 with the MD-4 (lithium AA cells for weight reduction) is than my F100 (6 rechargeable AA Eneloop cells) is. However, I do tend to use older, heavier lenses on the F3...


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## pendennis (Oct 12, 2018)

My F3HP is a handful especially with the MD-4 attached.  However, a number of years ago, I used one for a trip to San Francisco, and used it detached.  While I had been spoiled by the MD-4, I found it a great, compact camera, and it yielded some of the best Ektachrome I'd ever shot.  I only used Nikkor primes; 20mm, 24mm, 50mm, 105mm, 180mm, and 300mm lenses.  Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and no fog.

I still use one, although I like my FM2 and FE variations, also.


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## compur (Oct 12, 2018)

The F3 was so popular Nikon had to continue making them throughout the entire production run of its successor, the F4, and well into the production run of the F5.


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## Derrel (Oct 12, 2018)

compur said:


> The F3 was so popular Nikon had to continue making them throughout the entire production run of its successor, the F4, and well into the production run of the F5.



I know that the F3 was the *longest-running camera model Nikon has ever made*...wasn't it nineteen years straight that he F3 was offered as part of the Nikon lineup?


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## compur (Oct 13, 2018)

... unless you count the FM10.

(Those who wish to inform me the FM10 isn't really a Nikon may now begin typing.)


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## cgw (Oct 13, 2018)

compur said:


> The F3 was so popular Nikon had to continue making them throughout the entire production run of its successor, the F4, and well into the production run of the F5.



That's a bit of a stretch. The F3 wasn't selling strongly once AF got traction in the early 90s. Cameras like the N90s, whose fast AF and TTL flash abilities, out-performed it--and the F4. Recall being told by Nikon.ca techs that F3 production had ended in the mid-90s. Remaining inventories slowly sold down. Parts were running low in the early 'oos. They were collecting dust at that time at retailers who rarely discounted them.


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## MartinCrabtree (Oct 13, 2018)

Nothing you can say will diminish the impact of the Nikon F3. Not an owner however there's no denying greatness.


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## compur (Oct 13, 2018)

There is nothing unusual about production of a Nikon (or any major brand) model ending before that model is removed as a current offering. All models have a sales curve and production of all models normally ceases some time prior to their removal as a current product. In the case of the F3 that interval was simply longer than with nearly all of their other models.

It's not so easy to decide when to discontinue an F-series camera because it isn't only the camera that is being discontinued but also the entire system -- finders, backs, motor drives, flash units, etc, etc.  And, the transition from MF to AF pro-level cameras was a difficult period in the industry that only the strongest manufacturers survived.

BTW, at about the same time the F3 was finally dropped, Nikon brought out another new “old technology” model, the FM3A, and continued it for yet another 5 years despite its “old fashioned” manual focus and less-than-leading-edge specs. I suspect Nikon didn't do that on a whim but rather because they recognized, due to the F3's popularity, that manual focus cameras still filled a need for serious  photographers.


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## jcdeboever (Oct 13, 2018)

compur said:


> ... unless you count the FM10.
> 
> (Those who wish to inform me the FM10 isn't really a Nikon may now begin typing.)


Ok, Cosina


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## cgw (Oct 14, 2018)

compur said:


> There is nothing unusual about production of a Nikon (or any major brand) model ending before that model is removed as a current offering. All models have a sales curve and production of all models normally ceases some time prior to their removal as a current product. In the case of the F3 that interval was simply longer than with nearly all of their other models.
> 
> It's not so easy to decide when to discontinue an F-series camera because it isn't only the camera that is being discontinued but also the entire system -- finders, backs, motor drives, flash units, etc, etc.  And, the transition from MF to AF pro-level cameras was a difficult period in the industry that only the strongest manufacturers survived.
> 
> BTW, at about the same time the F3 was finally dropped, Nikon brought out another new “old technology” model, the FM3A, and continued it for yet another 5 years despite its “old fashioned” manual focus and less-than-leading-edge specs. I suspect Nikon didn't do that on a whim but rather because they recognized, due to the F3's popularity, that manual focus cameras still filled a need for serious  photographers.



The F3 had a solid decade of sales but not much more. Accessory sales slowed faster than camera sales. It was never a prosumer camera. The FM3a was a pricey flop. Nikon dithered about rolling out “chipped” MF Nikkors in classic focal lengths to accompany it—28/2.8, 45/2.8 and 105/2.5. Only the 45/2.8 Ai-P made it to market. As a sales dud, the FMa indeed showed the popularity of MF cameras among photographers at that time—serious or otherwise.


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## Derrel (Oct 14, 2018)

I thought the FM3a was actually a camera designed to show Nikon's prowess as a camera maker, sort of the way the F6 was. The Nikon F6 was a true sales dud; a 35mm film SLR released after the digital SLR had basically all but killed the 35mm film camera, in all brands, the F6 sold exceptionally poorly. The F6 sold so poorly that I have never even SEEN one in real life, either on the street, or at my favorite camera shop, where all types of new and used cameras turn up.

I recall a conversation at ProPhoto Supply, with a sales associate, Karen, around 2003 or 2004. She told me that with surprising frequency, they would have customers who would come in, very much insistent upon buying a Nikon F3. She told me that even though the camera was "outdated", that there were a surprising number of people who fit that mold, of wanting specifically, the Nikon F3. I "get" that.

The thing about the F3 is this: even though it needs battery power to have the full range of shutter speeds, the built-in light meter has proven to be exceptionally rugged. On the other hand, the people who tout the "reliability" of the F and F2 seem to want to ignore the fact that a HUGE number of the light meters in the interchangeable prisms of those two cameras were dead after a mere five to 10 years of use; even back in the mid-1980's, mid- to late-19709's Photomic prisms often had a dead light meter. So much for "reliability". The F3 on the other hand, has proven to be extremely reliable, both in meter and shutter. And even though it felt a bit "flimsy" to me on the manual film advance's feel, F3's seem to still be working pretty well. The integration of the MD-4 motor drive to the body was nice, and slicker, than the old F2 motor system...less kludgy, more modern,more an integral part of the system than an add-on. I dunno...I owned three F2A's and a F2ASb, a rare variant...nice enough cameras, but still, they lacked Aperture priority auto, lacked TTL flash control and flash metering, and had less-accurate, mechanically-timed shutters. As one poster put it, the F3 spanned one era and another era...it was the last manual focus professional-grade (1-digit) Nikon body...at the time, it seemed a bit small, a bit "different" from the earlier F and F2 series bodies, but the design and styling were newer, and better-integrated with modern camera making methods and with the idea of making a RELIABLE light meter that was inside the camera body, and not inside of a Photomic head that was huge and heavy and old-school in styling.

Pro camera repairman Marty Forscher told Modern Photography's Herb Keppler that the F had 974 parts, in total, while the F2 had around 1,500 parts, and that as a consequence of the 50 percent higher parts total, the original Nikon F was _VASTLY_ more-reliable than the Nikon F2. Forscher repaired top professional shooters' gear for well over 30 years in NYC, and was considered the best-known camera repairman in North America for many years.

But back to the FM3a: the Pentax LX of the late 1970's-early 1980's was a contemporary of the Nikon F3. The Pentax had a shutter that offered both electronically timed and mechanically timed shutter speeds. And that was the feature I think Nikon felt they needed to produce in a production camera, just as a way to satisfy their engineering departments pride. Nikon is a company that has a good deal of company pride, and which seems to produce some products that, I and others think, are designed to satisfy senior company engineers, rather than being based on what the camera buying public and Nikon customers say they want. Satisfying internal, Nikon executive "company pride" is why the FM3a and the F6 were released; both cameras came at a time when sales of 35mm film SLR's were very poor.


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## cgw (Oct 14, 2018)

My only beef with  F3 is the tendency for the contrast to drop on the teensy meter LCD on older examples. I have an early one with the DE-2 and a late one with the DE-3 HP whose read-out is very much crisper. The LCD and its accompanying ribbon cable and circuit  got scarce by 2000. The tiny illuminator for the LCD activated by that even smaller and hard-to-find red button wasn’t exactly a design high point but then it has to be seen as a late 70s design that used what was available. Never shoot mine off an MD-4. It’s ability to do insanely long-and accurate-metered exposures is special.

Think the Fuji design team that developed the X-T1-3 bodies likely contained a few F3 fans. Good design always ages well.


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## compur (Oct 14, 2018)

cgw said:


> The FM3a was a pricey flop. Nikon dithered about rolling out “chipped” MF Nikkors in classic focal lengths to accompany it—28/2.8, 45/2.8 and 105/2.5. Only the 45/2.8 Ai-P made it to market. As a sales dud, the FMa indeed showed the popularity of MF cameras among photographers at that time—serious or otherwise.



On what are you basing your opinion that the FM3A was a "flop" and a "sales dud"?

It was in production for 5 years -- longer than the FM, FE, FA, FE2 and many other praised Nikon models and almost as long as the highly touted F100.


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## cgw (Oct 15, 2018)

compur said:


> cgw said:
> 
> 
> > The FM3a was a pricey flop. Nikon dithered about rolling out “chipped” MF Nikkors in classic focal lengths to accompany it—28/2.8, 45/2.8 and 105/2.5. Only the 45/2.8 Ai-P made it to market. As a sales dud, the FMa indeed showed the popularity of MF cameras among photographers at that time—serious or otherwise.
> ...



Who was willing to shell out that kind of $$$ in 2001 for a manual focus camera? Not many, especially when earlier FM/FE variants in nice shape went for far less. Think you're over-estimating the residual demand in the early '00s for a new MF Nikon. Friends behind photo retail counters found them a very hard sell. Nice camera but late to the party and over-priced. It was really a limited edition item. The black version was pretty but the silver, or "panda," version looked cheap compared to the finish on the FM/FE cameras. Years in production isn't necessarily very telling about sales.


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## compur (Oct 15, 2018)

cgw said:


> Who was willing to shell out that kind of $$$ in 2001 for a manual focus camera?



Enough to keep Nikon producing them for 5 years. That's who! Duh. 

What evidence do you have that the FM3A was a "sales flop"?


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## cgw (Oct 15, 2018)

You first, show me I'm wrong. Friends at Henry's and Vistek in Toronto in the early '00s sold very few relative Nikon's other offerings. They viewed it as a white elephant--as did customers who might have bought 5-6 years earlier. FM3as quickly became a special order item. Nikon.ca in Mississauga was selling off store demos in 2002-03. I bought a discounted "demo" 45/2.8Ai-P then with a warranty card that looked new. A nice camera but it appears Nikon goofed by over-estimating demand for MF bodies relative to AF and then digital in 2004-5 with the D70 and D200. Only recounting what I saw where I stood. YMMV, as usual.


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## bhop (Oct 15, 2018)

Derrel said:


> The F6 sold so poorly that I have never even SEEN one in real life, either on the street, or at my favorite camera shop, where all types of new and used cameras turn up.



Me neither. I was thinking of getting one now that used prices are starting to dip under $1k. Everything i've read about it says it's the best AF Film SLR ever made... even though, honestly speaking, it probably doesn't do anything "for me" than my current crop of cameras do.  It's just expensive GAS..



> On the other hand, the people who tout the "reliability" of the F and F2 seem to want to ignore the fact that a HUGE number of the light meters in the interchangeable prisms of those two cameras were dead after a mere five to 10 years of use; even back in the mid-1980's, mid- to late-19709's Photomic prisms often had a dead light meter. So much for "reliability".



I think they're usually talking about the mechanical aspects, (fears about the electronic shutter in the f3) but the meter is a good point too..  My f2 meter works, but you have to wiggle the knob so much that it's really unusable. The last time I shot with it, I just left the batteries out and external metered.


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## compur (Oct 15, 2018)

cgw said:


> You first, show me I'm wrong.



See Nikon model production period chart on this page:
Nikon F3 - Wikipedia

FM3A was produced for 5 years. Compare this period with other models in the chart such as the ones I mentioned above.

So your opinion is based on what 2 dealers in Canada said? Maybe it bombed in Canada but it's a big world and products sell differently in different countries. Canadians probably can't focus an MF lens very well with their mittens on.  (joke)


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## Kiron Kid (Mar 24, 2019)

My two camera repair techs tell me that the FE-2 is built better than the FM3A. My FM, FE, FE-2 and F3 are still ticking along.


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## Derrel (Mar 24, 2019)

Read official Nikon insights here:         Nikon | Imaging Products | Debut of Nikon F3


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## compur (Mar 24, 2019)

Kiron Kid said:


> My two camera repair techs tell me that the FE-2 is built better than the FM3A.



This doesn't surprise me at all.


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