I got me a new toy!

[Reschsmooth]

Anniversary present a bit early. I am happier than a pig in the woods.

[Matt. K]

Now that's a camera!

[PiroStitch]

Very cool!

[biggerry]

looks like a old clunker...

wheres' the SD slot?

[Reschsmooth]

looks like a old clunker...

wheres' the SD slot?

Yer showing yer age, sonny. This is a hunnerd pussent why fi.

[Mr Darcy]

More to the point do you have the flash?
(I do )

[sirhc55]

I can see that you feed your kids Iron Man breakfast food Patrick - Ye gods how can the little un hold that behemoth

[surenj]

Patrick , do you know when this was made? apparently they stopped production in 2001?

[Reschsmooth]

Sureness, not sure. I need to take the back off to check.

Chris, he was struggling with it.

[gstark]

Very bloody nice.

Congratumalations.

[Reschsmooth]

More to the point do you have the flash?
(I do )

No, but I can hook up my Metz.


Gary, it is in immeasurably better condition than the D200.

[chrisk]

Looks pristine as you described. What made you go for the f3 out of interest ? And can you get one without the battery pack ? It looks ginormous !

[Reschsmooth]

Looks pristine as you described. What made you go for the f3 out of interest ? And can you get one without the battery pack ? It looks ginormous !

Reasons for the F3:

1. I plan to collect all 6 Fs;
2. The F3 is reportedly one of the finest manual focus 35mm SLRs made;
3. To me, it is a thing of beauty;
4. I feel I am moving deeper into film than digital and, like my F, this is relative simplicity.

You can get the body without motordrive easily. In fact I bought the two pieces separately.

[chrisk]

2. The F3 is reportedly one of the finest manual focus 35mm SLRs made.

so if i was to go down this route, what determines what is a "fine SLR" ?

[gstark]

2. The F3 is reportedly one of the finest manual focus 35mm SLRs made.

so if i was to go down this route, what determines what is a "fine SLR" ?

Whatever you want, really.

But there are a number of cameras that are recognised as being significant becuase of their fine design and engineering. Here's my short list ...

Any Nikon F

Any Canon F

Canon A1. To my mind, the best camera Canon ever made; I may even buy myself another ... because I can.

Nikon FM/FE. There's a number of related cameras within this realm, and they're all damn good, but the FE and FM are at the top of their class.

Olympus OM1. The OM2 is nice, but the OM1 because it came first. I may buy an OM1 for my collection.

Pentax Spotmatic.

[Reschsmooth]

2. The F3 is reportedly one of the finest manual focus 35mm SLRs made.

so if i was to go down this route, what determines what is a "fine SLR" ?

Build quality and reliability. This one is rock solid.

Functionality. Like the other Fs, this is a system camera with interchangeable viewfinders, backs, drives, etc.

And then all the other qualities that make this superior to the consumer level cameras. 100% viewfinder comes to mind. Just ignore 1/60th sync speed compared to 1/125th for the FE and 1/250th for the FE2.

[chrisk]

Thank you

[aim54x]

Congrats....I would agree that the F3 has to be one of the greats.....esp since it remained in production after the F4 and F5 (out lasting the F4!).

If I was to own a Nikon F then it would be a F3 or a F6....most likely a F3HP or a F3P....there really is something about me and 3rd gen bodies.

[lightning]

Now THAT'S a big chunk of camera
I see Grays of Westminster have a number of second hand accessories for the F3, including eveready case,backs & prisms, one (below) that might be of interest to you regarding the flash.

Nikon AS-4 Flash Unit Coupler for F3
The F3 body is fitted with an awkward flash shoe above the rewind lever and will directly accept only a specialised flash unit dedicated to the F3. The AS-4 will allow any hot-shoe flash unit to be fitted - a most useful accessory which retailed for some £48. MINT- £15.00

Have fun with it!
p.s. in it's present format, how heavy is it?

[Reschsmooth]

I wouldn't getting the hotshoe adaptor to use the SB800, but I also want to get the MK-1 which provides a vertical shutter release and centralises the tripod socket. One of these is currently on auction for over 1
$100.

I haven't weighed it without the lens, but with the 85 1.4, it weighs approximately 1.93 kg.

[photohiker]

I haven't weighed it without the lens, but with the 85 1.4, it weighs approximately 1.93 kg.

Cripes!

Looks awesome though.

Are you going to use it, or display it?

[sirhc55]

OK, Patrick has the F3 and I have the F2, so who has an F1 and F4?

[Reschsmooth]

OK, Patrick has the F3 and I have the F2, so who has an F1 and F4?

I also have the F with the photomic head. I thought you recently acquired an F4s?

I already have shot half a roll through the F3. It will definitely be used by me.

[sirhc55]

Patrick please forgive my blonde moment - yes I have the F4s (not the F2) although in my past I did have a F2 - in fact when my feet touched these fair shores in 1973 it was my camera of choice

[lightning]

mmmh an interesting Kodak use of the F3

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/co ... /index.htm

[gstark]

OK, Patrick has the F3 and I have the F2, so who has an F1 and F4?

Was there an F1, or was it just the Nikon F ? My recollection suggests the latter, but I'm not 100% sure

[Reschsmooth]

OK, Patrick has the F3 and I have the F2, so who has an F1 and F4?

Was there an F1, or was it just the Nikon F ? My recollection suggests the latter, but I'm not 100% sure

There was the Nikon F, no F1.

[ozimax]

Just getting (almost) completely off topic, I wandered into the Rome Leica store on Friday last. I could have bought an M9P for about 4800 euros (6000 AUD), (including tax refund of 16% at the airport.) Would have been very cheap.

Alas, I have no desire for a Leica as I have an X10 Fuji!

Ozi.

P.S. About to leave espaniol for Dulin tomorrow.

[sirhc55]

mmmh an interesting Kodak use of the F3

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/co ... /index.htm

I remember those monsters - I used one to shoot an electronics catalogue product line

[sirhc55]

OK, Patrick has the F3 and I have the F2, so who has an F1 and F4?

Was there an F1, or was it just the Nikon F ? My recollection suggests the latter, but I'm not 100% sure

There was the Nikon F, no F1.

Canon had the F1

And what a brilliant system it was

[sirhc55]

Just getting (almost) completely off topic, I wandered into the Rome Leica store on Friday last. I could have bought an M9P for about 4800 euros (6000 AUD), (including tax refund of 16% at the airport.) Would have been very cheap.

Alas, I have no desire for a Leica as I have an X10 Fuji!

Ozi.

P.S. About to leave espaniol for Dulin tomorrow.

Oz - would Dulin be anywhere near Ireland

[gstark]

OK, Patrick has the F3 and I have the F2, so who has an F1 and F4?

Was there an F1, or was it just the Nikon F ? My recollection suggests the latter, but I'm not 100% sure

There was the Nikon F, no F1.

Canon had the F1

And what a brilliant system it was

Yep; That was my recollection. Nikon F; Canon F1.

Thanks.

[Reschsmooth]

OK, Patrick has the F3 and I have the F2, so who has an F1 and F4?

Was there an F1, or was it just the Nikon F ? My recollection suggests the latter, but I'm not 100% sure

There was the Nikon F, no F1.

Canon had the F1

And what a brilliant system it was

Yep; That was my recollection. Nikon F; Canon F1.

Thanks.

I haven't fired the F in a while, but it has a beautiful 'snick' when the shutter is fired.

For our trip north, we have packed:

FE
F3
Bronica
D200
And associated lenses, films, backs, etcetera.

[petermmc]

Congrats.

I have the same set up. I purchased mine new in 1988 and later bought the MD4 motor drive. There is something about the clunk of an F3 that says 'photo taken'. I think these were first released in about 1980 and were the stock camera of many a 1980's photo journalist. I think they were rated for 100k shots.

I love the way you can take the top pentaprism off so that you can replace it with a different view finder. This was a great part of the professional set up and I always enjoyed taking the viewfinder off and blowing a few bits of dust out. Unfortunately I could never afford a different viewfinder but I thought I was still a cut above the average in being able to remove the one on mine. I saw one in a second hand store in Newcastle in the 1980's and the paint had worn nearly completely from the motor drive and you could see this thing was built to last. None of that prissy rubber that keeps falling off my D200. You need a special adapter if you are using on camera flash and it goes over the winder. You have made me want to get mine out and crank it up. Where are those 8 batteries and my last remaining rolls of ID11?

All the best

Peter Mc

[gstark]

my last remaining rolls of ID11?

You have rolls of ID11 ?? Even I can remember that it came in sacks. (well, it did, little bags inside its box packaging)

[petermmc]

Woops! I meant FP4. Just trying to bring the discussion back to the F3. Nicely spotted Gary - clearly you are knowledgeable about this white sugary powder. The only way you could make a roll out of ID11 would be to combine it with some kind of fruity jelataneous mix and make a fruit roll up (ID elevenzies) or maybe combine it with licorice (ID aniseed). I think I still have some ID11 somewhere...it was a beautiful thing in its day, though I assume you can still get it. I used to buy it in bulk and roll my own films for quite a while. Despite my attempts at a consistent work flow, there were often slight differences in the processing of the films that caused over or under exposure. It used to be part of the fun of B&W processing but I just don't seem to have time for that now and I certainly don't miss the smell of Ilford fixer in the morning.

Back to the F3, wasn't there some kind of F3 derivitive that went to the moon on Apollo 17?

Still can't find 8 batteries to fire up the MD4.

Peter Mc

[ozimax]

P.S. About to leave espaniol for Dulin tomorrow.

Oz - would Dulin be anywhere near Ireland

To be sure, to be sure, me macbook has a stuck "B" key. To be sure, it is Dooblin.

[Reschsmooth]

Woops! I meant FP4. Just trying to bring the discussion back to the F3. Nicely spotted Gary - clearly you are knowledgeable about this white sugary powder. The only way you could make a roll out of ID11 would be to combine it with some kind of fruity jelataneous mix and make a fruit roll up (ID elevenzies) or maybe combine it with licorice (ID aniseed). I think I still have some ID11 somewhere...it was a beautiful thing in its day, though I assume you can still get it. I used to buy it in bulk and roll my own films for quite a while. Despite my attempts at a consistent work flow, there were often slight differences in the processing of the films that caused over or under exposure. It used to be part of the fun of B&W processing but I just don't seem to have time for that now and I certainly don't miss the smell of Ilford fixer in the morning.

Back to the F3, wasn't there some kind of F3 derivitive that went to the moon on Apollo 17?

Still can't find 8 batteries to fire up the MD4.

Peter Mc

Yep, 8 batteries!

I have a love affair with FP4 and the current iteration of Rodinol. Have yet to develop my Adox CHS 50 but looking forward to it.