Nikon F3

The camera
Buying used
To HP or not to HP ?
The body
Load film and 80 in the finder
Exposure control and metering
Mirror lock up
Lens mount
Lenses
Using the camera
Pros
Cons
Assessment

Even while digital photography is becoming more widespread, and modern film cameras are increasingly resembling their digital brothers with LCD screens, exposure computers and individual functions, the image is still formed in the final analysis through just a combination of time, aperture and the correct focus. That control can be left to the human brain is evidenced by the classic photographers like Ansel Adams or Cartier-Bresson, whose work is unsurpassed even today.

But the new cameras also have the effect of driving down prices for used examples of the classical models. So that now even the amateur who doesn't earn an income from his equipment can afford professional quality from the 80's and 90's for the price of a new entry level body.

In the following I will describe what many consider the classic professional camera of all time, the workhorse of many pros and the dream of many an amateur, the Nikon F3.

The Camera

The Nikon F3 was introduced in 1980 as the successor to the F2 and was, like today's F5, aimed at press and professional photographers. This was evidenced in the solidity, the range of features as well as the modular design of the camera. Nevertheless, the F3 had a difficult start: the electronic shutter control was a horror to most photographers, as they feared the dependence on batteries and the possible susceptibility of the electronics to moisture in particular. Many didn't give up their F2 until it fell apart. Nikon had anticipated this skepticism and even built a mechanical shutter release into the camera that allowed operation at a fixed speed of 1/60 sec. independent of the electronic shutter. In spite of this skepticism, the electronics did finally win the day, and the F3 became THE camera; it continued in production until 2001, surviving its successor the F4 and F4s and even the introduction of the F5.

There were a number of different series production and special versions of the F3. Following the original F3, the F3HP was introduced in 1983. The latter had a high eyepoint finder for viewing with greater eye relief. This required making the prism somewhat heavier and larger, but it was a significant improvement for eyeglass wearers. Since the finder is interchangeable, a normal F3 can also be equipped with the HP finder.

Yet another version of the F3 was the titanium-bodied F3-T. Only available in 'chrome', it was later offered in black as well. This was considered the most rugged camera on the market and was offered with the HP finder as standard.

A high-speed version of the F3 long held the speed record. Like the EOS 1RS, which broke this record, the F3H used a fixed-type pellicle mirror and when motor driven could shoot 13 frames a second. The F3P ("P" = press) was a somewhat stripped down version intended mainly for photojournalists, omitting such fluff as the mechanical shutter release or the eyepiece shield, but which did feature additional seals for protection against rain and dust.

The camera I acquired through eBay was a normal F3 built in 1983, in very good condition with almost no signs of wear, but with a conspicuous ding on the prism housing. It came with the original manual as well as a Magic Lantern book which filled in the gaps of the (rather sketchy) manual.

Together with the body I purchased three obviously well-used lenses: the 50/1.4 AIS, the legendary 105/2.5 AIS and an even older 28/3.5 wide-angle.

Buying used

The F3 is still available new. In Basel I saw one of the last of them in the display case of a photo shop for the princely sum of 3200 Swiss francs, or around 2200 EUR. You can also find them on eBay, especially the titanium model. Out of reach for most amateurs and normal users at that price. But if you're looking for the older models, prices start to drop significantly: starting at 250 EUR including a 50mm lens, or from around 300 EUR for an older one in especially nice condition. Since many of these cameras spent their lives in the hands of professional photographers, you should be cautious about one that shows extreme signs of wear. Just as with the old Rolleis and Leicas, shutter damage from sheer use is always a possibility, and such a repair could quickly exceed the purchase price of the body. So as an amateur you would be well advised to spend another 100 EUR for a privately offered specimen in good condition. The mechanics and electronics were designed for hard professional use, so a more lightly used body, even if was produced in the 80's, has a long useful life ahead of it.

To HP or not to HP ?

F3's with the HP finder are considerably more expensive than with the normal finder. Is it worth it? In my experience this is not a big issue. For eyeglass wearers the view is better since the entire finder field can be seen at a greater distance from the eyepiece. But the disadvantage is that the finder magnification is somewhat weaker than with the standard finder, so that the image appears smaller. People with large glasses or who like to shoot fast (raise, point and shoot) may well prefer the HP version, but for everyone else the normal finder is in my estimation the better bet. I prefer it myself, even though I wear glasses; the slightly greater magnification is worth more to me personally when focusing than the larger overview.

Common to both finders is the 100% viewfinder image, which allows you to see exactly what lands on the film. Be careful though with framed slides and enlargements from your mail order processor; a small edge always disappears behind the slide mount or is cut off by the processor. But if you do your own enlarging or scanning, the 100% viewfinder is a distinct advantage.

The body

The F3 offers adjustments and interchangeability for virtually anything a photographer could want. Following is a brief listing of such features, without going into details that are found in the manual.

• Interchangeable finder (standard, HP, action, waist-level, high-magnification)
• Interchangeable focusing screens
• Mechanical or lever-controlled mirror lock-up
• Depth-of-field preview (mechanical)

Load film and 80 in the finder

The F3 doesn't incorporate the modern film loading mechanisms, so that you have to insert the leader in the catch on the takeup spool, carefully advance the film slightly, and only close the back when the film is securely engaged, then shoot 2 more blanks until the counter indicates 1. A peculiarity that takes some getting used to is the fact that the indicated exposure time in the finder is always 80 until the frame counter gets to 1. This ensures that the first exposures that were used only to get to the first frame are not accidentally shot with inordinately long times or, if the lens cap is on and automatic exposure mode set, the camera won't try to compensate for the absence of light with a really long exposure time.

In my case this feature caused me to believe that the exposure meter was defective the first time a loaded a roll of film. I could aim directly at the sun, and the damn thing wouldn't budge from its 1/80 sec. setting, regardless of what aperture I set. So I promptly went out and bought a battery, which of course didn't help. Only when I finally gave up and simply continued to advance the film, so I could at least check the other functions of the camera, did the display suddenly come to life and all the exposure times become available. Eventually I found the reference to this feature in the manual - a battery too late.

You won't find DX coding either, film speed is set using the knurled wheel beneath the rewind crank. Coupled to this is also the exposure compensation dial, which I have never used since I usually handle this manually.

Rewinding at the end of the roll is again a purely mechanical operation. When the film advance lever won't move and the roll is finished, you simply press a small button on the camera base which releases the rewind crank located to the left of the finder housing. This also allows you to decide whether you want to fully rewind the film, or leave the leader outside the can. The camera body is opened by pulling the rewind crank up. The F3 does have a small lever beneath the rewind crank which must be moved to the right before the crank can be lifted and the camera back opened. This prevents accidental opening of the back.

Exposure control and metering

The F3 provides in additional to manual setting of shutter speed and aperture an automatic mode (aperture priority). You'll look in vain here for fully automatic programs. The aperture is still set using the aperture ring on the lens, which means that the new G lenses can't be used (these have no aperture ring, so that aperture has to be set on the camera body).

Shutter speeds range from 8 to 1/2000 sec., which is not fast compared with modern cameras, but in most cases this is more than adequate. Especially since the electronic control ensures that the times here are highly precise.

Metering is of the classic center weighted variety. A 12 mm circle in the center (approx. 13% of the total area) is given 80% of the metering weight, which is rather a lot, almost a fat spot metering arrangement. In many of their newer models, Nikon has returned to a 75/25 ratio (but 60/40 in the new FM3A). So when metering with the F3, you need to be sure your subject is nearly in the center of the frame, which does require a bit of thought and evaluation of the field. If you're not comfortable with this, you should consider the modern 3D matrix metering system offered by the new F series models, most of which also offer true spot metering. But once you understand the center weighted system of the F3, the results will be very good and, most importantly, consistent.

A peculiarity of the F3 is that the actual meter is located at the bottom of the body beneath the instant return mirror. This means it makes no difference which finder or focusing screen you're using, since these will have no effect on the metering. Also interesting is the fact that the mirror is not semi-reflecting, but rather has a perforation in the center, a bunch of little holes that allow the light to pass through. You almost need a magnifying glass to see them, an ingenious detail that indicates the expense and effort Nikon invested in this camera.

To provide the option of exposing for a subject other than the one in the center of the image when in A (Automatic) mode, the camera has an AE lock button which stores the reading made just before it was pressed. This button is handily located just to the left and below the bayonet (seen from the front) and can be pressed with the pinky finger. In practice this involves placing the center spot over the desired area of the image, pressing the button and holding it while recomposing and pressing the shutter button. The AE lock button must remain down until the shutter is released.

A small window at the top edge of the viewfinder shows the current aperture setting, with the shutter speed and a +, - or +/- symbol in a small LCD window at the bottom left. These rather meager displays were for me the greatest initial problem in adjusting from modern cameras to the F3. The EOS 50 shows not only shutter speed and aperture (illuminated), but also a graphical representation of the difference between the actual setting and what the camera's metering system has determined in the form of a bar with '+' and '-' values. This tells you immediately on which side and by how much you are off from the metered values. The F3 does let you know in which direction the deviation is, since '+' or '-' are also an indication of over- or underexposure. But the difference from the metered value, i.e., the amount of over- or underexposure, can only be determined by stopping down the aperture until the '+/-' symbol appears indicating the metered value, and from there dialing in the desired difference in aperture or shutter speed yourself. These values are also not illuminated, although there is a little button on the finder housing which you can press to provide illumination.

Multiple exposures are possible by using a small lever next to the film advance lever. When you engage it, the film advance lever only cocks the shutter but does not advance the film.

Mirror lock up

Mirror lock up is a nice feature for preventing unwanted camera shake caused by the vibration of the mirror moving out of the way before the shutter is released - mirror slap. This can become noticeable especially when taking macro photographs or when using long telephotos, but even in normal situations you risk image blur at speeds of around 1/8 sec. For shorter shutter speeds the shutter will have closed again before the mirror slap can occur, and at longer times the moment of slap in proportion to the overall exposure time is so short that it no longer affects the image. In some modern cameras the mirror lockup function is linked to the self-timer. Individual programs allow you to determine whether the self-timer should function normally or whether the mirror is locked up 2 seconds before the exposure. This is better than no lock-up function at all, but whether you will always be able to recall the individual program number for this function at just the right moment is something I question from my own experience.

The dedicated lever for mirror lock up works well for me, basically whenever I'm taking nature and landscape photographs on a tripod. For street and event photography this is certainly not an issue.

Lens mounting

The F-type bayonet mount gives you access to an enormous range of lenses. The F3 accepts both the old AI and AIS lenses as well as most of the modern AF lenses. Not compatible are the new G lenses, since they do not have an aperture ring. Nor can VR (Vibration Reduction) lenses be used on this camera. The F bayonet was in fact one of my main reasons for switching back to Nikon. With this system and a tight budget I can start out with an older body and very good manual lenses, and then later purchase AF lenses and use them both on the F3 and on a newer AF model. The only company to offer similar consistency in development is Pentax with their K bayonet, though not even Pentax offers a new, fully mechanical model like the Nikon FM3a.

Seen from the front, there is a button to the right of the bayonet for releasing the lens. Next turn the lens clockwise to remove it from the body. Mounting is just the reverse, and both the body and lens have marks for lining up before twisting the lens on.

Lenses

Although I used the terms "old" AI and AIS lenses and "modern" AF optics, this has nothing to do with the quality of the lenses themselves. Especially the primes and in particular the AIS types are often mechanically and optically better than their AF successors. This is due mainly to the enormous cost pressures that development has been under for the past 20 years. The newer lenses are often not better, but simply less expensive to manufacture. The advantage of course is that a good SLR with a standard lens can be had today for 500 EUR or less, whereas the then popular Minolta SRT-101 would have cost you more than twice that. And the SRT wasn't even the top model !

The advantage for F3 users to day is clearly the fact that used, top-quality lenses made in the 80's can be bought today at very reasonable prices, while actually exceeding the modern AF lenses optically and mechanically. Reason enough to pass on a modern mid-class photo-computer with a slow zoom lens in favor of an older mechanical jewel with fixed focal length.

I will talk about my 3 primes in separate reports; suffice it here to say I am more than satisfied with all three of them.

Using the camera

I use my F3 mainly for landscape and nature photography as well as portraits. People and events are limited to daylight and fast film, since I have no speedlight for this camera (due to the above described weaknesses as compared with modern Nikon bodies). Night photography is however another matter. The traditional cable release and mirror lock up make long exposure times a very simple matter. My F3 is usually in fully manual mode. In other words: set the desired aperture, approximate the shutter speed, then meter an object that corresponds to approximately an 18% gray value, correct the aperture and/or shutter speed as necessary so that the desired value (either as metered, underexposed or overexposed), focus and shoot. This sounds fairly laborious, but in practice I am faster with this camera than I would be having to make manual corrections on an AF body.

The absence of automatic functions becomes a drawback when there is no time to make the settings (children, special events, animals, etc.), or when you really should be using a speedlight. But in the case of events, the easy solution is to preset aperture and shutter speed for the prevailing light conditions. This 'snapshot' setting allows you to work extremely fast, especially when using negative film having corresponding exposure latitude.

The compact body and ruggedness make the F3 an ideal companion on trips. Whether on foot in the mountains, on city tours or simply on business trips, this camera is nearly always with me. If space is at a premium, I'll just carry the 50mm standard lens, and if there's more room the 28mm and 105mm short tele make the trip as well.

The large finder image helps when framing and focusing. This represents an enormous improvement especially compared with entry level cameras like the EOS 300 or Nikon F65. Anyone who switches from one of those models to an F3 will be pleasantly surprised that it's really possible to see the whole viewfinder image at one time, big and bright.

Pros

• Modularity (finders, focusing screens, lenses, accessories)
• Ruggedness, quality
• Placement and execution of the controls
• Finder view (100% coverage and eye relief)
• Accepts a traditional cable release
• Mirror lock up
• Replacement parts and accessories will be available for a long time to come

Cons

• Exposure information in the viewfinder is barely adequate
• Limited speedlight functionality
• Limited metering functions compared with modern F models

Evaluation

This camera is way up on my personal list of favorites. It really shines where speed of operation or flash flexibility don't play so much of a role, where it lets you know that this was a tool designed for professional photographers. In contrast to other classic models of this caliber like the old manual Canon models, all the accessories are still available, and both old as well as brand new lenses are compatible, so that even an amateur can over time accumulate a practical combination of AF and MF lenses and bodies without having to straddle two worlds.

The handling of this camera is exemplary; every lever is right where your fingers naturally look for it, and as opposed to modern camera-computers you can leave the manual at home - this camera is virtually self-explanatory.

Features such as interchangeable focusing screens and the mechanical mirror lock up are hard to find in the amateur class, and are for many unaffordable in the pro class. Because it was built for such a long time, there is an F3 out there for every pocketbook, from well used models from the 80's to brand new ones built in 2001. This also means that maintenance and repair are ensured for at least the next 10 years.

Overall I consider this camera to be optimum when the emphasis is on manual photography, landscapes, nature and architecture, or as a rugged backup body for a Nikon aficionado.

This is the first version of the Nikon F3 report. There will assuredly be some formal revisions, and I will be adding some images. Would you like to know how it's coming? Or have I made an error, are there any important details I've missed? Then just send me a message, and I'll let you know when there's something new on these pages.

Thanks for reading !