Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to Christmas day now. I think I'll put my seldom used AF-S 50mm f1.4 G on it. I don't tend to use this on my DSLR's anyway, so it can find a new home in "analogue". All I've got to do now is find a friendly supplier of 35mm film (and a processor).

R8R said:
All my AF-S glass works perfectly with my F100. Fantastic camera, can't see any reason to own any other 35mm film camera these days.

However, most DX glass will be useless.

That's the thing with APS-C. It just isn't 35mm, no matter what we all think, it just isn't.

SkintBrit said:
My cheeky but sweet 17 year old son has just let slip that he's bought me an F100 for Christmas (something to do with me being an old codger, and being the only one still alive who would remember film!!!!). After I give him a stern talking too about respecting his elders, I thought I'd just check.....will all my modern full frame AFS G glass work with it, or will I have some reduced functionality?

All full frame AF-S lenses will AF, I have no idea about VR. It should work though.

SkintBrit said:
My cheeky but sweet 17 year old son has just let slip that he's bought me an F100 for Christmas (something to do with me being an old codger, and being the only one still alive who would remember film!!!!). After I give him a stern talking too about respecting his elders, I thought I'd just check.....will all my modern full frame AFS G glass work with it, or will I have some reduced functionality?

All my AF-S glass works perfectly with my F100. Fantastic camera, can't see any reason to own any other 35mm film camera these days.

However, most DX glass will be useless.

Thanks bjrichus, yes I saw that already, but being from Ken I took it with a pich of salt! :-) We'll see. Any quirks on an F100 I should be aware of?

SkintBrit said:I thought I'd just check.....will all my modern full frame AFS G glass work with it, or will I have some reduced functionality?

Dear old Ken has a handy-dandy chart for this kind of thing:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm

About three quarters of the way down the page are the "mid-price" film SLR's, along with the F100.

If he is correct you will be good, with some metering restrictions.

My cheeky but sweet 17 year old son has just let slip that he's bought me an F100 for Christmas (something to do with me being an old codger, and being the only one still alive who would remember film!!!!). After I give him a stern talking too about respecting his elders, I thought I'd just check.....will all my modern full frame AFS G glass work with it, or will I have some reduced functionality?

I have two FM2n bodies and they are great for outdoor photography. My vote however goes to the FM3A - what a beautifully crafted piece of technology. For flash it wins over the FM2 because ttl flash and the fill flsh button are so handy. An F6 is far more advanced technically but too much for my liking, the FM3A does all I need.
Robin

Just recently I decided to hunt down and buy all the early models of Nikon F that I started out with as a young professional in the early 1970s. As a penniless freelancer I was forced to sell one to upgrade to the next, getting rid of some real gems along the way is it turned out!

I got a 1969 Nikon F, my first almost new body in 1971, but then I got sucked into nostalgia in a big way. Now, some thirty Nikon Fs later, I find that I've added six Nikon Motor Drives (F-36 and F-250) ranging from 1962 to 1972, Photomic finders from the earliest through to the FTn, standard prism finders of all sorts, twenty-five early NIKKOR lenses and tons of spare parts. My earliest F is a September 1959 production version, whilst the latest is an April 1973 model. All have been totally overhauled where required and all work perfectly, including all the Photomic finders apart from my Flag Switch Type 2 that has corroded beyond belief.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the six Nikkormat FT, FTn and FT2 bodies, along with a Nikon F2A Photomic, a Nikon F3 HP & MD-4 and a Nikonos III that I added to my existing Nikon F4S, Nikon F5 and F801 and F90 bodies!

The point of all this is really to say that there is still a place for great film cameras that are still used - mine are - and cherished. Whilst I don't think that I would ever go back to film cameras in my working life, I love to use film for recreational photography. I find that it forces me to slow down and really evaluate the subject, a little like shooting 5x4 did.

A few of my examples can be found here<Link Removed>

Long live the Nikon F and its variants. In my humble opinion the Nikon F2 is really only an F with the rough points smoothed off. I owned many Nikon F2s and loved them for their reliability and ease of use, but they never really had the soul, and perhaps the quirkiness of a Nikon F!

msmoto said:
Some of the DX lenses will not vignette on full frame, but the focus goes to pieces as one gets towards the edges...

Some hipster kids would pay good money for that "feature".

Some of the DX lenses will not vignette on full frame, but the focus goes to pieces as one gets towards the edges...

Just noticed the shot of you, El_Pick.... reminded me of a venue in Idaho in 1965 when I had a 4"x5" Calumet view camera on a tripod shooting the Snake River Valley before they built a dam and flooded the place. Actually about lat 44.500051°, lon-117184283°. Hard to tell but in those days I was quite adventuresome.

Your wild zoom is impressive. Those older lenses are still good. ANd the older cameras, so much fun.

R8R said:
Just picked up an F100 for $100 (with 17 rolls of pro film)

Go Craig's List!

I have to say in the first hour I've owned it it's not only my favorite film camera, It's just about my favorite camera period.

Actually I added it up and I just bought $100 worth of film with an F100 tossed in for free. LOL!

Only issue I didn't notice on first inspection is the focus selector pad on the back doesn't seem to want to go to the right. No biggie, just lock to the center and re-compose as needed. Other than that it works great.

I love this thing.

One weird thing - I popped on my 35mm f/1.8 DX lens and it has almost no vignette to it. Weird.

Just picked up an F100 for $100 (with 17 rolls of film pro film)

Go Craig's List!

I have to say in the first hour I've owned it it's not only my favorite film camera, It's just about my favorite camera period.

I love my FM2. Full manual and the battery is only used for the meter.

I don't think my dad put more than 20 rolls of film through his FM2.

I put around 3 more rolls of film, of which I only got around 32 well exposed shots, and of those only about 2-3 great shots.

I still love the camera to death, and if I'm interested in a horrible time manually focusing, still stick the 50mm 1.2 AI-S on the D40.

Funny thing is that my mother just found the manual and original sales receipt for the lens- basically a short thing with lots of languages on it. Pretty cool stuff.

I took the batteries out, but I still have 7-8 rolls of unexposed film, a combination of well overripe film and some probably about to go.

It doesn't take up too much space, and I'm sure it's worth at least a bit of money.

On a side note, I have more modern Canon Elan autofocus SLR and a manual Mamiya DSX1000 with a 55mm 1.4. They need batteries too.

In comparison to the Mamiya, the FM2 can be considered jewel-like. The Mamiya has a metal exterior too, but it's much lighter and some plastic parts are pretty bad quality. Even the clicks on the shutter and aperture feel better on the Nikon.

To some extent I just wish Nikon would take more inspiration from their older products.

I'm taking my first photography class, and it's in B&W film. I have an EL2 and FG, but I want to take advantage of all my newer G glass. So... I have an F5 coming to me this week. Helps that I've been getting all full frame glass in preparation for a D800 or D600...

@msmoto Here's a shot someone took of me using my AI-modified 50-300mm f/4.5 while hiking in Maine. My friends were going on a different hike, so I gave them my D5000 and 12-24mm Tokina. The 50mm on the 50-300 was the widest I had for that hike. It certainly has its, erm, look... I also spent a while walking around with this lens on my last trip to Massachusetts... shooting on a tripod, mirror-up, remote release, with a 1.4x teleconverter. It was a pretty fun experience, and we'll see what the shots look like when I get around to it...

The Nikon FM2 will always get my vote. And I still have mine. Though I don't know what to do with it these days. I still have rolls of film in the fridge, too.

Love my D7000 now.

Sniffle....sniffle.....my two "F" bodies are resting gently in retirement.....along with the remaining glass, 35mm f/2, 24mm f/2.8, 85mm f/1.8, 300mm f4.5.....maybe I will drag them out someday and take a photo of them for PAD.... in their honor..... The "F" Body could take a real beating....how the winding lever stayed on is beyond me as I used to viciously snap it to advance the film. Ahh...yes....

I will never sell my F5 Nikon. I have owned many of the others. I did look at the F6, and decided against it in favor of digital. Now my F5 glass will get pressed back into service on a D800 or D600?? Not sure between those two as I would vastly prefer a D400.

I regret to say that last week I retired my film cameras. They are all back home on a display shelf, with no film in them any more. In the past three months or so, I was just not using them. The F2 with the DP-11 finder was always my favorite, but I liked the 6x DW-2 finder for critical work. All of that neat hardware I had used so much is now obsolete.

Well, rather than start a new thread....too lazy... I saw this one. I have had some of the cameras like the F100, N6006, N8008 among others, but what I really like are my two Nikon F bodies from the 1960's... Although I have not shot film for many years, these have a feel and are so much fun to just hold and reminisce about the younger days. Of course the quality of the old lenses was simply not the same as the incredible NIKKORs of today, but there was something about the entire process which was very exciting.

While the digital body I now have does everything but brush my teeth, the old ones had a distinct personality which cannot be reproduced by the miracle cameras of the modern day.

My vote, of course, are the old F bodies....because....

Starting my son (10 yr.) off with a nice N75 we got used at local shop. Gave him my 28-80 lens to walk around the yard with. He shot with Fiji slide film. We got them developed and scanned them with our Epson V600. I have to say the software has to do with the results almost as much as the scanner. I use only VueScan after trying many others.

He picked 12 "keepers" and uses them as rotating backgrounds on his MBP.

For best film SLR I vote the F100. I got a mint used one for $200.00 a while back and love it. Simple, fast auto focus and nice bright viewfinder.

Later,
Jeff

The F3, for its killer combination of form and function. It is a truly great camera, a design classic, and just a beautiful object to own and hold.

I have owned everything from the F in 1969 to the F5, Nikkomats ELW, FM, FM2s and N90, even the Canadian F90X and my favoriate is the N90/F90X, it was the best bang for the price. Took many excellent photos, other then that one I would say the F2 with Photomic Head, just loved the simplicity of the camera.

Digital, D700, LOVE IT, but looking seriously at the D800.

I've used the FM2, the Nikkormat, the F3HP, but I vote for the F2. It is rugged , can use excellent lenses, runs without a battery, great ergonomics, and makes an excellent defensive weapon if necessary. In 25 years of using the same body, it has never failed me. It has been all over the world with me. I would still be using it today except for the demands to go digital.