A PROPER FILM CAMERA: THE NIKON F3
July 20 2021
My first camera, the Nikon FG, I bought as fast as I could, just to get something to shoot film with. I ordered it from eBay and I definitely overpaid. The FG is a plasticky consumer slr camera with a dedicated program mode and minimal manual controls, but it was a good enough to shoot a few rolls while I waited to get a ‘real’ film camera. I call the Nikon F3 a ‘real’ film camera because it is all metal, built for pros and will last for a lifetime. Simply put the F3 is better than the FG. In my opinion of course. It also doesn’t help that I broke the FG a few weeks after getting the F3.
The F3 is a pretty expensive camera so I spent weeks scanning eBay and Utah’s classifieds until one finally came up for $140 a few miles south of where I live. $140 for an f3 body is a fair price. The camera was in pretty good condition, the meter worked, and shutter speeds sounded accurate. I threw on the Nikkor 50mm f2 AI lens that I had with my FG and it was ready to roll.
The camera did have one quirk though and was probably the reason he was getting rid of it. Every now and then the lens aperture wouldn’t open back up after taking a shot. This meant the advancing the film would trip the shutter because the camera thought the aperture was still stepped down and ready to take a picture. So it would annoyingly take a photo and waste the frame.
This got me a few times and I even started advancing the film with the camera up to my face just in case. I’m sure I looked like a total noob, but it was better than losing the shot to a mechanical error. That photo of Sarah eneded up blury and somehow got a light leak because of my janky new technique.
A few months into shooting with the camera though I found the workaround, I was stoked and kind of proud of myself as a mini camera tech. It turned out that if you switch the aperture to the fastest stop the advance would work perfectly! No more jamming my finger by my eye to take a picture by advancing the film.
After that little kink it’s been smooth sailing with the F3. It hasn’t failed me yet *knock on wood* and the batteries it came with are still running strong. That camera is seriously one of the best slrs ever made. It fits perfectly in my hand, looks good, and takes amazing photos.
That last sentence could be debated... does the F3 actually take better photos than the FG or did I just pay more for the sleek Italian design and professional looking camera. And if so, is design, aesthetic and feel worth a premium? The F3 wasn’t dramatically more expensive than the FG but could I have been just as happy using only that camera? I think I’ll save this topic for another post but it’s worth a thought and is something that always pops into my mind.
Thanks for Reading!
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