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Could you improve on a D850?

I've got a couple of F3s. I have an F4 - it doesn't make better pictures. Tomorrow I might buy an F5. I have no doubt that it won't make better pictures than the F3s or the F4.

I should really buy an F or an F2. Some of the greatest photos ever were made with them.
 
I guess they are much cheaper to make without the complicated tight tolerance mechanism that is the shutter, maybe they will pass on the money saving to the users but I am not holding my breath.

Pete
 
Once my trusty D800 bites the dust I guess it will be a choice of a D850 (if its still available) or a mirrorless and and the adapter (too much invested in lenses to buy new). As the mirrorless bodies don't support lenses without internal focus motors some nice glass won't be usable with that option.
 
Could you improve on a D850?

I've got a couple of F3s. I have an F4 - it doesn't make better pictures. Tomorrow I might buy an F5. I have no doubt that it won't make better pictures than the F3s or the F4.

I should really buy an F or an F2. Some of the greatest photos ever were made with them.

Still have my old F3P ('Press') model here too. Bought it off a chap who used to shoot Freeman's & Littlewoods catalogue stuff with it - thousands of shots of cheap goods placed one after the other in the same set-up.
Got it with a motor drive and a pro grade 105mm F2.5 lens for about £150 punts back in the day. The body is worn to hell, with brass coming through everywhere - but still rock solid. The lens is still to this day the nicest one I own, creates the most wonderful shots with soft out of focus backgrounds to throw the main subjects into sharp relief, in a way that I have never been able to replicate with anything else. Not as useful with the smaller sensors on budget digital Nikons mind you but maybe, I'll fork out for a full frame one of these days. And the F3 - well that's just an iconic bit of kit that won't be going anywhere anytime soon, or ever :)
 
I'd love one of those lenses. I think I might have missed one on an FA or FG that was knocked down for nothing yesterday.

I bought the F5, God knows why, but it looked clean and had a possibly useful third party zoom lens on it. Hammer price £180. I'll find out if works next week. I also accidentally bought yet another F3HP, not mint but very clean. Went a bit high at £220 plus spiteful commission. And a couple of OM2ns with 50mm lenses. Another buyer chased me up to £170. With any luck the shutters will be OK, they can be temperamental.
 
Once my trusty D800 bites the dust I guess it will be a choice of a D850 (if its still available) or a mirrorless and and the adapter (too much invested in lenses to buy new). As the mirrorless bodies don't support lenses without internal focus motors some nice glass won't be usable with that option.
I would go for the D850 now it’s a much nicer camera to use and sharp as a sharp thing.
My D800 doesn’t get used these days.


Pete
 
I also accidentally bought yet another F3HP, not mint but very clean.

Very easy mistake to make, you can be forgiven :) That sounds like something well worth getting hold of. Must admit I hadn't heard of the HP. A quick google suggests its very similar to the P, but doesn't have that awkward protrusion on that connects to the motordrive getting in the way:

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Y'know, all of those those old pro-grade Nikons are really nice well-built things. Damnit man y'all have me starting to look for 35mm film stockists and developers again :mad:
 
The F3P was really a stripped down, streamlined version of the F3HP, with a different pentaprism viewfinder and the hotshoe mounted centrally rather than on the winder, and one or two other mods that theoretically made it a bit faster to use. I think the body might have also been titanium. They're quite rare, I suspect a minty one would be worth a few bucks. HP refers to 'high eyepoint', a larger prism box designed for glasses-wearers. The HP prism box is completely interchangeable with the smaller one on the standard F3, a process that would take about 5 seconds.

They're great cameras, solid, dependable and able to take a remarkable amount of bashing. The TTL meter is also excellent.
 
Yes. I went through a spell of shooting a lot of stuff with the F3 / 105mm when the kids were younger. Really don't think I've every quite captured shots on the same level since - or enjoyed a camera as much.

Wondering - a fellow F3 aficionado, have you ever come across anything camera-wise in the modern digital era which you could warm to in the same way ?
 
Fantastic news in a way. Loads of bargain AF-D and Ai-S lenses about to be had for those of us who like mirrors and film :) I don't see many Z-series non-power users fiddling around with adapters somehow.

As for digital Nikon, it's a farewell for me I'm afraid, after 25 years with the brand. Not a fan of mirrorless, not a fan of smallish cameras with huge 50mm f/1.8 primes, and especially not a fan of digital viewfinders. Was looking for a bargain new grey market D750/780 on ebay.co.uk as a goodbye to the brand but can't find any at at reasonable price so that's it for me. Will keep enjoying my F801s, FE2 and F301 until they bite the dust then back entirely to medium format film.
 
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Yes. I went through a spell of shooting a lot of stuff with the F3 / 105mm when the kids were younger. Really don't think I've every quite captured shots on the same level since - or enjoyed a camera as much.

Wondering - a fellow F3 aficionado, have you ever come across anything camera-wise in the modern digital era which you could warm to in the same way ?

In short, no. I've got 3 crop sensor Nikons, the most recent of which is a D7200, it's fine, a tool to do a job, but I rarely use it now, except for work. I actually don't use 35mm film all that much, my main camera is a Pentax 645n, which I love.

I still favour the F3 for photographing people though. The MF is a landscape thing.
 
I bought a D80 some years ago to step in where the F3 left off, but have always felt short-changed at losing the full capabilities of the fairly decent selection of lenses I had picked up over the years for the F3. The 105mm never worked anything like as well as a 150mm(?) or whatever the conversion factor for the crop sensor is on the D80 as compared to its older relative.

Have been tempted to buy one of the Nikon digital offerings with a full-size sensor a couple of times, but was always put off by the prices. Might have a fresh look to see has the latest announcement on the demise of the SLR genre overall given the costs a good nudge in the right direction.
 
Yes, I've got a D80, it was my first Dslr. Oddly, I actually really like some of the files that I have from it, they converted through to B&W in a very filmic way. I'm told that it has something to do with the CCD sensor, the same one as on the D200, discarded in favour of a CMOS sensor in their successor D90/D300. I believe Leica stuck with CCD sensors for this reason.
 
As for digital Nikon, it's a farewell for me I'm afraid, after 25 years with the brand. Not a fan of mirrorless, not a fan of smallish cameras with huge 50mm f/1.8 primes, and especially not a fan of digital viewfinders. Was looking for a bargain new grey market D750/780 on ebay.co.uk as a goodbye to the brand but can't find any at at reasonable price so that's it for me. Will keep enjoying my F801s, FE2 and F301 until they bite the dust then back entirely to medium format film.

I`ve lost track of Nikon's range over the last half decade or so. I see the D750 has a full-frame sensor. Are there any other bodies out there with the larger sensor that might still represent good value ?
 
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D800’s are ridiculously cheap these days.
36Mp works with most non af lenses cracking camera.

Pete
 
I blame you lot..

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D800s are cheap for sure - and the little brother is even cheaper again. Beloved by the Rockwell seemingly, full frame sensor, just over 14000 shutter count on it, and all my old lenses back working as God and Nikon intended again.
Am quite chuffed with it actually :)
 
Should anyone have a broken battered Nikon F2 or 3 they don't want/want to sell I'm looking for one, ideally with a 50mm lens and motor drive. The more worn looking the better.
I used to use one way back when the Grunwicks photo lab strikes were happening and lost it when my house was cleared out by a scumbag...
 
F3s often seem to be cheaper with the MD than without, probably because there's the assumption that they've had a hard life.

Amongst the 'accidents' that I had last Friday was another F3HP. Like you, Steve, I wanted a 'used' one so that I don't beat up the mint one I bought at auction a few years ago. Unfortunately the 'accident' turned out to be almost as mint as the mint one, dammit. Now I've got two F3s that I'll be too frightened to use. My original, thoroughly beaten up one, was stolen from me by my son when he moved to Cornwall.
 
F3s often seem to be cheaper with the MD than without, probably because there's the assumption that they've had a hard life.

Amongst the 'accidents' that I had last Friday was another F3HP. Like you, Steve, I wanted a 'used' one so that I don't beat up the mint one I bought at auction a few years ago. Unfortunately the 'accident' turned out to be almost as mint as the mint one, dammit. Now I've got two F3s that I'll be too frightened to use. My original, thoroughly beaten up one, was stolen from me by my son when he moved to Cornwall.
Where in Cornwall..?
I'm in Cornwall, so maybe, just maybe in a wonderful example of karma I could just steal it back from him..?
I'm after one purely for sentimental value, for a few photos I've got in mind and as I just want to hear the sound of it with the mirror and motor drive as it'll bring back so many memories. I'm not sure I can justify £500-odd on a shiny A1 condition one as I'd just want to file away the paint to make it look like it had been used in the way it should have been..
 


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