National Camera Day - post your photo of that special camera!

[mollyc]

Agreed; fun thread!

My rough camera history:
- Kodak pocket Instamatic, ~1973
- Nikon N6006, 1991
- Nikon FM-2, 1992
- Nikon F-4s, ~1994?
- Nikon D-200, 2007
- Nikon Df, ?
- Nikon D-500, ?

Two are special to me. My FM-2:
View attachment 2026653

...I just about wore it out, my first camera with a DoF preview, which changed everything for me. In those days AF was slower/less accurate than I was manually focusing, so this beast was fine. Still have it, although I'm not going to pay for film developing anymore, even if I could find it (have a half-brick of film still stashed in my freezer, need to get rid of that).
When DSLRs hit the market, what I really wanted was a digital FM-2: completely manual controls, no AF, no f*** screen, just like the FM-2 but with the possible addition of a spotmeter. Closest to the dream come true, Nikon released the mighty Df:

View attachment 2026657

Although it was loaded with so many gew-gaws that I didn't want, it was essentially what I was hoping for; it even LOOKS like an FM-2! I read the reviews, and it was a very polarizing camera, and I waited until the barely-used copies started hitting the market, and got one (virtually untouched) for $1,900, not the ridiculous $2,750 they wanted for it, new. D-4 sensor, and Manual controls! Mine is set to Manual Exposure, back screen turned off, and I gots me a Spotmeter! Love this camera, and it works with all my old glass.

Nikon has since released the Z-fc (think that's right) and it is styled similarly but its taken me 35 or so years to get all the Nikkors I've wanted; in my 60's, I don't want to start over again buying newer Z glass. The Z-fc does have Eye Focus Control, and an adapter for "F" series glass; my D-500 does AF quicker than I do, now, so who knows? Right now, I'm good for this lifetime.

i’ll take your film. 😉

 

[bunnspecial]

I read the reviews, and it was a very polarizing camera,

I'm still a dedicated Df user, and love it not only for legacy compatibility but also for the great high ISO performance and how light it is for a full frame DSLR.

It's amazing to me still how many people will comment on either how interesting or how ugly the camera is. I don't really care as it does a lot of things really well for me...

 

[Allyance]

I have one more camera to add to my collection. I had aspirations to shoot movies as well as stills. The hot camera at the time was a Beauliou 16 mm with an Angenieux 12 to 120 zoom lens.

Fantastic lens, nice camera, unfortunately I never shot a roll of film through it. I guess I just liked to collect nice hardware at the time.

 

[Jumpthesnark]

I read the reviews, and it was a very polarizing camera...

I remember some of the discussions around this camera. Some people were upset that it didn't look "digital" and "new" enough, making use of menus and soft buttons more, while others were ecstatic that it had knobs and switches that felt familiar to them, and that were in places where they were used to finding those controls.

 

[bunnspecial]

I remember some of the discussions around this camera. Some people were upset that it didn't look "digital" and "new" enough, making use of menus and soft buttons more, while others were ecstatic that it had knobs and switches that felt familiar to them, and that were in places where they were used to finding those controls.

I'd call it simultaneously wonderful and frustrating, and I have quite a bit of time with one to feel comfortable saying that.

It does do one thing that quite literally no other Nikon has ever managed to do-offer open aperture matrix metering with non-AI lenses. The way it's accomplished is kind of clunky, though. Once you've programmed the lens into the camera, you flag it as a non-AI lens. Of course then the lens is mounted with the AI tab flipped up.

There's no actual coupling between the camera and the lens, though. You have to set it on the lens then go to the command dial and tell the camera where you set it(or the other way around if you prefer). While we're at it, too, this isn't unique to the Df but you can only program 10 manual focus lenses into it. I'd have preferred more for a camera that was targeted to MF lens users.

Also, the front command dial is terrible. I think it's trying to be like the focusing wheel on Contax and Nikon rangefinders, but I don't particularly like those either. It's small and stiff, and just isn't that easy to manipulate. I rarely use the front command dial for that reason.

The dials are nice, but you can also trip yourself up easily because every setting that can be done on a dial can be done in menus. The camera really is a D600/D610 under the skin, and you can make it work more or less just like one. It can be frustrating to think you're changing a certain setting when you're not. I set mine to use the dials and manage to avoid over-riding them, but i felt like it was something I was constantly doing when I first started using the camera.

Some of the advantage of the dials is lost too by how Nikon made the interlocks work. It takes me two hands to change ISO. Specifically, the exposure compensation dial looks like it should have one(the big button in the center) but that really just locks it at 0. Once you've moved it out of zero, the only thing keeping it from turning is the spring pressure in the detents. I've inadvertently changed it more than once(especially since I often keep it at -1/3 out of habit). Also, every other DSLR has a lock on the dial that changes between single/CH/CL/self timer/etc, but for whatever reason the DF doesn't. Meanwhile, forget changing the PSAM mode you're in if you have gloves on because the dial is tiny and you have to lift it up by its tiny knurled rim to turn it.

Still, though, it's a camera I will never get rid of, and I think most people who use them feel the same way about it.

 

[Raymond32]

+1

MONO2170 by Raymond Chung, on Flickr