The Fogdog Blog
Had lunch in a delightful little restaurant in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico last November called The Plaza Cafe. Had to wait for a table, but it was worth it. My burger was delicious. While I waiting for my lunch to arrive, two seats opened up at the nearby counter. I grabbed this shot with my iPhone.
I liked the tile floor, the chrome and the red vinyl seats. Those stools were not empty for long.
As we head towards the final sunset of 2024, I wanted to say how much I value the amazing community of analog photography enthusiasts who have become a part of my life through this blog. I have not been as active here this year as I would have liked to have been. I am hoping to have more time to photograph and write in 2025. Happy New Year everyone!
Back in February I wrote about my acquisition of a very minty Nikon F2A from one of my trusted sellers. Unlike most of the other old cameras I have written about on my blog, this camera came with a solid clue as to its original retail home—the Shutan Camera Company in Chicago.
Finding that sticker inside my F2 ultimately led to me having a delightful conversation with the son of the store’s owner, Bob Shutan. The Shutan family opened their original retail store in 1918 and closed it in 2008. Bob told me that it was part of the store’s marketing to put the little sticker inside the camera so that every time you popped a new roll of film in your camera, you thought of Shutan Camera. You can read that whole story here.
This camera literally looks unused and even though the shutter speeds sounded good and the meter read accurately compared to one of my hand-held light meters, it’s still a 46 year old camera. I intended to send it off to Sover Wong for a CLA right after I bought it, but time got away from me. A few weeks ago, I decided to shoot a roll of 24-exposure Tri-X and see just how well the old F2 worked. Just some shots around the house and yard.
Sun on a backyard plant
Shadows on my fence
Patterns and light
Sunlight through the blinds
Sunlight on a wall
Kimmie was mildy irritated that I woke her from a nap to take her photo
My Nikkormat FTn with Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 lens
It’s my standard practice to finish a roll by taking a mirror selfie. It’s not because I love taking pictures of myself, it’s to remind me of what camera and lens I used. I do this whether I process the film myself or send it out to the lab.
I have no idea what the life of my F2A has been like since it left the shelf at Shutan Camera a few years after I graduated from high school. I don’t know how many owners it has had or how it found its way from Chicago to San Francisco. There are no scratches, bright marks or blemishes of any kind on the camera body. The battery compartment looks like new. There isn’t even any dust or specks in the viewfinder. You could put its box on a shelf in a camera store today and it would look pretty much at home. With mechanical cameras, lack of use can be almost as bad as misuse because without regular exercise, camera lubricants dry out and things get crunchy and seize up. Light seals deteriorate, mirror bumper foam flakes off. And the CdS cells used in the F2’s DP-11 metering prism become less accurate and even die over time. Which makes it all the more remarkable that I took a 46-year old film camera out of the box, shot a roll of film and get some very decent pictures out of it. Good exposures. No light leaks. Everything on the old Nikon just worked as designed. I wonder if my iPhone would still be working nearly five decades from now?
My Nikkormat FTn
I finally had some time to take my recently CLAd Nikkormat FTn out to look for some light. Jim Holman at International Camera Technicians did some mods for me and a full service. I loaded up a roll of Eastman 5222 Double-X and made some photographs around the house and yard to see if everything was working, especially the on-board meter which was now calibrated back to factory specs. An unremarkable set of pictures, but the results confirm that the old NIkkormat is performing as designed. These also remind me how much I love that 5222 film.
A vase and some flowers on the dining room table
Shadows on my fence
I like my chrome FTn so much, I bought a black one!
Sun through some leaves in the backyard
Shapes and tones
Sunlight through one of my dining room chairs
My Nikon N8008s
Backyard string light
In 1994, I remember feeling on top of the world. A few years earlier, our family had just settled into a big suburban tract home in Phoenix, Arizona. I had a good job and several big raises had found their way into my bank account. I finally had some time and the money to pick up on a photography hobby that I had set aside to concentrate on career and family. I started buying copies of Popular Photography and Shutterbug magazines at the local bookstore and spending some lunch hours at a great little camera store in Tempe called Lewis Camera Exchange. I had drooled over Nikon cameras since I was a teenager but was never able to afford one. In 1994, Nikon’s pro camera was the F4, but its retail price was over $2500 at the time and well out of my budget. One day while I was at Lewis admiring the F4, the shop’s owner suggested the new N90s. Autofocus was still a technical marvel at the time and I remember being amazed at how quickly the N90s automatically focused on various subjects in the store. The camera only has one autofocus sensor, but it’s a very good one. Nikon’s sales brochure at the time called the N90s “Fast and Accurate.”
The N90s sales brochure
The price of the N90s as I recall was around $1100 with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D kit lens. Even at less than half the cost of the F4, that amount was still a big stretch for a young father. I brought home the sales brochure and read it so many times the pages became dog eared. After much careful thought and so many repeated trips to Lewis Camera Exchange that I feared I was becoming a pest, I bought my first ever Nikon.
The N90s inspired me to fully embrace photography. Over the next few years, I converted a third stall in my garage into my dream darkroom with a proper darkroom sink, an Omega Pro-Lab enlarger and even a sound system for late night printing sessions. Film was cheap in those days and the N90s went everywhere with me.
My photographic bliss and any sort of bliss at all for that matter would soon end. At the end of the decade, my marriage would fall terribly to pieces and the N90s and the rest of my gear would be casualties of divorce. I wouldn’t pick up a camera again until 2010.
I hadn’t really given the N90s much thought over the years until one morning, I got one of those emails from eBay that lets you know that one of the sellers you follow has some cool stuff and you should go spend some money with them. I have done business many times with Joshua Cohen at Victory Camera in Colorado. He’s an honest seller with great gear. Joshua’s feed that day contained a very nice, hardly used Nikon N90s with its original box and manuals. Seeing that box brought me back to Lewis Camera Exchange and nostalgia got the best of me. For around a hundred bucks, I bought the N90s.
My second N90s after its arrival
It’s strange holding a camera in your hands again for the first time in 30 years. In 1994, the N90s was Nikon’s newest, best , fastest and most expensive advanced amateur camera of all time. It was a marvel. In 2024, it felt like many cameras I have tried from the 1990s; big, plastic-covered techno-blobs.
Nikon N90s with Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 AF-D
The N90s and some of the same era Canon and Minolta cameras have flown well under the radar of film photography buffs because they don’t look retro enough. But under all of that plastic is a very powerful photographic tool. The N90s offers three metering modes; spot, center-weighted and 3D Matrix Metering with Nikkor AF-D lenses. I recall at the time that 3D metering gave the N90s awesome fill flash capability with Nikon Speedlights. The camera also offers a variety of exposure control methods including manual, shutter-priority auto, aperture-priority auto and fully automatic Program mode. In Program mode, there are seven different pre-programmed operations for different picture-taking situations; Program-Portrait, Program-Portrait with Red Eye Reduction, Program-Hyperfocal, Program-Landscape, Program-Silhouette, Program-Sport and Program-Close Up. If you read reviews about the N90s, almost everyone agrees that the metering system inside the N90s will take everything most photographers can throw at it. The camera has shutter speeds up to 1/8000th of a second and the motor drive will advance the film at just over 4 frames per second.
A strange thing about cameras from this era is that Nikon and other manufacturers used some sort of grippy rubber coating that, over time, begins to get sticky. The N90s has this coating on the back film door and mine was just beginning to have that gooey feeling. There are a number of different methods to get rid of the goo but I used 70% isopropyl alcohol, a micro-fiber cloth and some elbow grease. It tool about an hour to remove the sticky and expose the nice smooth plastic underneath.
Back of the N90s after sticky goo removal
I took the N90s for a test drive during a recent trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I mounted my 85mm F/1.8 Nikkor AF-D lens (a decision I would later regret) and brought along a few rolls of Fuji Acros II film. Here are some pictures I made.
After spending a day shooting the N90s, I remember all of the reasons it inspired me so much when I owned my first one. Film loading is a snap. Open the door, insert the cartridge, pull the leader over to the red stripe, close the back, press the shutter. The film automatically winds itself on and advances to the first frame. In Program mode, this camera does all of the heavy lifting allowing you to concentrate on subject matter rather than fiddling with exposure. The viewfinder is big and bright and everything you need to know about what the camera is doing is displayed in a bright green LCD along the bottom of the frame. The autofocus isn’t fast by today’s standards, but for me it was just fine. A good comfortable strap is a necessity with the N90s as it’s a heavy camera. The fact that it is powered by AA batteries means you can easily find batteries if you need them out in the field. I am not sure what possessed me to bring just the 85mm lens with me. With Santa Fe’s narrow streets, a wider lens would have opened up so many more picture opportunities for me, but I had fun.
As I write this post, there are Nikon N90s cameras on eBay for as little as $25. Pristine ones for $75. Under a hundred bucks for what once was Nikon’s most advanced and most expensive advanced amateur cameras! I think it is one of analog photography’s best kept secrets.
Photography has been part of my life, with starts and stops, for over 50 years. It is difficult for me to be totally clinical about this camera because it helped rekindle my passion for photography at a certain part of my life but also reminds me of one of my darkest periods. Indeed…the best of times and the worst of times.
Life has been busy this fall and I haven’t had much time for photography or to tend to my blog. I am hoping things quiet down a bit in the months ahead leaving me more time to exercise my creativity. In the meantime, I am editing some photographs I made during a recent business trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico and writing a review about the camera I took along with me; the Nikon N90s. I owned one new in the 1990s and it was fun to use this camera again some 30 years later. I also have reviews in the queue for a couple of lenses; the 85mm f/1.8 AF-D Nikkor and the legendary Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 Ai.
Here’s a shot I made on the plaza in Santa Fe. More to come.
Santa Fe Shadows, Nikon N90s, Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 AF-D, Fuji Acros II
Over coffee this morning, I clicked through the various photography Facebook groups that I belong to and came across a fellow, obviously brand new to analog photography, posting a picture of his recently acquired Nikon F3 with a pre-AI Nikkor lens attached. He wondered why the camera wasn’t metering correctly and why he couldn’t see the aperture readout in the little window of his viewfinder. A number of people responded. Some were helpful, some were condescending, some with absolute misinformation. I responded with a brief explanation of pre-AI and AI Nikkor lenses and a recommendation that he search online for the owner’s manual for his F3 and study it so he could fully enjoy his Nikon.
We have access to so much information these days from a wide variety of sources. Much of it is good, but some of it is just plain misinformation. With a few exceptions, those of us who enjoy analog photography are using equipment that is long out of production, decades old and no longer OEM supported. The only sources of information are the original owner’s manuals and the community of film photographers who write blogs, produce You Tube videos or contribute to social media forums. Most of the information out there is pretty good. Film photographers are thoughtful and helpful people. However, like all of the stuff we read online or see on You Tube or Instagram, due diligence is the order of the day. Misinformation, when it comes to old camera gear and lenses, can damage your equipment or even render it useless. At the very least, it can result in disappointing results in your photography.
This blog is a journal of my user experiences with old cameras, lenses and film. It’s full of my opinions. When I quote facts, I try my best to be accurate, checking as many trusted sources as I can before I publish. Social media forums can be lively and fun, but before you make any big decisions about your photography gear or anything else in life for that matter, check your sources. And check them again.
I really like these old Nikkormats. So much so that I now own five. I have a chrome FTn, a black FT2 and FT3, an EL and most recently, this black FTn. I really didn’t need another Nikkormat or even another old camera for that matter. But this one popped up for sale on one my photography Facebook groups. The seller seemed like a nice guy and a passionate film photographer. And, like my other Nikkormats, the price was right. I have not paid more than $100 for any of them.
After years of shooting Leica and Canon, Minolta, Pentax, Contax and Hasselblad, it might sound odd that I’ve taken such a shine to these simple old Nikon SLRs, but I just love their minimalist, purposeful, elegance. Each one I have bought works. The shutters sound reasonable at every speed. And when I check the built-in meters against one of my hand held meters or my iPhone, they’re all nearly dead on. Nikon overbuilt these cameras and built them to last.
The body of this FTn is developing a nice brass patina near the strap lugs and on the top of the pentaprism, but otherwise it’s in good shape. The light seals need replacing so I will send it off for an overhaul after I run a test roll through it.
Prices on film cameras have gone up quite a bit in recent years but these old Nikkormats fly under the radar of most people. Given that, they’re a real bargain if you are looking for a depenable platform for the wide variety of available Nikkor lenses.
Nikon F100, 50/1.8 AF-S Nikkor, Portra 400
I did not have high expectations for how my shots would come out as I strolled inside the Seattle Public Market during a visit there in the late summer of 2018. Not to worry—my Nikon F100’s matrix metering and Kodak’s amazing Portra 400 film did not let me down.
In 2014, l lived for a very short while in a little cottage just off of the Bohemian Highway in Freestone, California. The owners called it the Boho Cottage and it sat on perhaps a half acre lot right along side Salmon Creek. There were redwoods, fruit trees, and all sorts of flowers and vines and such…endless photographic inspiration. I made this image with my Nikon in early April.
Nikon F2AS, 85mm Nikkor f/2 on Kodak Ektar 100
Ferrania P33 on Ferrania P33, Minolta X-700, 50mm f/1.7 Minolta MD lens
As a teenager back in the 1970s, I pretty much taught myself photography. I devoured every book I could get my hands on from the school and public libraries and with that information along with the little instruction slips packed with every roll of Kodak film, I got pretty good at shooting Sunny 16 with my Kodak Retina rangefinder using mostly Kodak Plus-X Pan 125 film and developing it myself in Kodak’s D-76 developer. One camera, one film, one developer. I kept it simple and I think that really helped me learn.
I have more than one camera now but I really would like to get back to using one black and white film for most of my photography and see if I can become a better photographer. I’ve said I was going to do this multiple times here on the blog but the lure of this film or that has always led me astray. So lately, I’ve been working my way through the available black and white film stocks to see if I can find the one that really sings for me and use it consistently for a while.
I bought a few rolls of Film Ferrania P33 160 ISO film some months back and shot my first roll here. I liked the results and took it to the beach. I liked those results too. I just finished my third roll and I continue to be pleased with this film. I shot these using my Minolta X-700 with the 50mm f/1.7 MD lens. This first one really put the Minolta’ s TTL meter to the test. I should have metered specifically for the white wash mitt under such sunny conditions, but at least all of the detail didn’t totally blow out. I took this as I was washing my old BMW 435i the weekend before I sold it.
Final wash day
Later that same day, a quick snap inside of my dinner table and plate of tortellini.
Pasta and some good Napa Cab
I took the X-700 on a weekend getaway up the California coast to charming Mendocino. Hollywood used Mendocino as a substitute for a New England coastal town in the 1971 film The Summer of ‘42.
Mendocino
Sidewalk cafe
Great ending to a day on the coast
I like Ferrania P33 a lot. Maybe because it reminds me a little of my beloved Plus-X. Availability is hit or miss. I bought four rolls from Freestyle Photo and the next time I checked, it was out of stock. I am just finishing a roll of Tri-X in my Nikon N90S and there’s some Eastman 5222 Double-X in the Nikkormat FTn. More black and white fun to come.
US/Mexico border at Naco
I don’t discuss politics much here and I won’t today either, but there has been a lot of talk lately about the US/Mexico border. I lived in Arizona for over three decades and visited the border quite a few times. Most of my trips were to the busy crossing at Nogales. Whenever friends or family would visit, we’d drive down from Phoenix, park in the Safeway parking lot near the border and cross into Mexico for some shopping. Mostly, we’d buy colorful blankets that were nice to look at but kinda scratchy to cuddle up with. Visitors also wanted to try a bottle of Coca-Cola in Mexico, which tastes sweeter than what we buy in the US. More syrup, I suppose.
In 2008, I spent a few days in Bisbee which is a quirky little southern Arizona town worth checking out, especially for photographers. One afternoon, I drove a few miles to the border near Naco, Sonora where I saw this border patrol agent sitting in his truck enjoying his lunch and watching the wall. We chatted a bit and I asked if I could snap this picture. I shot this with my Nikon D70s and a AF Zoom-Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6D IF—a lens that gets mostly terrible reviews but served me well for years.
I read a statistic that said 1 in 5 Americans pays for a self storage unit. I am one of them. Or at least I was until this past weekend. I’ve moved a couple of times in the last 14 years and during one of those moves, I rented a small storage unit for some of my stuff. It was only supposed to be short term. I remember thinking at the time that my stuff would be in there for six months or maybe a year until I could sort through it and figure out what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to throw away. Each month, when I wrote the check for the rent on Unit 129, I said to myself that I need to get over there and sort through that stuff. But my storage unit was 60 miles away and it just seemed easier to write the check and put it off for another day.
This past weekend, I finally confronted my procrastination. I rented a truck from U-Haul and to save my back, hired a young friend to help me load. It had been some time since I had been to my storage unit…years actually…and when I opened the door, I was overwhelmed by stacks of deteriorating cardboard boxes, cobwebs, mouse poop and dust covered artifacts. Stuff. Stuff that at one point I purchased with real money. Stuff that had meaning enough for me to keep and store and pay rent on. There were some things that were of real value. I had a large chest of tools. Good tools, tools I could use. There were some old pictures. An old Lionel train set that might be worth something. An orange Home Depot bucket. An extension cord on a retractable reel. Everything else in there had no real value, no use any more. It was trash. All trash.
I walked around the heap of stuff, poking into dusty boxes, picking up this and that. I recognized everything around me and wanted to find some reason why I had saved this stuff, but I couldn’t. I was deeply disappointed in myself for neglecting this chore for so long and felt an intense and painful sadness as I looked over the relics of my life. I negotiated with my helper to load and haul everything to the landfill for me. Three full pickup truck loads. 80% of what I was paying to store went straight into the trash.
I called the rental office at the storage facility yesterday and told them that I had vacated Unit 129. The woman thanked me for my business “all these years.” Just out of curiosity, I asked her how long I had rented there? “Since 2013”, she said.
11 years…my God.
I am currently shooting two cameras from the Nikon film era; the Nikkormat FTN from 1967 and the Nikon N90s from 1994. And while they are so very different from a technology standpoint—the Nikkormat is an all mechanical, manual focus, manual exposure camera while the N90s offers multiple exposure modes with matrix metering, motorized film advance and auto focus…they filled exactly the same niche nearly three decades apart—as back-up cameras for professional photographers.
The Nikon F was the preferred choice of photographers who made their living with their cameras in 1967. Nikon pro bodies have always been wildly expensive and while a well-heeled pro might have a second pro body as a back up, many used less expensive but still very capable bodies. The Nikkormat FTN was such a camera in the late 1960s. In the 70s, pros might have had a Nikon FM in their camera bag along side their F2.
By the 1990s, professional photographers were making the transition to auto focus cameras and Canon would soon capture the professional market with their EOS line. But for those who stuck with Nikon and Nikon’s first auto focus pro body—the F4, “pro-sumer” cameras like the N8008s and N90s became less expensive choices for a back-up. I purchased a N90s brand new in 1997 and I recall paying around $1000 for the camera and a 50mm f/1.8 kit lens. The F4 body alone was north of $2500.
I purchased my Nikkormat at a local camera shop and after I got it home, I posted an image of my new acquisition on the Nikkormat/Nikomat Facebook group I belong to. Over the next few weeks, quite a few photographers gushed over the FTN and several pros told stories about using the sturdy, dependable Nikkormat as a back up to their F or F2. I had my FTN serviced and modified. You can read about that here.
The N90s is my latest camera purchase. Mine is nearly mint with its original box and paperwork. I joined the N90s/F90x Facebook group and as with the Nikkormat, several pros commented about using the N90s as a back up camera for weddings and sporting events. A few even said that the N90s was their main body— a bridge camera as they waited for Nikon to release the F5 in 1996.
I will post complete reviews of both cameras here soon, but I will say that I am truly enjoying both of these Nikons. The FTN is pure, simple analog joy while the N90s feels a bit like coming home to a period in my life when I was shooting a lot of film and developing and printing in my home darkroom.
It was such a luxury living so close to the ocean. I miss it. I am looking forward to getting out to the coast for a few days later this month. I am thinking now about which camera and film to take. I took this picture in 2019 with my Leica R5 and 60mm/2.8 Macro-Elmarit-R lens. I was using up some expired Kodak Portra 400 film.
Nikon F2AS, 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor, Fuji Acros
This is mostly a blog about photography. I write about old film cameras and having fun with them. Once in a while I stray and talk about the days when I used to work in radio and television, my experiences selling on eBay or even how rude people can be on social media. But mostly, it’s a blog about photography—my opinions and thoughts. I don’t always get it right but I try and do the best job I can with the information I present here.
I never talk about my politics or even politics in general because I think your beliefs are your own personal thing. And whatever you believe, as long as it’s not hurting another person, is your own business.
I start each workday the same way. I make myself a cup of coffee, open my laptop and catch up on the news. I used to get a morning paper and flip through that, but a good newspaper is hardly that anymore, so I click around two or three news websites, hit the shower and head to the office.
Lately, I find catching up on the news unsettling. It gives me a mild level of anxiety. I’m old enough to know that there’s always been bad news and conflict in the world, but it seems we’ve reached a point where the lines between fact and fiction, news and opinions, have become so blurred, it’s driving a level of discord I have never experienced in the six decades of my life. Back when I worked in broadcasting, anytime we put an opinion on air, we had to disclose it as “commentary.” That’s not the case anymore and lots of good people I know are digesting opinions as fact and that can be very dangerous in so many ways. What’s more troubling is when people in power believe in and make decisions based on the same misinformation.
I am not going to stick my head in the sand, but I do need to modify my consumption of news for my own mental health. I am still figuring out what that’s going to look like. Many years ago, I was an avid watcher of the CBS News program Sunday Morning. Charles Kuralt or Charles Osgood would always close out the show by saying “Today, we leave you with….” followed by a few minutes of fields full of wildflowers with birds chirping or waves crashing on a beach. It was a way to say that even in this noisy world full of bad news, there are amazing and beautiful things, if we just take a few minutes each day to notice them.
Contax RX with 50mm f/1.7 Zeiss Planar on Velvia 100
I just received my Nikkormat FTn back from a CLA and modification by my friend Jim Holman at International Camera Technicians in San Diego. I found this camera in my local camera shop and it was in lovely condition. Hardly a scratch anywhere with a very nice optics.
I really like these Nikkormats. I own four now—this FTn, an EL, FT2 and FT3. Nikkormats were built during a time when a camera was designed to last. And you can really feel that, especially after a thorough service.
In addition to the CLA, I had Jim do some modifications on my FTn. My FTn is an early model which came with a matte fresnel focus screen with a central disc of of micro-prsims. My aging eye prefers a split-image screen. Nikon calls this a “K” screen. The focus screens were not interchangeable on the Nikkormats, but a skilled technician can swap them out during a CLA. However, I had to find a donor camera. The Nikkormat FT2 and FT3 came standard with a split-image screen, but I really wasn’t keen on spending the money that these models were fetching just to harvest a focus screen. As I was doing my research, I discovered that later in the production run of the FTn, Nikon offered a K screen option—buyers could order their camera with either a matte fresnel screen or the split-image one. These later cameras also had a plastic tipped film advance and self-timer levers (just like the Nikon F Apollo and F2 cameras). Since “parts only” FTn bodies were selling on eBay for $20-$40, my mission became finding one of these later cameras that had been ordered with the K screen.
This kind of stuff takes patience, but it’s fun. Each day, I scoured the eBay listings for parts only FTn bodies with the plastic tipped levers. Sellers rarely take photos of their viewfinder, so I had to contact the sellers and ask. Finally one day, a listing popped up for a camera in pretty sad shape—missing the film rewind crank among other things. What caught my eye was that this camera came in its original box.
FTn original box
When I saw the K screen indication on the box, I didn’t hesitate. I just pulled the trigger and paid the seller $20. I had a good feeling about this. When the camera arrived, it was a mess…but it had a K screen! And for a pretty sad looking camera, the viewfinder and screen looked really good.
I packaged up my FTn and the donor camera with a note to Jim to CLA my camera top to bottom. In addition, swap out the existing screen for the K screen from the donor camera. Because I prefer the plastic tipped film advance, I also asked him to swamp out the advance lever as well. I never use the self-timer, I left that as-is. Lastly, I asked him to modify my camera to work with a 1.5v 625 alkaline battery rather than the original 1.35v mercury battery.
Film advance lever before modification
Completed, serviced and modified FTn
There’s something special about finding a 57-year old camera in this condition. It’s even more special having it returned to factory specs. Everything is so smooth now and that shutter sounds sublime. I am looking forward to a weekend photo walk with my “new” Nikkormat FTn.
For those of us who enjoy photography, we’re living in fortunate times. In the digital world, there is a wide variety of choices; DSLRs, mirrorless cameras and even super high quality cameras in our smartphones. For analog photography, we’re lucky to have a good selection of interesting film stocks to choose from and amazing old film cameras for sale, albeit at higher prices than a few years ago.
On a recent quest to find an autofocus camera or two to add to my arsenal, I picked up a bargain—a very lightly used Nikon N8008S 35mm SLR with a Nikkor AF-D 28-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens for $95. The Nikon N8008S was the successor to the N8008 which was introduced in 1988. The N8008 was Nikon’s top advanced amateur camera at the time, positioned right below the flagship professional F4. The camera was priced just under $900 at introduction. That’s over $2300 in today’s dollars adjusted for inflation! The N8008S debuted in 1991 and added spot metering to its list of features. I say all this because it’s quite amazing that one can buy such a very capable and at one time, a very expensive camera, for under a hundred bucks today. The lens was basically free.
My Nikon N8008S with 50mm F/1.8 AF-D lens
I call cameras of this era “technoblobs”—big bulky heavy hunks of plastic covered metal. Nikon, Canon and Minolta all had similar looking cameras and they certainly don’t fit the mold of what we consider a retro camera today. The Canon AE-1, Nikon F3 or Pentax K1000 might better represent what today’s retro camera enthusiast is seeking and that’s why prices on those cameras have soared making technoblob cameras a relative bargain.
The N8008S is a very capable, feature packed camera. It offers several shooting modes—full program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual. Its early generation autofocus offers two modes—continuous servo and single servo. The autofocus is noisy by today’s standards, but fast and precise. The camera’s meter offers up matrix, center-weighted and spot. You can shoot at shutter speeds from 30 seconds up to 1/8000th of a second.
You control all of the camera’s functions with a thumbwheel and most photographers can figure out how to drive the N8008S pretty quickly without looking at the owner’s manual. Film loading is easy, just drop in a film cartridge, pull the leader over the red line, close the back and tap the shutter release once. The Nikon advances the film to the first frame. Depending on the mode you choose, the N8008S can burn through a roll of film in as fast as 3.3 frames per second.
The N8008S is not a camera for someone who wants to fully immerse themselves in full manual control of their photography. Rather, this is a camera that you relax and just have fun with. Put it in program mode and let the camera do all of the heavy lifting for you and just click away. By the time this camera came out, Nikon had really nailed TTL metering and I had a hard time coming up with a situation where the N8008S didn’t deliver near perfect exposure. Over a couple of weeks, I shot two expired rolls of film—some Fuji 400 and Kodak T-Max 100. I used the Nikkor zoom and my 50mm f/1.8 AF-D lens. Here’s puppy day at our local park.
My roll of Kodak expired in 2021 but it’s been kept in the fridge. I was shooting some portraits with my Fujifilm X-T1 and brought along the N8008S as well. Between set ups, I just clicked away.
The shot below was made with the N8008S and an off-camera Vivitar 283 flash for fill.
It’s crazy to think about the fact that you can buy what was at the time, one of the most advanced cameras in the world for nearly nothing today. As I write this, there are N8008S bodies on eBay for as little as $20. While it may not have the charm of shooting a Nikon F2, Pentax Spotmatic or Olympus OM-1, this era of camera represents a truly remarkable value in analog photography.
My wife and I took our dog Jazz on a mini-vacation earlier this month. We headed about an hour and half west to the small town of Dillon Beach, CA and spent a few nights at a little resort made up of tiny houses near the beach. Jazz loves the water and I will use any excuse to get back to the Pacific which I miss so much since moving inland five years ago.
I brought two cameras with me, my Fujifim X-T1 digital and my Minolta X-700 film SLR. Since I could shoot color in the digital camera, I brought some Ferrania P33 black and white film along for the Minolta. I reviewed the X-700 in depth back in 2018 here, so I won’t go into a detailed review again, but I really had forgotten how much fun the Minolta is to use and what good results it delivers.
This is only my second or third roll of P33, but I will say that I am slowly falling in love with this creamy, dreamy film that has such a unique cinematic look to it. P33 has an ISO of 160, but I set my camera to ISO 125.
Dillon Beach sits right at the mouth of Tomales Bay. The Pacific Ocean is to the right in the photo below. The tip of Point Reyes is to the left. Point Reyes is protected as a National Seashore.
Dillon Beach, CA
Sleepy Jazz after a day in the surf and sand…and after a bath.
I have to admit that when I travel, I am often reluctant to bring along one of my more expensive film cameras, but I never worry about throwing the X-700 in my overnight bag. Even with its plastic exterior, the X-700 continues to look good and operate as-designed in spite of its mileage.
I like this Italian film so much, I just ordered some more and want to continue to explore its possibilities. As for the weekend in the tiny house, it was quite lovely. We walked the beach by day, watched the sun set sipping Sonoma County wine and Point Reyes Pierce Point cheese and drifted off to sleep to the sounds of the surf.
Jazz liked it too.
Fujifim X-T1, XF 18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS Zoom
Over the past 15 years of serious film photography, there have been several cameras that I initially dismissed because the ones I tried were not functioning as they were designed. My first Pentax Spotmatic was a corroded mess. My first Olympus OM-1 had a gummed up film advance due to years of neglect. And my first Minolta SR-T, a 101 model if I recall, had a dead meter, lots of debris in the viewfinder and a gritty feeling film advance. When you’re buying decades old film cameras online and learning as you go, you’re going to buy a few duds. It’s part of the game. And sometimes, those bad experiences color your opinion about a camera. Luckily, I bought another Spotmatic and had Eric Hendrickson service it. A lovely camera. Same with the OM-1. Found another and sent it off to John Hermanson. A CLA’d OM-1 is a joy to shoot.
And now for Minolta. Recently, a stunning black body SR-T 202 showed up for sale from one of my trusted eBay sellers, freshly CLA’d for a good price. I’m a sucker for black body SLRs and this one, with a six-month warranty, seemed like a good investment.
The Minolta SRT series ran from 1966 to 1981. There are many different models with confusing numbers. My camera, the SR-T 202 was also called the SR-T 303b and SR505, depending on what country you purchased the camera in. All of these cameras are manual focus, manual exposure cameras with TTL metering. Some featured Minolta’s exclusive CLC metering system. CLC stood for Contrast Light Compensator, sort of an early version of matrix metering. The camera had two metering cells rather than just one giving the photographer more precise control over exposure. Or so the manual says.
While I was waiting for my SR-T 202 to arrive, I did some research on early Minolta manual focus lenses and found that the MC-Rokkor-PF 58mm f/1.4 had great reviews. Not only was the lens a stellar performer optically, many photographers raved about how nice this lens was to use. I found a seller online who specializes in this particular lens, services and sells them. My new lens and camera arrived within days of each other.
The SR-T 202 is a big, heavy brick of a camera. There a no contours or curves, little in the way of ergonomics. By comparison, while my Minolta X-700 which came out in 1981 fits my hand like a glove, this camera felt a bit awkward. I also found the strap lugs to be in a weird place, poking my fingers as I shot. As I worked my way through my test roll of Kodak Tri-X, the camera and I made friends and I found some hand and finger positions that felt comfortable.
I had no issues however falling immediately and madly in love with the 58mm f/1.4 lens however. This lens reminds me of the early Pentax Takumars…smooth silky focus and a satisfying aperture ring. This lens is from an era where quality and craftsmanship were top priorities. I am going to buy an adapter and try this lens on my Fujifilm X-T1 digital.
All of the controls on the SR-T 202 are straightforward and similar to most SLRs of this era. The only strange thing is the ON/OFF/BC switch on the bottom of the camera that you need to use your thumb to turn. The viewfinder on most every Minolta I have shot is big and bright and beautiful. This camera is no exception. Shutter speed and lens aperture are displayed along the bottom of the finder with the meter readout on the right side.
Unlike my earlier SR-T camera, this freshly serviced 202 is very pleasant to shoot. Film advance felt smooth, viewfinder was crystal clear, meter responsive and it has a nice, satisfying shutter sound. I took the camera with me on a picnic on Mother’s Day and on a walk downtown. Here are some shots from that weekend.
Some Pinot Noir at our picnic…
I liked this shadow of the basketball hoop on the crumbling court…
Of course, the required mirror selfie which I flipped in post. (I was having a bad hair day.)
I really warmed to the SR-T 202 as I worked my way through the 24 exposure roll of Tri-X. I do wish the strap lugs were a little farther up the body and that ON/OFF switch is a bit of a pain. But all in all, this is nice camera and an awesome lens. Like any old film camera, I really recommend that you either buy one that has been serviced or budget for a service when you plan your camera purchase. In the case of this Minolta, service made all of the difference.