Post by conan on Mar 2, 2016 0:57:32 GMT -5
Monday 2nd March 1959 was the official release/announcement of the Nikon F a few days before the Philadelphia Camera Show. There can be little argument that the Nikon was the most important 35mm SLR of the 20th Century. No product had more influence on the perception of Japanese quality or played a greater leadership role in the spearhead of Japanese domination of the SRL market. It would become the benchmark for 35mm SRLs.
The Nikon F caused a lot of direct and indirect casualties in the 35mm market. Nikon got it 98% right on the first try and it was the camera that ticked all the professionals’ wish lists of features together with a ruggedness and durability and ease of operation that only Leitz had been offering. It was also not going to be properly challenged as the market leader until Canon released the F1 eleven years later. Some cameras such as the Topcon RE Super would try but would fail. By the early sixties if you wanted a professional ‘tough as nails’ full system 35mm SLR you had no choice but a Nikon F.
The Contarex which was the Zeiss idea of the king of cameras and their idea of the future benchmark for 35mm SLRs would play a poor second fiddle to the Nikon F. In the early years Zeiss would engage in a childish war of trade name protection against Nikon possibly because even in the early years the F was out selling the Contarex by 6 to 1. Zeiss also blamed Nikon and well as the main culprit Leica for the demise of the Contax. Kodak would stop the development of their new 35mm SLR (and only release a cut down instamatic version) because it would not compete price wise against the F and would not be a full system camera. There were probably many more projects that got shelved because of the effect the F had on the marketplace.
I believe that are many users here that probably still take their F+ models out for the occasional spin.
Of all my Nikons my personal preference is for the F2AS which is generally referred to as the ultimate product of the gears and levers manual era. My next is the incomparable F4S a great balance of speed and sheer convenience and of course the first Nikon F model that was totally battery dependent. I have a couple of F models but the F2 is just that much easier to use. I never really got the hang of the F3 despite its convenience. The F5 – well a super super souped up F4 with virtually digital controls (push buttons everywhere) and incompatibility with AI Nikkors and an auto focus that could rip 3rd party lenses apart just doesn’t balance well with me.
The Nikon F caused a lot of direct and indirect casualties in the 35mm market. Nikon got it 98% right on the first try and it was the camera that ticked all the professionals’ wish lists of features together with a ruggedness and durability and ease of operation that only Leitz had been offering. It was also not going to be properly challenged as the market leader until Canon released the F1 eleven years later. Some cameras such as the Topcon RE Super would try but would fail. By the early sixties if you wanted a professional ‘tough as nails’ full system 35mm SLR you had no choice but a Nikon F.
The Contarex which was the Zeiss idea of the king of cameras and their idea of the future benchmark for 35mm SLRs would play a poor second fiddle to the Nikon F. In the early years Zeiss would engage in a childish war of trade name protection against Nikon possibly because even in the early years the F was out selling the Contarex by 6 to 1. Zeiss also blamed Nikon and well as the main culprit Leica for the demise of the Contax. Kodak would stop the development of their new 35mm SLR (and only release a cut down instamatic version) because it would not compete price wise against the F and would not be a full system camera. There were probably many more projects that got shelved because of the effect the F had on the marketplace.
I believe that are many users here that probably still take their F+ models out for the occasional spin.
Of all my Nikons my personal preference is for the F2AS which is generally referred to as the ultimate product of the gears and levers manual era. My next is the incomparable F4S a great balance of speed and sheer convenience and of course the first Nikon F model that was totally battery dependent. I have a couple of F models but the F2 is just that much easier to use. I never really got the hang of the F3 despite its convenience. The F5 – well a super super souped up F4 with virtually digital controls (push buttons everywhere) and incompatibility with AI Nikkors and an auto focus that could rip 3rd party lenses apart just doesn’t balance well with me.
