5 Frames with my Nikon F2 Eye

The great comments on my first article in 35mmc have encouraged me to follow up with another one. Anyone who has read my first article knows that I’m an old white man from Germany, an analogue and digital photographer with GAS syndrome.

As you might’ve read, my first proper camera was the Nikon FE, which was followed shortly afterwards by an FM2 as a second body. To this day, I have added several Nikon cameras and lenses. I had the F4s, still have the F3HP and an F2A Photomic. Unfortunately, a few months ago I saw an offer from Japan for an “unused” serviced Nikon F2 Eye from 1975, without an attachment, without light metering, purely mechanical, without automatic. I had bought from this dealer years ago and trusted him. Not exactly cheap, just GAS.

At the top it is shown with a Nikkor-H Auto 28mm F3.5 lens, which was produced from 1965 to 1973. The following pictures were taken with this combination. The metering was done with the Gossen Lunasix F, which I had set to ASA 200. With calotte, i.e. light metering or incident light metering, no reflex metering.

The colour film used was Kodak Ultramax 400, I was out and about at midday, the sun was high, summer. As already mentioned, the film was overexposed by one f-stop. This gives the Ultramax a somewhat pastel look, which is a matter of taste. But it shouldn’t be more than 1 stop, as the colours then turn reddish. This was my first roll with this camera.

My pictures were taken in the surroundings of the “Museum Abteiberg” in Mönchengladbach, my birthplace and home town. A medium-sized city located between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. The museum building is one of the most architecturally beautiful museums in Europe. The architect of the building, the Austrian Professor Hans Hollein, can be seen on the left in the photo of the wall. Next to the artist Joseph Beuys, who had good connections to the art scene in Mönchengladbach even before the new building opened. He was born in the neighbouring town of Krefeld, grew up on the Lower Rhine and lived and worked in Düsseldorf for many years. If you don’t know him, I recommend Dr Google.

In my subjective opinion, the first shots with the camera have been a success. It is a real pleasure to take pictures with this camera. Robust, reliable, you can feel the quality and understand why most photojournalists around the world were shooting with a Nikon F2 Photomic back then. After the 36 shots I took, I immediately returned the film to my minilab. It’s only 300 metres away from the museum. I hope you understand.

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