I recently added a Nikon F2 to the stable and loaded it up with Kodak Portra 400. The following shots were taken over several days in several locations with two lenses: the pre-AI 105/2.5 and the 35/2.
These first two were from a birding trip I made to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge near Ridgefield, Washington (USA). My primary camera while birding is the OM Systems OM-1 fitted with a 2x TC and the M.Zuiko 300/4 Pro lens. This rig gives me pretty good reach and so far, I’ve been much happier with this set-up for birding. On this occasion I tossed the new-to-me F2 into the car and took some shots at the refuge.
I loved the way the red algae contrasted with the water. Although there are a few ducks in this shot, they obviously were not the subject. In this next shot I happened to be too close to get a full body shot of the bird with the OM-1. I was focusing on the neck, but it looks like I must have missed focus?
A few days later I took the F2 into downtown Portland on a trip to Powell’s City of Books. Since I had 400 ISO film I thought I’d see how it did in the stacks.
I have no complaints so far. The F2 handles much like the FE that I wrote about a year ago here. Initially I was having some trouble adjusting to the meter within the view finder and eventually settled on using the meter indicator on top of the DP-1 view finder. Because the F2 is completely mechanical, the shutter speed is continuously variable. With a set aperture you can adjust the shutter speed to exactly center on what the camera believes to be the perfect exposure for that aperture so for example you don’t have to worry if 125 is too slow while 250 is too fast because the F2 allows you to set your shutter between what would typically be the normally set speeds.
More shots were taken with the 105/2.5 although nothing to compete with the Afghan Girl.
I then switched to my 35/2 that (based on the s/n) was likely built between 1977 – 1981. The thing with old Nikkor lenses is there are often several variations of the build over the years. I have been relying on info from both The Thousand and One Nights (Nikon site) and a site in New Zeeland that my browser thinks is un-secure. The camera then went to the coast (I also took the Rollei 3.5B loaded with Lomo Turquoise more on that later).
This is a secluded spot that neither my wife (lived her whole life in Oregon) nor I had ever visited. It is a short hike through the woods to the cove. As you can see there is quite a bit of washed-up driftwood from recent storms. The above view is looking southwest while this next view is looking northwest.
We usually also stop in Cannon Beach. We were a few days too early to catch Puffins at Haystack Rock but there are always plenty of gulls.
I’m not sure that I squeezed everything possible out of this first roll through the F2. The camera is a real brick weighing in at 1.6 pounds with the DP-1 finder and no lens. That said, it is comfortable to handle and felt similar to the FE and my Canon FTb. All of the shots above are as scanned however I did resize them to avoid bloating Hamish’s server. The Portra 400 is a little too grainy for my taste in color and I might have done better with more sun.
I was quite happy to pick up the F2 for $200 USD on eBay and happy that the meter, shutter and aperture all seem to be working as per spec.
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