I had all kinds of lenses for Nikon, modern, fisheyes, zooms. But the only one I was using was this 1.2 and it belonged to my grandfather!!! I sold everything and just kept this lens and a d700. After a bit ended up selling even that and just have a leica Q with an embedded 1.2 prime lens. It doesn’t get better than this honestly

Wonderful video. Really clear👍👍

Epic review, more of these please. Maybe the Iconic Nikon F4.

Awesome video of great part of the USA. Great photographs, more please….

Yeah. They all seem to have stiff focus after a few decades of sitting. Good video.

years of reading Nikon as NEE-Kon and not NAI-kon. this is the first time I heard someone actually say how it's pronounced I'm crying am I dumb

Had to turn this video off after seeing your sample photos at that ugly bog or wherever you went to. Photos look horrible!

Great video. Wonder if you will ever post again?

I left mine on a train in Switzerland back in '89. Maybe time to get another one.

A shameless plug: Robert’s Camera 👍👍👍for used camera gear.

Awesome Tyler. Great review

Honestly, you watched all of the KZbin videos on the F3 and brought what new to the table?…

Excellent video 😮!

What strap is that? The red goes really well with the accents on the f3

I only wish that the new generation of reviewers would do a bit of research into the design brief of a lens before passing comments. The great majority of the 35mm F1.4 lenses of the late 60s, 70s and early 80s era were mainly desinged for photojournalism on manual focus cameras such as the Nikon F, F2, F3 and so on. Even my 35mm F1.4 Leica M- Summilux Aspherical ( the first one after the AA ) was designed for photojournalism with film cameras in very low light, although costing nearly $4000.00 when it was introduced, the performancehad to match the price. Over 90% of the photos published in newspapers and magazines were B&W then with very few colour photos. For colour an M.F camera was used in 90% of the time like the Hasselblad 500C or the Pentax 67. So, it didn't matter if the lens exhibited a slight softness @ F1.4 or the C.A level was high, as it would have never shown up in a photo published in a magazine or newspaper, even in colour. The mission was to set the the Tri-X or the HP5 @ iso 800 and get the picture at any cost. These stuff that people constanly talk about these days, such as C.A or corner to corner sharpness or Coma are the ills of the digital sensors due to their nature. Film is a homogeneous analogue recording medium. A digital sensor is made up of millions of photosites or pixels, and these being in the order od a few microns in size with as large a gap between them split the incoming light and cause all sort of mayhem, so lenses for digital use are designed with every inch of the performance and correction squeezed out of them. Use these old film era lenses for what they are and forget all this nonsense about wide open sharpness and this and that. Photography is not about corner to corner sharpness or pixel peeping. I hope you didn't mind my little interjection.

As I recall, without batteries, you only have one mechanical shutter speed available. About 1/90th of a second? I'd rather grab my FM or FM2n.

No, I had two Nikon F3 Cameras, I was not fund of it, but my two Canon New F-1 Cameras are the best ever analogue 35mm SLR Camera ever made ! I will not even start to mention other film format Cameras, because there are better ones in other film formats !

It was an 80s icon….well for photographers anyways. Most of the 80s I was a wire service shooter as well as shooting for several dailies later in the decade. The F3 ruled the roost, and no,I did not own an F3, for I was….a Canon F1 shooter!!😊..Not an easy task in a Nikon world (but we would have our time to shine in the 90s, when Canon would dethrone Nikon). That said, I did play around with a colleague’s spare rig and even contemplated about defecting, especially since outfits were strictly Nikon only and a bit of peer pressure. But I held out, the 90s would be very different. Back then however switching from one system to another at the drop of a hat, unlike today was a monumental move and pricey. Regardless, the F3 was a great rig and brings back a lot of fond memories to this old Canon F1 shooter.

Here I am 4 years after you published this. How fun are you? You made a great video here!

Ich habe das 50mm 1.2 ais auch noch ganz neu und in ovp. Vor 10 Jahren gab es das noch als neu zu bekommen. Da hatte ich mir eins bestellt. 🎉

You just need to service, clean and re-grease the lens...Period...

Bikon 1:1:2.and 1:1:4 this lens fotographer choise sharp foto and Qulified fotographer use NIKON 35~~105.mm.1985 lens prise under 12 thousand and 1:1:4 prise us 1500 hunderd sakura colour film prise 35 rs Orow blackand white 15 Elford black and white 20 or 25.Metz CT 45.Gerameny 25 hunders

I saw a video recently that compared this lens to a Leica 35 1.4 Summilux and it was surprisingly sharper than that lens. I owned the f2 Ais version for years and loved but I found the 1.4 for $300 Canadian and jumped at it. At F2 the 1.4 is definitely sharper than the F2 and also has the CRC to help at close distances. It also has better flare control. It’s still my favourite lens and most used.Having a 9 blade aperture also helps the bokeh balls to look more rounded. All in all a great lens which is also the smallest 1.4 SLR lens on the planet. Great review and excellent b-roll and editing. I also own the 50 1.2 and I agree it is an awesome lens and really creamy wide open but super sharp at F2. Regards Gerry

I was in a camera store in Huntsville that has a near mint F3. They want $650 for it. I don't remember seeing a scratch anywhere on it. People have told me that's too much. I have seen "mint" condition bodies on ebay from Japan but I've heard what they refer to as mint is not what we call mint. I have a Canon AE-1 I bought in April. It's ok but I think I'd rather have the F3. I would sell the Canon but I don't want to spend $650 for that F3.

I have the Nikon 50 mm 1.8 ... I took it off a Nikon Em and I'm using the lens on my Nikon F4 .. the 50mm 1.8 it is Silky Smooth to focus

That iMac G4 though 🔥

ah, i see. Bro is a fan of the right side of the saturation slider

I've a copy of Nikon 50mm f:1.2 AIS. I bought it brand new in 2016. This is the Nokon's best 50mm lens. Yes, it's a manual focus lens which I use with my Nikon D810 DSLR but I've Nikon FM2 film camera as well. Monirul Islam Dhaka, Bangladesh. 18 Jun 2024

I'd take a Nikon FM2 any day over the F3 these days. I don't need all that extra crap. Just need a camera that does everything manually and nothing more.

bro messed up the Closed caption :(

Your thoughts on the 35mm F2 would be interesting? For me, it's quite a "funky" lens with poppy color.

You deserve one million follower only for this video. Sublime

This content is way to good to have less than 2k subs mate ! Great images and solid content

Dunno i already got milvus 50/1.4

I just got f5 for its afs compatibility and waist finder. But i plan on getting f3 mint after i sold my fg. I love street shoot. And waist is the best for street. Even better than rangefinder

great review of a great camera , really enjoyed your video , look forward to seeing more

brass, not steel though

All well and good, but there are now serious roadblocks to using film. And I should know as I started in the 1960s and have been with Nikon ever since. Film cameras are great to use and Nikon lenses are plentiful but the downsides are these. 1. Film costs a lot of money to buy and get developed. 2. Places where you can get film developed are becoming rarer and they charge more than $1 a shot. 3. Unless you own a darkroom with $3k worth of equipment, you will scan your negatives. So you are back to digital output anyway. And a good scanner can cost $800. If you use a digital camera to scan, then the output is from that camera, not the original film. So whats the point?

Great video. I enjoy my 3 Nikon F3 HPs too. Thank you RS Canada

Great review.

The FM3a was even more manually operable, and that wasn't even introduced until 2001.

Where did you get the roger deakins shirt lol?

Really bad audio... Sorry... Back button

For multiple exposures of overlapping subjects, it's best to set your EV to -1 (for 2 exposures), or -2 (for 3 exposures).

Very beautiful photos and video, thank you so much. I want to take my Nikon F3 to Kawaii with me and hope I can get beautiful photos like yours. I already subscribed your Chanel. Any suggestion about travel with film to get through Security and the airport?

F3 F3HP F3T F3P F3H F3AF F3L

I probably have more than 20 old MF Ai,Ais and none Ai Nikkor lenses. This one is one of my absolute favorite. Makes soft dreamy photos at f1.2 , perfect for Christmas snowy photos, then its super sharp, especially at F4. Lovely lens.

I couldn't agre more with title. I own m4, IIia, Mamiya 645j, But Nikon was made for pro not to be jewelery. This is tank. Anyway some idiots sey that it isnt pro becouse it has electronic shuter but. If You can have 20 roll of filn You can have battery to. 2001? Mi was from 2003 but heh it could stay in storage forawhile. Protip for wiewfinder from me. Snowboard sprey for glass. Protip 2 You can have custom back even with this window ;). What can i sey. It have F mount :3

Hi, such a great video. thanks for sharing. I had some questions, which F3 is the best? also is the Waist-level viewfinder mode with magnifier is included with the camera or do I have to buy that little open-up door seperately?

I really enjoyed watching this review. Usually reviewers will take photos of boring things like their cat or a vase. You actually showed what it is to use it in the real world with beautiful, artistic (meaningful) pictures. Subscribed.