Camera Geekery: The Nikon F3/T

[@xjr1618x]

I just found a brand new f3T on eBay. Pristine, even the original box, manual, everything. Can’t wait to start shooting with it.

[@ridethree]

I have a standard F3 and I love it to death. Definitely one of the best cameras ever made

[@TorToroPorco]

I have a “champagne” F3T and it is my favourite camera as well in terms of aesthetics. Second on my list is my FM2T. Ball bearings galore. The F3 was very energy efficient, practically ran forever with the MD4 motor drive attached to supply power.

[@alexandreboyenval3140]

I own a F3 hp and a FM2, I agree with your choice! :-)

[@BobbySnaps]

That video of you and Kai shopping put the F3 On my radar years ago. Now it's my daily film camera and I purchased it from your shop. It's a dream to shoot.

[@janvitik4406]

I bought my F3 because of your old video! Absolutely love it since then. Thanks ;)

[@japancamerahunter]

Great to hear!

[@xccude]

I'm so blessed to have purchased a near mint f3. Never going to sell it.

[@lukashanke_]

Same here!

[@Jayysam95]

@@lukashanke_ same! wasn't cheap but it looks brand new.

[@funkyuk1]

Nice. I used to covet a black one of these from the camera shop window on my walk home from school in the 1980s 👍🏼

[@PhilOsGarage]

Also fun fact, that's why surgical implants are made of titanium. Once it's been in there for about 10 years it can never be removed, making the patient technically less than 100% human (cyborg). Great review of a legendary camera.

[@sjohnston1157]

I shot with an F3 for the first 12 years of my career as a Crime Scene Photographer and never really appreciated how good a camera it is. Working in all conditions and environments it just kept on going flawlessly. I still have it and now appreciate just how good it is and how well it’s designed. It looks great with several battle scars which have a story behind each one. I’m going to make a point of shooting more personal stuff with it again.

[@japancamerahunter]

Glad to hear it, they are workhorses. I know one guy who has literally put tens of thousands of rolls through one as a press photographer. He has had it since the 80's and shot several superbowls on it. Now he shoots pipemasters and it is still going strong.

[@TheOnlyLarsson]

F3/T version looks great, I have a standard F3 from late 81 with a 50mm 1.8 pancake on it. Really great setup!

[@mistylandschaft]

Nice 2:00 Edo Memorial Archiecture Museum near where I lived - I have profound memories of spending a day there with friends! Good to see you going strong JCH! Greetings From GER.

[@ZeptonicScientist]

I love these videos, your description sells me on every camera you showcase :D

[@japancamerahunter]

Thank you!

[@CertainExposures]

I wish the FM had such an accessible focusing screen so I could clean it! As close to perfection as you can get I suppose. Nice video

[@SISSI_LU]

Wow you should make another video with Kai Wong again!!

[@japancamerahunter]

If Kai is down then I am down.

[@JoeLopez]

I love this video. My black T is my GoTo 35mm SLR.

[@davidsameshima1184]

I still have my F3/T Champaign body, purchased new around 1983. Surprisingly it also became my favorite Nikon, after the FTN. Still own a couple of FTN’s. I am fortunate enough to also have a F3P body, purchased new around 1984.

[@terrygoyan]

I shot with a F-3 HP for years. the only thing I didn't like about the camera was the flash mount. That being said I did like the ability to change view finders. For the mushroom photography I was doing at the time, the waist level finder was awesome! That was something that bothered me about the F-6. Nikon should have made those view finders interchangeable as well. The 6 was an extremely refined camera body with the quietest shutter of any SLR camera I've ever used. That combined with excellent auto-focus and metering made it my favorite nikon film body.

[@NicJohnson]

Great video, guys. I really enjoy this style of content. I'd love if you'd be able to slightly more in depth video that might have a little longer runtime. I'd really love to hear some of the insight and history that you might be able to provide on certain cameras related subjects that you've gained over the years. Things like the history of Leica, the story of the Nikon F series, or why people like the Ricoh GR series so much. I'm sure it would take a lot of effort, but if there's anyone to make content like that, it's you guys. Thanks so much.

[@gewglesux]

Thanks JCH!!!

[@japancamerahunter]

Thank you too!

[@junieencoy4186]

i bougth my nikon F3/t recently from the grandson who sold this after the death of the owner,his grandfather this is my ist champaign nikon f3 so far and i love it.

[@crispin8888]

Very nice video. My Nikon favourite is the FM, for reasons of nostalgia. And thank you for the health warning. It is tempting. With or without Marmite.

[@albertmeyer8983]

Nice vid, Mr Hunt. Impressive camera. Prices are not to high for a Nikon F3. Just maybe something to look out for! Cheers!

[@japancamerahunter]

Thanks for watching

[@photopia8447]

Beautiful camera, but the video setting is GORGEOUS!

[@japancamerahunter]

Thank you!

[@Fat-totoro-cat]

Pros: Its an F3 Cons: the LCD meter display is said to be prone to failure (I had to fix mine) and some prefer the match needle display of something like the F2 or even FE

[@JoeLopez]

Prone to failure?

[@terrywbreedlove]

I prefer the meter on my Fe over the one in my F3 HP. So much easier to see and read and make exposure settings

[@alanstoss]

How did you fix your F3's display? Mine is fading on some of the lines but you can still know the shutter speed. I read somewhere that spare LCD parts aren't available anymore from Nikon.

[@Fat-totoro-cat]

@@alanstoss I got a replacement on ebay many years ago and replaced it myself. You dont need to dismantle the whole camera to get to it.

[@alanstoss]

@@Fat-totoro-cat unfortunately those LCD replacement aren't available anymore. Nikon stopped producing many years ago. I also tried Ebay and couldn't find any.

[@aag24]

Absolutely agree - I have my mother’s old F3T, the black version. So reliable and feels so solid. (You and Kai are the finest purveyors of knob jokes on KZbin).

[@gewglesux]

Was that video on this channel? or was it on the old Dig Rev channel?

[@terrygoyan]

Funny, I just saw Sean Penn in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Funny thing, he was photographing snow leopards with, yes an F3T! It was attached to what I believe may have been a 300 f/2.8 AFS lens. Definitely an autofocus lens. Seemed like an odd ball pairing!

[@iphoneupdate]

Kai Wong is a legend, remember that episode 🤣

[@funkyuk1]

I had to rewatch this, looking for Bellamy making a KaimanW knob gag 👍🏼

[@PhilOsGarage]

Me too, it was fantastic

[@DiggingForFacts]

@@funkyuk1 "Is that how you lug your cameras around?"

[@ZisisKardianos]

Thank you for the great video. Here's a question if you don't mind. Does the high point eyepiece on the F3HP make a significant difference over the non HP version for people shooting with glasses?

[@japancamerahunter]

Yes, it definitely makes a difference.

[@stuartbaines2843]

Black F3/T is a Classic 👍

[@alanstoss]

Great camera but the LCD on mine started to fade some of the lines. Would you know a place still servicing that LCD?

[@terencemorrissey4413]

I have a black F3T, plan to purchase some Zeiss Otus lenses in the near future.

[@Throwawayyourtime]

I've got one in Black, would be nice to have one of my birth year (82) I would swap it for a F2T though!

[@Johnybulletproof]

amazing Camera , i need one soon . I believe your accent makes the Words " TITANIUM SHUTTER" sound Beautiful . i could hear it all day long . =D thanks for your video and this amazing camera .

[@lalik_os427]

great video i like your T-shirt

[@japancamerahunter]

Thank you!

[@ronaldsand3000]

Nice one Bellamy 👍

[@jvladcliff4083]

Great fucking camera, love my F3, never will sell.

[@ericjhaber]

I just took a look in my f3/t and it doesn’t look like the shutter is titanium, rather it looks cloth. Am I missing something?

[@TheHomemadeCameraPodcast]

Bellamy is about to fight E. Honda at 2:33

[@japancamerahunter]

Hadouken!

[@juandelpozo5302]

Mr. Hunt, what is your opinion between the Nikon F3 and the Nikon FM2?

[@alexandreboyenval3140]

If I may, as a user of both models, the F3 is a pro camera, which means that its manufacturing tolerances are extremely tight. We can compare its use with that of a Leica M in terms of smoothness and feel. And it can be used in automatic exposure mode. the FM2 is a tank, incredibly reliable, but the feeling is much more rustic, the viewfinder much less clear than that of an F3 and of course it does not have A mode. The noise of the trigger is much less pleasant, even if it will probably never fail. Your best bet is to try both and choose which one you prefer. :-)

[@RabidNemo]

I have this but in black it was my dad's, I also have the motor drive for it

[@gregorycustodio3987]

War photographers from the Vietnam war era preferred shooting Nikon camera’s 📷 do to it’s performance and build quality.

[@scottgmaclean]

Hi - if you could partner this camera with ONE lens, what would it be?

[@cybermike-exe]

do the F and F2!!!

[@Funktrainer]

The F2 is still my favorite SLR of all times. I own three of them with the MD-2s. The hardest to kill camera on the planet so far.

[@-------8282]

A little question, my F3T has a name printed on it and on the Md4 motor i got with it. Was this a thing that people did? Its in pretty mint condition.

[@japancamerahunter]

It is. Come people liked to put their name or details on the camera. Some news agencies did too. Thanks

[@-------8282]

@@japancamerahunter amazing, thank you for the reply :)

[@Coconut7403]

Could you also do the press edition?

[@limpingcow]

I think its the greatest camera if all time. They were used by NASA in space missions. Adam Savage does a great video about on Tested's Channel.

[@caldera878]

The Canon New F-1 is surely next, right?

[@japancamerahunter]

If one comes in then yeah. It is really dictated on what we have around at the time.

[@GattaoraStudios]

I prefer the Canon F1’s but I think they suffer from the same issue of being too basic as well compared to other modern cameras at the time

[@AldermanFredCDavis]

I see this often. Never held or used a Canon F1. What make you prefer the F1 over the Nikon F3?

[@Kodachrome40]

The F3T went up in the space shuttle.

[@thedondeluxe6941]

This video did nothing at all to cure my GAS for this camera... or the lens😄

[@TheRealMarxz]

Bet it doesn't hurt as much as dropping an F4s on your foot... still regret selling my F3 in the late 90's but now happily own an F1 and a Nikkormat FTN (both with "history" from being used by a NY photojournalist who covered Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma in the 1970's with them and became one of the earliest eco-journalists in Australia covering environmental actions such as the Franklin dam actions), Still I might add a F3 to the camera cupboard accretion for nostalgia reasons.

[@colinjones7047]

love my f3 to death :)

[@jonnyem.8859]

I notice the chrome-looking F3/T's all look scuffed; must have a delicate coating. If I got a "T", it would definitely be black, for this reason alone. I don't imagine ever getting even a black one, as my vintage 1980's F3 doesn't act like it is ever going to die...

[@corunseen]

I wonder If JCH would ever introduce a Minolta SRT?

[@japancamerahunter]

If I see one.

[@corunseen]

@@japancamerahunter 👌🏼

[@marcelocampoamor4761]

@@japancamerahunter Hard not to see them, they are everywhere, many of them like new. A little clumsy in its design but with time they seem more and more beautiful to me. I have five SRT 101s, I bought them to have spare parts in the future, but for now all 5 still work without problems. The SRT 303 is a beauty too.

[@Antnie]

Regret selling my f3. Maybe I’ll find another someday.

[@edmondfromyt9764]

Epic

[@stevenpam]

Beautiful camera, but needs more knob jokes

[@japancamerahunter]

I shall give it some thought. The knob jokes I mean.

[@njc2o]

Did you buy all that canned whale meat super collectible

[@LEgoiste]

Only the highest quality parts, whale meat and Asahi too...