Nikon F2

Greatest Mechanical SLR Ever?

Back in 1959, Nikon set the bar for a professional 35mm SLR with the release of the Nikon F. That camera took a lot of design cues from Nikon rangefinders that were popular at the time. And at the same time, released an entire catalog of new lenses and accessories to support this new SLR format. It was a rugged system that photojournalists and other pros would come to depend on for their livelihood throughout the 1960s. The Nikon F was a solid hit.

But…

During that decade – and as early as 1963! – Nikon was working on something even better. They realized that an SLR based heavily on rangefinder camera design wasn’t going to be the wave of the future. Rangefinder popularity was dwindling. SLRs were establishing themselves as the de facto kings of 35mm photography. And Nikon knew that in order to continue to dominate, they’d need to come up with something fresh. So in 1971, after a few years in development, they gifted the photo world with the F2.

The F2 wasn’t just an upgraded F. As a matter of fact, Nikon almost named it the Nikon G. It was a brand new design with brand new features. And even though it was new, it still fit in quite comfortably with all of the lenses and accessories that had made the F such a useful photographic tool. I’ll say that Nikon’s devotion to the philosophy of non-obsolescence – especially when looking at it now – was a tremendous asset to the company and the design directions it would eventually make over the next few decades.

So what makes the F2 different from the F? Well, there are a few things: 

A lot of the internals with the shutter and wind mechanism have been upgraded. And you have an expanded range of shutter speeds from 1/2000 second all the way to 10 seconds with a 1/80 second flash sync. We now have a hinged back that simplifies loading and unloading film. A much more refined metered prism design. And a subtle-but-important change of moving the shutter release to better match the position of your index finger when in use. On the F (and the rangefinder bodies it was based on) the shutter release feels to be positioned a little too far toward the back of the camera. So on the F2, it was moved forward. And the meter on/off switch was also incorporated into the wind lever. 

Now since the camera is fully mechanical, the batteries only power the meter. And this is also where we’ll find that it deviates from the F. On the F Photomic finders, the battery was a 1.3v Mercury battery that was installed in the finder itself. On the F2, the batteries are housed in a compartment on the bottom plate AND are 2 1.5v silver oxide. So modern batteries are no problem for the F2.

The body corners are a bit more rounded and smooth. The weight has increased a bit, as well. The F2 body without any prism weighs in at 628 grams, while the F is only 600 grams. Adding the appropriate photomic prism for each of these will increase the overall weight about 200 grams for each. This fact, when taking into consideration that Nikon developed the F2 with a LOT of feedback from users, sort of leads to the conclusion that pro users, at least, didn’t care much about the overall weight.

As for features of the F that the F2 kept, you have 100% viewfinder coverage, interchangeable focusing screens (the same ones, by the way), interchangeable finders, titanium-foil shutter curtains, and mirror lock-up. And all of the flexibility and durability of the F – just to name a few.

There are also accessories that fit both cameras. The focusing screens (as I just mentioned), eyepiece correction lenses, right-angle finders, and a 6x magnification finder to name a few. In reality, any of the F2 finders will fit on a Nikon F if you remove the Nikon nameplate from the F body. But since the F2 finders themselves don’t include the battery, they’d be inoperable on the F.

Now we can’t talk about cameras of the 1970s without acknowledging the huge improvements in camera technology that occurred during that decade. And we can’t talk about the Nikon F2 without mentioning how that evolving technology was put to use throughout the camera’s production life. There are several versions of the camera that illustrate this. And most of the changes and improvements focused on the viewfinder and methods of metering. This sort of gets confusing, so bear with me.

The original F2 in 1971 could’ve been had two ways: with the plain unmetered prism or the DP-1 Photomic prism which used a Cadmium Sulfide cell for the meter. That’s what I have here, and it can meter from EV 1 – EV 17.

In 1973, the F2S Photomic became available. The F2S meter prism (known as the DP-2) used a Silicon Photo Diode cell and LEDs for the meter. The result was a more sensitive meter with expanded range (EV minus 2 – EV 17) and better use in low-light situations due to the exposure info being displayed by the LEDs instead of the usual needle – which you just can’t really see in the dark.

This new prism also allowed use of a special accessory – the DS-1 aperture control attachment which gives the camera shutter-priority auto-exposure.

In 1976, the F2SB was manufactured for less than a year. It used a DP-3 prism which is similar to the one used for the F2AS – which we’ll get to in a minute.

In 1977, the F2A using a new DP-11 needle-based prism became available to make use of the new Ai-lenses. These lenses transferred aperture info to the camera by a tab on the lens aperture ring instead of a coupling prong. So that prong interface was removed from the F2A prism.

Also in 1977, the F2AS – which used yet another prism (the DP-12) was released. Similar to the F2S with the DP-2 prism, this one uses the Silicon cells and LEDs to deliver metering info. AND would also interface with the DS-12 aperture control accessory, making the F2AS capable of shutter-priority auto-exposure.

Confusing, I think. But let me try to simplify. Throughout the F2’s production there were basically four different meters. Two of those meters used the old aperture-coupling prong to operate. Two of them didn’t. And in each of these categories (coupling prong versus no coupling prong), one of the meters used the needle-based metering system, and one used LEDs.

 All in all, there’s really nothing I can think of to make me dislike the F2. And as great as the original “F” was, the F2 is that much better. It still has all the ruggedness and great build-quality of the F while being much more refined. The shape is more comfortable to hold. The repositioning of the shutter release is much better. And the wind-on just sorta zips perfectly from frame to frame. The hinged back is a major upgrade, and makes it a lot less complicated to load and unload film. And of course the F2 can make use of most of the myriad of accessories that had been produced already for the F – focusing screens included.

If I had any gripe, it would just be that I have the original DP-1 prism that requires the little meter coupling prong on the lenses. But if I had the final prism design – the DP-12 – with LEDs and auto-indexing for the aperture, I don’t think it could get much better. Those that say this is the finest mechanical 35mm SLR ever produced may be on to something.

Check out the video below for the review and photo shoot in Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks.