I too still use film fairly regularly albeit with a rangefinder camera now, my remaining Nikon film bodies don't get much use now. The latter seems to be doing a lot better right now than the former.Īs for the F6, there will always be ebay.And as for film, there is always Leica. The F6, from many accounts and not just yours, is the greatest 35 mm film SLR ever produced. I don't have, nor wish to have, an F6-too many bells and whistles for me (my other 4 film cameras are rangefinders, and only 1 of them has a light meter). I have 5 film cameras, including an Nikon FE from when it first came out. I hope to get many years of enjoyment from the last and greatest 35mm SLR camera ever made!
I just recently had my F6 CLA'd and fresh rubber installed. With recent financial troubles that Nikon is having, I'm not too surprised about the news though. The F6 had a good sixteen year run but I always hoped Nikon would keep it going just because it's the last of it's kind. The last of a great line of Nikon film cameras, end of an era. As of a couple weeks ago it was still listed as a current product.Īs of today, Nikon Japan now shows the F6 as 旧製品 which means "old product" and it's now listed with other archived products. In this top 35mm SLR there is only a few players to this high level : Canon, Leica (no AF), maybe we can say Contax RTSIII which is an other beast with Zeiss lens.Recently there were some rumors stating the F6 had been discontinued but I refused to believe it until it was stated on the Nikon Japan website. If you buy you can keep for ever, the cameras which have been recalled were recalled to match the material standard of EU, not a problem of quality ? I do not need AF, I trust my hands and my eyes. If we want 100 % good result on metering and focus with AF lens, this is the camera. This camera has only problem : it is heavy, despite lighther than F5, but heavy. This is one of the 10 best top analog camera, maybe the best one, if we want a camera which gives the opportunity to take pictures fast with all kind of film includind Velvia 50, it is well made like all Nikon and Nikon lens are nearly the best in the market with Zeiss, Leica, Schneider, some like some famous Ai-s are the best (28mm/2.8, Micro 55mm, 85/1.4, 105/2.5, … the lens from Zeiss or Leica will not add too much on real photography just difference of test). Decried by many stick-in-the-muds as being inferior to the F5 and F4 that came before it, the current design cues of Nikon’s full-frame DSLR range have not shifted much from that of the F6 for some 14 years. It embodies everything Nikon knew about making robust, reliable, and supremely usable cameras. Originally launched in 2004 - 45 years after the Nikon F - the F6 represented the pinnacle of 35mm film camera functionality and usability. Sadly, it looks like this will never be the case.
Some members of the film photography community even took signs of the F6’s continued production - shrouded under a cloak of mystery for years - as hope that there might eventually be a new Nikon F series camera on the horizon.
It seemed the writing might be on the wall when Nikon announced a global Nikon F6 product recall for 152 Nikon F6 cameras earlier this year but I, along with many other Nikon F6 owners and film shooters, were hoping that this was merely a blip that could be smothed over. It was a camera that would lay the groundwork for Nikon’s dominance in film cameras for the next 50+ years and spawned the Nikon M model (1949), Nikon S (1950), and eventually the S2, SP, and finally, the Nikon F. Nikon’s first, production, the Nikon Model I was released in March 1948, just two and a half years short years after the end of World War II. EMULSIVE Santa match confirmations have been sent out to this year's 850 players! If you have any questions about your match or the process, please reach out via Elfster ASAP.