Yes, another one...

[brmill26]

Yup, I've got yet another classic camera. But before you certify me insane (presuming you haven't, yet), I didn't actually go looking for this one. My grandfather offered to give me all his old photography equipment, so of course I said yes. He wasn't ever a big photographer, but he spent his career at the Miami Herald as a reporter (culminating as Religion Editor for many years), so I figured he would have at least something decent. And luckily I was right.

It's a Nikkormat FT2. It's an all-metal, 100% manual SLR dating 1975-78. It does have an electronic coupled internal light meter, but other than that it's totally mechanical. He had 3 Nikon (Nikkor-Q) lenses: 50mm F/1.4, 35mm F/2.8, and 135mm F/2.8. He also had the full Cooper and Abbott Nikon F Nikkormat book - quite an impressive work, that.

Everything is in excellent condition; only one dent on the left corner of the camera. Otherwise, the appearance of everything is excellent, as is the operation. Focusing is manual, of course, via split screen and fresnel viewfinder. Aperture control is manual on the lens, shutter speed (from B to 1/1000) is via level on the body around the lens mount.

After some brief research, it appears this is one of the highest regarded mechanical SLRs. Hence, it was and is very popular. This thing is definitely built to last, and it feels every bit of it - this thing is HEAVY. Toss on the 135mm F/2.8 and I'd say it weighs nearly 2lbs (by comparison, the XTi body is ~500 grams).

So that brings my camera count up to 4. Three Japanese, one German. Two SLRs, one TLR, one folder. One digital, one 35mm, and two medium format 120 film. Each one has a different negative size; one 1.6x 35mm crop, one full frame 35mm, one 6x6, one 6x9.

Digital: Canon XTi
35mm: Nikon FT2
120 film: Ricohflex New Dia, Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2


In terms of use, the Zeiss will get very little just b/c it's the least practical and least useful b/c it's so old. The Ricohflex will probably continue to be used for occasional nature photography, as its sharp lens and the large focusing screen are very well suited to that. The Nikon, being entirely mechanical, has the advantage of being unaffected by rain (although it certainly isn't weather sealed). Really I don't know exactly what I'll use it for, but it does have some extremely nice optics. I could certainly see using the 135mm F/2.8 and some nice B&W film for portrait work - which may be my most common use for it. And thanks to its built in hotshoe, it can be used with my newly acquired off camera flash system.

[cameron665]

Good pick up Brad. Sounds like a nice kit. There is something about old film cameras that were made prior to the AF and auto exposure era. Give me a manual camera any day.

[Greg McCary]

It sounds like the glass is fast as well. My E3 is pretty heavy loaded up with the 14-54mm, but then I don't mind a heavy camera. I hope to see some pictures soon.

[Xia_Ke]

Very cool. Congrats on the new camera. I have a Nikkormat EL and it's a great "little" camera. Does the FT2 have the ss selector around the lens or is it a dial on top? I had an FT3 but, just couldn't get used to having the dial on the front so I sold it. This thread reminds me that I need to shoot some more 35mm. I've probably only shot 2 or 3 rolls in the past year because my Rolleis have become my go-to's. I'll be interested to hear how you like the 135mm f/2.8. I had the 3.5 version and the bokeh was a little funky for my taste but, the 2.8 is supposed to be much better.

[brmill26]

Thanks guys! Cameron, I'm with you, I love manual cameras. It's just a different (better, sometimes) experience.

Greg, I was pleasantly surprised with the speed of the glass too. In this case, they truly don't make like they used too. Seems there was so much fast glass back in the day, presumably, to me, b/c you couldn't just bump your ISO at the touch of a button, so to get the shot you needed some lens speed to help you out. I'm definitely looking forward to using that speed.

Aaron, it has the shutter speed on the ring in the front. When I first picked it up I had a hard time even finding it. It's definitely different. I suppose they figured people would adjust it w/ the camera up to their eye, looking at the indicator in the viewfinder, but from the outside of camera, it's definitely very awkward. Actually, the whole camera is an ergonomic nightmare. Comfortable to hold it certainly is not; it's far too skinny, hard edgy, and heavy to be comfortable. But, it certainly feels tough, that's for sure.

As to the Bokeh/quality of the lenses, I'm definitely interested to see how these older optics perform. I hope the 135 is decent, b/c like I said, I think it would make a great portrait lens. We shall see. I haven't shot a roll of 35mm in 5+ years; this will be the first 35mm camera of my own, though. I'll have to go get some film for it and start trying it out.