I just bought a thing...

Tom Pinchenzo

Tom Pinchenzo

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So I've been lurking in ebay for a while now on a hunt for a Nikon F80. It seems lots of F80 owners think they're worth more than they are with 'body only' listing starting at around £80. I found a body and 28-80mm af lens and managed to bag it for £45. The best part is they threw in three rolls of Superia 400 and three rolls of Tri-x! Only down side is it's the slightly uglier silver version...

Has anyone used an f80?? What can I expect? I've never used an autofocus film camera before so I'm excited to get my hands on it. Also haven't shot 35mm in ages...
 
If you ever used a D70, the F80 will be fairly familiar. Great body for the price they can be had for these days. I got a fair bit more for mine when I traded it in against some Fuji d*g*t*l stuff a couple of years ago.
 
I think you've got a good deal with that! The F80 was the first film camera I bought after inheriting my grandads older equipment and getting into the analogue world. I bought it primarily because it meant I could shoot with my current Nikon glass but is a very capable & reliable camera. They can suffer with the classic nikon sticky back but an easy fix if you get that problem. My biggest bug bare with it was it meters in 1/2 not 1/3 stops - in the real world that doesnt really make any difference but used to really irritate me when im so used to working in thirds. haha.
 
I used to own an F80 about 15 years ago. Loved it. I thnk I even bought another about 10 years ago, but again ended up selling it for some reason. Great camera in any case, and perfectly capable. Sounds like you got a good result at that price as well!
 
Jan has an f80 and she really likes it, lightweight and efficient pop some good glass on it and your onto a winner.
I got ours for postage on here as it had the famous sticky back but a couple of rub downs with some isopropyl alcohol and it came up like new.
 
Simon Tickle said:
I think you've got a good deal with that! The F80 was the first film camera I bought after inheriting my grandads older equipment and getting into the analogue world. I bought it primarily because it meant I could shoot with my current Nikon glass but is a very capable & reliable camera. They can suffer with the classic nikon sticky back but an easy fix if you get that problem. My biggest bug bare with it was it meters in 1/2 not 1/3 stops - in the real world that doesnt really make any difference but used to really irritate me when im so used to working in thirds. haha.
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Similar reason to why I bought this one. I’ve been using a Pentax ME super but that’s developed a problem so instead of getting it repaired for £60 I thought I’d get a Nikon and use my Nikon lenses. I can’t afford slide film so half stops aren’t an issue :)
 
I have one, and the 28-80mm too. The lens is a bit plasticky, but it takes nice sharp photos. My entry in this month's FPOTY comp was taken with this camera / lens combo.

The camera is nice to use and has lots of functionality. Plus it allows full aperture control on G lenses, which is useful if you have any.

My Flickr gallery of shots taken with the camera is here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fishyfish/albums/72157702884358562
 
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I've got an F80 and had always wanted an F100, but the reality is that the F80 has almost as much as I need, except for possibly fast moving AF. I went for a second F80 instead, so that's black body for b&w, silver for colour, mix and match lenses and only the one type of battery to carry round with me. Not many excuses left then ...........
 
Peter B said:
I've got an F80 and had always wanted an F100, but the reality is that the F80 has almost as much as I need, except for possibly fast moving AF. I went for a second F80 instead, so that's black body for b&w, silver for colour, mix and match lenses and only the one type of battery to carry round with me. Not many excuses left then ...........
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You weren't interested in the F90x then?
 
excalibur2 said:
You weren't interested in the F90x then?
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No Brian, I just wanted to make things really simple as I was fed up checking different buttons/operations on different cameras. Celebrating the differences between cameras should be restricted to MF, rather than 35mm, obviously my extremely humble opinion. ;)
 
Peter B said:
as I was fed up checking different buttons/operations on different cameras.
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Indeed good point Peter as I have the same problem using different more advanced cameras...even checking the manual on how to rewind the film :confused:
 
excalibur2 said:
Indeed good point Peter as I have the same problem using different more advanced cameras...even checking the manual on how to rewind the film :confused:
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That's one problem of the F80 as there isn't a menu option to leave the leader out on rewind for home processing. Just a bit of practice with the old leader retrieval tool. (y)
 
FishyFish said:
I have one, and the 28-80mm too. The lens is a bit plasticky, but it takes nice sharp photos. My entry in this month's FPOTY comp was taken with this camera / lens combo.

The camera is nice to use and has lots of functionality. Plus it allows full aperture control on G lenses, which is useful if you have any.

My Flickr gallery of shots taken with the camera is here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fishyfish/albums/72157702884358562
Click to expand...

It's arrived! Genuinely thought the lens must be broken based on how it felt. Loaded it onto my D610 and turns out it's just old and cheap but takes great images, as you said! Just need to get some batteries for the F80 and I'll be away.
 
Tom Pinchenzo said:
It's arrived! Genuinely thought the lens must be broken based on how it felt. Loaded it onto my D610 and turns out it's just old and cheap but takes great images, as you said! Just need to get some batteries for the F80 and I'll be away.
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Looking forward to seeing some results from it! What sort of thing do you usually shoot? (appreciating that we're currently in lockdown, of course :))
 
Woodsy said:
Looking forward to seeing some results from it! What sort of thing do you usually shoot? (appreciating that we're currently in lockdown, of course :))
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Batteries won’t arrive until Monday so more waiting for me :( I might have some fun with the lens while I wait so might post some images from the lens. I mostly shoot people (friends and family) and landscapes but usually landscape in digital and people in film :)
 
Peter B said:
That's one problem of the F80 as there isn't a menu option to leave the leader out on rewind for home processing. Just a bit of practice with the old leader retrieval tool. (y)
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Sorry to doubt you but are you sure? I used to have one and an F65 and I'm sure one of them had the option and since the 80 is the better body, I thought it would be that.
 
Nod said:
Sorry to doubt you but are you sure? I used to have one and an F65 and I'm sure one of them had the option and since the 80 is the better body, I thought it would be that.
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The manual has Custom Setting #1 as either auto rewind or 2 button manual start rewind. The only other rewind one is #13 with the options of High speed rewind or Quiet (slower) rewind. I'd be really pleased to be wrong if anyone knows different? :thinking:
 
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No they definitely don't have the option to leave the leader out, unfortunately.
 
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Tom Pinchenzo said:
Batteries won’t arrive until Monday so more waiting for me :( I might have some fun with the lens while I wait so might post some images from the lens. I mostly shoot people (friends and family) and landscapes but usually landscape in digital and people in film :)
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I hope you have many friends and a huge family or you will run out of targets very soon :runaway:
 
simon ess said:
By the way, that lens is a real sleeper. And, it will not flare. Point it into or near the sun as much as you like.
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I had to google 'sleeper' but I have to agree with you. After the build-quality made me thing it was a dud (it felt like a toy lens!) I was pleased with these results (shot RAW with no sharpening on 24mp (sorry, digital shots :eek: but relevant to the original thread!:

Test 1 by Tom Pinches, on Flickr

Test 2 by Tom Pinches, on Flickr

test 3 (wide open) by Tom Pinches, on Flickr

Test 4 by Tom Pinches, on Flickr
 
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Tom Pinchenzo said:
So I've been lurking in ebay for a while now on a hunt for a Nikon F80. It seems lots of F80 owners think they're worth more than they are with 'body only' listing starting at around £80. I found a body and 28-80mm af lens and managed to bag it for £45. The best part is they threw in three rolls of Superia 400 and three rolls of Tri-x! Only down side is it's the slightly uglier silver version...

Has anyone used an f80?? What can I expect? I've never used an autofocus film camera before so I'm excited to get my hands on it. Also haven't shot 35mm in ages...
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It's a lot of camera for the money! Smaller, quieter and lighter than the F100. Decent AF with the centre point, which has a cross-type sensor. The peripheral focus points have line sensors that aren't quite as effective and can hunt a bit. As much modern lens compatibility as you'll get with a film camera (doesn't work with AF-P or electronic aperture 'E' lenses, but AF-S, G and VR will be fine). An SB-600 or SB-800 flash will work well with both the F80 and your dSLR. Can't go wrong with those films, especially as they make the camera and lens almost free!
 
Batteries have arrived and it seems to be in good working order! I keep thinking the shutter speed is really slow but the noise it makes when you press the shutter is also the auto-wind. I kind of miss thumbing the next frame on! I don’t miss trying to autofocus on my erratic toddler! Looking forward to getting the film dev’d...
 
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