whats this beast?

mattd85

mattd85

Suspended / Banned
Messages
5,812
Name
Matt
Edit My Images
Yes
hi all,

Could anybody tell me what this beast of an old school camera is? I've just inherited it lol. No name/model on it.





 
That's an original Nikon F with a plain prism and a 250 exposure back. There's also a motor drive - you'd hope so, given that back!

It's got Nikon all over it :thumbs: :)
 
freecom2 said:
That's an original Nikon F with a plain prism and a 250 exposure back. There's also a motor drive - you'd hope so, given that back!

It's got Nikon all over it :thumbs: :)
Click to expand...

Beat me to it :)


Nice.
 
At first I thought it looked like a stereo cam, but then you turned it around and it was obvious that these where film holders.

I guess freecom2 already nailed it :D

There is no model name because it's the first one.
 
freecom2 said:
That's an original Nikon F with a plain prism and a 250 exposure back. There's also a motor drive - you'd hope so, given that back!

It's got Nikon all over it :thumbs: :)
Click to expand...

Real newbie question but is that meaning bulk film so 250 frames of a single load or is 250 a film frame size thing?
 
Odd choice of lens - that lens is significantly newer than the camera, perhaps as much as 20 years.

250 frames of a single load, bulk reel loaded into it.
 
freecom2 said:
That's an original Nikon F with a plain prism and a 250 exposure back. There's also a motor drive - you'd hope so, given that back!

It's got Nikon all over it :thumbs: :)
Click to expand...

And a rather large F!

How the hell are you supposed to hold that and operate it with that contartion on the back?
 
Thanks lol, yea sorry I did see the nikon part lol, god knows how anybody used this thing, it weighs a ton!!
 
mattd85 said:
Thanks lol, yea sorry I did see the nikon part lol, god knows how anybody used this thing, it weighs a ton!!
Click to expand...

Bear in mind this was the late 50s/early 60s. There were very few ways of taking lots of photos for any kind of specialist purposes. For applications like scientific and commercial photography, it allowed a relatively seamless 250 shots to be taken - once the reel was loaded with that much film, anyway.
 
oooh....that looks sooo cool.
 
freecom2 said:
Bear in mind this was the late 50s/early 60s. There were very few ways of taking lots of photos for any kind of specialist purposes. For applications like scientific and commercial photography, it allowed a relatively seamless 250 shots to be taken - once the reel was loaded with that much film, anyway.
Click to expand...

Cool, I'm trying to google for some interesting facts but coming up short, sounds like a pioneering camera of its day?
 
There was a load of old Cokin filters with it aswel, no lens cap though lol.
 
mattd85 said:
Cool, I'm trying to google for some interesting facts but coming up short, sounds like a pioneering camera of its day?
Click to expand...

There's hundreds and thousands of pages dedicated to the camera (it was a legendary SLR, the first truly professional SLR system) - for that, you just want the "Nikon F".

For the weird back (which holds the 250 exposures of film), you want to read about the "F-250 back".

The motor drive, which is attached on the bottom of the body, is the "F-36 motor drive".
 
freecom2 said:
There's hundreds and thousands of pages dedicated to the camera (it was a legendary SLR, the first truly professional SLR system) - for that, you just want the "Nikon F". For the weird back (which holds the 250 exposures of film), you want to read about the "F-250 back". The motor drive, which is attached on the bottom of the body, is the "F-36 motor drive".
Click to expand...


Agh so this is a modification to the nikon F, this explains why I'm not seeing similar images on google. Wonder if I can get it cleaned up and working haha.
 
mattd85 said:
. Wonder if I can get it cleaned up and working haha.
Click to expand...

There's a handfull of us filmies meeting up in Leeds next tuesday ...bring it along, we'll help you get it working....I'll just bring additional film ( like loads of it! :D :D ) with me.
 
Canon had something similar I recall, based on the F1 I think.
 
Asha said:
There's a handfull of us filmies meeting up in Leeds next tuesday ...bring it along, we'll help you get it working....I'll just bring additional film ( like loads of it! :D :D ) with me.
Click to expand...

What time lol, I may be up for that work pending lol, quite a few small hairs and fibres in there by the looks of it but the camera itself and it's modifications all seem in really good condition :)
 
mattd85 said:
Agh so this is a modification to the nikon F, this explains why I'm not seeing similar images on google. Wonder if I can get it cleaned up and working haha.
Click to expand...

You can definitely see the shape of the Nikon F - you just have a few extra things bolted on. Also, the Nikon F had interchangeable prism heads so pictures of the same camera may have different prism heads.
 
I think they were favoured for sports photography?
 
Did it include the original back? If you don't shoot film you could be looking at a bit of money selling the camera and original back together and the bulk back on its own. Camera looks in good nick.

I am green, but then again my F2 cost me nought so can't complain - you win some you lose some.
 
Mr Bump said:
I think they were favoured for sports photography?
Click to expand...
Indeed, particularly motor sports, not because they were used at high fps but it meant you didn't have to keep reloading and miss the action.
 
freecom2 said:
You can definitely see the shape of the Nikon F - you just have a few extra things bolted on. Also, the Nikon F had interchangeable prism heads so pictures of the same camera may have different prism heads.
Click to expand...

I was looking for the whole thing in the images lol.
 
Mr Bump said:
I think they were favoured for sports photography?
Click to expand...

How cool! I can picture it in my head haha.

kenm said:
Did it include the original back? If you don't shoot film you could be looking at a bit of money selling the camera and original back together and the bulk back on its own. Camera looks in good nick. I am green, but then again my F2 cost me nought so can't complain - you win some you lose some.
Click to expand...

This is exactly how it come to me, with some old Cokin filters lol.
 
The F1 and FD lenses using slide film produced some wonderful image quality, Nikon's weren't bad either. Mainly it was down to the snappers, see Allsport agency
 
Last edited:
Well I don't know what Frames per sec for that model, but did test my Canon T70 at about 2.5 f\s and of the 5 shots I took, all came out perfectly exposed.....for a car speeding by.
 
excalibur2 said:
Well I don't know what Frames per sec for that model, but did test my Canon T70 at about 2.5 f\s and of the 5 shots I took, all came out perfectly exposed.....for a car speeding by.
Click to expand...

Any example pics ? Just to get a feel for what they may of been like from this great piece of history :)
 
mattd85 said:
Any example pics ? Just to get a feel for what they may of been like from this great piece of history :)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately for you, Brians example is completely irrelevant to your camera.
 
mattd85 said:
Chalk and cheese?
Click to expand...

Big style. Brians example is basically an EOS film body without the autofocus, so it's fully metered. Yours is a little more primitive.
 
Mr Bump said:
Just imagine though manual focus you would need that many shots to get a good one :lol:
Click to expand...

Decide which bit of track you want to take the pic, focus beforehand, and pan round until the cars(s) are at your focus point, fire shutter and job done.

ok, you need a bit of luck to get an great shot, but focusing and exposure not a problem.
 
mattd85 said:
Any example pics ? Just to get a feel for what they may of been like from this great piece of history :)
Click to expand...

Well they were all like taking one shot at a time, except the car was in different positions as it went by traveling at about 88ft per sec........it was only tests shots of some boring car and wouldn't know where I've kept the strip of negs.
 
4fps with mirror lockup

bet its even heavier with 25 foot of film in it...lol
 
Lol, well I've found a few good pages/websites to look at over the next few days, I've put the camera next to my cameras on the shelf, what a difference!! Haha!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top