DownUnder
Nikon Nomad
Quite likely so. It was so long ago...
Google tells me the Nikkormat FS had no meter. The FT had the fiddly finger-nail breaker sliding whatsit- the mechanism, I guess.
So yeh, I probably had an FT. This in 1974. Half a century ago. Woo!
As an aside to this, until a few years ago Ebay had zillions of Nikkormats on offer, usually at <$100 even with the legendary but nowadays considered as rather boring Nikkor 50/2.0. Just this week I went into Ebay for the first time in a long while, to check on what film cameras are available - and found none.
Was it just on that particular day? At any rate, my FT2s are now in need of new batteries. I must take them out and dust them off and put them through their paces. The wonderful thing about almost all (excepting the EL) older Nikkormats is, they go on doing what they do without a functioning meter. So entirely manual.
Last edited:
Hcompton79
Established
I'd agree one of the bigger foibles of the original Brownie (and early versions of the No.2 Brownie) was the detachable winding key. While it made the camera cheaper to make, they are easily lost and the camera is dead without one. When encountered today, they are often found missing the winding key. I was lucky enough to find this one with the winding key and finder in an antique store mixed in with a box of other assorted box cameras for $25.
People who have seen me around will also know I'm an Ektra fanboy. I've managed acquire and CLA two Ektra bodies with new curtains as well as acquire the 35mm f/3.3, 50mm f/3.5, 50mm f/1.9, 90mm f/3.5 and 135mm f/3.8 lenses. All the lenses are superb, and all are coated from the factory (although it's an interior soft-ish coating on pre-war examples). Mine have given me zero shutter troubles since they were overhauled and I have put a not insignificant number of rolls of film though them (probably 100+, which isn't a lot for a professional photographer, but quite a few for a hobbyist like me). Mine also both have the early style shutter which is supposed to be the more unreliable one FWIW.
The "left handedness" of them doesn't bother me. It took about 5 minutes to get used to it and now it's normal. The rangefinder is exceedingly accurate, it has an effective base length of 178mm. I also really like the variofocal viewfinder. It's really nice to just turn a dial when changing lenses rather than having to use an accessory viewfinder and having your FOV take up the full viewfinder image rather than having just a framed area like with projected framelines. The folding rewind crank on the bottom which automatically disconnects the film advance is also really sweet.
I also picked up an Exakta Varex VX recently with a 58mm f/2 Biotar. I haven't shot any film though it yet, though I quite like it. Coming from the Ektra, the "left handedness" is no problem, though I prefer the back cover mounted double stroke lever of the Ektra to the top mounted long throw lever of the Exakta.
People who have seen me around will also know I'm an Ektra fanboy. I've managed acquire and CLA two Ektra bodies with new curtains as well as acquire the 35mm f/3.3, 50mm f/3.5, 50mm f/1.9, 90mm f/3.5 and 135mm f/3.8 lenses. All the lenses are superb, and all are coated from the factory (although it's an interior soft-ish coating on pre-war examples). Mine have given me zero shutter troubles since they were overhauled and I have put a not insignificant number of rolls of film though them (probably 100+, which isn't a lot for a professional photographer, but quite a few for a hobbyist like me). Mine also both have the early style shutter which is supposed to be the more unreliable one FWIW.
The "left handedness" of them doesn't bother me. It took about 5 minutes to get used to it and now it's normal. The rangefinder is exceedingly accurate, it has an effective base length of 178mm. I also really like the variofocal viewfinder. It's really nice to just turn a dial when changing lenses rather than having to use an accessory viewfinder and having your FOV take up the full viewfinder image rather than having just a framed area like with projected framelines. The folding rewind crank on the bottom which automatically disconnects the film advance is also really sweet.
I also picked up an Exakta Varex VX recently with a 58mm f/2 Biotar. I haven't shot any film though it yet, though I quite like it. Coming from the Ektra, the "left handedness" is no problem, though I prefer the back cover mounted double stroke lever of the Ektra to the top mounted long throw lever of the Exakta.
Evergreen States
Pierre Saget (they/them)
Coming up on my first year with an XG-M and I can confirm it does meter in manual mode.
Evergreen States
Pierre Saget (they/them)
I've come around to bottom loading since coming into possession of my M3. Is it cumbersome and antiquated? Yeah. But I took to it very quickly. 5 rolls in and yet to have a false start. Can't say the same with my other 135 cameras, almost all of which end up taking me more time to load due to the leader slipping out of the slot on the take-up spool at least once before finally catching. Only 135 camera that takes the film without fuss is the Canonet G-III QL-17 with its quick load mechanism: just stretch the film over the rails, close the back and you're in business. My second roll in the M3 I loaded in less than a minute, furtively, to catch an approaching bus.
Out to Lunch
Menteur
Yep, I confirm the same experience. The Leicas are easy and quick to load, and I'm always struggling with the slip 'n slide Bessa's and Zeiss-Ikons. Cheers, OtL
Freakscene
Obscure member
My father told me that he became friends with Günther Leitz because, as a quite new optical-mechanical engineering graduate, and having seen a prototype Leica M3, my father asked Mr Leitz “why do you still need to half disassemble it to change the film?”
Marty
Out to Lunch
Menteur
oops.......
hilltime
Well-known
Even though I'll admit, the Konica IIIM is a bit ungainly in it's metered design, I love the quirkiness of it. I actually have two with working and accurate meters (for how long?). I also love Carl Zeiss Werra's......
Malcolm M
Well-known
M Leicas aren't proper bottom loading. The back hinges so you can see what you're doing, which takes away all the fun.
aw614
Established
With bottom loading, I can do it, but have had trouble getting the sprocket holes in the sprocket. On the Zorki it seems to catch in fine, but a few times on my other Barnack clones, for whatever reason I have trouble getting it in.
Muggins
Junk magnet
As do I, but they are definitely an engineering solution in search of a problem. That double shutter is pretty off the wall.
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
"What Were They Thinking?"
Anything with a rifle-stock aught to fit the bill
Leica Sabre Visoflex Camera Rifle Gun Stock
titrisol
Bottom Feeder
You made me chuckle, this is a great definition
The Leica III take-up spool can still easily skedaddle off to hang out with the Contax spool.
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
There are a lot of those out there. Looking at you, Zeiss Ikon.
Retro-Grouch
Mentor
"What Were They Thinking?"
Anything with a rifle-stock aught to fit the bill
Leica Sabre Visoflex Camera Rifle Gun Stock
Good luck taking that through airport security. "Please come with me, sir."
chuckroast
Well-known
The Department Of Homemade Security ... shudder. I once had those meatballs paw through a bag of Hasselblad stuff looking for .... a filter? A dark slide? I dunno. It was not fun.
I understand the need for- and the value of some level of security theater, but TSA does not give me the sense that they actually know what they're looking for.
dexdog
Mentor
There are stories online about the use of the Contax 18cm f2.8 at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where the camera and lens mounted on a rifle stock were confiscated by security forces. I get why someone would mount a big lens on a rifle stock, it would be a lot easier to hold steady. Same reason that it is a lot easier to shoot a rifle accurately than a pistol, especially at distance
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
And that's the thing about the FT Nikkormats -- the twitchy meter. Hard to find one of these cameras these days with a meter needle that doesn't jump around. I know; you don't need the meter for the camera to work, but it's really annoying, and I won't buy one if the meter is misbehaving. It's not as if these cameras are hard to find. I see two on Craigslist nearby right now.
And does anyone know how to fix the meter? I understand there's some sort of carbon track (?) that maybe can be cleaned and get the meter in working order, but how to get at it (and where it is, for that matter) I don't know.
chuckroast
Well-known
You can mildly improve this by running a drop of naptha into the seam of the shutter speed selector ring.