Nikon 8008s

tennis-joe

tennis-joe

Well-known
Local time
7:00 PM
Joined
Mar 21, 2008
Messages
359
A number of years ago I purchased a Nikon 8008s along with various lens and I loved it. Then I got into RF cameras and it has been in my camera cabinet ever since. Now looking on Ebay I see them offered for about $40-$50 and I am wondering whey they have been dumped so low?
 
I don't have much experience with N8008 although I have an N80, also a "cheap" camera but punches way above it's weight.
 
The N8008s is a great camera. I wanted one badly when I was a high school kid, but they were very expensive back then. It was widely used by pros who didn't want to pay the high price for the top of the line F4 and wanted something less heavy and bulky.

The low price now is common to old AF SLR cameras; they're not collected like Leicas so they're not 'worth' much money. That's a good thing for those of us who buy cameras to shoot with!
 
There is no real reason why they are cheap. Influencers haven't discover it yet possibly.

There is a big difference between the N8008 and the N8008s though - the "s" is much closer to the F90 than it is to the original N8008.

I have been using one for years - I wrote my experience with it in here:
filmretriever.blogspot.com

Nikon F801s

filmretriever.blogspot.com filmretriever.blogspot.com
 
That was the first camera I bought new using my employee discount. Still have it though I haven't shot it in a very long time. Probably ought to for old time sake. The rubber covering has probably gone very sticky at this point.
 
shawn said:
That was the first camera I bought new using my employee discount. Still have it though I haven't shot it in a very long time. Probably ought to for old time sake. The rubber covering has probably gone very sticky at this point.
Click to expand...
Really? That's very unusual. The F801s is not known to suffer from it.
 
The AF ‘consumer’ Nikons are practically free nowadays. I plan to acquire all of them and then get Kendall Jenner to pose with one… :cool:

Seriously, great cameras. I like my plastic Nikon N80, so light and small. F100 used to be my fave but now it’s the F80/N80.

Just watch for sticky back syndrome…
 
I have two. One is still digital, the other one used to be.
DCS200ir and DCS200c. The 200c back died, so i bought an MF-20 for it.
 
All this talk about the N80 being light weight, here I am thinking it was heavy compared to my Maxxum 5 :ROFLMAO:

There is a fix for the broken latch that I bought recently on ebay (but cheaper elsewhere), it cost more than the sticky, but mint N80 body I picked up at a flea market for 20 bucks lol.
 
Yeah, the 8008s and the F-801 are way undervalued . I bought mine about 4 years ago as my Xmas gift to myself. I paid $8 for a "good" one. I had a Sigma 28-80 a friend had given me along with a 6006 and later found a Tamron 80-200 zoom for $19 in a camera store.
 
The 8008 changed my way of thinking regarding automation. A friend of mine worked in our local photo supply and kept trying to get me into a couple of F4’s but I resisted and stuck with my F3 HP and F3P. At least until the 8008 came out.

A used one came into the shop one day and I happened to be there picking up film. I picked it up and fiddled with it some and then said what the heck. The price was right so I bought it as a trial to see how I’d get along with automation.

I think my first one was actually a non s and a few months later I traded it for a clean s. I used it as a backup for my F3’s but soon realized I could use the features of the F4.

Next think you know I sold my F3’s and bought a pair of F4’s. I didn’t rely on the auto functions but it was there when I needed them. I shot many thousands of rolls through them and eventually moved up to F5’s and F100’s as backups before going digital.

The 8008s was a very good camera. I put quite a bit of film through it and it was 100% reliable. It wasn’t perfect but it was a great intro into what was to come.
 
x-ray said:
The 8008 changed my way of thinking regarding automation. A friend of mine worked in our local photo supply and kept trying to get me into a couple of F4’s but I resisted and stuck with my F3 HP and F3P. At least until the 8008 came out.

A used one came into the shop one day and I happened to be there picking up film. I picked it up and fiddled with it some and then said what the heck. The price was right so I bought it as a trial to see how I’d get along with automation.

I think my first one was actually a non s and a few months later I traded it for a clean s. I used it as a backup for my F3’s but soon realized I could use the features of the F4.

Next think you know I sold my F3’s and bought a pair of F4’s. I didn’t rely on the auto functions but it was there when I needed them. I shot many thousands of rolls through them and eventually moved up to F5’s and F100’s as backups before going digital.

The 8008s was a very good camera. I put quite a bit of film through it and it was 100% reliable. It wasn’t perfect but it was a great intro into what was to come.
Click to expand...
Nikon got quite a bit of criticism regarding the performance of the matrix system on the F801 and (mostly) the F4 in the early-mid 90s. The metering brought forward by Minolta and canon that linked the focusing points to zones was deemed more accurate.

Popular Photography did a comparison between 17 AF SLRs and confirmed it - the F801 and F4 had a tendency to over-expose (the F4 sometimes by 1.5 stops). I did my own comparison with 7 cameras (link here) and got similar results. The F90 was more consistent (within slide film latitude) whilst the F801 and F4 were within colour film latitude. The stars of the test were the EOS-5 and the Minolta 9xi. The camera that performed the best was.. ... The Sigma SA300 !

In all honesty, I love the pictures coming out of the F4. I shoot b&w and they don't need any fixing in GIMP. My experience with it is that it can deal with anything I throw at it. Same applies to the F801s, they have similar systems.

ScanImage642.jpg
 
Last edited:
Word on them being "dumped" hasn't it seems reached across the pond UK evil-bay has them around £200 to £300 :devilish: , no that many zeros is correct. "plain" N8008 yes, "cheap as chips" as we say although that's no longer ringing true given recent food price inflation.
 
I am very happy with my F-801s which came to me as a “free” rear cap on a Nikkor AF 24-50mm - which itself was cheap.
It is an excellent and well conceived camera but for those seeking a film experience, I suspect those 1990’ cameras resembles current DSLR’s too much and provides too little of a tactile experience which I think many new-to-film seeks - if they opt for an SLR that is - and don’t go the pocket size P&S route.
 
Honestly, I never really looked at them in the day as I was too busy lusting after either the F4 or the Canon EOS Elan.

These days, the F90 & F4 suit me well.
 
p.giannakis said:
There is no real reason why they are cheap. Influencers haven't discover it yet possibly.
Click to expand...
The cool kids are overpaying for cameras like the Pentax K1000 while passing up fully-featured marvels like the N8008S.

I never had an 8008 but I did buy a N90S brand-new in 1996. It was about a thousand dollars which was a tough pill to swallow. Almost thirty years later it still hasn't missed a beat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top