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Julian Tanase Photography

My Minox journey continues…

Nikkormat FT3 Black – the short of it

Nikkormat FT3 Black – the short of it

Been happy with my Nikkormat FT, really great camera. It joined me in quite a few of my adventures (read business trips), but I relegated it to the collection for now. It still works great, so this is not the reason why I did that. True, the Nikon shuffle can be quite a thing of the past, and one could do well to remember that lens switch back and forth every tIme a lens is replaced with another on the FT. ASA setting , which is a nail breaking feature, can be another thing of annoyance. I am not complaining, God forbid, this is all right, because this is what one get into when one uses a Nikkormat FT.

There is a simple explanation: my eyes are not what they used to be, and I started to have serious issues with the focusing on this camera. The screen is not a split image, and it cannot be changed to one. This means that my eyes really struggle (at times) to get the scene in focus. This annoys me to a greater extent than you can imagine: load a good film, have a nice scene but focus is getting al over the place.

And so enters the Nikkormat FT3, black version. a definite excellent example of prosumer cameras line made by Nikon, here fitted with the wide Nikkor 28/2.8 AI. One could say that the Nikomat / Nikkormat line paved the way to the famous Nikon models.

I will not launch myself into a review, the internet is full to the brim with such. That said, let me wax on this newer to me camera, as I see and perceive it.

My first Nikkormat was chrome, this one is black. While I do not have any sort of “black camera fetish”, I do like some models in black. So, my Nikon FM3a is black, but not of my choice, this is how it came when the opportunity arose at  the time of purchase. My Nikon F is chrome with a black prism because that’s how I wanted it, but the Nikon F2 and Nikon F3 are black, just because that was the choice when I bought them. That said, my Olympus OM1 and OM10 are chrome, which is how I like them, with my Olympus OM2n black. And of course, my F4 is black, but that only because this is how they came, black only. It is true that a black camera looks somewhat more attractive, but black doesn’t make it a better camera, you know.

Also, if you look closely to the photo above, you’ll probably notice the flash shoe is a little, well, askew. That is the result of a nasty fall a few years ago, while trekking in the mountains. But no issue developed with the camera itself, the prism is all right, viewfinder and internals and everything all work as they supposed to. I guess this are the Nikkormat machines for you, bricks.

Reasons for which I prefer this Nikkormat model:

  • no need to dance the Nikon shuffle; I can pair it with the available AI and AIS lenses I have
  • split image prism, a blessing for my eyes
  • no need to operate that nail breaking ASA setting tab, the current method is much simpler and faster
  • I forgot to say that this model in black looks gorgeous
  • It takes the regular SR44 or LR44 (although I have always inclined towards using the silver oxide version)

All in all, the Nikkormat FT3 is an easier machine to operate, at least for me, that is.

This photograph was taken with the camera presented here, on Rollei Retro 80s, in Vienna.

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