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Friday, March 24, 2006

The Devil, Virginity, and the Nikon F2


Hannah wrote: "What's the camera sitting next to you on the desk?"
Well, that is my excuse to mention this. That's a Nikon F2 (Photomic)
This was the Ultimate Camera for many, in the seventies when I started photographing with great enthusiasm at 14. It was the one all the pros used.
I don't use film cameras anymore, but I bought this last year just to have on my desk, because to me this is beautiful.

In high school I wanted one of these so bad that I made a pact with the devil: I would stay a virgin for ten more years, and in return he would provide a Nikon F2.
Well, that'll teach me who to deal with: ten years later I still had my virginity, but no Nikon F2 anywhere to be seen.

(In truth the cameras I actually did get, Konica TC and later Pentax ME Super, were the right ones for me. They were automatic and compact. And very good.)
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous24 Mar 2006, 15:42:00

    Hey Eolake,

    This is sort of unrelated, but I wanted to pass it along - hope you don't mind. Very interesting cloud photos here:

    http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/june2004hastings-mammatus.html

    - Phil

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  2. Eolake Stobblehouse24 Mar 2006, 16:26:00

    Man, those clouds are freaky. I'd like to see some like that.

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  3. Zeppellina24 Mar 2006, 16:31:00

    I figure you cheated on old nick.......I don`t believe you stayed a virgin for 10 years.....!!!!!!!!!

    :-)

    Zep.

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  4. Eolake Stobblehouse24 Mar 2006, 16:43:00

    Knight's honor.
    But you are not the only one to disbelieve it.

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  5. Anonymous25 Mar 2006, 19:17:00

    I bought my F2 in 1976, finally got it set up right by 1985 (had to buy a DP3 finder to get the silicon-blue meter before Nikon built it into the final version), just in time to have it stolen. Of course, Nikon had discontinued "pro" all-mechanical cameras by then, and I was never able to replace it. Bought an F3; great camera, never trusted it; never got over the loss of my F2.

    However, the F3 taught me one thing - if you've got to have a battery to operate your camera, why not go digital?

    But, I still miss my F2.

    Al Benas

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  6. Eolake Stobblehouse25 Mar 2006, 19:30:00

    I hear you.
    My friend, pro photog Laurie Jeffery tells me that he put over 100,000 films through his F2 back in the day. Not exposures: FILMS!
    That's like four million exposures. With the same camera.

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  7. Hannah27 Mar 2006, 09:11:00

    Thanks for the story! :)

    It looks like the one my dad has... though I don't know enough about cameras to say for sure.

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  8. Anonymous2 Apr 2006, 08:01:00

    I still use a Nikon F......... and it has been a very long time since I lost my virginity

    ReplyDelete