The Nikon F3 Made Me Fall Back in Love With 35mm

It’s the camera that made me fall back in love with 35mm. After years of acquiring camera after camera, constantly upgrading, improving my gear kit and almost exclusively shooting medium format, the Nikon F3 felt like coming back home. It brought me back to the basics and reminded me why I fell in love with film photography to begin with. It helped me remember the feeling of using a film camera and that the beauty is in taking photos rather than constantly searching for the one perfect shot. For this reason alone, it deserves a special place in my heart and in my camera bag.

But even setting personal nostalgia and all emotions aside, the Nikon F3 is often listed as photographers’ favorite or most reliable camera. The internet is full of raving reviews. You’ll quickly come across descriptors like “workhorse”, “most beautiful”, “never failing old friend” or “indestructible”. What is it about this camera that somehow everyone seems to be able to agree on? And is it truly a camera for everyone?

Over the years of shooting film, medium format had become my main format, so much so that shooting 36 frames on one film stock felt almost overwhelming. I enjoyed the limitations, I enjoyed slowing down with film. And yet, one day I noticed something was missing. When traveling I was shooting mainly the Mamiya7, its results really never disappointed. I became more intentional and careful before releasing the shutter, my photography seemed to improve. But something… something was getting lost along the way.

One day, traveling on the West Coast, I had a day off in Portland, browsed facebook marketplace and stumbled upon a Nikon F3 listing that sounded like a really good deal. I tried to remember the last time I had really shot 35mm but I struggled. Have I become too careful with every photo? Would a new 35mm camera encourage me to shoot a little more, try a little more, and take some risks? On a whim, I decided to pick up this camera and dive back into 35mm. For the rest of the trip, I shot both my Mamiya7 and the Nikon F3 and I realized what I had been missing out on for so long.

The experience of shooting a 35mm SLR camera versus a medium format range finder camera is so drastically different, I realized it even changes the way I look for photos. With my rangefinder, the camera lived in my backpack like a tool, waiting to be needed and I was on a mission to find the perfect shot. The SLR, on the other hand, felt less like a tool and more like an extension of me, my vision. I no longer had to wait for a photo to present itself, I felt like I was able to create the image anywhere I wanted. I just had to look through the lens, compose and shoot. Suddenly everything was photogenic. There’s something about returning to the view through the lens (or ground glass) that’s just a little more magical. The camera helped me rediscover the beauty in the small, ordinary moments. Looking back through my West Coast photos, I know for a fact many of these images were inspired by the feel of the camera itself and I would not have taken half these photos on the Mamiya 7.

The Nikon F3 is not any SLR camera, of course. To many, it is the SLR film camera. It’s one of the best inside and out. Designed by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was mostly known for his car designs, including the DMC DeLorean from Back to the Future. His task back in 1980 was to make the camera that shines in functionality also visually appealing. I guess it’s safe to say he did his job.

Under the vintage and yet timeless housing design which introduced the iconic red Nikon stripe, the F3 checks essentially all boxes plus a few extra.

It was Nikon’s first camera with an electronic shutter (8s to 1/2000 plus a 1/60 mechanical backup if the battery fails), made with a quartz timer which allows for the shutter to be stepless and extra precise. Instead of landing on the closest speed like 1/125, it is able to properly land on any actual value, like 1/122. Like many other film photographers, I usually prefer mechanical shutters, as batteries, especially for vintage cameras, often turn out to be a pain. However, I realized for an everyday-use 35mm camera an internal lightmeter comes in really handy, and as soon as there’s one battery involved, it might as well power multiple things, right? I have had the used camera including the battery for a year now without any issues.

The viewfinder and ground glass on the camera are interchangeable, to use different variants like waist level or HP (High Eyepoint) finders for photographers with glasses. It also features a self-timer, Nikons’ first LED exposure display in the view finder, a mirror lock-up and multiple exposure lever. In short, it has anything you may want, really. And all that is housed in a super durable rugged copper-aluminum body to keep it all safe. I have not yet properly drop-tested the camera, but I’ve certainly given it the occasional bump into the subway turnstile without any damage.

At the end of the day, camera preferences are subjective. Some of us start with a certain brand and loyally stick to it throughout the years, sometimes we like a camera to remind us of one we had as a kid, sometimes we pick our gear based on one particular feature we are looking for and sometimes we just want a piece of metal that feels good in our hands.

I’m not saying the Nikon F3 is the only right camera for everyone out there, but I do think it’s fair to say it is not going to be the wrong choice for anyone, really. There will likely be an F-mount lens for whatever style you’re looking for and the camera will have more features than you’ll use on a daily basis. Most importantly, its satisfying shutter will keep on slapping over the years and not let you down. Let’s be real, the Nikon F3 is probably already older than you and will most likely outlive you.

PROS:

• It’s a feel good camera — material and weight feel great in your hand.
• It makes use of electronics in the best way possible but still works without battery as well. The battery powers the TTL light meter and the super precise electronic shutter, which has a mechanical backup.
• Interchangeable viewfinders (prism + waist level)
• The metal housing is super solid and can take some beating.

CONS:

• As someone shooting various different camera brands, it always throws me off that Nikon’s aperture and focusing scale are reversed: Infinity and f/22 on the left. I will never get used to it.
• A flash hotshot adapter is needed if you’d like to attach a flash to your F3. It does not have a cold shoe on top of the camera, like other cameras, but it has contacts for a hot shoe on the film winder knob which you can use with an adapter (Nikon AS4). A tiny workaround but not really a big deal to me.