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The Nikon F2 camera body consists of the die-cast aluminum alloy shell, base plate, mirror box, front cover, top plate, bottom cover and camera back. The entire body was made up each of its 1,506 component parts designed, processed, finished and assembled as Nikon F2, widely regarded as the best mechanical SLR camera during its time back in the seventies. |
The standard Nikon F2 comes
in a chrome-plate body or finished in black. The F2 camera has compact, sleek and
elegant appearance. The body has been streamlined, with its corners and edges and
the lower end of the front scutcheon rounded for greater stability, balance and a
good fit to the palm. It has one of the best handling feel among the many professional
class SLRs introduced during its era. Many of the functional system components were
also well integrated with the basic camera body and overall, the human engineering
element for the camera design is first rated.
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For an instance, mounting a DP-1 metered prism on a Nikon F2 body will be called a Nikon F2 Photomic; when the camera is used with a DP-2, the model will then be referred as F2S Photomic. Similarly, a DP-3's equipped Nikon F2 is called F2SB, while Nikon F2A has a DP-11 finder attached and Nikon F2AS is a F2 camera used with a DP-12 and so forth.
Every mechanism of the camera was designed with utmost care and all the controls were positioned where they are most readily handled. The rewind crank, camera back latch and the T-L fingerguard around the shutter release button have been redesigned or newly added. The neck strap eyelet are located on the slanted faces to the front of the body for better balance, and have stainless steel insets to reduce wear.
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Nikon F2 is a basic F2 camera body mounted with an Eye Level finder DE-1. The camera can also be referred to as a F2 if any of the special purpose but meterless finders such as DW-1 Waist Level Finder, DW-2 which is a 6 X Magnifications Finder, DA-1 with a Speed/Action Finder is attached. "meterless" because Nikon F2 followed the path of the earlier Nikon F uses where metering has to make use a metered prism which has the metering cells incorporate inside rather than via camera body. |
Special model such as a bare basic Nikon F2 camera body which uses Titanium for critical parts of the camera body such as top, bottom, lens mount section and even the camera film back and it comes with a meterless Titanium DE-1 finder is called a Nikon F2/T which signifies the use of Titanium spec based on a standard Nikon F2 body.
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Camera functions among all Nikon F2 are the same except when relates to metering function or when used with special adapted accessories attached to the camera body (A F2 model - Nikon F2 High Speed Camera removed a few basic features such as self timer, top speed of 1/2000 sec. and it is designed to use with a dedicated MD-100 high speed motor drive and that may cause some operational differences with other Nikon bodies). |
Since a Nikon F2 is essentially a F2 with a meterless DE-1 Eye Level Finder where you may need to use experience or via a hand held metering device to guide you with exposure reading. In most cases, there is some area where the metering is not needed - such as flash photography.
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There is NO NEED to Install any battery(ies) in the basic Nikon F2 setup because the F2/DE-1 combination has NO metering function. But since you MAY be using one of the many Photomic Finders designed for F2, the battery may has to be used for power the meter. The camera uses two - 1.5V silver-oxide (button-cell type) batteries but IF you have no intention getting the F2 function with any of the metered prism, REMOVED the batteries when the camera is not to be used for a long period; this will prevent leakage within the camera.
Loading
the Film
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Fold out the O/C key at the baseplate of the camera and turn it counterclockwise 180 degree until the arrow points to the "0" (open) mark and the camera back pops open, Pull up the rewind knob as far as it will go, and drop a standard film cartridge or a special Nikon reloadable cassette into the left-hand film chamber with the film leader aligned along the film guide rail. |
After positioning the cartridge and film leader properly, push the rewind knob down to hold the cartridge in place and insert the end of the film leader into any of the slots in the film take-up spool.
If necessary, release the shutter and, then, stroke the film-advance lever slowly to make sure that the leader winds smoothly on the spool and that the film edge perforations engage with the film sprocket roller. When satisfied that the film is properly feeding and is traveling correctly along the film guide rails, close the camera back and return the O/C key to its normal storage position
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WARNING: ALWAYS remember during the process of film loading, when you pull the film leader into the film takeup spool, the film will cover the all delicate shutter curtain of the camera. NEVER use excessive force or push the film inside which may result in permanent damage or causing deformed shutter curtain. |
| Previous | NEXT | 1 / 12 Setup the camera for use, shutter speed, apertures and some useful features illustrated.
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Index Page of Nikon
F2 Series SLR models
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Pictorial History of Nikon SLRs
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The Eyes of Nikon:- |
Fisheye-Nikkor Lenses - Circular | Full Frame | Ultrawides Lenses - 13mm15mm18mm20mm | Wideangle Lenses - 24mm28mm35mm |
Standard Lenses - 45mm 50mm 58mm | Telephoto Lenses - 85mm105mm135mm180mm & 200mm |
Super-Telephoto Lenses - 300mm 400mm 500mm 600mm 800mm 1200mm |
Special Application lenses:
Micro-Nikkor Lenses - 50mm~55mm -60mm 85mm -105mm 200mm Micro-Zoom 70-180mm
Perspective Control (PC) - 28mm 35mm PC-Micro 85mm
Dedicated Lenses for Nikon F3AF: AF 80mm f/2.8 | AF 200mm f/3.5 EDIF
Depth of Field Control (DC): 105mm 135mm
Medical Nikkor: 120mm 200mm
Reflex-Nikkor Lenses - 500mm 1000mm 2000mm
Others: Noct Nikkor | OP-Nikkor | UV Nikkor 55mm 105mm | Focusing Units | Bellows-Nikkor 105mm 135mm
Nikon Series E Lenses: 28mm35mm50mm100mm135mm | E-Series Zoom lenses: 36~72mm75~150mm70~210mm
MF Zoom-Nikkor Lenses: 25~50mm | 28~45mm | 28~50mm | 28~85mm | 35~70mm | 36~72mm E | 35~85mm | 35~105mm | 35~135mm |
35~200mm | 43~86mm | 50~135mm | 50~300mm | 70~210mm E | 75~150mm E | 80~200mm | 85~250mm |
100~300mm | 180~600mm | 200~400mm | 200~600mm | 360~1200mm | 1200~1700mm
Tele-Converters: TC-1 | TC-2 | TC-200 | TC-201 | TC-300 | TC-301 | TC-14 | TC-14A | TC-14B | TC-14C | TC-14E | TC-16 | TC-16A | TC-20E
Nikon F
| Nikon F2 |
Nikon
F3
| Nikon F4 |
Nikon
F5
| Nikon F6 |
Nikkormat / Nikomat |
Nikon FM
| Nikon FE/ FA | Nikon EM/FG/FG20 | Nikon Digital SLRs | Nikon - Other models
MIR Supports for Photographic Community: Various Message Boards/Community
Forums
Nikon
F-series|
Nikon
F2-series|
Nikon
F3-series|
Nikon F4-series| Nikon
F5-series|Nikkormat/Nikomat-series
Nikon FM-series|Nikon
FE-series|Nikon
FA|Nikon
Digital
SLR
series|Various
Nikon
Models|Nikkor
Optic
-shared
Others:- Free Trade Zone - Photography| Free Trade Zone - Business Community |Free To Zouk - Photographic Community
Apple's Mac Public Community Message Board | Windows based PC &
Apple/Mac
Public Community Trade Exchange Centre
Recommended links to understand
more technical details related to the Nikkor F-mount and production Serial Number:
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-153.html by: my friend, Rick Oleson
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/fmount.htm by: Hansen, Lars Holst
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/nikonfmount/lens2.htm
http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html
About this photographic site.
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HOME - Photography in Malaysia |
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Copyright © 2000. leofoo ®. MIR Web Development Team.
In
memory of my friend Com.
Augusto Staut,
Brazil, 1971-2000.
Credit: Chuck Hester, US for his patience, encouragement
and help to setup the various content in this site; Robert Johnson for some of his original
images on the F2H-MD appeared in this site; my ex-staff, KiaSu for his superb
3-D logo appeared in this Nikon F2 site; Marc Vorgers from Holland who
generously provide me with some of his images of F2AS; MCLau®, who has so much time with me to
re-edit the content in this site and not to mention buying a Nikon Coolpix 990 just
for this site. Keat Photo,
Kuala Lumpur for providing
their Nikon F2A to take some images for this site; again, Mr Edward Ngoh the
great camera collector who provides us his collection of F2AS with MD-2; hawkeye.photographic.com
for their images on the Speed Magny film backs; Sean Cranor for his image
on Nikon F2 25th Anniversary Model; Ted Wengelaar®, Holland for his continuous
flow of input on some of the early Nikon bodies; CYLeow ® , photo editor of the Star
newspaper, Malaysia for some of his images used in this site. Ms Rissa Chan, Sales manager from
Shriro Malaysia who has helped to provide some of the very useful input. HiuraShinsaku®,
Nikomat ML, Japan for some of his images on various F2 models; my staff, Wati, Maisa, Mai and my nephew, EEWyn®, who volunteered and helping me
did so many of the film scanning works. Contributing photographers or resellers:
Jen Siow, Foo KokKin, Arthur Teng, Mark Fallander, John
Ishii, Ed Hassel, YoonKi Kim, Jean-Louis, M.Dugentas (Dell Corner.com.), Mr "Arsenall" and a few images mailed
in from surfers with no appropriate reference to their origin. Dedicated to KU Yeo, just to express our mutual regrets over the outcome of
a recent corporate event. Made with a PowerMac, broadcast with a Redhat Linux powered server.
