Going for Gold!! Kodak Gold 200 Review

A quick note before we begin: The majority of the text here was written back in August 2021 but the blog was languishing in the ‘draft’ folder since then and I’ve been so busy with other things that I am only now (December 2021) getting round to completing it!

There is no escaping the fact that film seems to be getting more expensive - price rises across the board from Fuji, Kodak and Ilford. This has prompted a bit of a rethink in terms of my ‘go to’ films. In fact it’s also driven me partially back into the arms of digital (the horror) but more of that another time…

I’ve spent a couple of years shooting almost nothing other than Portra 400 and I love how consistently awesome it is especially when it comes to shooting in low light. But recently I’ve refrained from shooting it in any other conditions - the price rises (and hey - more are on their way) mean Portra has become a specialty film stock for me, one which only gets used when I absolutely require that level of flexibility.

I’m a glass half full kinda guy so I’m viewing this as an opportunity to start looking at alternatives and as it turns out there are some amazing film stocks available at a lower price point which do brilliantly when you have lots of lovely light to play with! During what passed for summer here in the UK I took some of these films out for a spin!

In today’s blog we’ll be looking at Kodak Gold 200 which is a classic ‘consumer’ film that has been around in one form or another for a long time.If you bought 35mm Kodak film from the chemists in the 80’s/90’s there’s a fair chance it was this stuff that you bought! I’ve shot Kodak Gold a few times before - usually for street and travel stuff but I’d never used it on a portrait shoot until HERE. I was really pleased with how it turned out and keen to really get a feel for what it can do.

These photos were taken on a beautifully sun drenched late afternoon in the picturesque town of Saltaire with the wonderful Lauren who as well as channelling some retro 60s/70s vibes with her outfit also brought along her classic mini which she restored herself - when Lauren commits to a look, she goes all in!!

Kit wise as you can see in the inset picture I was using the Nikon F3 for 35mm duties - these shots were either on the 85mm 1.4 or 50mm 1.4 AIS lenses. I’ll share photos from the Pentax 67 in another blog at some point (in the next decade at this rate)!

I think the images can speak for themselves (but rest assured I’ll waffle on a bit about what I think too…)

Yikes!! Contrast: Check. Tones: Check. Grain: Yummy, check! Detail: erm… Check. Not much to complain about here, I shot these at box speed 200 as I wanted to see how it looked and I am very happy!! The grain structure is very much present and personally I LOVE it! If you’re one of those ‘I don’t like grain people’ then get the fuck out of here… no sorry! I’m joking! come back! :)

The classic film look really suits the style and look for this shoot - I feel like we’re shooting the cover of vogue circa 1971 or some marketing materials for British Leyland!! (I think these are good things)!

In this shot above we can see how the film (and the glass) handles backlit/direct sunlight which was just cresting the trees in the background - I really like playing around with positioning the light in my frame to affect contrast and tones, it gives a whole other look and is another part of why I love film - you can make your editing choices in the moment using the natural resources that you have to hand!

A huge thank you to Lauren for an amazing shoot! We couldn't have asked for better weather, a better location or a better film stock to suit this style.

In conclusion then - Kodak Gold 200 is fucking brilliant! If you have lots of golden sunlight then you can’t go wrong! I’m not sure how well it will push or handle under exposure but perhaps that’s a blog for another day!

Can you dig it? Shooting Rollei Retro 80S with an Orange Filter

A few weeks ago I scheduled in some much needed time to get out and about with my camera and shoot some film - the existence of this blog may give you the false impression that is literally all I do - gadding about awash with film and film cameras - don’t believe the hype my friends!!

In fact of late I’ve been finding it very difficult to make time to get out and shoot - I am very pleased therefore to present these images as proof that I recently carved an hour out of my busy schedule to do just that. These images represent a much needed reminder to myself to make space for creativity for the pure sake of it, to stretch my legs - literally and metaphorically.

This little micro adventure on film (it literally lasted about an hour) was a stroll through Magwoods just outside Huddersfield - a beautiful stretch of woodland along the edge of a valley, I had no particular goal in mind except that it was a sunny day and having spent far too long staring at a computer screen I grabbed my Nikon F2 and the Nikkor 24mm 2.8 lens, an orange filter and a roll of Rollei Retro 80S film and set off on my expedition!

Rolle Retro 80S is a film I have shot quite a bit over the last few years I’ve travelled with it HERE and shot Portraits with it HERE and I’ve always been really pleased with the results - it’s a super contrasty film which absolutely sings in good sunlight - I was very interested to see what effect an orange filter would have and I was not dissapointed!! Using an orange filter with black and white film gives you even more contrast, the blue sky shows as more dark and contrasty and if there are clouds present it will make for a bolder and more dramatic sky - the image above is a good example!

As well boosting contrast and making the sky look AWESOME an orange filter when combined with a film like Rollei Retro 80S will also give a look verging on the infrared - with lots of bright whites and deep dark black tones, I love it! Rollei Retro 80S is such a finely detailed film in the first place and the orange filter has just dialled everything up to 11 (how much more black can the shadows get? None. None more black) ;)

Gone are the days when in my working life I would travel up and down the land, thus having plenty of opportnities to shoot some street/travel/casual day to day shots - in fact aside from portrait shoots I can’t remember the last time I went out and just shot a roll of film for fun! It was great to just be present and focus on my surroundings - allowing my eye to be drawn where it may - as it turned out I was particularly drawn to the texture and details of the trees (well I was in a wood so it’s not too surprising) I love the punchy contrast in these images which works great with the textures of the wood.

After strolling through magwoods and along the valley I remembered that there’s a derelict mill along the route (to be fair - in this neck of the woods you are never too far away from a derelict mill) but I had completely forgotten about the derelict digger that rests near by (or maybe it just wasn’t there when I last came this way a few years back) either way my attention was completely taken with this mechanical monster.

I have a thing for abandoned things. Is it just me or do you feel it to? The ineffable pathos of ruin…The machine stops….amidst a tangled mass of weeds, slowly being engulfed by the twisting tentacles of branches…. great innit?!

I proceeded to cover the scene like some CSI photographer covering all the angles, looking for clues to this long forgotten crime!

I’m trying (and failing) to come up with a snappy metaphor or analagy or something to end on - I was hoping I could think of something smart and (moderately) funny to link the difficulties I’ve been facing in making time to get out and shoot and discovering this burned out digger - so instead I’ll just say this: making time to do creative stuff just for the heck of it gives me great joy…it doesn’t matter one bit whether the resulting images are any good (although to be fair I really like these shots) the satisfaction comes from spending a short bit of time not distracted by this or that, not thinking about the past or what is to come but just being present, keyed in to my surroundings, focussing (literally) on the details, being open to whatever is around the corner and making the most of whatever I find there (especially if it is a burned out digger) hang on a minute - was that a metaphor, similie or analogy??? I need to check google and find out! Until next time friends - stay safe out there! :)

My Nikon F2 gets serviced and repaired by Sover Wong

Hello there dear reader! So how are we all? I hope managing to keep things on an even keel during this Corona virus malarkey?! My wife and I decided to make the whole experience even more exciting by welcoming our baby daughter into this topsy turvy world just as lockdown began so I’ve been focussing very much on the whole ‘stay at home’ thing.

I’ve even (shock horror) bought a digital camera for day to day/casual photos of the family but we’re not here to talk about silly digital things are we? NO!! We’re here to talk about PROPER cameras! Cameras that have film in them not silly megapixels, cameras that are powered by cogs and springs not silly-con chips and fairy dust!!

It’s no secret to anyone who has the misfortune to engage me in even a brief conversation about film photography (in fact sometimes the conversation doesn’t even have to be about film photography) that my favourite 35mm camera is the Nikon F2.

It’s been my first choice 35mm camera for about 18 months now and in that time I’ve shot some of my fav portraits with this amazing camera combined with my small but growing selection of Nikkor lenses. I’m not going to go into masses of detail about my F2 in particular since I’ve aready done that HERE.

When I first started shooting film I had a whole heap of different camera bodies with different lens mounts and ended up with a real hodgepodge collection of lenses - all in different mounts so not interchangeable at all: Olympus, Pentax K, Canon, M42 etc it felt a bit pointless having a normal, wide and long lens in each mount and so I decided to sell everything and start over again. This time focusing on Nikon as not only are their lenses interchangeable across a very large number of Nikon cameras they are also some of the finest available to humanity (and I wanted them here and I wanted them NOW)! ;)

It’s a measure of a camera like the F2 that it is still held in such high regard by those who shoot it and there’s a nice community of like minded (or should that be afflicted) F2 enthusiasts out there. In addition there are people who specialise in servicing these venerable cameras and there is one person who stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to the Nikon F2, that person is Sover Wong.

If you’re serious about owning a Nikon F2 then at some point you’ll become familiar with the name Sover Wong. He is really in a league of his own when it comes to camera servicing (in fact he specialises in the F2) and when I found out about him I knew that I just had to get on the waiting list, yes that’s right - waiting list! 14 months when i first enquired back in August 2019 but as it turned out, I didn’t have to wait quite that long and here I am 9 months later with my freshly serviced and working like new F2.

It’s worth stating here that I’m not being paid to write this blog (like I could make that happen) this ain’t an infomercial thing, I am quite clearly not an ‘influencer’ (LOLZ) I’m just a bloke who flippin well loves his Nikon F2 and I also appreciate those who skilfully keep these mechanical beasts in tip top shape. I paid my money like everyone else and just wanted to give others an insight into what you can expect from getting your F2 serviced by Sover Wong (the observant amongst will already have figured out that I had a very positive experience)!

Photo Credit: Sover Wong

I know it might sound daft having been on a waiting list for 9 months but Sover is FAST!! I sent him my camera on a Thursday and I had it back working like brand new by the following Wednesday! He kept me in the loop with the whole process which involved him first of all giving the camera a once over, assessing what was needed and checking in with me to confirm the work required. As it turned out my metered prism finder was ‘ok’ and while the meter was a little off it was consistently so across the range so with a minor adjustment to the ISO selector it will work just fine. That being the case i was able to just get the body serviced.

Photo Credit: Sover Wong

Sover sends over a load of photos of your camera stripped down with before and after shots of the work carried out, I absolutley love being able to see the interior of this intricate machine.

Photo Credit: Sover Wong

Photo Credit: Sover Wong

Photo Credit: Sover Wong

As you can see from the image above Sover found some fungus inside the camera body - i was half expecting this TBH since I bought my camera from Japan - thankfully it cleaned up well and I was already storing the camera with silica gel packs to reduce chance of moisture in the air encouraging the fungus to spread.

Photo Credit: Sover Wong

Photo Credit: Sover Wong

Here’s the list of work Sover carried out on my F2:

• Removed dust and debris inside the camera

• Removed all old internal and external foams, cleaned surfaces and then applied new foams

• Removed fungus on the mirror box

• Modified the battery chamber and replaced the corroded brass tag with a tin plated one

• Lubricated the base, winding, shutter and mirror mechanisms

• Cleaned the internal flash switch contacts

• Cleaned the mirror

• Calibrated all shutter speeds to within 1/4rd stop accuracy

• Checked flash sync is OK at 1/80s

• Checked B, T, 10s, rewind, frame counter, MLU and DOF are OK

• Added two rubber strap protectors

• Added two new 1.5V LR-44 alkaline batteries

• Repaired a dent on the top plate

Upon receiving my camera the first thing i noticed was how smooth the film advance was - prior to sending it off for servicing it had felt a little bit ratchety/rough and occasionally would give a mechanical ‘squeak’ but that sound is now a distant memory as it is silky smooth now. Likewise there was a metallic ding/ringing sound when the shutter fired thanks to some rotten foam inside the camera - that sound is gone too!

The shutter speeds are now accurate to within 1/4 of a stop across the whole range (they were quite a bit out at the higher speeds) and the dent in the top plate which didn’t affect it’s operation but was cosmetically a bit annoying has been almost completely removed. Sover did an amazing job!

On top of all this I got a warranty for the work and as a very nice touch he also includes an aluminum 1 Yen Japanese coin to turn the battery cover without damaging the bodywork and a micro fibre cloth to keep the camera clean.

I would highly recommend Sover to anyone who is serious about keeping their F2 for the long haul (which I am) his work is meticulous and not only that he’s passionate about these cameras which shows through his work, his attention to detail and you really get a sense that he wants your F2 to be the best that it can be - I’m so happy with the work and the results, I’m going to book my other F2 in for the same treatment!

Kodak Pro image 100 & Portra 160 review - Portrait shoot out

Now that I have FINALLY settled on some camera kit that I’ll be keeping around for the long term I can focus my energies on exploring different film stocks - not that I wasn’t doing that anyway but I was finding flitting from one camera to the next a bit of a distraction, for the record the cameras which have won my heart are the Nikon F2 and Pentax 67 - today’s blog features a portrait shoot on the F2 shooting with a shiny new portrait lens and using two different film stocks Kodak Pro Image 100 (a new film to me) and Kodak Portra 160 (a film I have used a few times before)

Whilst the main focus of the conversation will be on looking at the two film stocks first up I’ll take a moment to show you the kit I used on this shoot, I’ll then take you through the shoot itself.

I have just bought the very wonderful Nikkor 105mm 2.5 a lens which has a HUGE reputation as an amazing portrait lens, when i bought it the focus ring was quite stiff so I sent it off for repair to a chap called Miles Whitehead who did a great job of fixing it and it now has silky smooth focus action - I would highly recomment Miles if you have some camera kit in need of some TLC check his site out HERE. In fact as I write this I am reminded that Miles also serviced my F2 when I bought it so double thanks!! :)

I was originally going to include a few thoughts on the 105mm lens in todays blog but I loved using it so much that I think I’ll reserve that for a dedicated blog all of it’s own - suffice it to say that it’s reputation is very well earned, an amazing piece of glass!

Ideal for portrait, weddings and social events dontcha know…..

I think most people will be familiar with Kodak Portra 160 which is a mainstay of Kodak’s professional line up, but what’s this Pro Image 100 all about? I’ve been shooting a lot of Portra 400 and 160 recently and whilst I love both film stocks I am always interested in trying new things and the results I’d seen from Pro Image appealed to me - the other great thing about Pro Image is the price! I got this for £25.95 for 5 rolls!

This film stock has only recently come to the UK/European market - despite being around since the mid 90’s, the stock was only sold in warmer climates, big thanks to the good folks at Nik & Trick for being instrumental in making the case to Kodak for getting this film available in Europe :)

Ok so I have a lovely film camera - check, a great portrait lens - check, a shiny new colour film - check, a beautiful location to shoot in….check! What’s next? I need someone to photograph! Fortunately I’m part of a great facebook group for photographers and models to network and arrange shoots - Danni is someone I met through this group and we’ve shot together before when i was testing out my Pentax 645, you can see those images HERE.

Also worth mentioning at this point that i had my films processed and scanned by the good folks at Exposure Film Lab who I must thank again for their brilliant work, I use them for all my colour films these days because I just love the results I get from them - check them out HERE

The vibe for this shoot was a really natural summer look to make the most of the bright sunshine, we had a beautiful location filled with light, flowers, tall grass and trees - let’s GO!

First up i loaded Kodak Pro Image 100…

Ok then at this stage in the proceedings the word at the forefront in my mind is wow! Danni is a very talented Model which makes my job much easier and the Pro Image film is just lovely :) Let’s move on to the Portra 160 which I loaded up next and we’ll do a bit of a comparsion at the end, here’s the Portra shots…

The entire shoot lasted about an hour (if that) we went for a stroll through some lovely scenery and together we created some properly beautiful portraits full of light and life! Danni is a great model she did a brilliant job on this shoot, she puts lots of character into her work and is just a natural in front of camera, this really shines through the images - we’ve worked together before which I think always helps so we’re relaxed and comfortable working together and meant we were able to just get right into it and enjoy the shoot. I’m over the moon with the photos we created together - thank you Danni :) Check out her portfolio HERE.

In summary then both film stocks are clearly capable of wonderfully sharp, textured images with great skin tones, colour balance, contrast and detail - I therefore love them both! They each have their own look so whilst they’re comparable I think there are some differences to take into consideration. This was never intended as a ‘one film versus the other’ contest in which we have a winner and a loser but rather an opportunity to look at how these two film stocks worked under the same conditions - to that end I simply invite you to make your own mind up which you like best - or maybe like me, you like them both?!

Here’s a few of my thoughts on each stock:

Pro Image 100 - it has a wonderful grain structure, punchy contrast and I love how it handles the greens and yellows, shadows perhaps not holding as much detail as portra, it has a classic film ‘look’

Portra 160 - minimal grain as you’d expect from portra, slightly muted colour palette although in these images it produced stronger contrast than I’d expected, Portra definitely holds on to more shadow detail and also perhaps slightly sharper.

What does all this show us then? Well they’re very close actually, much closer than I’d have thought! One aspect which does create an opportunity for comparison is the price with a five pack of Portra 160 retailing at around £35.99 and a five pack of Pro Image around £25.95 then clearly if budget is the deal breaker then Pro Image is your winner, if you absolutely must squeeze every bit of detail out of the shot then perhaps Portra is the one to choose - ultimately we’re all winners here as we in the UK now have access to the lovely Pro Image and I’ve got 4 more rolls sat waiting to go! I can’t wait to shoot it again.

Postcard from Berlin Pt1 - Travel Photography on Rollei Retro 80S

Recently I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days in Berlin! I was there working for my other job (yes that’s right I have yet to find a way to make waffling on about film photography pay for my lifestyle - yet….) I made some extra time to visit my super cool cousin in law(is cousin in law a thing)?? anyway we’re family and I was really excited to explore Berlin, I’ll just get this out of the way right now… the place is amazing!! I was struck by how laid back and chilled it was especially for a big Capital City - I mean yeah the place was buzzing but just a proper friendly vibe about it, I really loved my time spent there.

Having finished my work I hit the street armed with my trusty NIkon FE2, Nikkor 50mm f2 (a new lens) and some Rollei Retro 80S film - one of my faves film stocks and fitting to shoot the German capital on some German film :)

This isn’t really a camera review type blog but I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t spare a word or two about my kit for this expedition - so first up the camera body; the Nikon FE2. A wonderful camera, I wrote a blog about it’s older sibling the FE HERE a fine camera itself, but I have long since replaced it with the marvellous FE2. On the surface it looks like a fairly standard 1980’s era SLR but it has a trick up it’s sleeve which makes it a standout - a 1/4000 second top shutter speed :) it is very solidly built and although mine has a few scars gathered during the course of it’s life it works perfectly!

Attached to the camera you can see the Nikkor 50mm f2 - as you’ll see in the images that follow this lens is very capable!! I picked it up on ebay attached to a Nikkormat FT2 which cost me £40 - I sold the FT2 for £30 so this lens basically cost me £10!! This makes it a perfect travel lens as I’m not carrying around some big expensive piece of kit - but the key here is that there is no compromise on image quality, this thing is amazing!

The 50mm f2 is also very solidly built, the focus ring is lovely and smooth and even though the lens looks like it’s been booted down the road (and probably has a few times during it’s life) it can create beautifully rendered images with great contrast. It is also an enjoyable challenge to just take a simple 50mm lens with you - no more fretting about which focal length to use, no lugging about loads of lenses which you probably wont use anyway. I enjoy the creative possibilities that working within limitations brings and choosing one lens does this effectively, anyway - enough gear talk!! (for now)

Two key things to note - Firstly you can see some Adox Silvermax and Agfa APX films pictured here that i purchased whilst in Berlin but the images that follow were shot on Rollei Retro 80S which was loaded in the camera at the time of the ‘look at me and my camera, film and booze’ lifestyle type tomfoolery and Secondly, yes the beer was a very good accompaniment to the proceedings.

So, without further ado - willkommen in Berlin!!

The images are presented in roughly chronological order of when I shot them, first up is this interesting monument in ‘Invaliden Park’ and was just round the corner from my Hotel - I’m a fan of brutalist architecture so obviously this really ticked that box for me!

It was a bright, swelteringly hot day - cloudless blue sky, these sunny conditions worked well with the Rollei film which has a good deal of contrast and lovely tones.

There is LOADS of graffiti in Berlin, I mean LOOOOAAADS! and stickers too! everything is either covered in graffiti or stickers - I love it!!

Remember what I said about Graffiti? Well there’s loads of street art too! This piece really captured my attention - the building is an abandoned Art School which was either in the process of being knocked down or possibly renovated (or something in between) The building high mural makes the bold statement ‘How Long is Now’ (note no question mark) the blank face, the staring eyes - dark portals keeping watch over the machines at their work.

The City is alive with the sound of construction work - cranes, diggers, the whole shebang - there was a palpable sense of ‘growth’ about the place

The Berliner Dom sits right next to the River Spree, most of this side of the building was in shade but a patch of shimmering light reflected from the River illuminated the middle row of windows. And below the dome of the building - really love the contrast in these images, a combination of the light in the scene, the film and the lens all coming together!

From the lofty heights of the splendid Cathedral to the minute details of human life - these are ‘love locks’ left by couples seeking to declare their undying love to the universe by placing the lock and casting the keys into the nearest water course, hence there are often to be found on or near bridges.

Maybe it’s a natural impulse to give physical form to such an intangiable emotion, warding off future relationship woes by locking that loved up feeling in place, space and time… or maybe it’s just a daft tourist fad… whatever their intent, whoever and wherever they are now - I wish them well :)

Neptune sits atop the fountain - again wonderful tones and dynamic range with this film, shot in mid afternoon bright sunshine but the camera meter, the film and developer all working to produce an image which captures the detail in these carved statues, the water stains rendered in white adding a layer of depth to the carved features.

The Alexanderplatz TV tower dominates the skyline of the City - if someone asked me to design a TV tower, it would definitely look something like this! I have no idea what purpose the huge disco ball serves (in fact we have a huge TV tower near home which seems to function perfectly well without one) but if the choice is “do you want the huge massive disco ball or not” then the answer has to be yes! Good work people of Berlin!

Overhead Tram lines make for some interesting compositions…

Details at street level - Rollei Retor 80S is such a lovely film, it sings in bright sunlight and can also render wonderfully contrasty tones too, the front of the image was awash with light - it made the bicylce wheel really stand out from the background which has translated onto the film as a difference of tone and contrast, the lens is showing off it’s sharpness here too.

I am a sucker for leading lines, come on - who isn’t? whether it’s a run down, poster covered side street or a neo classical collonade the effect is always the same; a visual invitation… step right this way!

Neo classical architecture abounds…..

….none more so than the Reichstag!! I wasn’t quite prepared for just how HUGE the building is! such a wonderful piece of architecture and rich in history.

Just visible in the background is the huge glass dome which surmounts the building (it’s a shame i didn’t have more time to go and visit properly but it gets very busy and you have to book)

The final stop on our mini tour of Berlin is the Brandenburg Gate - a beautiful neoclassical monument and famous landmark of the city, during my visit it was closed off in preparation for a concert so I couldn’t get a full length photo of the columns, but it prompted me to work the angles and I quite like how these compositions came out.

The final shot from this roll of film is taken looking up as I walked alongside the Brandenburg gate; I love the gradation of light to shade on the right hand side and also the contrast of the neo classical and the clean, straight lined modern building next door.

It’s worth noting at this point that I developed the film in Kodak HC110 dilution H as per the Massive Development Chart for Rollei Retro 80S, this is one of my fave film and developer combinations especially for work in bright sunlight.

Berlin is a city with a rich history - one that it wears on it’s sleeve; it’s such an eclectic and vibrant mix which I hope I have conveyed in some small way here! This is Part 1 of my postcard from Berlin - next time I’ll share some images that I took with some film bought locally from the good people at Fotoimpex, in the meantime thanks for joining me on this trip!

Nikon F2 review

Having owned the F2 for 6 months now I can confidently say it has become a firm favourite (yes I know i say that about all my cameras)! The F2 has a big reputation for being a seriously kick ass camera and I can heartily confirm that this reputation is well deserved! The Nikon F2 is an absolute joy to shoot with - I’ve used it on portrait shoots, taken it hiking and shot landscapes with it, used it for street photography and candid portraits of my little boy running about and playing at home - in every situation the F2 is the right tool for the job.

Often when we think of professional spec cameras we assume that these are complex esoteric beasts which require some form of initiation rite to operate and only the enlightened few can master it - and while that may ring true in some cases, not so for the F2! It is a VERY simple camera with an intuitive set of controls laid out in a such a way that it allows the F2 to do what all great cameras do - it gets out of your way and allows you to concentrate on your subject, lovely.

I’ve already introduced you to the F2 on this blog HERE but it’s such a great camera that I feel it deserves it’s very own blog review! I’ll give a run through of the features and operations of the camera and then we’ll get down to the business of sharing photos taken with it on various shoots and thoughts on using the F2 in practice.

The F2 is a modular design and when it was originally released back in 1971 it was a major selling feature that you could choose from a range of different focussing screens, in later years different prism heads were released which were interchangeable with any F2 body made at any time during it’s production run - this allowed you to decide on which kind of metering system (or no meter at all) worked best for you/a particular situation - my F2 is an F2A which means that it has a metered prism head that uses a needle meter readout, I much prefer this form of read over LED’s but if you like an LED readout then you can check out the F2AS head, or if you don’t want a meter at all you can get a plain prism - lovely! These days the interchangeable nature of the F2 is probably less of a selling point although it will be nice to experiment with some alternative viewfinders at some point in the future.

OK so we get it, its a nice camera - so what? how’s it different to all the other bloody cameras you have…. great question! I’m glad you asked! let me explain:

Form factor: it’s a big camera! bigger than your standard 35mm camera, I like this! fits in my hand comfortably, the F2 is perhaps the most ergonomic camera I have had the pleasure to shoot with so far!

100% viewfinder: What you see is what you get! the viewfinder shows the whole of the frame (not always a given on some cameras) it’s big, it’s bright, it’s beautiful!

Mechanical: The body requires no batteries to operate, it’s powered by springs and gears - I like this very much! (obviously the meter needs a battery)

Build quality: The F2 was hand built to a very high specification for professional shooters, in an age when things were built to last, its like a Swiss watch that you can also use as a hammer from to time (or just maybe, make photographs with it)!

Looks: yes I am shallow enough for this to be a ‘thing’ in my choice of camera, but flipping heck look at it! Industrial Design at it’s finest - an exercise in form following function if ever there was one.

I enjoy shooting with the F2 so much and I am such a big fan of the amazing Nikkor lenses that I’ve decided to concentrate my 35mm kit around two Nikon F2’s (I just bought a second one) and an FE2 which I already own (and who knows what other Nikon F mount bodies I’ll take a shine to in future) in part because these are simply amazing pieces of equipment and also because running several different lines of camera (Olympus, Pentax, Canon and Nikon) at the same time gets a bit expensive!

I’d much rather own several bodies which can all utilise the same lenses - giving me more capacity to get some killer glass and shoot it across any camera body that takes my fance. Obviously for Medium Format shenanigans the indomnitable Pentax 67 will be a fixed feature and for just the sheer lunacy of it a Holga 120N is also firmly on my ‘keeper’ list of cameras!

I want to share some of the images I’ve taken with the F2, to date I’ve used it on several portrait shoots and also a few hikes into the wilderness to shoot landscapes, I’ll start with some of the portrait images which I took on a shoot with my friend Arya Ravenswood you can see the full shoot HERE these were all shot on Portra 400 on the F2 with the Nikkor 50mm 1.4 AI lens.

And now a few images from out and about in the moors around my home, the following images were taken on the same day at two different locations - first three are from Dovestones Reservoir and the rest are from West Nab, all shot on Fomapan 200 on the F2 with the Nikkor 24mm 2.8 AI lens and an orange filter (the observant will notice this is also the same time that I took the header shots for this blog - planning ahead you see, I don’t just throw these things together you know)!

So there we have it - another blog during which I heap praise upon a particular camera, stating something like ‘so this is the only camera I’ll ever need’ or whatever, clearly I’ve established that I am prone to bouts of enthusiasm when it comes to this kind of thing but this time it’s different… as a result of how much I enjoy working with the F2 I’ve sold off pretty much all my other cameras now, I‘m a photographer not a collector so my ultimate aim here is to shoot not to have loads of cameras just sitting on the shelf - the F2 is a shooters camera, a pro series camera from a time when being a pro photographer was a badge of honour. I make no claims to that badge myself and certainly just owning a decent camera will not make you a better photographer, but owning something as well made with such attention to detail and design is a joy in and of itself - to use it as intended to create work that you are proud of is a whole other level of joy. I can’t guarantee that I won’t buy some other random cameras in future but what i can say is that for me the F2 is the ultimate 35mm film camera.