DE-3 = Standard equipment with a Nikon F3 High-Eyepoint camera. DE-2 = Standard equipment on the regular Nikon F3. I told you the difference between the F3 and F3HP above. F3, F3HP, F3/T, F3P, F3H and last, the stupid, (in my opinion), F3AF.
(a high speed MD-4)įirst, let’s go through the various iterations. OK,…it’s a formidable looking creature with an added motor drives MD-4 and MD-4H. And ergonomically, as boxy as the 80’s were, it fits the hand like a glove. Designed by an Italian usually associated with automobile design, it was Giugiaro that first introduced the red stripe that lingers on Nikon SLR’s to this day. However, when it came to quality, function and beauty, I doubt there was a photojournalist and any other kind of 35mm photographer, not married to rangefinders, who didn’t covet the Nikon F3HP flagship.Īlmost 40 years later, the plethora of plastic and design atrophy has made one appreciate the true aesthetic of “cameras as art”. Quite a bit for a camera with no new gimmicks to market. Actually, quite a bit of money in the 80’s. When originally released in 1980, you could pick up a bare bones F3 with 50mm f/1.4 lens for $1175. This ended up being the Nikon F3HP flagship camera of it’s day. But those other Nikons are not still lauded as the best manual focus SLR ever made. Not that Nikon wasn’t testing those waters with other Nikons. No to program modes, no to autofocus, and no to idiot proofing. While Olympus, Canon and Minolta were plowing ahead with “new” technology at the time, this camera screamed,…”No!”.
I would venture to guess more images of consequence in the 35mm realm were taken by this camera. Probably reaching the status of an SLR version of a Leica M3. The Nikon F3 is a classic camera of super hero proportions. Nothing about this camera states other than, “I’m ready for war.” Or art. It was a tank, by which all other tanks would be measured. As you can see by Nikon’s ad campaign, it was the most “thoughtful camera of all time”. Otherwise, they are totally equivilent cameras. The HP viewfinder, known as the DE-3, is the only thing that turns a normal F3 into an F3 HP. Let’s start off by getting one question I still have to answer quite often.
But it appears as film cameras go, both the Nikon F3 and Nikon F3HP inspire an almost visceral love. I would have thought more nostalgia would be attributed to an FM2 or F5. What I find weird is when I do drag it out, (because my eyesight has “settled down” that particular month), is how often I’m approached by strangers lamenting the digital age strictly because they “miss their F3”. If my eyesight wasn’t such a moving target these days, I would have stuck with the F3. While I mostly use a Nikon F4s with a manual focus Nikon 50mm f/1.2, it is only because of the variable diopter. Probably the best camera I’ve ever owned, and Nikon has ever made. We’re talking about the Nikon F3HP flagship camera here.
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