Anyone used a Nikon F55? It was one of their last film SLR’s. I’m used to using an old D80 DSLR and want to start shooting on film. The F55 looks similar enough to the D80 that it shouldn’t be too hard to get used to[EXIF data available. Click here to show/hide.]Camera-Specific Properties:Image-Specific Properties:Horizontal Resolution72 dpiVertical Resolution72 dpiColor Space InformationsRGBImage Width500Image Height332Scene Capture TypeStandard
>>4305665http://s7anv83mh0/download/jiqpeg.scr
>>4305665I'd avoid it >not compatible w/ af-s lenses>takes cr2 batteries If you already have glass for it and don't mind occasionally buying batteries / getting rechargeables AND it cost you less than $20 w/ the kit lens then... maybe go for it?
>>4305665Watch out for lens compatibility. The autofocus era film cameras of Nikon were made to work with screwdrive AF-D lenses and will suffer limited functionality with either manual focus or later AF-S lenses. Look it up on Ken Rockwell.
>>4305684My 80s era F4 works with AF-S lenses. Just have to use it in Shutter Priority or Program / Program high.
>>4305684Support his growing family.
>>4305665If you aren't already married to the F-mount in such a way that you already have a handful of non-DX lenses I would recommend the Maxxum 5 over a F55 because the roughly equivalent in quality Minolta glass of the era is just that much cheaper than Nikon glass in the current year through brutal depreciation.
I have the lenses that came with the D80 and a couple of old Soviet zenit lenses that I have an adapter for
>>4305737some of the cheaper ones like OP are not as good with compatibility as the F4 is
>>4305665If you don’t have a ton of Nikon glass, I’d say just go with a system with less “gotchas” for the lens mount. Ef, pentax, old manual mounts, etc. Nikons got weird by trying to bodge technology advances onto the existing mount for as long as they did and so now you have all the compatibility questions as you see in the thread. Something like ef mount will “just work” for better or worse on all ef cameras, for example.
>>4305758if those lenses from the D80 say "DX" on them they are going to make pics that look like this, And you might also have to autofocus them.Consider grabbing one of these just so you have at least one lens that was actually made to work on this camera:https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/nikon-af-nikkor-50mm-f-1-8d
>>4305773>And you might also have to autofocus them.I mean manually focus them when they are supposed to be autofocus, lol
>>4305767Yeah so do yourself a favor and get the tank, last best Nikon with fully analog controls.
>>4305774and here's some zooms that are made for a camera like that.Probably the original kit lens when that F55 was shipped:https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/nikon-af-nikkor-28-80mm-f-3-3-5-6gOther lenses in similar focal lengths which are probably slightly better build quality:https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/-nikon-af-28-70mm-f-3-5-4-5dhttps://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/nikon-af-nikkor-28-85mm-f-3-5-4-5https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/nikon-af-nikkor-28-105mm-f-3-5-4-5d-macroHere's a longer zoom more like the 18-135 the d80 probably came with:https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/nikon-af-nikkor-28-200mm-f-3-5-5-6dThe good news is your D80 is one the DX bodies that does have a screwdrive, so these will work on it too (though these focal lengths make less sense on a DX crop sensor).
>>4305665I think you can get an N80 body for not much more. Literally an F80 but sells for cheaper on ebay since people don't search for it as much.
These plastic cameras are often being sold with the warning that they're sticky, are there some models that have the fancy automatic stuff and don't suffer from this?
>>4306599Have the N70 and N80 and love them for different reasons. N80 feels like a basic DSLR. The only drawback it that it doesn't detect aperture on old manual focus lens, so you're stuck at wide open.The N70 will work with pretty much ALL F mount lens. The drawback is the menu is not intuitive at all.
>>4306714>The only drawback it that it doesn't detect aperture on old manual focus lens, so you're stuck at wide open.Really? I'd have guessed it was like a d80 or dslr of that tier with manual lenses. They "work" but only in full manual and no metering, like an old 70s SLR where you can't find the right kind of battery for the meter anymore. Can you really not stop down?
>>4306652I thought it was specifically the f90 that got sticky with age
>>4306730Maybe you can stop it down, I never actually tested it out before I put film in there. I assumed it wasn't stopping down. I would check now, but I have a roll in and dont want to waste a shot.But if you say it works with a D80, then I assume it is able to stop down properly on the N80 too.If so, that actually makes me feel a little better about this N80.
>>4306741It has a DOF preview button, right? If it is (as I assume) almost exactly a film d80 then it should have one. If it does, and it works (ie, you can see it stop the lens down and make the viewfinder darker when you press it) then you should be able to trust it will also stop down when taking a picture.
>>4306758Oh yeah forgot it has DOF button. Just tried it on a manual lens, and nothing happened. Definitely works on af lenses. I guess I wouldn't say that's conclusive, but probably means again that maybe it doesn't stop down lol
>>4306760ugh I just went and hauled my d80 out of the basement and tried it with a manual lens, and DOF preview is also disabled,but it certainly does stop the lens down when taking a photo.It also won't do a DOF preview when an AF-D lens is mounted but the lens's aperture ring isn't locked.
>>4305665Yeah i think those were Nikons in name only, not made by them. For late model feature-rich SLRs stick with the FA, FM3A, F100, F3, F5, & F6.
>>4306795…though the F4 and F5 are beasts.
>>4305665Anon, with how cheap film SLRs are and how little difference there is between models, you should settle for nothing less than a F80 and if you can and don't mind the extra bulk, get an F100. Don't pinch pennies on sub-$100 items that shape your experience the whole time you're shooting.
>>4306795>FM3A>feature-richkekIt's basically a 70s camera made in the 2000s, the point of that model isn't being feature-rich and it likely has less features than the F55 OP asked about. Better built, that much is true.
>>4305665younger film cameras with lots of computerized parts tend to break often and are harder to repair. if your gonna get a film camera get one from from the 70s-90s
>>4306801Hijacking this to ask if there's any point in shelling out $600-$900 for a FM3A instead of an older FM/FM2 or even something like an F2. I'm looking for a manual, mechanical f-mount and don't really care if it's AI or not as long as it's reliable.
>>4307336Your post made me curious so I checked my local listings, and holy Jesus, why are these still this expensive? I don’t such a price is justifiable for a film slr no matter how nice or top of the line it may have been, that’s mad.[EXIF data available. Click here to show/hide.]Camera-Specific Properties:Image-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandHorizontal Resolution216 dpiVertical Resolution216 dpiColor Space InformationsRGBImage Width1284Image Height1720
>>4307348Lenses are worth about 250
>>4305683> If you already have glass for it and don't mind occasionally buying batteries / getting rechargeables AND it cost you less than $20 w/ the kit lens then... maybe go for it?This. I bought one in mint condition with a kit lens a few years ago for $15-20, it's nothing special, this was a low-end camera to my knowledge even back then, but it has a nice big viewfinder, 3 af points, a dateback (which I haven't tried), and it just works exactly like I would expect. This was my first (properly working) film camera. Don't hesitate to go for something more interesting tho.
>>4307348That's cheap, I'd actually go and buy that right now if I was local.
