I inherited some film-era Nikon stuff.

[BF Hammer]

I lost my brother to cancer recently. He had been heavily disabled tied to oxygen use for about 15 years. But before that he was a more active hobby photographer. I believe he was attempting to establish a niche for himself as an erotic photographer for a while to help fund stuff. I at least have found the business cards he made and there is a portfolio.

So I was the natural selection to take his photo gear. I think there is some darkroom equipment yet to discover, but it may have been the victim of a basement flooding years ago. But there is 2 SLR bodies and some lenses.

Nikon N70
Nikon N8008
AF Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5
AF Nikkor 70-210mm f/4-5.6
MF Nikkor 50mm f/2
Promaster 28-200mm f/3.8-5.6 (this is D-type autofocus)
A pretty cheap looking 2x teleconverter with no AI connectors or AF screw
SB-24 TTL speedlight
A cheap Vivitar speedlight
Nikon SC-17 remote speedlight cord
a pair of lightweight speedlight tripods

The N70 had film loaded and the Promaster lens installed. I had to buy new CR123 batteries just to find out where the film was advanced to. Only 2 exposures on it. I intended to shoot the roll out and process it, right until I misfired while trying out the autofocus, then accidentally rewound the film when I was trying to follow the manual for resetting to factory defaults. In my defense my film SLR is a 1970's Minolta XD-11 which requires you to hand-crank the film to rewind. I will have it processed anyhow, maybe next week. There are also 2 unopened rolls of Kodak B/W 400 speed film with an expiration of 2007 printed on the boxes. I'll try shooting them, but might wait for warmer weather on that.

As I read things online, I think I find the N8008 to be the more interesting SLR. After trying to operate it, I agree that the N70 has a weird interface. If this was last fall, I would have welcomed the 3 autofocus lenses for my infrared-conversion D600 I bought about then. But I purchased a Nikon 28-105mm that is working well on that body. I will try the 35-70mm out though, it's rather compact in comparison. I already am over-equipped in speedlights with a SB-600 and SB-400 available, and I rarely mount them on a camera as it is.

So anybody have any thoughts on this stuff? Don't actually know, but I think the 2 Nikkor autofocus zooms are basically 1990's kit lenses. SB-24 was a pretty nice speedlight for old TTL metering systems. Would I choose to use a 50mm f/2 when I have a nice 50mm f/1.8G lens already? Likely no.

 

[hark]

An N70 was my first Nikon SLR. A lot of owners disliked the 'fan' interface on the top display and complained quite a bit. It really isn't an intuitive set up at all. But after reading the owner's manual, I understood how it operated. Have fun with everything.

 

[Marilynne]

Sorry to hear about your brother. We'll keep you and your family in our daily prayers.

 

[desmobob]

Very sorry to hear about your brother! I hope that maybe using some of his gear will remind you of good memories of him.

I have one of the old non-AI 50mm f/2 lenses and I use it on my F2S. I like it. I enjoy researching and reading about the older lenses, finding lens tests on them, etc. and I think I remember reading lots of good things about that lens. That's probably why I bought one!

I also have the AF 70-210 f/4-5.6D. It's very handy for when I don't want to lug my heavy AF 80-200 f/2.8D. Some research on that one showed that it's a surprisingly good lens.

 

[Peter7100]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Bikerbrent_RIP]

So sorry for you loss. I lost my wife last October so I know how you feel.

 

[BF Hammer]

Thank you everybody for your thoughts and prayers. I have actually lost 3 brothers in the past 8 years (just my 2 sisters and me left from the litter). It's not really any easier each time, but I know what to expect and how to deal with the emotions quite well by now.

I have been reading up on ways I might be able to integrate the speedlights for multi-flash remote setups. I think I might just need to try to purchase some used SU-4 triggers and try. I remember experimenting with the SB-600 as a remote flash and my old D80 pop-up flash as the commander. I also remember the headaches I got trying to understand it all back then. I much prefer working outdoors and just trying to use a speedlight to fill facial shadows.

 

[desmobob]

I have two of the SB-24 speed lights from back in the F4 days and they are great units with lots of power and interesting features.

I bought guidebooks for them and my SB-800 and also purchased laminated "cheat sheets" for both to keep in my camera bag. These units have a lot of complicated features that are hard to remember how to access and operate unless you use them often.

An inexpensive slave is a handy item to have. Here is some valuable information on those: https://www.scantips.com/lights/slaves.html

 

[BF Hammer]

I got the processed film back today that was in the N70. Two photos of my brother's living room, looks like it was taken while sitting at the sofa. That is the sort of thing you do when trying out new gear, so I actually suspect that either the N70 itself or the lens was new to him. Looking at the Promaster lens attached as found, I think it was the lens.

 

[BF Hammer]

Another update: I finally tried loading the N8008 with 4 AA cells. It appears to be dead. Thinking it may be corrosion on the battery springs, I cleaned them lightly with CLR (followed by a rinse). Now I get a red light blinking once on battery insertion, but otherwise no LCD display or any action from the shutter release. New idea, my brother bought the N70 used as a replacement, took 2 test photos on the film I developed, then never got out again to actually use it. He was very disabled for the past 15 years with emphysema,

Also the darkroom stuff was found, and it apparently had been on the basement floor during the flooding when a pipe burst. Rust and some mold on the enlarger, safe-light certainly also would have needed a restoration. I don't have a space to set up a darkroom and no desire to try restoration. Into the dumpster.

 

[Clovishound]

If you are going to shoot film in this day and age, I would recommend shooting B&W. Process it yourself, and scan the negatives. You might not be up for developing your own, but it is relatively easy, and requires very little equipment. A tank, which you may already have, as he had a darkroom and the tank is unlikely to have been damaged by water. You will also need a thermometer. Everything else you probably already have, something to time development, some way to hang and dry negatives. You'll probably have to order chemistry over the internet, as it's unlikely a local store will carry it. Best of luck.

I just gave away an excellent film camera, as I will not likely shoot any more film in my lifetime.

 

[BF Hammer]

I last processed film in 1982 when I took a photography course in high school. My local camera shop will develop a roll for about $7 and some extra to scan the negatives with a far better scanner than I own. I would skip prints in this age unless there was something special there.

 

[BF Hammer]

Small update. A week ago I decided to get on the project to shoot the 2 rolls of expired B/W film that was found with the gear.

The film door on the N70 broke. It's a common problem and many cameras are out there now without a film door, or have a broken one. There is a bespoke repair kit for the latch, and I bought one. Well the short story is that the film door on my camera is also warped. I did the repair of the latch, and it works fine if I snap it with the door not installed in the hinge. But once it goes in the hinge, the door won't seat and close. Been studying it for a day. Lost cause. I could have bought an entire working N70 for the cost of the repair part.

I am scrapping the camera. The N8008 is also still not functional. I have sold off 2 of the lenses at this point and I will try to move the other lenses and the SB-24's. I still have a Minolta XD-11 to shoot the film with. But I only have 2 MD lenses to work with.