The Great Granddaddy of Them All...............

[STM]

he Nikon FTn was not the first 35mm SLR, that honor goes to the Kine Exacta, but it was the first true system SLR with a wide range of interchangeable lenses, finders and screen and set the standard when it was introduced in 1959, the year after I was born. This was my first Nikon, a 1969 vintage Nikon FTn that I got used in 1973. I still get a chuckle when younger people ask me how many MP it has. I cut my teeth on a Minolta SRT-101 but quickly outgrew it. I still have it and I still use it. It is amazingly quiet, far more so than my F2A. The meter has long since given up the ghost but the shutter is still dead on after 50 years.

Where will all of today's DSLR's be in 50 years? A museum somewhere, an attic or in the landfill. Of course, most of us won't be around then anyway!

 

[Bob Blaylock]

If I'm not mistaken, it would be more correct to say the Nikon F, of which the FTn is one variant out of several, and probably not the first variant to exist.

 

[hark]

I will simply take your word for it, STM. Back in the 1980's, I wanted to move from a rangefinder to an SLR. The Camera Shop showed me a Canon, a Nikon, and a Minolta. I don't remember the Nikon model, but it was about twice the price of the Canon and Minolta. I asked the sales rep which he'd recommend - the Canon or the Minolta. The Canon was Shutter Priority and Manual mode, the Minolta was Aperture Priority and Manual mode. The rep suggested the Minolta which was an XG-M model.

I used that for at least 15 years before jumping ship to the Nikon N70 in the late 1990's - and only chose Nikon based on a couple of friends' suggestions who shot with Nikon. Upgraded to an N90s and still have both bodies as well as an FM2n. No desire to shoot 35mm film right now although these are all amazing bodies.

Glad to see you are still shooting 35mm.

 

[Whiskeyman]

Wonderful camera, Scott!

When I was a kid and first started to really notice cameras, my family lived in a "Navy town": Orange Park, Florida. All of the sailors that I saw with cameras seemed to have Nikons, and our next-door neighbor was a USN Photographer, with access to all things photography-wise. A few of them that were acquaintances of my parents even entertained my inquisitions into their gear, and would explain the differences between the SLRs and my Dad's Yashica rangefinder. Of course, that influence led me to the counter at Colonial Photo and Hobby in Orlando over ten years later, where I purchased my first 35mm camera, a Nikon FM. I was out of High School and had my first job, a car payment and newfound freedom and cash to purchase an SLR. Even so, I couldn't afford a professional level camera and lens. (That would be later, but not coupled with professional skills.) I still have that FM, but today I can purchase one of those high-end "professional" Nikons for a relative pittance compared to what they would have cost me forty years ago. But what memories we would have made along the way.

WM

 

[STM]

Wonderful camera, Scott!

When I was a kid and first started to really notice cameras, my family lived in a "Navy town": Orange Park, Florida. All of the sailors that I saw with cameras seemed to have Nikons, and our next-door neighbor was a USN Photographer, with access to all things photography-wise. A few of them that were acquaintances of my parents even entertained my inquisitions into their gear, and would explain the differences between the SLRs and my Dad's Yashica rangefinder. Of course, that influence led me to the counter at Colonial Photo and Hobby in Orlando over ten years later, where I purchased my first 35mm camera, a Nikon FM. I was out of High School and had my first job, a car payment and newfound freedom and cash to purchase an SLR. Even so, I couldn't afford a professional level camera and lens. (That would be later, but not coupled with professional skills.) I still have that FM, but today I can purchase one of those high-end "professional" Nikons for a relative pittance compared to what they would have cost me forty years ago. But what memories we would have made along the way.

WM

Small world, I lived in Mandarin FL for 2½ years in the late 80's! I have been back to Jax a couple of times since then, I barely recognize the place!

 

[Whiskeyman]

It is a small world. Were you stationed at NAS Jax of Cecil Field? Other than that, what took you to the area? My parents had a chunk of land way out, but sold it years ago. (Before they asked me if I wanted it, which I did.)

I was born in Jax and lived there with my parents and grandparents until I was nearly six years old. I remember Mandarin very well, for there was a grand scale train that ran on the weekends; on some Sundays, after church and dinner, my parents would take me to visit and ride on the train. It was a very big deal the first time they ever let me ride it all by myself. My parents met in Green Cove Springs when they attended Clay High School.

A few years ago, I visited Jax for the first time in over 15 years, and told my cousin that it hadn't changed since the last time I'd been there. She thought that I was crazy until I told her that it really hadn't changed, because every road in town was under construction like they had been the last time I was there.

WM