What attracted you to Nikon?

[BF Hammer]

I also had the Kodak Instamatics but I never really counted them as 'real' cameras.
Goodness remember Kodak, they could have been so big today if they had followed the way technology was moving.

Yeah, I had an old Kodak Hawkeye that shot 620 film stock as a kid. I remember those 1-shot flashbulbs it used and how they melted into grotesque shapes. Still have my Kodak 110 slimline camera, but the batteries are unobtainium.

 

[Bikerbrent_RIP]

I started photography with my father’s Argus C3 in high school (manual everything, did not even have built in light meter). During college bought a Mamiya Sekor 500 TL SLR with 50mm f1.8 lens, and later purchased a 35mm and 200mm lens. I really wanted a Nikon SLR, but it was beyond my college budget. Also, while attending college in Fresno, CA, I got the opportunity to go on a Photography club field trip to Yosemite and meet Ansel Adams, what a thrill that was!

Many years later got back into serious photography and could now afford a low budget Nikon, so I bought a Nikon F60 with Tamron 28-200mm lens, followed by an F100. Along the way, I acquired the Nikon 50mm F1.8, Tokina 28-70mm f2.6-2.8, Tokina 24-200mm, and Nikon 80-200 f2.8 lenses.

Later I obtained a Nikon D70 with 18-70 mm kit lens for my first foray into Digital. Then I purchased a Tamron 200-400mm lens. I then upgraded to a D200 with Nikon 18-200mm kit lens. I passed on the D300, thinking it was not enough of a step up to justify replacing my D200 and I waited and waited for a suitable D200 replacement. While waiting I purchased a Tokina 12-24mm f4 lens and a Sigma 150-600mm lens with dock. Finally, giving up on a real D200 replacement, I purchased a D7200 (just before the D500 was announced, but I am not unhappy I got the D7200 as it is a very impressive camera and suits my needs just fine). My latest purchase was a Tokina 100mm f2.8 Macro lens.

I currently have a two kit setup, my Walk-around kit and my Serious kit. The Walk-around kit consists of my D7200 with Nikon 18-200mm and Tokina 12-24mm plus a small bag, extra batteries and SD cards. My Serious kit is the D7200 with Tokina 12-24mm, Tokina 28-70mm, Nikon 80-200mm, Tokina 100mm Macro, SB800 flash, and larger bag. In addition, with either kit I carry the Sigma 150-600mm and a mono pod as needed.

 

[STM]

I started in photography in 1972 with a Minolta SRT-101 and stuck with it for a year. I was not particularly impressed by the sharpness and flare control of their lenses (I had 5 at the time). I switched to Nikon, mostly on their reputation, and it has been smooth sailing ever since. I never got into digital until 2013 and still shoot with my film Nikons, in fact my FTN has a half a roll of Tri-X in it that I am going to finish up today.

 

[Chucktin]

1960s I started HS and all the Professionals were Nikon users. Canon, Pentax, Miranda etc alle were also-rans.

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[Danno_RIP]

My choice of Nikon is likely pretty strange. I always love photography but hadn't the time for it. I was a workaholic, biker, etc, and I had no time for it. I was barely home. But I had a couple strokes that kind of scrambled my brain a bit. I could not do a lot for the first bit but I decided to start with photography. I picked Nikon because of a Paul Simon song... "Kodachrome". I bought a D3200.

Retired from the MC and I am unable to do my old job as a project leader and product development. I just do not have the balance for the bike or the stamina or brainpower for the work stress, but I can take photos and that has been a blessing. Also selling the scoot funded some lenses. I really like my Z6. The journey from the D3200, 7200, D700, settling on the Z6 has been a blast. The IBIS and WYSIWYG in the Z6 has really helped me a lot.

I am glad I chose Nikon even if it was not the most scientific approach.

 

[Paliswe]

My father had an old 6x6 camera that I was allowed to practice on. Eventually we got an Agfa Silette which I used a couple of years. This was back in the early 1960s. Then I bought a Minolta SRT-101 (I think) with a 50mm lens and a Tamron 200mm. Not satisfied with the Tamron I sold it (1972) and bought a Nikkormat + 50mm f/2.8 + 200m f/4 which I still have in my drawer. My mother got angry, wondering why I bought such expensive toys!
Twelve years later (1984) I bought a Nikon F-301 with a 35-105 mm f3,5-4,5 and my wife got angry, wondering why I bought such expensive toys!
After that I have had D80 (2007), D7000 (?), D7200 (?) and now Z6 (2017) and nobody to complain over my toys!
I have had no reason to abandon Nikon, they have always worked for me.

 

[Dawg Pics]

Legacy.
My Dad was an amateur photographer for decades until he turned pro after leaving engineering. I had never purchased a camera until my Dad was selling his D100, which I knew was in great condition. I had it for a while before I decided to actually learn stuff. It bit the dust, so I stuck with Nikon and got a used D300 then a D500. No regrets.

I had a Polaroid when I was a kid, then I used my brother's Instamatic. Then my Dad bought me a Minolta 35mm when I was in junior high. I got a Sony Cybershot as a gift in the 90s. The D100 was the first camera I purchased. All others before were gifts. Now, I have what I call real-gear and finally understand what all the buttons are. There was a time that I though I would never figure all of that out. Still learning, though. . I need to go shoot before I forget what all the buttons are.

Forgot about the D80. Dad had an extra one and gave it to me to tide me over after my D100 started acting up. I used it for a photography job. That little camera made me enough money to get the D500.

 

[D'Grump]

Bought my first SLR (a Minolta SRT-101) while I was in Vietnam in 1968. Later I upgraded to a Minolta Maxxum 7000 with a data back and used that one hard until I decided to go digital. I was tempted to stay with Minolta, but they had merged with Konica by that time, and I never liked Konica to begin with. Debated between Canon and Nikon, and finally decided that Nikon was the “brand that all others are measured against”, and bought a D70 with a 18-70 kit lens. Took a lot of pictures with it, and when the D7100 came out, I just had to have one. Got mine with the 18-140 kit lens and just kept right on going. The D7100 felt a little small in my hands, so I got a grip for it, and now it just feels like an extension of my hand. It’s getting a little long in the tooth about now, and the plan is to get a D500 if they ever come back in stock, and maybe 2 more lenses like a 105 macro, and a short tele, and I should be all set. I don’t feel the urge/need to upgrade to mirrorless, so the D500 will most probably be the last camera I buy. Love Nikon equipment, but some of the decisions they make leave me baffled!
Andy

 

[dachshund]

Started out with an Agfa Isolette, that my brother got in Germany in 1957. From there I went to a Kodak Signet 40 and then to a Pentax KX and traded that for a Nikon FM sometime in the late 70s, stayed with Nikon since through many models e.g FE, FA, EM, D40, D3300, D5600 Z50 and back to N60, N55, N75 and 2 N80s

 

[Sandpatch]

My Dad enjoyed amateur photography and always shot with Nikons. He bought me a Nikkormat FTn in the mid-70s and I later moved to his EL-2 when he upgraded. Some years later, I acquired an N2020 which I enjoyed for many years with absolute reliability.

When Kodak quit producing and processing Kodachrome, I quit photography for a number of years. I wasn't able to afford a decent DSLR.

When Nikon introduced the D5100, it met my requirement for DSLR quality and affordability. I bought it just over ten years ago, love it and have never upgraded. My only regret is buying the Nikon 50-200mm Zoom, which often suffers from some sort of weird light refraction from a bright locomotive headlight and twin ditch lights (I like trains) which places three green spots in my pictures and it now has some sort of vibration reduction (?) defect which makes a ratting noise when I lightly press my shutter button. My 18mm-55mm kit lens has been a champ.

I might upgrade one of these days, staying with DX format. Not sure what I'd pick for a zoom.

 

[Rick M]

Inspirational Advertising

 

[Dawg Pics]

Inspirational Advertising

View attachment 369519

Nobody is studying the camera.

 

[desmobob]

I saw big-time photojournalists using F2s back in my teenage years and the image of pros using Nikons was stuck in my head. Uncle Sam was mostly using Canons and I was trained on a Canon F-1 when I became an enlisted Navy Journalist in the '80s but I was handed an F2AS at may first duty station. (I had a Nikon FG of my own back then.)

I own and have used a bunch of the film bodies (F2S, F3HP, F4s, FG, FE2, FA) and a few of the digitals (D70, D200, D750). Love 'em all!

 

[jerryTheC]

On the film camera side, I had a Praktica DSLR when I was a teenager, an Olympus OM-1N at university, and got my first Nikon - a used FE - around 10 years later. At the time, I was looking for a bigger range of lenses... Got hooked on the system and eventually upgraded to a used F4, and eventually an F5 (brilliant but fairly hefty) and later added an F100 (lighter than the F5 when I didn't need the F5 features), shooting mostly slide film with some black and white. Eventually went digital with a D70 then D300, which served me well for a long time. Recently upgraded to a mirrorless Z7 II.

Basically, I just like the Nikon system - I like the fact they kept backward compatability with earlier lenses - the F4 could use just about any nikon lens (including Pre-AI ones, thanks to a flippable coupling tab, though I didn't have any), and the F5 could be modified to do the same (but I never needed that). When I was looking at my latest upgrade, I considered both the Z7II and the D850 - eventually went for the mirrorless Z7II since it looked as though the new Z mount lenses were going to be where future developments were heading, and having handled both, I liked the mirrorless features and especially the lighter weight (The D850 was another fairly hefty camera, and while I could have handled that, the Z7II was significantly lighter with a similar feature set. And much easier to adapt other brand lenses to).

The only major irritation is that Nikon did a half-baked job on the FTZ adapter - it doesn't support the older F-Mount screw drive AF, which means that older AF lenses like my 80-400 AFD and 180/2.8AFD won't autofocus on the Z7.

 

[nikonbill]

When I made the jump to a digital DSLR in early 2012 I was having good luck with Canon point and shoots and really impressed with customer service on one of those when it died. So going in I was Canon biased. I research a lot before purchases, and found the great advice to pick up the camera you want to buy and see how it "feels". This lead me to the local camera stores (they were still open then) and I made a few visits. No stranger to DSLR's (Pentax film shooter) the entry Canon model versus the Nikon (D5100) just did not "feel" right to my hand. The D5100 was great and used it a lot with the kit lenses. I then graduated to a D7200 in 2019 this camera has put the passion back in photography for me and confirmed Nikon's commitment to ergonomics.

I think all the major camera makers can offer similar "image" quality, my advice to folks searching is in handling, (or personal ergonomics) buy what feels right in your hand. As I have got reactivated I am leaning that different Nikon cameras "feel" similar to me. I am excited for the mirror less technology, currently following the Z50 threads (would like to stay with the APS-C sensor for lens reach) so impressed with the images folks are getting with that body and the ability to use existing lens with the FTZ adapter to ease the total cost at one time.

I have followed service threads here and see generally Nikon doing a first class job as Canon did for me in the past, should I ever need them.

 

[harleridr]

I started with a Cannon AE-1, then an Olympus OM-2. When the Minolta Maxxium auto-focus first came out I had to have one. None of the new auto-focus cameras could be used with older lenses, until Nikon came out with theirs. istarted with an F-3, F-4, finally an F-5- Now along comes Nikons' digital D-70. I have been using Nikon ever since, and haven't looked back.

 

[Clovishound]

I started with an Argus C4 hand me down. Moved on to a Practica and then Pentax film cameras. I moved to Minolta when the autofocus shift started, and ended up with my dad's Rollei 3.5F when he passed. Fell out of the hobby in the 90s. Wife got my daughter and I a refurbed Canon Rebel in 2007. Daughter used it mostly, but I tried my hand at it, and liked it. When my daughter got the bug, an wanted something more up to date, the Nikons were a lot more bang for the buck in entry level DSLRs at the time, so I went with a D3400 2 lens kit I picked up on sale for $500. It was heads and shoulders above the Canon in image quality. Of course, that was mainly due to improvements in the technology across the board. When I started to get interested in photography again, I just bought her a new D5600 and I took her D3400. After a few months, I decided to treat myself to a new Z5. After getting on board with Nikon with the D3400, it seemed reasonable to stick with one manufacturer.