Greetings from California

YamanoteE235

New member
Hi all,

Just wanted to drop a quick hello from CA! I should be receiving my first Nikon camera today... an F3! I'm super excited. I picked up a basic 50mm lens hoping it will serve me well for some time until I can save up enough $$ for maybe a 28mm or 35mm.

What would you all recommend after getting familiar with the 50? General walkaround/street photography for the most part. I would like to try my hand at some portrait work but anything goes! I can't wait!
 

RocketCowboy

Senior Member
Howdy and welcome to Nikonites!!!

If you're starting with a 50mm, which I think is a great choice for street photography, I might suggest an 85mm next for portrait use. I know some street photographers who also love the 85mm for more discreet street photography use, but it's also one of my favorite portrait lenses.

Looking forward to seeing some of your work!!!
 

spb_stan

Senior Member
Welcome to the forum The F3 is a pro level camera that had excellent durability and cost more in relative dollars than a D5 today. It came in many versions,some targeting press photography, or sports or high Eye Point. Being manual focus, many would shy away from it today but manual focus on a camera with a micromesh focusing screen was a snap, and probably resulted in fewer missed focus than AF today.I shot with a Canon A1 for years and never remember an out of focus shot.
The F3 can handle modern lenses and legacy lenses so I would look in camera swap meets, pawn shops or old time camera shops for older MF lenses, they were smaller and better built than lenses today with the same focal length, and because they are MF, there i less demand so lower prices.
If you were looking for a general purpose new lens, the 35 f/1.8G is excellent as a general street/walking around lens and is about $380 new. Used might be $200. It benefits from modern lens coatings that control flare and CA more than older lenses.
That was the first in the pro series that used electronic shutter control but has the problem of a really slow maximum flash sync speed of 1/80sec. That means using flash for daytime fill is going to show a black band if shooting high enough speed to properly expose a bright ambient light.
Good luck and have fun. It was a camera that a lot of people dreamed about and was way out of their price range. It cost about 1/2 the price of a new compact car of the day.
 
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