Thought I would just post an image of two cameras that I own.
The F2SB is quite rare in near mint condition, as it was only produced for one year (between 1976 & 77) so unfortunately gets the attention of collectors who push the price up.
It was (is) arguably the finest manual camera that Nikon has ever produced see Mir for more details.
The F3 was the last of the Nikon manual-focus cameras, it was produced from 1980 to 2000 or maybe up to 2002; during that time there were at least four main variants that ended with the F3AF. The one I have is an early one without the ‘High Eye-point’ viewfinder, which allowed the entire viewfinder image to be seen from a distance. The only down side of this camera was the flash-mount which needed a dedicated F3 flash unit or a coupler AS-7: it took almost 20 years? before Nikon made the AS-17 coupler which will allow more modern flash units to be used; for example the SB27. see Mir
Incidentally, the lens is a Tokina AT-x 35-70 F2.8 zoom: their manual AT-x range is some of the highest quality lenses built, both in terms of sharpness and construction. As a side note: the AT-x designation was changed to AT-x Pro for this quality of lens when AF lenses were introduced by the company.
Yes Dave – I must post an image of my Bronica S2a, now that is a beast, you can hear the mirror clunk a mile off but the lenses; now they are good! early Nikon.
David.
Veritable beasts. Will last another fifty years no doubt. They don’t make ’em like this anymore…sad to say.