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Where would I look on the camera to figure out the specifications of this camera? I've never really owned a camera before. http://members.accesscable.net/~brent/pics/nikonf.jpg

mattdm
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The camera's a late-60s/early-'70s vintage Nikon "F" 35mm SLR with the Photomic FTn 60%-centre-weighted metering prism viewfinder. (The F had interchangeable viewfinder/prism units.)

An advanced camera when it was released, the F was getting a little long in the tooth about the time this version was produced. It does have some rather desirable features, like mirror lock-up and depth-of-field preview, but it can be awkward to wrangle with if you change lenses. (The later AI, or auto-indexing, system brought that "caveman" feature up to date.) It's rugged and reliable, and would make an excellent learner's tool, mostly because it will do nothing at all for you. You will want to get the shutter tested and adjusted, though; being a clockwork mechanical shutter, driven by a spring, it will probably be a lot slower than the marked value unless it's been recently adjusted.

The lens is a Nikkor-S 50mm/1.4 Auto "normal" lens. "Auto", in this case, means that the lens can be focused wide open, that it sends some information about the chosen aperture (via a mechanical linkage) to the metering unit in the viewfinder, and that it will stop down automatically to the selected shooting aperture (and then return to wide-open) when the shutter is released. Everything else — focusing, setting the aperture, and indexing the lens to the meter — is manual.

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Nikon's Photomic FTn camera and finder coupled with a 50mm f/1.4 lens

See here wikipedia for general details about the F Series and see here for more detailed specs

NULLZ
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  • My lens actually says 1:3.5 f=13.5 cm, what does does that mean? –  May 12 '13 at 00:55
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    @Tony - That means it's a 135mm f/3.5 lens. A good, sharp "short telephoto" lens suitable for headshots and portraiture, but rather slow. –  May 12 '13 at 01:01
  • Why is it slow? –  May 12 '13 at 01:06
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    @Tony see: http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/13619/what-is-a-fast-lens?rq=1 – NULLZ May 12 '13 at 01:12