Since the beginning of my photographic journey, I always considered myself to be a Canon-ian. My first "
real" camera was the EOS 5 which I still own and works perfectly fine after 17 years of moderate use. Then, when I started writing this blog, more and more cameras landed on my hands. I loved the Minoltas, the 9xi and XD-7 have been some of my favourites; and as the journey continued, the Pentax-es came along. The MX is just a magnificent camera; I would definitely include it within the TOP-10 best cameras ever made. Then there was the Olympus OM-1n, a camera that became instantly my main camera to use and love. But there were no Nikons. The only SLR's I used was the (below) average EM and my brother's F-801s.
A half a year ago, a friend from
rangefinderforum.com started a thread on the forum, seeking a camera aficionado who would like to give to a Nikon F4s a new home. After a few seconds of hesitation, I sent an email stating that I would be interested in having it and booked my tickets to London. Why hesitation? It was collection only and it was in London during working hours. A few days later, the camera was mine, for free (thank you Jean Yves).
I spent the trip back home on the train, just holding and looking at it. I was thinking; back in the early 90's this camera cost 580.000 drachmas, that was three months the combined income of both my parents. Now I got it for free. But the value of things is not only the cost of them. This camera had been the Holy Grail throughout my adolescence but because of its price tag, I ended up displacing my desire to have this camera into lusting after other cameras I couldn't have - the 9xi being a good example of it. The introduction of the F5 found me feeling ambivalent. Thrilled with the progress yet sad with the fact that the F4 would be discontinued. You might want to check
MIR's fantastic review of the F4. He has put so much time and effort in his review and gives a complete account of the background that led to the creation of the F4 and all major characteristics of the camera. He has said everything much better than I would probably ever manage to say. Instead, I will limit my review on my experience using this camera and shooting a few films with it. In the future, this review will be updated with a "Lasting Impressions" section.
When you pick up this camera, you realise how big and heavy it is. Having said that, in my mind the F4s was even bigger and heavier than in reality - still big and heavy but not as much as I thought it would be. The camera with all six batteries and lens weights as much as the Minolta 9xi with lens plus the Olympus OM-1n without lens. So it does weight almost as much as two cameras. First impressions are very good; it is all made out of metal, feeling cold in my hands, with my fingers wrapped around the hand grip and touching all dials and buttons without effort. The size of the hand grip has received a lot of criticism; people with small hands will struggle to hold it. In my case it is the maximum size that I can hold comfortably, anything above that and it would have been difficult for me too. The MB-21 battery pack adds to its weight but offers two features. First of all it raises the motor speed to 5.7 frames for second (not very important to me) and adds another shutter release for holding the camera vertically (very important to me!). This is a fantastic feature, I shoot the majority of my pictures in portrait and the extra shutter button adds so much convenience. The viewfinder is nicely big and bright, displaying 100% of the frame. There are a couple of issues for me there. First of all, I find myself moving my eye up and down a lot to be able to view the top and the lower LCD. Another thing is that these LCDs are affected by bleeding, the top one (exposure compensation, frame counter, focus confirmation) is on the camera body and the lower one (metering mode, exposure, and exposure scale) is on the prism. In my sample, the frame counter and exposure compensation are affected; the previous owner had blacked them out with a marker. I decided to remove the marker with a bit of Ronsonol and a cotton bud and to my surprise the bleeding is very small and only limited on the bottom of the LCD which I find it to be perfectly usable. The bleeding LCDs are something to look out for; the top ones need a technician to replace them and can be a very costly repair. The bottom ones can be replaced just by buying another prism.
It is the attention to details that makes this picture taking machine a very usable camera. One of the features I really like is the light that can be switched on to illuminate the LCDs on the viewfinder. Part of the light is also projected on the lens itself so that the aperture value is also visible on the viewfinder - how simple and how very useful. Separate buttons for exposure lock and AF lock that can be combined into one button just with the flick of a switch. A lock for opening the back, you cannot accidentally pull the rewind crank up and open it; you need to release a lock first. Another lock for changing the film speed, very useful especially after having used cameras such as the Pentax ME and Nikon EM that is so easy to knock the dial to a different ISO speed or exposure compensation and screw your whole film. A silent advance mode works by advancing the film on a slower pace bringing noise levels down a bit. On the prism, you can find a level that
 |
| How 4 different cameras handled backlight |
adjusts the exposure. That is needed in case you add a different prism that can influence the exposure reading. Everything is so well thought out. The lens mount deserves extra mention. It retains all the mechanical links and adds also the electronic contacts and motor needed for the AF lenses. This means that the F4 can take all lenses ever made by Nikon and they will still be able to work providing matrix metering. This feature was later dropped on the F5. The shutter unit has a special design too. It uses double shutters and a counter-balancer to absorb the vibrations of the shutter blades. Because of the increased weight of the camera, the vibrations are kept to a minimum. Indeed sometimes I had to remove the lens to see if the shutter was really working and shot a couple of pics on 1/15sec because it felt so stable as if I was shooting with a higher speed. According to the serial number and the info that Ken Rockwell gives on his website ("
The first F4 started at serial number 2,100,000 in September 1988. Nikon made about 5,000 a month") my camera was produced in October 1992. Apparently Nikon quietly updated the camera throughout its production with the major updates been introduced after #2.300.xxx and #2.400.xxx. I am not sure what the latest updates involve but the 2.300.xxx update include a better designed switch for the metering mode and resolved some issues with loading the film.
The Nikon F4 has received a lot of criticism on the Internet for its AF capabilities. People usually suggest buying an F3 if you like manual focusing or an F5 if you prefer AF and skipping the F4. That doesn't make any sense to me at all. The F4s has a good AF module that will not fail you in good light provided that you won't go out taking pictures of a Bugatti Veyron at full speed. The AF is good enough for me when I do street photography and need to take a picture quickly. According to Dante.Stella, the F4 has a very powerful AF motor in order to compensate for the lack of processing power. In good light the camera can focus quickly and without any signs of hunting. In good light it is as good as the Minolta 9xi or the Canon EOS 5 (which i use as a benchmark camera for AF capabilities) and keep in mind that it is almost 2 generations older camera. In a small room lit by a 20w lamp, the F4s will focus easily on any object directly lit by the lamp. It will start hunting on objects that are not close to the light and it will completely quit focusing on anything with low contrast. In a dark room, it can focus easily on a laptop screen with MS-Word open and displaying a text. The camera lacks an AF-assist lamp so in cases of low contrast and low light the camera will start hunting for focus. But i doudt it will ever cause any problems. The AF module is sensitive up to -1EV which is almost the light shed by a candle. The only AF lens I have is the 50 f/1.8 prime and it is focusing quickly although with a bit of noise. I have used many cameras from different generations and I can say that the AF does feel quick and i doubt it will ever cause you to miss a picture. I am not particularly fussed about the lack of multi-AF points, actually I tend to disengage them and use only the central AF point with these cameras.
Many people say that the AF module of the F5 is superior and i am sure it is. It should be really, it is a 8 years old newer camera. But this is not the question. The question is: " Will the AF module on the F4s cause me difficulties with slow focusing and hunting?" and my answer is "No it will not". Full stop. If you Google around the phrase "Nikon F4s popphoto" in the section Books in Google, you will find a scanned issue of Popular Photography with the camera test. Look at the end of the article that tests it against someone walking fast towards the camera. The results are more than acceptable. Interesting is also the fact that they increased the voltage output from 9 volts to 12v and the motor drive delivered 9 frames per second without difficulties.... Hmmm....
(*** Talking about photography magazines, back in the early 90’s, Practical Photography gave 7 professional grade cameras to 7 photographers and asked them to shoot some films with them and mark them from better to worst. The end results were, 1) Nikon F4, 2) Canon EOS 1N, 3) Pentax Z-1p, 4) Olympus OM-3Ti, 5) Leica R6.2, 6) Minolta 9xi and 7) Contax RTS III. The Nikon F4 topped the reviews because of its rugged build and easy-to-follow layout with the Canon EOS 1N coming a close second with its lightning fast AF. Everyone was pleasantly surprised with the Pentax and there was a real battle between the Olympus and the Leica for the old-school photographers. The Minolta felt over-complicated (and is) and the Contax was overlapping frames. I still have this issue at home.***)
So is there a deal-breaker with this camera? I am afraid there is one and it is quite a big omission. This camera suffers from the lack of a shift-programme. Once you put it to "P" and the camera says i.e. f/5.6 and 1/500, you cannot change it. There is no way to shift exposure to another equivalent. You can switch the camera to PH if you prefer more open aperture but in programme mode you cannot shift exposure. You need to switch to A,S or M. Pity, i think this is a big omission for a camera of this level, it actually means that on P the camera turns into a Point&Shoot without any level of control.
This camera emits a sense of over-engineering. I am pretty sure that Nikon didn't have to use 1.3 mm thick copper silumin aluminium to make it tough. And some of the inter-locks are annoying too, i.e. two different levels in order to rewind the film (these could have been combined into one switch with two different modes). The right strap eyelet is definitely in the wrong place and keeps poking my hand. Eventually, the 1.3 kg takes its toll if you carry it around for more than a couple of hours. But despite all these shortcomings, I still love
 |
| They both use the same film size ! |
the camera and the way it handles. I shot one film with it so far and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It is a heavy camera to lug around and I usually carry two cameras with me, one with a 50mm lens and one with a 28mm. So I am in a way used to carry some weight around but with the F4s it means that the other camera will be the Olympus OM-1n to bring the weight down a bit. All frames from the film came out well exposed and accurately focused. What would I like to see in this camera? Obviously a shift-programme would have been the best addition to this camera. Anything else is a minor issue really (i.e. LCD visibility in the finder, strap eyelet, large hand grip, a combined rewind switch etc.). Maybe, when rewinding the film to leave the film lead out? Yea, that would be nice.
Conclusions
The Nikon F4s was the best camera on the planet when it was produced and it still is a masterpiece of modern engineering. This is a simple (within all its complexity) tool for the photographer, the equivalent of a hammer for a blacksmith. It can be used to take pictures and later hammer the nails on the wall to hang them. It is by a mile the best camera I ever had. No ifs no buts... just go get one.