I got this camera for spare parts or repair but for the £2 I paid for it, i though that i could give it a try and repair it. The problem was a massive battery leak which caused it to stop working. Luckily, the battery compartment is held in place by 5 small screws, once removed, the whole battery department comes out as one piece. I placed it together with the battery holder inside a lunch box full of white vinegar and left it overnight. Next day i rinsed it with water and let it dry. I put it back on the camera and everything seems to be working fine!
The Nikon F-301 was produced as a replacement of the aging Nikon FG. It featured a number of improvements which were hot stuff in the mid-80's and it resulted in good sales as an entry level Nikon. The F-301 inherited most of the features of the previous Nikon-FG and added an integrated winder that could advance the film up to 2.5 frames per second.
The fit and finish of this camera is excellent. Top plate is plastic but anything else is made out of metal. This is reflected on the weight of the camera, some of it is due to the four AAA batteries that the F-301 requires in order to work. I love Nikon's idea, AAA (or AA) batteries can be found absolutely everywhere and you can get 12 for £1. The camera has a very 80's design, not so contoured and with sharp edges but i kinda like it. Viewfinder is quite bright but it does not feel as big as other cameras.
The Nikon F-301 offers a quite impressive set of features. Manual, Aperture priority, two programmes (Normal and Hi-Speed), exposure lock, exposure compensation, two winder modes (single frame and continues (2.5 fps)) and a beeper that you can silence. There are a number of things that are missing though.
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| Try to get it with an E-Series lens. It's much more compact. |
First of all there is no aperture readout on the viewfinder. Also, there is no mirror lockup or DOF preview button. One would wonder why there is no Shutter priority mode, (the Nikon FA has it). Also I would like to have seen another option for exposure metering, like spot or partial (Canon's T70 of the same era could do it).
Apart from the things missing, there are a couple of things that in my opinion needed more attention. First of all, the noise levels of this camera are quite high. Winder is noisy and so is the mirror slap. Another thing is the combined on/off/winder switch which feel rather cheap. You have to lift it and rotate it - not my cup of tea. Another thing that i didn't like is the fact that once you put film in it and press the shutter button, the motor drive will advance the film to frame No1, meaning that you lose the first 3 pictures of the film. Oh well, you can't have everything i suppose, anyway I like the F-301 much better than the Nikon EM...
The film i shot with the Nikon F-301 came out well exposed. Nikon's 60/40 centre weighted light meter is as accurate as any centre weighted system of that era could be and the presence of the two Programme modes added a level of flexibility. Overall impressions are positive, only noise is something that i didn't manage to get over it (yet).
Summary
As with every camera, the Nikon F-301 has a number of impressive features and some serious omissions. But for me, the biggest problem with this camera is that it suffers a kind of identity crisis. I feel that the Nikon FG that it replaced is a better camera - it lost its compact size and added a motor wind that made it bulkier and louder. On the other hand, it is by no means a FA/FM/FE series camera that have some of above omissions sorted. Due to the fact that the second hand camera market is flooded with cameras with the same or better specification, the Nikon F-301 will struggle to get your attention. If found cheap, it is an excellent introduction to the massive Nikon system that will not disappoint you, but I would keep an eye open for a Nikon FG in good condition.