Nikon announces new flagship **FILM** SLR – the F6!

"Matt Clara" wrote:

As far as I can tell, the only thing lost is the interchangeable prisms.
That matters not a whit to me, nor do I know any photographers by aquintance
or word of mouth who change prisms by the job, or on any regular basis, for
that matter.


Nikon still have comparatively huge stocks of unsold alternative
finders for the F4, and sold very, very few for the F5, hence their
omission from the F6 specification. None of the D1/D2 series digital
SLRs had/has interchangeable finders, and apparently there is no
demand for them.

It seems sensible not to offer something for which there is virtually
no demand, and which adds significantly both to the cost of
manufacture and to the risk of ingress of dust or moisture.

"Matt Clara" wrote:

As far as I can tell, the only thing lost is the interchangeable prisms.
That matters not a whit to me, nor do I know any photographers by aquintance
or word of mouth who change prisms by the job, or on any regular basis, for
that matter.


Nikon still have comparatively huge stocks of unsold alternative
finders for the F4, and sold very, very few for the F5, hence their
omission from the F6 specification. None of the D1/D2 series digital
SLRs had/has interchangeable finders, and apparently there is no
demand for them.

It seems sensible not to offer something for which there is virtually
no demand, and which adds significantly both to the cost of
manufacture and to the risk of ingress of dust or moisture.

"William Graham" wrote:

I think they lost the 8 AA battery set too.....This is one of the things I
like best about my F5. Being able to buy batteries at any 7-11 in the middle
of the night.....


Just buy the accessory AA battery pack. I suggest that most F6 owners
will buy one, just as most F4 owners purchased an MB-21 or MB-23
battery pack.

"William Graham" wrote:

I think they lost the 8 AA battery set too.....This is one of the things I
like best about my F5. Being able to buy batteries at any 7-11 in the middle
of the night.....


Just buy the accessory AA battery pack. I suggest that most F6 owners
will buy one, just as most F4 owners purchased an MB-21 or MB-23
battery pack.

Matt Clara wrote:


As far as I can tell, the only thing lost is the interchangeable prisms.
That matters not a whit to me, nor do I know any photographers by aquintance
or word of mouth who change prisms by the job, or on any regular basis, for
that matter.

Yet in the past when comparing the Maxxum 9 or EOS-1v to the F5
there are certain proponents who claim that the interchangeable
VF is *so* essential to a professional ... so it is interesting
to see that Nikon are simplifying the F6 to keep the costs
down... those few who really *do* need the interchangeable vf's
can of course resort to the F5 ... which has a well earned
reputation for reliability and performance in the first place so
they should be available for a while yet, both new and used.

The F6 strategy seems to be as a film alternative for digital
shooting pros who need to shoot a lot of film too. F6 is not the
"extreme" pro camera that the F5 is but has all the essentials
that most pros will want in a film camera.

It is heartening to see them coming out with a full pro camera at
this point... I wonder if Canon will too ... they seem to be
pounding down the digital walls by preference.

Sales will tell.

Cheers,
Alan

--
-- rec.photo.equipment.35mm user resource:
-- http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

Matt Clara wrote:


As far as I can tell, the only thing lost is the interchangeable prisms.
That matters not a whit to me, nor do I know any photographers by aquintance
or word of mouth who change prisms by the job, or on any regular basis, for
that matter.

Yet in the past when comparing the Maxxum 9 or EOS-1v to the F5
there are certain proponents who claim that the interchangeable
VF is *so* essential to a professional ... so it is interesting
to see that Nikon are simplifying the F6 to keep the costs
down... those few who really *do* need the interchangeable vf's
can of course resort to the F5 ... which has a well earned
reputation for reliability and performance in the first place so
they should be available for a while yet, both new and used.

The F6 strategy seems to be as a film alternative for digital
shooting pros who need to shoot a lot of film too. F6 is not the
"extreme" pro camera that the F5 is but has all the essentials
that most pros will want in a film camera.

It is heartening to see them coming out with a full pro camera at
this point... I wonder if Canon will too ... they seem to be
pounding down the digital walls by preference.

Sales will tell.

Cheers,
Alan

--
-- rec.photo.equipment.35mm user resource:
-- http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

"TP" wrote in message
...
"William Graham" wrote:

I think they lost the 8 AA battery set too.....This is one of the things
I
like best about my F5. Being able to buy batteries at any 7-11 in the
middle
of the night.....


Just buy the accessory AA battery pack. I suggest that most F6 owners
will buy one, just as most F4 owners purchased an MB-21 or MB-23
battery pack.



Yes....On re-reading the specs, I see that such a thing is available...I do
wonder where they put it. Does it hang on the bottom of the camera,
extending it's height to approximately the same as the F5?

Alan Browne wrote:
other bells and whistles, like the built in databack, inter-volvo-meter,
etc. Then there's the full metal body, including the back, beter meter,
better autofocus, mirror lockup, faster motordrive, shutter monitor, and a

Shutter monitor? WTF is that? Nikon shutters are extremely
reliable in this class ... not something of value to monitor it, IMO.

Something that will tell you when you need need to go to
a Nikon service center because your shutter just fired at
the wrong speed compared to what it was supposed to.

Or do you have a use for a shuuter that fires at say 5% less on speeds
above 1/2000?

super hightech shutter made in collaboration with DuPont. The list goes on

About time they caught up to Minolta (Max 9 [1998] uses carbon
fibre reinforced epoxy blades and shoots to 1/12,000 (1/300 sync)).

Are there really subjects needing more than 1/8000? And I don't
mean shooting bright sunlight dyatime scenes with ISO 1600 film
and large apertures.


and on.
If this is an improved F100, it's improvements are generational, at the very
least.

I expected that the "F6" would be better than an "F5" in all
respects. Maybe that's the wrong way to look at it... but by
going to a fixed VF, slower sync, etc. etc. they've taken away
some of the king-of-the-hill pro appeal.

Cheers,
Alan.



--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++

Alan Browne wrote:
other bells and whistles, like the built in databack, inter-volvo-meter,
etc. Then there's the full metal body, including the back, beter meter,
better autofocus, mirror lockup, faster motordrive, shutter monitor, and a

Shutter monitor? WTF is that? Nikon shutters are extremely
reliable in this class ... not something of value to monitor it, IMO.

Something that will tell you when you need need to go to
a Nikon service center because your shutter just fired at
the wrong speed compared to what it was supposed to.

Or do you have a use for a shuuter that fires at say 5% less on speeds
above 1/2000?

super hightech shutter made in collaboration with DuPont. The list goes on

About time they caught up to Minolta (Max 9 [1998] uses carbon
fibre reinforced epoxy blades and shoots to 1/12,000 (1/300 sync)).

Are there really subjects needing more than 1/8000? And I don't
mean shooting bright sunlight dyatime scenes with ISO 1600 film
and large apertures.


and on.
If this is an improved F100, it's improvements are generational, at the very
least.

I expected that the "F6" would be better than an "F5" in all
respects. Maybe that's the wrong way to look at it... but by
going to a fixed VF, slower sync, etc. etc. they've taken away
some of the king-of-the-hill pro appeal.

Cheers,
Alan.



--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++

In article sNI2d.317911$8_6.133850@attbi_s04,
William Graham wrote:

"TP" wrote in message
Just buy the accessory AA battery pack. I suggest that most F6 owners
will buy one, just as most F4 owners purchased an MB-21 or MB-23
battery pack.

Yes....On re-reading the specs, I see that such a thing is available...I do
wonder where they put it. Does it hang on the bottom of the camera,
extending it's height to approximately the same as the F5?

Unfortunately the whole combination is even bigger than the F5:

http://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/...g=1&mem=&arc=Y

Why on earth didn't they design it to accept internal AAs as an option?
After all, the F100 can take either an AA or CR123 internal battery
holder, without having to bother with the optional external grip.

Richard.