Phil Koenig

Nikon F

Japan’s first major industrial product recognized as best in class.

Japan as Number One

The Nikon F made Japan the world’s leader in 35mm cameras. And the Nikon F is not just a historical artifact. I’m a user, not a collector and overall, this is arguably the #1 best user camera out there.

Design

The Nikon F is an all-mechanical, manual camera. The prism is modular and can be swapped out as quickly as changing a lens. Different prisms with and without meters, and even a waist level finder, were manufactured during the Nikon F’s long production run.

The body has no provision for a battery. When a metering prism is fitted, the battery is on board the prism. I leave it out, preferring to use a hand-held meter or the sunny 16 rule.

The origin story: Nippon Kogaku

As the nameplate in the photo above indicates, the Nikon F was the product of Nippon Kogaku K. K. of Tokyo. (The K. K. stands for kabushiki kaisha, 株式会社, Japanese for Inc. or Ltd.) In 1988 the company’s name was changed to Nikon Corporation.

Nippon Kogaku was founded in 1917 to supply optical equipment to the Japanese military. Growth was rapid in the 1930s and during World War II. Among the company’s products were aircraft gun sights and rangefinders for warships (including the legendary battleship Yamato.)

Post-1945, the company of necessity re-oriented to civilian markets. Its war production had prepared it well and in the 1950s Nippon Kogaku achieved success with its Nikon-brand rangefinder cameras.

(Sources: Alexander, 2002, Long, 2018 and Nikon Corp.)

1950s: Rangefinders were the standard

In the 1950s, professional 35mm photographers and dedicated amateurs used rangefinder cameras. Leica was the leader, the Zeiss Ikon Contax was a contender, and Nippon Kogaku’s Nikon along with the Canon and some others were lower-priced Japanese alternatives.

The SLR was not a new idea

At that time (1950s), SLRs had already been in use for several decades. The Graflex SLR was a standard pro tool from the early 1900s through the 1940s. Graflexes made some of the most famous photographs of the first half of the 20th century but they were large and unwieldy.

The Hasselblad 500C introduced in 1957 was a much handier SLR, but it was a medium format camera, still not as quick-acting as a Leica or Contax.

The first 35mm SLR in regular production was the Kine Exacta of 1936 from Ihagee of Dresden, which ended up in East Germany after the war. 35mm SLRs were developed in the post-war era in several countries, but none caught on (Matanle, 1996). Compared to rangefinder cameras, they were clunky and slow-acting.

1959: Nikon F eclipses Leica M3

Nippon Kogaku saw the time was ripe for a professional-grade 35mm SLR to revolutionize the industry. They made the big push. After a lot of work to develop a 35mm SLR design that met professional performance and durability requirements, the Nikon F debuted in 1959.

The Nikon F was a heavily-built camera with a 100 percent viewfinder, auto diaphragm, bayonet lens mount, instant return mirror, mirror lockup, interchangeable finders, interchangeable focus screens, and a large selection of first-class lenses available at introduction (Long, 2018).

That was an unprecedented set of super-useful key performance parameters. The Nikon F set a new paradigm. It outclassed the previously-leading Leica M3 and outsold it even though it was equally expensive (Matanle, 1996).

Japan’s first aspirational industrial product

1950s and 1960s Japanese industrial products (including automobiles) generally sold on price — they were low-cost alternatives. ‘Made in Japan’ did not confer prestige.

The Nikon F was different. It was arguably the first major Japanese industrial product to be universally recognized as the global best in class. It made Nikon a premium brand all over the world, at a time when Toyota was barely known outside its home market.

A distinctive type of innovation

Like Henry Ford’s Model T, the Nikon F was a creative development of a pre-existing idea; an inspired realization of hidden potential that had previously been captured only to a limited and incomplete extent. The Nikon F was a virtuoso performance in engineering innovation; an example of a type of innovative ability that has, throughout history, built new industries and been a major determinant of business competitiveness and national economic strength.

A long production run

The Nikon F dominated 35mm professional photography from 1959 to 1971, when the F2 appeared. But the F was so popular, it was kept in production until May 1974 (Pritchard, 2014:162).

The Nikon F’s long production run was remarkable because it took place at a time of rapid innovation, with fierce competition among Japanese SLR makers who were continually bringing out new models.

The Nikon F stayed in front for several reasons including: (1) its original design was ahead to start with, (2) a lot of the tech development was in metering, and the Nikon F’s metering was built into the modular prisms, (3) it had a huge array of lenses and other accessories, and (4) strong marketing.

The Nikon F becomes part of the culture

The Nikon F became part of the camera culture and beyond. It was featured in a number of films made in, or set in, the 1960s. For example, the main character in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blow-Up is a fashion photographer in Swinging London, and he uses a Nikon F and a Hasselblad.

In a markedly different use case, photojournalists in Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s put lots of film through this camera. That proved the Nikon F’s reliability in ultra harsh conditions. The camera became part of the iconography of the war and was featured in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979).

Style

The Nikon F with the plain prism is an elegant evolution of the preceding Nikon rangefinder. But when fitted with one of the ungainly photomic prisms, the camera suddenly has tremendous presence and style. It can literally be recognized from across the street.

The Nikon F in use

The Nikon F handles great. It has a big, bright viewfinder. Focus screens are modular and can be changed out, although i have never done that as the standard screen has split-image focus which is perfect for me — it’s quick and accurate. Not all classic Japanese SLRs include this really useful feature.

I like the removing back (in lieu of the more common hinged door) because it is a metal-to-metal fit which is strong and maintenance-free.

Modular prisms

The plain (unmetered) prism is smaller and lighter than the Photomic prisms. And since there’s no meter, lens changes are a little quicker because there’s no need to engage the lens ‘rabbit ears’ to index the lens to the meter.

The Nikon F and the Leica

The 35mm cameras that I use most are Nikon Fs and screw-mount Leicas. The Leica is smaller, quieter, and has an unmatched solid feel. The Nikon F is far easier to use, though, and there are a lot more lenses available today in good condition. With the screw-mount Leica, the viewfinder is tiny which makes precise photo composition more difficult, and the Leica’s rangefinders are dimmer, so focusing is more time-consuming.

Functionally and historically, the M3, M2, and M4 Leica models are more comparable alternatives to the Nikon F. However, while the M3 and the Nikon F were at about the same price point when new, their pricing has diverged. Nikon Fs remain priced as upper level user cameras, but the M-series Leicas have moved into the realm of European luxury goods.