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Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for RARE Top MINT in BOX Nikon F100 35mm SLR Black Film Camera Body From JAPAN at the best online prices at eBay!

• Nikon F3 serial numbers (assisted by Ron Volmershausen and John Laughlin) The Nikon F3 bodies were produced from March 1980 till October 2000; the Nikon F3HP was produced since March 1982; the Nikon F3/T (titanium-champagne) since December 1982; the Nikon F3/T black since September 1984.
• I bought a used F100 with a 2050xxx serial number. I haven't been able to find a serial number listing that would tell me how old this body is. It was represented as being two years old, but I'm not sure I believe it. It DOES have the plastic rewind fork, and I think that was changed by Nikon several years ago. I've emailed Nikon to no avail.

Introduction

The Nikomat/Nikkormat FTN Nippon Kōgaku was a successful and lauded iteration of the Nikomat/Nikkormat FT series. Introduced in 1967, the FTN is built on substantially the same chassis as the FT, but had center-weighted metering instead of whole-frame average metering, a shutter-speed display in the viewfinder, a few other minor changes, and, critically, a simplified process for mounting the lens. Nowhere on the body does the camera directly identify itself as an 'FTN.' The serial number begins with an 'FT,' probably continuous with the serial numbers of the FT, and there is a larger capital 'N' nearby, adjacent to the external meter indicator. The 'N' may stand for 'new.' At any rate, it seems the manufacturers viewed this camera as not a new model but an update.

The Nikkormat series was the budget range of Nikon SLR's, aimed at those who could not afford the professional range (including the Nikon F). However, for several reasons, the Nikkormat achieved a significant following. For one thing, some professionals preferred the smaller, cheaper and simpler Nikkormats. For another, the camera has an extremely reliable metal-blade focal-plane shutter, based on the Copal Square, known for its high X-speed, durability and accuracy. In the eyes of some, this puts it ahead of the Nikon F technically, though this feature would be picked up in the professional range at a later date, and in fact the two lines would be folded together in the Nikon FE.

In a way, the early Nikkormats can be seen as the successors of the Nikkorex F, a Mamiya-made, Nikon-branded body with the original Copal Square (it was the first SLR to have it). This Nikkorex was a step up from the other Nikkorexes, taking F-mount lenses and a clip-on meter, and in fact filled a new niche for Nippon Kougaku, what we might now call the 'prosumer' niche, between amateur and professional-grade equipment. By introducing the metal-blade shutter type and pioneering the marketing strategy, the Nikkorex F paved the way for the Nikkormats.

The Nikkormat FTN represents the most common of the FT series Nikkormats, having been made for almost ten years. Its predecessor introduced the body type and most of the basic features, while the FTN added some much-needed fit-and-finish, and the FT2 and FT3 continued to refine the same body style.

The FTN was produced until 1976, with minor modifications.

Physical description

The camera is a fairly conventional SLR in the layout of the chassis. However, there are some unusual features that give the camera an unusual look: the shutter speed selector is, as on many fixed-lens cameras, but few SLR's, a ring around the lens mount. This may at first seem like an inconvenience, but it puts both the exposure controls in the same place, and frees up the top of the camera for other things. To wit, the camera features a very large magnified frame counter where many cameras would have the shutter-speed dial, as well as a depth of field preview button that can be mistaken for a second shutter release, closer to the pentaprism. The apparent inconvenience of the shutter-speed ring is also lessened by the fact that the shutter speed is always visible inside the viewfinder, a new feature of the FTN model. The shutter speed is also visible on the opposite side of the ring from the setting lever, with speeds higher than 1/125 (X-speed) in red (indicating that flash sync is usable.)

Another reason for the camera's unusual appearance is the aperture coupling. This assembly is a ring that surrounds the lens mount, with a projecting prong. This device is a necessity of the Nikon F lens system, which reads the aperture via a slotted shoe on the lens's aperture ring. To mount a lens and meter it properly, the aperture must be set to 5.6, the prong must be moved to the far right (facing the camera), the lens must be attached to the camera and finally, the aperture ring must be turned all the way to the smallest aperture and then all the way to the largest aperture, in order to mechanically set the aperture range in the camera. A small scale on the aperture-sensing ring confirms the maximum aperture. This may seem complicated to photographers who are more used to later SLR's, but it is in fact a simplification from the Nikkormat FT.

Another unusual feature is an external meter needle in addition to the one in the viewfinder. The manual describes this as being a convenience for use at waist-level or when mounted on a tripod.

Unlike the FT, some FTN's, perhaps a majority, have a plastic grip on the advance lever, while earlier examples have the FT's lightly knurled all-metal lever.

Shutter

The shutter is substantially the design which Mamiya, Yashica and Copal (among others) came together to design in the late 1960's, which was marketed by Copal as the Copal Square and first mounted by Mamiya in the Nikkorex F (and store-brand derivatives). It is a fully-mechanical focal-plane shutter, with the moving elements being six metal blinds being propelled by levers, instead of continuous cloth curtains propelled by rollers. Unlike the Nikkorex Copal Square shutter, the Nikkormat shutter seems to be made in-house, rather than by Copal, and has the levers on the mirror-box side, rather than the film side. Shutter speeds run from 1/1000s to 1s and B, with intermediate speeds available between each shutter speed from 1/1000s to 1/250s. Using the shutter with the selector between other speeds is not recommended by the manual.

The shutter speeds are shown by transparent numbers in a slider moving inside the pentaprism enclosure adjacent to the focusing screen. The current speed is lit by light coming through the lens, as well as the adjacent shutter speeds (or a diamond at each end of the speed range), which are tinted yellow.

Metering

When the maximum aperture and the film speed have finally been properly set, the camera acts as a fairly conventional center-the-needle metered-manual camera, metering with the aperture wide open. The meter is activated by pulling out the film-advance lever slightly, revealing a red dot. There is a needle at the right-hand side of the viewfinder, between a bracket marked with a '-' and one marked with a '+,' which were not present on the FT. Confusingly, the plus and minus marks indicates over- and underexposure, respectively; the plus sign, for instance, does not indicate that the exposure should be increased, as some photographers would naturally intuit. If the needle centers with the shutter at 'B,' the photographer should use a tripod and hold the shutter for two seconds.

The second meter needle merely has a circle to indicate the proper exposure, though '+' and '-' signs were added to the next model.

Nikon F100 Serial Number List For Sale

Links

• Nikkormat FTN at Nikon's History & Technology site
• Nikomat & Nikkormat FTN Camera Bodies' in Richard de Stoutz' 'Nikon F Collection & Typology'
• Nikkormat FT noir on www.collection-appareils.fr by Sylvain Halgand (in French)
• Nikkormat at Classic Cameras by RaúlM.
• Instruction Manual - English at at M.Butkus' www.orphancameras.com
• Nikkormat FTN page at Camera Portraits

The Eyes of Nikon:-
Nippon Kogaku KK Rangefinder RF-Nikkor lenses:- Main Index Page
Nikon Auto Focus Nikkor lenses:- Main Index Page
Nikon Manual Focus Nikkor lenses- Main Index Page
Fisheye-Nikkor Lenses - Circular |Full Frame|Ultrawides Lenses - 13mm15mm18mm20mm |Wideangle Lenses - 24mm28mm35mm |
Standard Lenses - 45mm50mm58mm|Telephoto Lenses - 85mm105mm135mm180mm & 200mm|
Super-Telephoto Lenses - 300mm400mm500mm600mm800mm1200mm|
Special Application lenses:
Micro-Nikkor Lenses - 50mm~55mm -60mm85mm -105mm200mmMicro-Zoom 70-180mm
Perspective Control (PC) - 28mm35mmPC-Micro 85mm
Dedicated Lenses for Nikon F3AF: AF 80mm f/2.8 | AF 200mm f/3.5 EDIF
Depth of Field Control (DC): 105mm 135mm
Medical Nikkor: 120mm200mm
Reflex-Nikkor Lenses - 500mm1000mm2000mm
Others: Noct Nikkor| OP-Nikkor| UV Nikkor55mm105mm|Focusing Units| Bellows-Nikkor105mm135mm
Nikon Series E Lenses: 28mm35mm50mm100mm135mm|E-Series Zoom lenses: 36~72mm75~150mm70~210mm
MFZoom-Nikkor Lenses: 25~50mm | 28~45mm | 28~50mm | 28~85mm | 35~70mm | 36~72mm E | 35~85mm | 35~105mm | 35~135mm |
35~200mm | 43~86mm | 50~135mm | 50~300mm | 70~210mm E | 75~150mm E | 80~200mm | 85~250mm |
100~300mm | 180~600mm | 200~400mm | 200~600mm | 360~1200mm | 1200~1700mm
Tele-Converters:TC-1| TC-2 | TC-200|TC-201| TC-300| TC-301|TC-14| TC-14A| TC-14B| TC-14C| TC-14E | TC-16| TC-16A| TC-20E

Nikon F|Nikon F2|Nikon F3|Nikon F4|Nikon F5|Nikon F6|Nikkormat / Nikomat|
Nikon FM|Nikon FE/ FA|Nikon EM/FG/FG20|Nikon Digital SLRs| Nikon - Other models

Nikon F100 Serial Number Listing

MIR Supports for Photographic Community: Various Message Boards/Community Forums
Nikon F-series| Nikon F2-series| Nikon F3-series| Nikon F4-series| Nikon F5-series|Nikkormat/Nikomat-series
Nikon FM-series|Nikon FE-series|Nikon FA|Nikon Digital SLR series|Various Nikon Models|Nikkor Optic -shared

Others:- Free Trade Zone - Photography| Free Trade Zone - Business Community |Free To Zouk- Photographic Community
Apple's Mac Public Community Message Board | Windows based PC & Apple/MacPublic Community Trade Exchange Centre

Recommended links to understand more technical details related to the Nikkor F-mount and production Serial Number:
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-153.html by: my friend, Rick Oleson
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/fmount.htm by: Hansen, Lars Holst
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/nikonfmount/lens2.htm
http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html

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Nikon F100 Manual

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