Good evening, please allow me to introduce myself.

On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 13:06:35 -0600, "Maj. Richard H. Blount (OHMR
Ret.)" <majorrich RemoveThis @adelphia.net> wrote:

 >Good evening,
 >
 >My name is Rich, and I just received a large box of older camera equipment
 >from my father who is no longer interested in photography as he was in his
 >youth (he is now 83). Most of this stuff dates from the late '50s through
 >the mid '70s. Having few means to buy new 'state of the art' equipment, I
 >intuitively think this all-manual gear will help me learn more fundamentals
 >of photography. (am also enrolling in a course at a local community school)

When I took photography in college they required we use manual
cameras. For some of us they were willing to let us use the manual
settings. (It was a while back<G>)
 >
 >The main two cameras, other than an old Poloroid 440 land-camera which I
 >presume I will never in a million years find film for, is a Nikkormat model
 >FT, and an older Zeiss Ikon Symbolica. There are a number of lenses for the
 >Nikkormat, the primary one, (I presume) is a 50mm 1:1.4 Nikkor-S lens that
 >Dad says is the one the camera came with.
 >

 >Checking out the Nikkormat, the shutter appears to work ok, except it sticks
 >open at very low speeds. I presume that is from long storage. Is this a

That may be normal. At low speeds the first curtain of a focal plane
shutter opens, there is a delay, and then the second curtain
crosses/closes.

 >camera worth taking in for repairs, and for use as a beginning camera? Or
 >has Digital photography come so far so as to render this stuff obsolete? I
 >guess that amounts to a philosophical question of sorts doesn't it?

I wouldn't want to spend a lot of money on them, but 35 mm film is
still readily available although the discount stores do not carry the
wide variety they did even two years ago.

 >
 >Look forward to getting to know you all,

Good Luck


Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.rogerhalstead.com" target="_blank">www.rogerhalstead.com</a>

 >Rich<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Good evening, please allow me to introduce myself. 

I've been in photography since the 1960's. Those cameras are VERY old, and
I doubt you will even be able to find batteries for them. (You can find most
anything on the internet, but don't expect to find them at the local
Wal-Mart) My advice is to sell them on eBay and use the proceeds to buy a
digital camera. You'd be amazed at what people will buy on that site.

"Maj. Richard H. Blount (OHMR Ret.)" <majorrich.DeleteThis@adelphia.net> wrote in
message news:37r7n3zvhe.fsf@lios.aq2.gweep.ca...
 > Good evening,
 >
 > My name is Rich, and I just received a large box of older camera equipment
 > from my father who is no longer interested in photography as he was in his
 > youth (he is now 83). Most of this stuff dates from the late '50s through
 > the mid '70s. Having few means to buy new 'state of the art' equipment, I
 > intuitively think this all-manual gear will help me learn more
fundamentals
 > of photography. (am also enrolling in a course at a local community
school)
 >
 > The main two cameras, other than an old Poloroid 440 land-camera which I
 > presume I will never in a million years find film for, is a Nikkormat
model
 > FT, and an older Zeiss Ikon Symbolica. There are a number of lenses for
the
 > Nikkormat, the primary one, (I presume) is a 50mm 1:1.4 Nikkor-S lens that
 > Dad says is the one the camera came with.
 >
 > Checking out the Nikkormat, the shutter appears to work ok, except it
sticks
 > open at very low speeds. I presume that is from long storage. Is this a
 > camera worth taking in for repairs, and for use as a beginning camera? Or
 > has Digital photography come so far so as to render this stuff obsolete? I
 > guess that amounts to a philosophical question of sorts doesn't it?
 >
 > Look forward to getting to know you all,
 > Rich
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Good evening, please allow me to introduce myself. 

Maj. Richard H. Blount (OHMR Ret.) wrote:
 > Good evening,
 >
<snip>
 >
 > Checking out the Nikkormat, the shutter appears to work ok, except it sticks
 > open at very low speeds. I presume that is from long storage. Is this a
 > camera worth taking in for repairs, and for use as a beginning camera? Or
 > has Digital photography come so far so as to render this stuff obsolete? I
 > guess that amounts to a philosophical question of sorts doesn't it?
 >

Of course film photography is not obsolete.

The Nikkormat FT was introduced in 1965. The Nikkormat was Nikon's
less-expensive line that was used as a test bed for more advanced features for
its professional line. It was compatible with almost 100% of the very
extensive array of accessories for the Nikon, including the entire lens line.

The 50/1.4 lens is excellent and rivals (or rivaled) just about all other
normal lenses.

You may have a problem getting a battery for it. The P625 battery it uses has
been discontinued since it used mercury. There are adapters so you can use the
slightly higher voltage alkaline battery (1.35 vs 1.50 V) or you can have the
meter recalibrated to use the alkaline 1.5 volt. For more information on this
go to <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html." target="_blank">http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html.</a> There is a link
there for the adapter.

You did not mention what other lenses came with it. The Nikon line is
professional quality. I have a 105/2.5 that is one of the best portrait lenses
I have ever seen.

My recomendation is to have the meter recalibrated. You may have to search
around for someone who can do this. Or, probably cheaper, get the adapter.

It is an excellent camera for your purpose.

Best of luck.

Bert<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Good evening, please allow me to introduce myself. 

If you convert the Nikkormat's battery, convert to a silver oxide
battery, which has a flat voltage discharge curve. The F2 and the
Nillormat FT2 use the S76.
An alkaline is the worst thing you could use.
Dan

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 19:01:15 -0600, BertS <aasainz.DeleteThis@ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

 >Maj. Richard H. Blount (OHMR Ret.) wrote:
  >> Good evening,
  >>
 ><snip>
  >>
  >> Checking out the Nikkormat, the shutter appears to work ok, except it sticks
  >> open at very low speeds. I presume that is from long storage. Is this a
  >> camera worth taking in for repairs, and for use as a beginning camera? Or
  >> has Digital photography come so far so as to render this stuff obsolete? I
  >> guess that amounts to a philosophical question of sorts doesn't it?
  >>
 >
 >Of course film photography is not obsolete.
 >
 >The Nikkormat FT was introduced in 1965. The Nikkormat was Nikon's
 >less-expensive line that was used as a test bed for more advanced features for
 >its professional line. It was compatible with almost 100% of the very
 >extensive array of accessories for the Nikon, including the entire lens line.
 >
 >The 50/1.4 lens is excellent and rivals (or rivaled) just about all other
 >normal lenses.
 >
 >You may have a problem getting a battery for it. The P625 battery it uses has
 >been discontinued since it used mercury. There are adapters so you can use the
 >slightly higher voltage alkaline battery (1.35 vs 1.50 V) or you can have the
 >meter recalibrated to use the alkaline 1.5 volt. For more information on this
 >go to <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html." target="_blank">http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html.</a> There is a link
 >there for the adapter.
 >
 >You did not mention what other lenses came with it. The Nikon line is
 >professional quality. I have a 105/2.5 that is one of the best portrait lenses
 >I have ever seen.
 >
 >My recomendation is to have the meter recalibrated. You may have to search
 >around for someone who can do this. Or, probably cheaper, get the adapter.
 >
 >It is an excellent camera for your purpose.
 >
 >Best of luck.
 >
 >Bert<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Good evening, please allow me to introduce myself. 

  >>
  >> The 50/1.4 lens is excellent and rivals (or rivaled) just about all other
  >> normal lenses.
  >>
  >> You may have a problem getting a battery for it. The P625 battery it uses has
  >> been discontinued since it used mercury. There are adapters so you can use
  >> the
  >> slightly higher voltage alkaline battery (1.35 vs 1.50 V) or you can have the
  >> meter recalibrated to use the alkaline 1.5 volt. For more information on this
  >> go to <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html." target="_blank">http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html.</a> There is a link
  >> there for the adapter.
  >>
  >> You did not mention what other lenses came with it. The Nikon line is
  >> professional quality. I have a 105/2.5 that is one of the best portrait
  >> lenses
  >> I have ever seen.
  >>
  >> My recomendation is to have the meter recalibrated. You may have to search
  >> around for someone who can do this. Or, probably cheaper, get the adapter.
  >>
  >> It is an excellent camera for your purpose.
  >>
  >> Best of luck.
  >>
  >> Bert
 >
I took the camera to a local shop and they had a cross referenced battery
that seems to work the meter ok. I ran a roll of film through the camera and
it takes pretty good pictures, but I am still learning a lot about depth of
focus stuff and haven't even really looked at the other lenses until this
evening. It does have the Nikkor-S 1.4 50mm that I presume was the original
lens.

There is a Tamron 2.8 28mm lens that is physically larger than the original
lens. My guess is that it is a wide-angle lens? It looks like it can focus
in to 9 inches indicated on the focus ring.

The Telephoto lens is a 4.8 f85-210mm Sun Auto Tele-zoom I have looked
through it but haven't put it on the camera or messed with it much yet.

Dad also had a couple of multipliers(?) made by Kenko. One 2X and a 3X. I
found they can be joined together, I imagine taking pictures of the moon or
something very far away in a lot of light with all that stuff out front.

The lady at the camera shop said they do have a clean and calibrate service
that she says will probably fix the sticky shutter. Only $75! sounds like a
good course of action, but will ask around to make sure they wont cause more
problems than they fix. (have had that happen before on different kinds of
equipment)

The pictures from the first roll came out ok, except when I got the pictures
back expecting black and white, they were sepia and white. Not a bad thing I
guess, just thought they would know B&W when they see it and adjust
accordingly.

I tried to scan a couple examples but the files keep ending up way huge and
I quickly run out of server space, so I am tinkering on figuring out how to
make the pictures smaller whilest keeping the quality good.

Thank you all for your input. The classes ended up being a sales job just
like someone said. I attended the first couple and blew the rest off.
Something about calling my camera a 'model-t' of the camera world kinda
stuck in my craw. (out of respect for my father mostly) I may someday buy a
more modern body, but think I may have to look a long time to find something
that feels as substantial in my hands.
Rich<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Good evening, please allow me to introduce myself.