C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Nikon Nikkormat FN (~1979) is a late-production variant of the Nikkormat FT3, distinguishable by a revised and brighter pentaprism viewfinder finder assembly and continued AI (Automatic Indexing) lens coupling. Like the FT3 it descends from, the FN uses the proven Copal-Square horizontal titanium focal-plane shutter, firing from 1 second to 1/1000s fully mechanically - no battery required for shutter operation at any speed. The metre requires a single LR44 or SR44 but the camera functions in full manual exposure without any battery installed. The brighter finder is the FN's principal improvement over the FT3: the revised optical path reduces light loss through the pentaprism, making manual focusing easier in dim conditions. The FN sits at the very end of the Nikkormat line; it was produced in limited numbers as Nikon's resources shifted entirely to the FM and FE families.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
A late, refined Nikkormat - the FT3 chassis with a brighter viewfinder, the final expression of Nikon's mechanical secondary SLR line.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Nikon F (AI and pre-AI compatible) |
| Year | ~1979 |
| Shutter | 1s - 1/1000s + B, horizontal titanium focal-plane |
| Flash sync | 1/125s |
| Meter | TTL centre-weighted (battery for meter only) |
| Modes | Manual only |
| Viewfinder | Pentaprism, brighter revised finder, ~0.86x |
| Weight | ~620 g body only |
| Battery | 1x LR44 / SR44 (meter only) |
| Mechanical fallback | Full - all shutter speeds without battery |
| AI coupling | Yes |
The Nikkormat line was Nikon's answer to the serious amateur who wanted F-mount quality but found the professional Nikon F and F2 systems overbuilt and over-priced. Starting with the FT (1965) and FS (1965, meterless), the line progressed through the FTn (1967), FT2 (1975), and FT3 (1977). The FT3 introduced AI coupling - the revised aperture-indexing system Nikon deployed across the F-mount in 1977. The FN represents a final refinement of this FT3 chassis, apparently produced in 1979 as Nikon concluded the Nikkormat programme. By that point the Nikon FM (1977) and FE (1978) had already superseded the Nikkormat commercially: lighter, thinner, and with the same AI-coupled F mount. The FN is consequently a rare body; few units reached market and it appears infrequently in dealer stock and auction records.
The Nikkormat FN is of interest primarily as a collector's endpoint - the final variant in a fourteen-year product line that defined the serious-amateur Nikon experience before the FM/FE era. For practical photographers, it combines the FT3's genuine strengths - battery-independent mechanical shutter, AI-coupled F mount, rugged aluminium construction - with the perceptible advantage of a brighter finder. Because the FN is obscure, it frequently trades at prices below comparably specified FT3 bodies; buyers who know the model can occasionally find clean examples undervalued on the used market. It accepts the full range of Nikon AI and AI-S lenses with open-aperture metering, and Non-AI Nikkors with the manual-indexing procedure, giving access to decades of Nikkor glass.
Full Nikon F-mount AI and pre-AI compatibility. AI and AI-S lenses couple automatically for open-aperture metering. Pre-AI Nikkors require the manual-indexing procedure (lift the coupling tab, rotate the aperture ring to maximum aperture, re-engage). Representative glass: Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI, Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 AI, Nikkor 35mm f/2 AI, Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI. Accessories are shared with the FT3: Nikon cable releases, PC-sync flash, standard F-mount accessories. Motor-drive compatibility is not confirmed for the FN body.
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →Nikon Nikkormat FN
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