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 F is the first system SLR from Nippon Kogaku — a fully professional camera with interchangeable finders (waist-level, plain prism, metering Photomic prism), interchangeable focusing screens, motor-drive coupling, and the F bayonet mount that survives in 2026. The body is brass and aluminum, no batteries required, with a horizontal cloth focal-plane shutter. Famous for being indestructible and fired in Vietnam, Cambodia, and on the moon (a modified F served as a NASA test article before the Hasselblad).
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.
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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
The camera that broke the Leica monopoly on professional 35mm. The first Japanese SLR taken seriously by Western photojournalists.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Nikon F |
| Years | 1959–1973 |
| Shutter | 1s – 1/1000s, mechanical horizontal cloth |
| Flash sync | 1/60s |
| Meter | None (body); via Photomic / FTn prism |
| Weight | 685 g (with eye-level finder) |
| Battery | None (body); PX625 in Photomic FTn |
Released June 1959 in Japan. The original "eye-level" prism is meterless. The Photomic prism (1962) added a CdS meter; the Photomic T (1965) brought TTL averaging metering; the Photomic FTn (1968) introduced center-weighted TTL with auto-aperture indexing — the prism most often seen on used F bodies. Production ran 14 years; 862,600 units made before the Nikon F2 superseded it.
Before the F, "professional 35mm" meant Leica. The F gave photojournalists a single-lens reflex with the same build quality, a bigger lens system, and a price low enough for newsrooms to issue them in pairs. David Douglas Duncan, Larry Burrows, and the AP Saigon bureau all moved to F bodies. By 1965 it was the dominant press camera worldwide. The F-mount it introduced is the longest-lived camera mount in history — Nikon still ships F-mount lenses in 2026.
Pre-AI Nikkors (1959–1977), AI conversion possible on most. Common pairings: 50/2 H, 50/1.4 S, 35/2 O, 105/2.5 P (the famous National Geographic "Afghan Girl" lens). Motor drive: F-36 (1959, the first integrated 35mm SLR motor drive) and F-250 (250-exposure bulk back). Interchangeable focusing screens: A (matte), B (matte+microprism), C (microprism only), D (clear with cross), E (matte+grid), J (split-prism+microprism), L (split-prism), M (clear+cross hairs).
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.
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