Is It Still As Fun As The Modern Camera
You may have read of my experience switching to the
Retro Mirrorless Camera, the
Nikon Zf. Now that I have
shot with the Zf for a year, let's break out a actual retro camera and see how it compares.
The choice of what camera to shoot in comparison would be the next question. I know for sure it will not be my Nikkormat FTn due to the shutter speed dial being around the base of the lens mount. I hated it back then and I wouldn't put myself through shooting that camera again. It's absolutely no fun compared to slightly newer Nikons in the "F" lineup. That is except for the original Nikon F due to the fact it doesn't have "wide open metering" and unless its really bright outside, things can be a little dark in the viewfinder.
Nikon introduced wide-open (full-aperture) metering in
1965
with the release of the Nikkormat FT
and the Nikon Photomic T
viewfinder attachment for the Nikon F SLR. The logical choice is to shoot with the one that looks most like the Zf or the one the Zf looks most like.
The Zf has a small grip (more like a small bump) on the front right side very much like the F3, but the FM, FE and similar bodies have an almost identical prism and shutter button feel. The overall appearance and the shutter speed dial is almost identical to the FE as well.
The FE I will use is equipped with a 35-70mm lens and the Zf shown here with a 24-50mm, but this project is not an exact comparison but just the overall productive feel and use of the two cameras.
Primarily this project is just for fun since I shot with film cameras for 30 years and digital for 25 years so far. I very well know the operational and production differences in every aspect of shooting either format. Most likely I will not be developing the film this time which makes the production of this project a bit less costly. In fact, the desire to do this project caused another project "Finding Film In 2026" to be published in this issue as well.
The Last Roll
With a roll of fresh Ektacolor Pro 800 (expires September 2028), a film I have never used before and a new battery for the meter, I cleaned the dust off of the FE and fired the shutter quite a few times to make sure it was working consistently. I set the ISO on the Zf to 800 and did some meter reading comparison, and in almost every comparison the FE's meter gave about the same exposure settings as the Zf would.
On the first outing... The FE loaded with Ektacolor Pro 800 with a 35-70 lens and the Zf with a new 99 dollar 85mm lens. My first stop is the Appalachian Museum which is basically an old farm house that you can't get very close to, much less go inside but I so just wanted to fire off a few frames. After walking about for a half hour or so around the property, I had manged to shoot 6 frames on the FE and 20 digital snaps on the Zf.
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