I picked up this 2000 Nikon F80 body for a little over $10. It came with the MB-16 4-AA battery conversion base, used to replace the pair of 123 lithium batteries it requires, but I will document that accessory separately. It turns out I already had two other F80’s, but the last one I had collected was seven years ago. On Ken Rockwell’s outstanding web site he thinks the F80 was an excellent camera for many, many reasons. The F80 was cheaper and lighter than the semi-pro F100. It just lacks a really high sync speed and the much more robust construction of the F100.
Anyway, as you will see, the F80 is studded with controls and internally has electronics that make it a very capable camera. It has three control wheels—one front, one back and one on the back door. It uses a belt drive for quiet advance and has a metal mirror box, lens mount and metal film rails. The shutter is capable of enough cycles you would have to shoot 1000 rolls of film to wear it out. Three later digital cameras are built on the F80 body—it was that good!
When I got the camera it was covered with a sticky deposit. It seems that is very common. The plastic used in the body was slightly “soft” for grip, rather than the smooth finish plastic cameras from other companies sported. There are all sorts of remedies mentioned on the web—headlight cleaner is one suggestion. I didn’t have anything recommended at hand so just used a cloth—you are cautioned not to be dumb enough to use paper towel—with a mixture of vinegar in water we use to clean windows (spray the mixture on the cloth, not on the camera). With a lot of wiping I got the worst of the gum off. It is also pointed out simply handling the camera a lot will tame the worst of the tackiness.
Then the camera didn’t spring to life when I tried AA batteries in the MB-16. I tried taking the MB-16 off and using two lithium batteries and the camera came to life. Then it was a matter of finding an optic for it. Rather stupidly I tried a couple of manual lenses with the autofocus switch set to “M”. The F80 doesn’t meter through manual lenses, so you would need a separate meter to figure out how to set the exposure. When I did find an AF Nikkor 28-80 mm zoom from a Nikon F60 the camera really started to shine. There is a 148-page manual for the F80 filled with how to set all the dials. The F80 is a very capable camera!
The lens mount is steel. You can see the autofocus drive shaft tip at 7 o’clock. The autofocus/manual switch at 3 o’clock (next to the mount locking pin).
The flash pops up relatively high above the lens. It still casts a shadow of the longer zoom lenses when using the built-in flash too close to the subject.
Unlike a lot of cameras the control switch located to the left end of the top has relatively few choices. You can set the ISO of the film, although the camera will set itself with DX-contacts. There are custom settings you can choose to input at “CSM”. Then there are the normal Manual, Aperture, Shutter and finally Program modes. Note the flash contacts. The F80 has TTL and advanced flash metering zones. The flash can also lock on.
At the other end there is a lit LCD screen that carries a lot of information. Note just behind the shutter release—and note the cable release socket built into the shutter button—for adjusting both film exposure and flash exposure plus or minus.
Top right is the back horizontal adjustment wheel (mirrored on the front, just below the shutter button), Next left is the auto exposure and focus lock button in the middle of the meter pattern selector—Matrix (10-segment)/ 3-D metering, center weighted and spot metering. Next left is a vertical slider to adjust the viewfinder diopters. In the middle of the back film door is an adjustment wheel for choosing which focus detector will be active in the scene with a lock (out of sight at the bottom). Speaking of focus, the F80 has a focus beam (located on the front near the shutter release) to aid finding focus in dim places. The F100 doesn’t have the light because it is more sensitive.
Note: In a recent addition to my collection I bought a Nikon SB-50Dx flash that was designed for the Nikon F80 camera. It is quite different to any other flash—using twin lithium 123 batteries is one example—so it will be featured in another blog.
Comments