The camera lies very good in my hands, the body is magnesium alloy and weather sealed. It is bigger than my M4 and looks much more modern with its screen on the backside and all the different buttons. The Nikon F6 is the last of the F-series of SLRs and was presented in 2004, full of the latest electronic features, the last man standing against digital photography. Some enthusiasts say it is the best film SLR Nikon ever made. I have it now in my hands, Nikon’s famous F6 – the final professional film camera which is still available brand new today. Of course this is not a real test of a camera with different lenses, measuring distortion, frame rates etc… It is just a very subjective report about my experiences with a Nikon F6 and one 1.8/85 lens during a portrait shoot. “Come on, forget this thing about the perfect moment, creating your photo through the viewfinder, focussing, pressing the shuttler“ were his last words when he gave me the camera (and a 188 pages manual). He proposed that I should use his Nikon F6 for my next portrait shooting with a Nikon D 1.8/85 lens. We were talking about the pros and cons and the myth of these two well known brands.

Perfect until the day I talked to a friend of mine who uses the Nikon F6 for his landscape and street photography. In light situations with strong contrasts I used a light meter and everything was perfect. I was absolutely happy with this combo, the shots were very relaxed and at the end I liked the results a lot. I do a lot of analog portrait shooting with my Leica M4 and a 50 or 90mm lens. Especially the analog M cameras with the beautiful viewfinder, the excellent feel of the surface and last but not least the legendary quality and size of the lenses made me addicted immediately.

To begin, I have to admit that I am really a Leica fan. This is the story of how I discovered the Nikon F6.

Model before the nikon f6