Nikon F3 & Canon New F-1 Comparison Review #FilmCamera #Photography #Nikon #Canon
Hi, Chunen Otakky here.
Today’s video, as announced,
is a comparison review of Canon New F-1 and Nikon F3
As for F3, it comes with motor drive,
but as for New F-1, I only have the winder, so I will compare both cameras with nothing on them.
Both cameras are professional cameras that dominated the market
and are the flagship cameras of Nikon and Canon, respectively.
Which of these two cameras, Nikon F3 and Canon New F-1,
is superior and which is easier to use? Or which is inferior?
I am very worried about how well I can summarize them,
but as always, I will try to make a video in the spirit of a random, unmodified version.
Let’s start the video.
First, let’s talk about the Nikon F3,
a “Giant” camera that was released in 1980 and sold for 20 years, until about 2000.
It sold for 20 years and had a great sales record.
I think it sold in huge numbers. There are still many of them for sale
on the used market, but at high prices. It is steadily popular.
The fastest shutter speed is 1/2000 sec.
Basically, the shutter is fully electronic,
but 1/60 second can be used as an emergency shutter.
This is a mechanical shutter with a speed of 1/60 sec.
All other speeds are electronic. The release is also an electrode release.
The viewfinder is removable and the focusing screen can be replaced.
Just lift it up to remove. It is the same as Nikon F and F2,
but it is much easier to remove and install. It really is that easy.
The viewfinder has a 100% field of view, following the tradition
of the Nikon F single-digit models. The viewfinder is also very bright.
It is worth noting that, for the first time on a Nikon F series single-digit model,
AE is included from the start. You can choose Aperture Priority AE.
Turning the shutter dial to A sets the camera in Aperture Priority AE mode.
Once the aperture is determined by the number on the aperture ring of the lens,
the shutter speed will then change automatically.
A distinctive feature of the camera is the exposure compensation dial.
With this dial, you can select +1, +2, -1, -2,
and so on, from +2 to -2 in 1/3 steps.
These are the same numbers we are used to with modern cameras.
The film winds up very smoothly. The shutter sound is also very good.
It’s in AE mode now.
It sounds very nice. Really, this is smooth.
This is in contrast to Canon New F-1.
Let’s open the back cover.
The spool is plastic, as I thought. It was already replaced with plastic at that time.
There is no Moltoprene for light shielding in this part of the lid.
Except this narrow groove.
This is the same for Nikon F, F2, and F3.
Especially for F, the back cover is fully separated from the body, but no Moltoprene is added.
This is very good in the sense that we have no worry about Moltoprene deteriorating and leaking light.
Even if the Moltoprene of this groove deteriorates a bit, there is very little light leak.
It is excellent. Let’s remove the lens.
There is a Moltoprene here.
This is unavoidable to reduce the impact of the mirror.
This is a bayonet mount.
Nikon already had a bayonet mount from Nikon F.
This is also in contrast to Canon.
The shutter seems to be very durable.
How many times it can shoot before it breaks?
I wonder, “Has anyone ever had a shutter break?”, however,
since it is an electronic shutter, the shutter cannot be released without batteries.
It is also somewhat susceptible to cold weather,
and there is information that a cold-weather-specification battery box is available as an option.
F3’s weakness is that it can only use an emergency, mechanical shutter of 1/60s in cold places.
From this time on, all later cameras became electronic cameras, so it was inevitable.
However, electronic cameras have some advantages.
They do not require much maintenance,
and the shutter speed can be maintained more accurately than mechanical cameras.
And they are less prone to breakage.
Compared to mechanical shutters, they are harder to break even though without maintenance.
F3 weighs about 100 grams less than New F-1.
I think that the electronic shutter contributes greatly to that.
F3 is very solidly built. Perfect.
It is more reliable than New F-1 because it has fewer mechanical parts.
F3 was a favorite of war photographers and adventurers,
and is still very popular around the world.
About the New F-1.
Canon New F-1 is Canon’s flagship camera released in 1981.
For price, I forgot to mention Nikon F3’s price.
Nikon F3 Eye Level, at the time of release, was 139,000 yen,
and Canon New F-1 with Eye Level Finder was 149,000 yen.
Canon New F-1 was 10,000 yen more expensive than Nikon F3 Eye Level.
It is very heavy, and I feel that 100 grams makes such a big difference.
Comparing the two units, there is a clear difference in weight. Really heavy.
The control system is hybrid, of both mechanical and electronic. This is interesting.
I first noticed it when I received information from one of my viewers.
Looks like there’s a gimmick in the battery compartment.
When the battery is inserted, the shutter button stroke is short and light,
but when the battery is removed, it becomes deep and heavy.
The terminal of the battery is a switch,
which seems to separate the mechanical and electronic types.
When the battery is inserted, it is electronic,
and when the battery is removed, it is mechanical control.
It is a hybrid system. It is a very unusual mechanism.
It means that even without batteries, we can shoot accurately
except for the slow shutter speed.
This makes it a wonderful camera
in the sense that it can function even when there are no batteries,
or in cold weather where batteries are not available.
However, this is now a hindrance.
It is said that there are many mechanical problems.
This causes low reliability.
A machine with many parts will naturally be less reliable.
Of course, New F-1 is a wonderful camera, and
was built with reliability in mind. However,
it would be difficult to continue using it without maintenance.
As for the viewfinder,
Canon’s FD mount never achieved 100%.
It was 97% at the highest.
When replacing the viewfinder, the penta part is slid back and removed.
This was carried over from the old F-1.
The viewfinder prism and viewfinder screen are interchangeable.
Let’s open the back cover.
Unlike Nikon F3, this part has Moltoprene,
but the structure is such that it can be light-shielded without Moltoprene.
I don’t know because the Moltoprene has never deteriorated on my New F-1,
but the narrow groove has Moltoprene, just like Nikon F3.
The spool is also plastic like F3.
Unlike F3, winding up the film makes a grinding noise.
This is a very characteristic sound of Canon New F-1.
There are 2 types of people who like this noise, or who don’t. I don’t like it very much.
There are quite a few people who like it, saying, “This is the feel of New F-1”.
Both cameras are equipped with a titanium curtain horizontal running focal plane shutter.
The fastest shutter speed is 1/2000 sec.
The specifications are almost the same,
but the major difference is the metering system.
First, for Canon New F-1, by replacing the viewfinder,
you can switch between center-part metering, center-weighted average metering, and spot metering.
I think this is a big advantage.
In particular, I think it will be of great value for portrait shots of models using spot metering.
But if you use spot metering, AE is not very useful.
My New F-1 has spot metering. However,
Canon New F-1 uses open aperture metering.
This is somewhat outdated.
I think it was also outdated enough at this point in 1981.
Nikon F3 used TTL direct metering.
Was it SB-17? I half-forgotten the model name,
but an automatic metering strobe for Nikon F3 was also there.
The daylight synchro-flash was also possible.
TTL direct metering was a big difference between them.
I think there is a big performance difference even with slow shutter.
In terms of automation, I think Nikon F3 is superior. However,
shutter speed priority and program mode are not available on Nikon F3,
and program mode is not available on the New F-1 either,
but here you can use two priority modes by adding or replacing parts.
First, if you replace the pentaprism with an AE finder FN, you can use aperture priority mode,
and if you add a winder or motor drive, you can use shutter speed priority AE.
As a flagship model that could use shutter speed priority AE,
Canon was able to gain a tremendous share of the motorsports photographer market.
When I looked at the Suzuka Circuit or the trackside,
I saw rows and rows of white Canon lenses.
With the advantage of being able to use shutter speed priority AE,
Canon gained an overwhelming share of the market.
Thus, to summarize what kind of situations they were used in,
they followed Nikon F, F2, Canon old F-1, and so on.
Canon was good at photogravure and sports photography,
while Nikon F3 was useful in the press, military, battlefield reporting, and so on.
Nikon F3 was absolutely reliable,
and Canon New F-1 was not so reliable, but it was easy to use. I think there was an image
that New F-1 can be used flexibly by replacing parts,
and that Nikon F3 was so reliable that it could be called perfect.
Both of them sold a lot,
but New F-1 gradually lost sales because of the change of mount.
The New F-1 uses a spigot mount called the FD mount.
This was preferred by motorsports photographers.
Compared to the bayonet mount, the spigot mount is stronger.
We hear stories about lenses breaking,
but the reason lenses break is because they are made to break.
The structure is designed to protect the camera body when the camera and lens are dropped.
The same is true of today’s cameras.
Most telephoto lenses are designed so that the lens can be broken
and the broken part can be replaced.
Regarding these two cameras, which would you prefer to buy today?
I think Nikon F3 is slightly more expensive,
although New F-1 is also quite expensive in good condition.
In terms of reliability, they are the same.
Nikon F3 has an electronic shutter,
so if it loses power, it is completely useless.
Only an emergency shutter of 1/60s will be available.
In the case of New F-1,
the mechanical shutter can be used even if the camera loses power.
It can be used at least for a while, but
its complicated structure causes many mechanical troubles.
This is the difficulty.
New F-1 is a bit better in the sense that it’s repairable if we send it in for maintenance
But only if the power supply stops working. So, New F-1 is slightly better.
A body that can be powered is of course better.
In the case of Nikon F3, it was manufactured until 2000,
which means that there are still many relatively new bodies available
that can still be used as an electronic camera and still have some life left in them.
However, it is often said that the early bodies are no longer usable
except for the emergency shutter,
and of course there are reports of Canon New F-1
also being unusable due to mechanical or power problems.
So it is the same in both cases.
In researching Nikon F3,
I realized that there is a law of Nikon F single-digit models.
It is often said that odd numbers of Nikon F one-digit models are great models,
and even numbers are not so great.
So, F, F3, and F5 are great models, and F2, F4, and F6 not so much.
I have never used F5 and F6, so I can’t say for sure,
but I found a rule that says it is probably true.
I will make a video comparing Canon EOS1 and Nikon F4 in the future,
so I will talk about it then.
It’s a point I’ve just noticed, so please be patient until then.
It is really hard to say which of these two cameras is better.
I hope you can refer to what situations
the professional photographers of that time used them for.
In other words, I think New F-1 is better for fast-moving subjects,
and F3 for fixed subjects.
I think New F-1 is particularly strong in motorsports.
For those who say that the field of view must be 100%,
F3 is the only choice.
As for the viewfinder field of view, 100% is clearly not necessary
if you assume that you print the photos.
It will not be 100% when you print. It will always stick out.
In that sense, it is not necessary,
but nowadays, we scan and digitize our photos for use,
so I think that 100% viewfinder field of view is quite important.
Both viewfinders are easy to read and bright. The brightness is almost even.
The viewfinder magnification is about 0.8x in both.
Both are very informative about the display in the viewfinder.
New F-1 has a mechanical gimmick and F3 has a slight LCD screen.
F3 seems to be a bit more advanced.
As for New F-1, the aperture value shown in the viewfinder
is interlinked with a thread. But my New F-1 cannot show it correctly
because the thread is out of place.
I think I have to send it in for overhaul.
This video is a bit tasteless,
but to take it to the extreme, use whichever you prefer.
It is quite rare for someone to have both.
In my case, miraculously, “Suigyusha”-san provided me with F3,
so I will continue to use both in the future.
As for my impression of Nikon F3,
I thought that Nikon F3 displayed the correct exposure value
indicated by the exposure meter exactly as I had imagined.
However, since my New F-1 is set to spot metering,
I think New F-1 is slightly better
in that I can decide the exposure value while thinking about it myself.
The spot metering is an advantage because we can decide
what part of the frame to meter and how to compose the shot.
Spot metering viewfinder screens are still available
at online auctions and second-hand markets.
When you want to use spot metering to accurately set the exposure,
especially when shooting with reversal film, New F-1 is a better choice.
Both of them have durable light-receiving elements,
I don’t think it has deteriorated much yet,
but if you want to use them in perfect condition,
it is better to have them CLA’d.
Even now, there are stores that offer maintenance services
for both Canon New F-1 and Nikon F3,
(Note : Please confirm by yourself before asking for service.)
such as Higasa Camera Service for Canon New F-1,
(Note : Please confirm by yourself before asking for service.)
and Keiitos for Nikon F3.
(Note : Please confirm by yourself before asking for service.)
If you take your camera to such a store for maintenance
and use it in perfect condition,
you may still be able to take professional grade photos.
That’s all for today’s topic.
Fans of either may not be satisfied.
I will continue to use both cameras in the future,
I would like to take New F-1 in for an overhaul,
but it is not easy to do so I think it will stay for a while.
I would like to do the same for F3,
but I don’t have the money.
(Note : The meeting was already over.)
An offline meeting is scheduled in Tokyo, so I need the budget for that.
(Note : The meeting was already over.)
That’s all for today’s topic.
Here is the section for viewers to submit their own photos.
(Subtitles will resume at 28:50. Stay tuned till end! Thank you!)
That’s all for today’s video. How did you like it?
This video was a comparison review of Nikon F3 and Canon New F-1.
It may not have been a very good review. In the end,
I conclude that you should buy the one you want,
but match it to the lenses you have.
There is no need to buy New F-1 if you only have Nikon lenses,
and vice versa.
However, Canon seems to have cheaper lenses.
Though the price has gone up a bit recently.
Nikon’s Ai lenses are very expensive,
so if you want to start cheap,
New F-1 might be a bit better, since the FD lenses are slightly cheaper.
That concludes today’s video. How did you like it?
About the next video,
I don’t have any film at the moment that I have finished taking. What shall I do?
I am thinking about taking photos and making a video,
but I may have one that will be finished from a DPE shop.
If I do have that, I will introduce the photos.
That’s all for today’s video. Please give it a high rating.
Please click on it if you like.
I will do my best to reply to all the comments, so please do contribute.
The number of subscribers is gradually increasing.
(Note : The present campaign was over.)
I am planning a Canon A-1 giveaway to one viewer
(Note : The present campaign was over.)
when the number of subscribers reaches 5,000,
(Note : The present campaign was over.)
so please subscribe to this channel and wait for it.
See you again in the next video.
Good bye for now.
