Photography with Warren's Nikon F2

I finally took the Nikon F2 that Warren generously gave me a few years ago out for a shoot. Here are some images from a roll of Kodak Gold 200 taken in Annapolis last Saturday afternoon. I took the roll to Costco (Price Club) and they developed and scanned the negatives for me (the scanning resolution works out to 19 megapixels!)

I used a Nikkor 43-86mm f/3.5 zoom, a classic lens, the first version of which is reputed by some to be the worst lens Nikon ever made. This one is the 11-element 1976 AI version. I rather liked its performance, which was limited anyway by my presbyopic ability to focus properly without a prescription eyepiece.

I made some very slight adjustments for exposure and color temperature in Adobe Camera Raw, then added a very little bit of sharpening in Photoshop to get these end results. I'm very happy with the colors, but the grain of the film is very apparent, even at less than 50% magnification in Photoshop (hard to see in these 800-pixel, web-sized images.) I attribute that to the film itself, and will try Kodak Ektar 100 or Portra 160, both of which are said to be much better in terms of grain and suitability for scanning.

In any event, I am enjoying displaying and using these classic cameras. With my recent attack of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS,) I've already acquired far too many classic SLRs in the past month or so, but at least they'll keep Warren's two Nikons company. I'll be shooting most of them over the next few weeks and months and will report back on them as well.

Thanks again Warren!