Nikon F2 Film Camera Review

Nikon F2 (tested here with the Photomic DP-1 viewfinder prism) is a burly, pro-level SLR with an impressive history of being one of the most trusted cameras of its time.

It is a sequel to Nikon’s iconic design, which went to space and deflected a bullet, saving a war reporter’s life. These were big shoes to fill, yet Nikon was determined to outdo itself with a faster shutter, better ergonomics, and an improved mirror box.

Nikon F2 debuted in September 1971. It was Nikon’s last mechanical SLR.

In this review, I’ll explain what makes this camera so good (and not so good), outline its historical context, and talk about shooting the F2 fifty-three years past its release. In this review: Technical specifications. Nikon F2, the best film SLR? Build quality. F2 in use: design and ergonomics. The DP-1 Photomic metered prism finder. Nikon F mount lenses. How much does a Nikon F2 cost, and where to find one. Support this blog & get premium features with GOLD memberships!

Technical specifications.

Nikon F2 is a fully mechanical SLR. It accepts two LR-44 batteries (optional) to power its metered prism finders. There’s no power button; to activate a metered prism, pull the film advance lever slightly out.

The focal-plane shutter on F2 is a titanium foil curtain that can fire 1s-1/2000s. The flash sync is at 1/80s. Shutter speeds faster than flash sync (1/125s-1/2000s, marked in green) respect intermediate values (i.e., you can set your shutter to in-between numbers and the shutter will time the curtains to respect that value). The shutter can also fire timed exposures up to 10 seconds long using the delay timer and a “T” setting.

The viewfinder is an interchangeable prism bay with 100% coverage. It comes standard with a Type A focusing screen (interchangeable). The early F2 Photomic version reviewed here comes with a DP-1 finder with TTL metering (60/40).

The self-timer lever can delay exposure between 2-10s.

This camera also accepts motorized film advance units (with extended magazines) and supports multiple exposures.

With the Photomic finder and no lens, the Nikon F2 measures 152mm × 65mm × 104mm (6” × 2.6” × 4.1”) and weighs 860g (30.3oz).

Nikon F2, the best film SLR?

Your budget, technology, lens, portability, and build quality preferences would typically determine the best film camera for you. However, there are also cameras that are consistently praised by the public for being reliable, well-made, and accurate.

The F2 isn’t necessarily the best film camera for all. It’s bulky and it has no autoexposure (thus, slow). Yet, many photographers regard it as such for its ergonomics and build quality.

This ~$300 (as of 2024) camera is Nikon’s last mechanical SLR, a refinement of their early success, the Nikon F.

The F2 built on the legacy of Nikon’s first SLR (Nikon F), a camera that saved Don McCullin’s life  when it stopped a bullet — and the preferred professional camera of the time, which also went to space.

Before the F2 got its name, it was an internal project, dubbed “Nikon A.”¹ A scaffolding for internal development fuelled by the extensive field feedback the F received from its users. The “A” implemented improved shutter reliability and speed, ergonomic changes, like the location of the shutter button, and an improved mirror box mechanism.

Project “A” was formalized, officially named F2, and released in 1971. By the time it was retired in favour of Nikon’s other exceptionally well-regarded camera, the F3 (in 1980), an estimated 800,000 units had been made.

The F2 featured major improvements to the mirror box, a titanium build for faster, more reliable actuation and a better mirror lock-up mechanism, improved ergonomics, faster maximum shutter speed, step-less shutter speeds, and a much easier film-loading experience. It was an immense success and a point of company pride, as Nikon continued servicing these cameras until the year 2000.

Few products enjoyed such a long life (nine years of production, twenty-nine years of service), and fewer were praised by the community to such a degree. I think that this camera deserves the hype — whether you were lucky enough to afford it in the 1970s (it sold for $660/$4,675 in today’s dollars) — or found a copy online for $300² in 2025. But there’s nuance and, of course, your personal preferences.

¹ — Source: Nikkor Club Quarterly magazine, revised for Nikon.com.

² — Of course, you can still spend well beyond the $300 on Nikon F2 today if you look for the titanium-body copies — the F2T or the F2 Titan.

Build quality.

My F2 feels solid in hand (there is no flexibility in any of its large surfaces; it doesn’t make any sounds if I squeeze it hard, and nothing jiggles except the strap lugs). It immediately gives the impression of a tool made for people who expect to use it a lot and care about quality/craft instruments.

My copy is in very good condition with just a few wear marks that make it look even better than new (I find honest brassing appealing). If Nikon were to make this camera again today, it would easily fetch north of $5,000 per piece, given that its manufacturing standards are still matching and exceeding today’s highest norms.

F2 in use: design and ergonomics.

There were a lot of great Japanese cameras made in the 1970s, many of which could render images just as well as the F2 and its extensive selection of lenses. Some examples are the Olympus OM system, the Canon F1, and the Pentax K1000. Yet Nikon seems to have invested the most into user-driven design with many minor conveniences that do not take away from the central function — all built on top of nearly-unbreakable chassis from top-tier materials.

The first step, loading film , is already a refined experience that involves a safe-locking mechanism on the bottom plate: twist the latch past the “O” mark for the back to pop open. The latch is designed so that if you forget to lock the film back by twisting it back to “C,” the camera will not stand flat on a surface, reminding you to secure your precious photosensitive material.

✪ Note: You’ll need to pull the film rewinder lever up to make space for or free up the film canister when you load/unload film.

While still looking at the camera’s bottom plate, you’ll notice a button with a tiny red mark that you’d have to press to unlock the film rewinding mechanism. The red dot is there to make it easy to confirm that the film leader was caught by the takeup spool, you will notice it rotate around the axis as you advance the film. This design — along with the door-locking latch — is reminiscent of the Voigtländer Vitessa cameras, which were premium German foldable cameras (the A variant is my favourite rangefinder-type camera).

With the metering prism off, Nikon’s top plate is uncluttered yet functional and informative. You can remove your prism/finder by pressing (hard) the silver button on the back plate next to your left thumb when holding the camera in a ready position. For the DP-1 finder, you will also have to press the black lever near the front of the finder (next to the ASA speed selector) towards the body of the prism and then push the small lever pedal down.

The shutter speed selector shows speeds up to 1/60th in white, a red line for 1/80th (flash sync), and the rest of the speeds in green, signifying a variable speed selector (i.e., the shutter will respect your in-between values, such as 1/300th). Variable shutter speeds were common on older leaf shutter cameras, but with a focal-plane, this was a rare advantage that allowed minute precision.

In the middle of the shutter speed selector, there’s a black line that will line up with the line on the plate when your film is wound to the next frame and ready to shoot (otherwise, it’ll point to the side).

The film winder lever acts as a power source for metered prisms. Like on Nikon FE , it reveals a red dot when you pull it about 10° and stays in that position until you push it back to turn the power off. This is a clever solution for avoiding clutter on camera surfaces; however, it’s pretty easy to forget to turn the camera on or off unless you are used to this system.

If you like to mount accessories into your cameras’ hot/cold shoes, you may be slightly disappointed, as you’ll need a special adapter that slides on top of the film rewinder crank on the F2. But as someone who prefers a cleaner top-plate look, I enjoy the lack of a metal bracket that can catch on clothes.

The shutter button on F2 is in a good position. It feels balanced, and there’s almost no vibration in the body when it’s fired. As the button is squeezed further down, it’s easy to predict exactly when the shutter will release. Unfortunately, you will need an adapter if you want to use a shutter release cable.

The ring around the shutter button can be lifted and turned to either “T,” “L,” and normal (pointing forward, middle) position. “L” locks the shutter button to avoid accidental exposures during travel. The “T” position lets you use longer than 1s exposures: 1) advance the film 2) set your shutter speed to “B” on the top panel 3) set the shutter into “T,” wind the delay timer (on the front of the camera) to point anywhere between 2 and 10, then press the shutter button. Note that the shutter button will stay depressed until you advance to the next frame.

If you don’t set the timer on the front of the camera while it is in “T” mode, the shutter will stay open after you press the button until you switch the shutter mode back to normal.

Other features of note on the F2 are the round black depth of field preview button (next to the delay timer) and the lens release button (also round and black) on the opposite side of the lens. To remove the lens from the body, you will need to press the lens release button as you rotate the lens clockwise (while looking straight at it).

The Photomic DP-1 metered prism uses lenses with “bunny ears” (like the Nikkor 28mm 𝒇3.5 AI-S) that help index the finder to the min/max apertures. If your lens isn’t leaving your camera body, turn the aperture ring to 𝒇22.

To mount your lens, match the dot that indicates distance/aperture on the lens to the white dot on the lens mount, put the lens in and rotate counter-clockwise. Once you mount your lens, you’ll need to turn your aperture ring to the max and min values to sync your meter with the lens.

The DP-1 Photomic metered prism finder.

The Photomic metered prism finder for F2 is beautiful, bright, and very comfortable to use (although it’s also unnecessarily cumbersome if you can measure the light by eye). It has a match-needle exposure display on top of the prism and in the viewfinder.

I enjoy the aperture numbers built into the finder, which are much brighter and easier to read than the FE’s periscope-like system (which looks at the lens itself).

You’ll also see an aperture value on the front of the finder. This number indicates the largest aperture DP-1 detected on your lens when you mounted it and indexed it by rotating the aperture ring back and forth.

When you press the silver button on the front of the finder, the battery power indicator shows the condition of your batteries. If the needle is in the center, aligning with the notch (between the “+” and “-” signs if you’re looking into the viewfinder), you’re good to go.

The notch also indicates correct exposure when your camera is turned on (with the film advance lever pulled slightly from the body).

If you’ve just mounted your finder on top of your camera (see the above section on how to do that), you’ll need to turn its ASA dial until it “clicks in” if it isn’t moving the shutter dial. For correct exposures, lift the ASA dial ring and rotate it until the red triangle aligns with your film’s ISO speed.

Unfortunately, the exposure compensation marks on the ASA dial aren’t very useful. For example, if you want to over-expose your ISO 800 film by one stop, you’ll need to lift and turn the ASA dial until “1” points at 800 (and the red triangle points at 1600). This is akin to changing the film speed mid-roll, which is neither bad nor particularly convenient.

The exposure meter on DP-1 uses through-the-lens metering with a 60% bias toward exposure in the lower half of the frame. It’s fairly accurate.

DP-1 was the first metered prism finder for the F2 system that was in production between 1971 and 1976. Cameras sold with this finder were branded F2 Photomic.

DP-2 metered prism finder was an upgrade that could meter under darker conditions (EV -2 to EV 17, compared to DP-1’s EV 1 to EV 17). It also had LED indicators. Cameras sold with this finder were branded F2S. This finder was in production between 1973 and 1976.

DP-3 was the next upgrade with more LED bulbs and an eyepiece shutter to avoid stray light during long exposures. Cameras sold with this finder were branded F2SB. This finder was in production between 1973 and 1976.

DP-11 was an auto-indexing finder alternative to DP-1, which coupled with the new AI lenses (but did away with the support for legacy Nikon lenses). Cameras sold with this finder were branded F2A. This finder was in production between 1977 and 1980.

DP-12 was an auto-indexing finder alternative to DP-3, which came with all the bells and whistles and coupled with the new AI lenses (but did away with the support for legacy Nikon lenses). Cameras sold with this finder were branded F2AS. This finder was in production between 1977 and 1980.

The fact that Nikon F2 lived through two F-mount Nikkor lens types (the classic pre-AI lenses that require coupling with “bunny ears” and the AI lenses that didn’t) gives this camera a unique advantage. Whereas Nikon FE and FM are considered to have the best out-of-the-box compatibility with Nikkor lenses, the F2 can have the same lens support (almost everything that uses an F-mount and has an aperture ring) due to finder interchangeability.

✪ Note: While I shopped for my F2, I noticed that a lot of listings mentioned that the camera finder isn’t accurate — this was also the case with my F2 Photomic. However, there’s a way to adjust the meter on the camera to fix the issue.

Nikon F mount lenses.

The DP-1, DP-2, and DP-3 finders will work with most Nikon lenses, although they will need stop-down metering with AI lenses, which inform the camera of their aperture range differently (unless you modify them by mounting bunny ears). If you don’t like stop-down metering and don’t mind only using Nikkor lenses made after 1977, DP-11 and DP-12 finders will do the job. Otherwise, a prism without a meter will work with most F-mount glass.

The only lenses Nikon F2 will positively not work are Nikon DX, Nikon G, and certain vintage glass with extremely protruding rear elements.

The Nikon F mount is considered to be the longest-living SLR format with an astonishing number of options, many of which are of excellent quality. The below samples were shot on a Nikkor 28mm 𝒇3.5 AI-S:

How much does a Nikon F2 cost, and where to find one.

Most F2 copies sell in the $200-500 range, depending on the condition and the version (i.e., the finder). Titanium versions of this camera sell between $1,000 and $2,000.

Given how much this camera cost at launch (north of $4K), the current market seems like an excellent time to get into the world of this classic Nikon camera. I would only advise you to read the listing descriptions and check out pictures of the shutter curtain to make sure it’s not damaged or creased. See this guide if it’s your first time buying a vintage film camera.

Nikon F2s, along with virtually all vintage film cameras can be found for sale using the links below:

❤ By the way: Please consider making your Nikon F2 camera purchase using this link so that this website may get a small percentage of that sale — at no extra charge for you — thanks!