The Nikon F3 is my goldilocks camera. Neither too big nor too small, especially considering the heavyweights that followed it. Not too automated and not too manual.
It screams wonderful classic industrial-design chic - sharp lines and angles as a result of Nikon commissioning DMC DeLorean and automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. Except for the red line and the model number displayed on the front, little of this design ethos remains in evidence in the more sculpted, rounded and bulbous cameras that followed.
The F3 is of a professional build quality. Not quite as solid or with the 'heft' of the F2 and not quite in the F4's brutal tactical-weapon class. But close enough.
I have wanted an F3 since the 1980s (no money then) and was recently lucky enough to pick up a near mint copy of the F3HP (HP = High Point, referring to the the high eyepoint viewfinder (the DE-3) which lets you see the whole viewfinder even with glasses).
My camera has not seen professional use (good) and the serial number indicates a late model produced circa 1996 (also good). The F3 debuted in 1981 and was kept in production until about 2002, even after being succeeded by the F4 and F5 as the professional workhorses. So a lot of these were produced.
I had a 14 days return period to test whether the camera worked as well as it looks (yeah, been burned by that before with aging cameras that look good cosmetically...).
Decision time. Shoot a roll of film and send it off to be developed and hope that the lab returns the negs in time? Or overcome my resistance and process a roll myself. With the former, my go-to lab has recently relocated to another part of the country and there have been 'delays' as a result of the backlog from the move. The latter would be the first time I've developed a film for about 14 years. But this is why I'm getting back into analogue film again and really is the kind of kick in the bum that I need to get started. So, no brainer - I'll do it myself.
This is my journey for the next 24hrs...
I loaded the F3 with Kentmere Pan 400 at box speed (I've never used it before but it is relatively cheap), coupled it with a Nikkor 28mm f/2 Ai lens (my fave walkabout) and set off with partner and dog for a walk around the (amazingly and unusually) sun-drenched neighbourhood soley to snap 24 frames.
River Mersey with recent flood debris
I have forgotten the peculiar anxiety I feel attached to this particular task of finding out if a camera is not a lemon. I have to remember to test all the apertures, focussing, film advance etc etc with the worry that I might have a problem myself recalling how to spool the film onto the reel in a changing bag. And then not screwing up the rest of the development process. My bird brain also keeps seeing lovely shots that won't contribute to the process. Ohhhh, shiney! Stop already. Get back on track.
Poo bags tied to a gate
Given the unusually sunny day (in March, in Greater Manchester ffs) I could probably have got away with ISO 100 film but there were no problems with too much light and I like grain anyway. I used the film fairly quickly as a result so now it was back to develop the roll.
Soooo, how much had I forgotten? More like how much more did I need to relearn? We lived in a block of flats in SE London that we never had to heat. It remained a steady 20C all the time even through the winter because everybody around us was heating their flats. I didn't have to think about temperature and all my process was built around 20C. Now we live further North and it is colder. Even the recent sun was not warm and the house has a mean (in all senses of the word) temperature of about 14C at this time of year. Too cold. So how do I get the chemistry to a controlled heat? Improvisation is my middle name. I have a Brod & Taylor dough-proofer for breadmaking and it worked a charm. Just fill it with the bottles of chemistry and let them warm up. Elegant!
Trees on a bank
For the dev I used Ilford ID-11 (boring but predictable), Ilford Ilfostop, and Ilford Rapid Fixer plus a drop of washing up liquid for the final rinse aid (all with distilled water). I used the ID-11 at stock, 9.5 minutes with 6 initial inversions and subsequently 4 inversions every minute (not forgetting to bang the tank down!). Getting to this point was not quite as difficult as I had thought it was going to be. I have a tent like Calumet changing bag that swells like a Zepplin when expanded (the silver walls remind me of one anyway). I'm afraid to fold it up again though because it feels like I may snap something structural. I prefer this kind of tent to a changing bag simply because it feels like there is more space inside (duh, obviously there is compared to a Patterson changing bag). I did a practice run with some expired film. I have Hewes reels and it is a no-brainer hooking the sprocket holes onto the two little horns and winding the film on. Like riding a bike, you don't really forget how to do it. It still causes me some anxiety though because of (bad) memories of wet Jobo reels. I loathe plastic reels because I never got the hang of them. Stainless reels have always worked for me, Hewes for preference. They are also more elegant and take up less space.
I'm not sure I was spot on with the temperatures either. They felt inconsistent; hotter or cooler rhan they should be as the development went on. The dough-proofer's temperature controls are not very accurate (which is fair enough, it is built for less complex chemistry). The top I was using for the dev tank was slightly loose too, so there was some spillage during inversions which was another worry.
Anyway, deep breaths. Got through to the final wash with no obvious disasters and hung the film to dry overnight in the shower stall (best place).
Undermined
The negs looked surprisingly OK at first glance. There were no obvious light leaks, no shutter problems, the only exposure issues were mine (I need to get used to the F3's unusual 80/20 centre-weighted meter - it is a bit like a big spot meter) so fingers crossed to the next stage.
Once dried, I scanned the negs. I use an (ancient) Epson Perfection V750 Pro with Vuescan software. I've always used Vuescan because it supports Linux and for black and white scanning it has always performed without a hitch. I have it output gigantic 101MB TIFFs with as much data as possible which I then import into Darktable. The images on this page have had minimal post processing - some contrast, orientation and cropping. Darktable does make you work harder than software such as Adobe Lightroom but you get the image you want rather than the image Lightroom thinks you want - if you know what I mean. It is up to you from the ground up. Darktable makes no assumptions about the final image, it has no opinions. There are modules for you to make those decisions with. It treats you like a grown-up with choices to make. I wish all software was the same. However, some people find it underwhelming when initially confronted with an image that appears to be lacking (any) bells and whistles.
Bin on the edge of Edgeley
So overall I'm a happy bunny.
The F3 performed magnificently and I overcame my resistance and managed the dev.
I didn't have a nail-biting 10 days or so waiting for the lab to return the negs in order to see whether the camera worked as it should. 24hrs was all it took.
The F3 is my goldilocks camera and not a lemon. And I have a good one at last.
Fun Fact... Or not
At the end of this alley is the house that featured in the 1961 film 'A Taste of Honey'. Lark Hill Road was used as a substitute for a Salford street. The house is the one that Jo (Rita Tushingham) and her mother Helen (Dora Bryan) do a flit from over unpaid rent, climbing out of the basement window and down the steep alley to Brinksway.
Today they would have to walk past Muttley Crew doggy day care.