Resistance is Futile
I'd just gotten the Nikon F100 and couldn't stop raving about it to my photographer friends. "I'm never using my M3 again for weddings or engagements!" I exclaimed. Quickly my Nikon obsession grew. I struggled to find another F100 in the immaculate condition of the example I'd just found and instead turned to an F80. It was small, capable, and did just about everything the F100 did, but didn't feel as perfect in my hands. Sweet, I have a solid backup. But I need something else. Something...more!
My friend Stacey Pearson, knowing my love of manual cameras suggested the F3. I looked into it, but decided on an F4. It was more like the F100, but seriously overbuilt only with just one autofocus point. No problem since I only ever use center spot AF. I loved the thing. Wrote about it here. But eventually I wanted something fully manual and mechanical to use as a backup. I am, after all, who I am.
I got myself an FM and thought my film Nikon journey had reached its natural end-goal. I was back to mechanical and probably would stay there for personal work while using the F100 and F4 for weddings. I wrote about my time falling in love with the FM in my last blog here. Maybe it was GAS, or maybe it was something else. But I couldn't get that damned F3 out of my mind.
I started window shopping for one. And that's the thing with window shopping for old professional Nikon gear...it's so damn affordable these days. Bodies and lenses that once cost thousands of dollars can be had for less than the cost of a night out. So it was that I found myself in the possession of an F3 in pretty amazing condition and a newly acquired AI-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 lens. The lens had been purchased a week or two before and I'd tested it on the FM and a roll of Tri-X. So when the F3 arrived just five days before we were set to leave on a week long spring break vacation, I did something stupid...I immediately used it for an engagement shoot.
I rushed the development of that roll to ensure I had scans back before our trip. I wanted to make sure this camera was ready to shoot as this would be a week long trip that would see us start in St. Augustine and then set sail aboard the Disney Wish.When I got the scans back...well, it only confirmed what I felt while working that shoot.
This was a shooting experience like no other. Even before I got the scans back, I was smitten. And I was surprised at how easy it was to nail focus even at f/1.2. No hard feat, I might add.
It was decided then and there that I would take the F3 with me on vacation. Last Spring Break I brought two cameras with me, the Leica M3 and Pentax MX. I loved how that two body set up worked for shooting different kinds of film. So I packed the FM alongside it and brought as much UltraMax and CineStill 800 as I could carry and left for St. Augustine.
Back to St. Augustine
We took off on the Friday we all got off for Spring Break. I'd packed the car the night before and we just left the moment we all were ready. Steph's kid cousin was getting married and the whole family was getting together to celebrate. So we finally got into St. Augustine in the early evening. We spent some time hanging out in the house we'd rented on the beach and then hit the hay.
The following morning we discovered there was a great little coffee and pasty shop literally behind the house. So we walked over as soon as the kids were up. I loaded up a roll of Ultra-Max in the F3 as we left.I decided I wanted to think less while making pictures this trip. I'd spent the last few years shooting fully mechanical cameras and reading light by eye. I just wanted to relax a bit.
That's the beautiful thing about the F3. I could set it to aperture priority exposure and mostly just worry about composition and focus. Unless I found myself in a tricky lighting situation. Something like that frame of the plants in the window was such a situation. I definitely didn't want to expose for the scene outside the window. The F3's center weighted meter would have done such a thing. So I took a reading for the plants, changed my shutter speed to lock that exposure in, and took the shot. Right back to the A setting the shutter speed dial went and on with my day did I proceed.
We spent that morning and early afternoon hanging with the kids and occasionally answering emails from clients. Thankfully I had assembled the last gallery I needed to get out the day before so work was light for me.
The wedding was in the early evening and we didn't get back until late. It was nice to attend a wedding as a guest. It was relaxing. There was a theme recurring throughout this trip and it rhymed with shmelaxing.
Our cruise didn't leave for another two days so we spent the following day just lounging around St. Augustine. We headed into the city and met up with some family members as we broke fast and wandered around the ancient historic district.
We'd spent some time in St. Augustine two years prior, also on Spring Break before a more exciting part of that vacation. Link, being a history buff, really enjoyed it. But Wes was barely more than a potato at the time. It was great to see him enjoy what St. Augustine had to offer this time around. He walked the streets with us, but his favorite was riding the hop-off-hop-on tram. "THE TRAIN!!" he'd shout as we'd get close to the guided tour stations.
After venturing throughout most of the city we stopped into a video arcade for a while before heading to our favorite restaurant in the city, a Mexican joint called Casa Reina, where the drinks are cold and strong, and the food is spicy and savory. Normally we'd stay for a while and order a few rounds of drinks and make a whole night out of it before exploring some live music and showing the kids what life is really about. But we had an early start the next morning.
We decided to head back earlier than usual. We repacked our bags, cleaned the house, and made sure we were ready to go. It would be about a two hour drive to Cape Canaveral, where we'd board the Disney Wish. Excitement levels were high, but eventually everyone settled in and off to dreamland - or is it Neverland? - we went.
Disney Cruisin'
The last time we sailed with Disney Cruise Line Wes had just been born. That time period for our family was a tumultuous one. My grandfather had died after a prolonged battle with dementia, my grandmother had been diagnosed with stage four liver cancer, and Wes had been born. My grandmother would go on to pass just a week after that cruise. So, to say it was high time we took another Disney Cruise in less challenging times is an understatement.
We are big-time cruisers. In fact I wrote a little bit about taking my Leica M3 with me on a cruise here, and even older blogs entries here and here. So, I'm no stranger to making memories or pictures while on a cruise ship. It's one of my favorite places to photograph. Something about how divisive a vacation it is really speaks to me. For some this is the perfect idea of rest and relaxation, while for others its a nightmare.
We fall into the former camp. The food, service, entertainment, it's all something that we jive with. That first day that you board a cruise can be a little hectic: making your way to the state room, registering the kids for their respective clubs, trying to get to the pool before showering for dinner. It's a lot. We managed still to make it to the Walt Disney Theater for the first show of the cruise. SCORE!
The F3 was invaluable for me in this situation. I wanted a low angle shot of the performers dancing in front of the stage and knew exactly how I'd get the shot...removing the viewfinder! I slid the viewfinder off the body, positioned the camera on the arm rest of my seat, composed my shot, found focus, and chose settings that would allow sufficient motion blur due to shutter speed to get some fluid action in the shot.
Before dinner we also had another opportunity to recreate a picture that Link was adamant we get before nightfall. Except this time Wes was in the shot too! We found a porthole that worked and the kids positioned themselves. This was an instance in which I did not use the aperture priority setting on the shutter speed dial and instead chose my shutter speed as the F3's light sensor would certainly have been fooled by the nature of the composition.
But that didn't happen often. In fact that might have been the last time I took the F3 off the aperture priority setting, instead letting the camera expose for me while I simply chose my f/ stop.
Beach Scenes and Landscapes
The next couple of days contained a mixture of island and ship time. So, I'll split those into two sections and write about them individually.
All the photography I did off the ship was done with the F3. I simply wanted to keep shooting with it more and more. I didn't want to put it down. There's a lot of factors in that, I'm sure. But it can be sublimated to one thing: this camera rocks!
The viewfinder is so big and bright and offers 100% coverage. I always know what my scene will look like once I develop the negatives. The DE-3 High Eye-Point viewfinder is also an incredible feature for us bespectacled photogs. So often I have to wiggle my eye around in a viewfinder to check my compositions. It doesn't always matter, but sometimes it does. On the F3HP (as it technically is a different model with that viewfinder) that's never an issue. HOORAY!
Compositions like these last two with umbrellas suddenly don't require any guessing as to how much outside what I'm seeing in my viewfinder will be included in my shot. When you want to frame things precisely, it's kind of the only way to ensure that. Sure you can always crop in a bit. Normally I'm not such a nerd about that sort of thing. But when you want symmetry, like in this shot of the umbrellas framing the horizon, well this is amazing.
The small grip built into the body is also a big factor. The F3 is simply easier to hang on to all day than any other film camera I own. Yes, that includes my beloved M3. The grip is not nearly as large as the one found on the F4, but I found that just that little bit of real estate was enough to add some comfort. You don't know what you're missing until you've tried it, I guess. Because I spent years shooting SLRs with traditionally flat bodies without grips and never felt I needed one. But now I almost don't want to shoot any other SLR.
The other thing that is easy to overlook with the F3 given its age is that this is a professional camera. It was designed to take a lickin' and keep on clickin', to misappropriate Timex's amazing advertising claim (and I can confirm that every Timex I've ever owned is still alive and well.) That means that just about anything you can throw at the Nikon F3 will be handled with aplomb.
I still had not found a replacement for my Nikonos IV-A (which I vow to replace one of these days), but had no qualms about wading into the refreshing waters of the Caribbean Sea with the F3. It was not a particularly calm day either. Water was splashing all over the place, yet I knew the F3 would be fine.
This means that in situations in which I'd be less likely to take a camera with me, there the F3 can be found. I've always been cautiously reckless with my photography and the gear I use to make it. For me its more important to get the shot I want than to safeguard my kit. In the end, I can always repair or replace gear if it gets damaged or outright broken. But my mind will not let me sleep if I chickened out of getting a shot.
And because we often are doing fun and exciting things, that means my camera needs to be prepared to do those things with me. I think most of my film cameras are prepared for such adventures. I know I can call upon my Leica M3, Pentax MX, or Nikon FM to take with me anywhere. But the F3? It kind of feels more prepared than even those mechanical monsters are.
The F3 is up to the task. I mean, if NASA trusted it in the vacuum of space, what's a little sand and salt water, right?
Shipside Snaps
Slowing down and taking some time by myself to make still life and landscape/seascape photos has become something of a catharsis for me. I make so many people pictures with my work as a wedding and engagement photographer, to say nothing of the copious amounts of photos I make of my family, that these kinds of pictures end up being a form of therapy for me. It's relaxing and it allows me to think geometrically. I find scenes that I feel don't need a human element to be found beautiful or interesting. Now that I think of it, the absence of the human element in scenes that we might otherwise know humans inhabit is something of a theme in my personal photography of the last year or so.
The F3 is perfect for this. It allows me to perfectly frame up compositions and take my time. I focus precisely, make my exposure, and then advance my film with the smoothest film advance lever I've ever used. It's seriously the most satisfying feeling. The F4 and F100 may allow me to move at breakneck speed on a wedding day. In fact, with the exception of the F5 and F6 (which I have not yet tried out), I don't think there are better film cameras for that sort of work.
But for the slow and deliberate picture making that I like to do when making photos for myself? It's hard to be the F3. Sure, if I wanted the rangefinder focusing experience I'd reach for my M3, but as far as SLRs go? Yeah, this is tops. And my M3...I haven't picked it up since I got my F3.
That isn't to say it can only move slowly. No, the F3 rewards the photographer with the work they put into the picture making. I'd be curious to try out the F3 with the equally as famous MD-4 motor drive. However, I was able to fire off three shots each of Link and Wes coming down the Slide-a-saurus Rex waterslide on the deck of the Disney Wish. And that's just with me pulling on the film advance lever manually after every exposure. Each frame was spot on and the camera itself provides enough heft and weight to give some decent stabilization for shooting and advancing quickly. A camera that gives me the ability to slow down, shoot deliberately, but also move quickly and focus in a viewfinder the size of my living room tv? Yeah, that's perfection.
But wait...there's more!
"Didn't this guy say something about CineStill 800 and a Nikon FM?" Why, yes! Yes, I did!
The first night of the cruise Steph came down with a bad case of motion sickness and decided to turn in early. The kids were both in their respective clubs and had indicated they wanted to stay there until they closed down for the night. So, I had some time to myself. Instead of sitting out on the balcony and chilling I loaded up a roll of CineStill 800 in the Nikon FM, mounted the AI-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.2, set the light meter to 3200, and got to know the ship.
I love to push CineStill. It allows me to make photos at night and in extremely low light situations. With a super fast lens like the 50mm f/1.2, this even allows me to shoot at virtually any shutter speed I want.
It was pretty late so the Disney Wish was mostly empty. I had the ship to myself to make some still life photos. As I stated earlier, this has become one of my favorite things to do. And having time to do it alone, without having to think that I've left my family to do it, well it's catharsis. I did this in Japan a few months ago. I'd take off at night by myself, after everyone was asleep, and walk the streets of these incredible cities with some CineStill 800 and just become one with the city. Now I was becoming one with the ship.
In Japan I had taken only my Leica M3 with me. Which meant if I had not finished a daytime roll before I took off for night photos I'd have to roll back the film and mark where I had left off so I could load it back up and get back to that point in the roll once I was done.
While that method definitely works as it never failed me in the two weeks I was in Japan, having a second body to shoot a different speed or kind of film is so much easier. And for this extremely slow and deliberate kind of picture making the FM is amazing. Because it is entirely mechanical and exposure must be done manually, it's perfect for this.
The F3 can be shot that way too. But I actually prefer the three dot meter on the FM for manual exposure. It allows me to know the difference between a half stop and full stop of overexposure, which gives me more control over my final photograph.
But something that becomes apparent after shooting the FM and F3 side-by-side is that the F3 is smoother in operation in just about every way.
This doesn't take anything away from the FM. It is one of the most capable cameras I've ever handled. Overbuilt in just about every way, the only meaningful difference between it and the F3 as far as handling goes is in refinement. The F3 seems like a more refined and perfected camera, as well it should. The F3 is, after all, a professional grade camera. The FM, then, becomes possibly the most capable mechanical backup ever made.
And this is why I got the FM in the first place, to have a mechanical backup if ever my F100 or F4 failed me in some way on a job (something I don't foresee happening, but you never know). Knowing that the FM (so named because it is an F Mechanical and requires no batteries to operate) will always work is reassuring. And because I can use all the same lenses as the F3, this pairing is the most logical and space saving two camera set up I can think of.
Final Focus
Is the F3 the best 35mm film camera ever made? Many have made that claim. I don't know for sure. It's hard to make that claim about a camera that only shoots 1/60 shutter speed without a battery. But the more time goes on, the more I realize that the whole mechanical versus electronic shutter thing is mostly meaningless. Sure the battery can run out, but it can be replaced. And if you keep spares in your camera bag, which take up about the same space as a two or three loose Tic Tacs, then you are always ready to go.
Despite a successful engagement shoot with Yari and Danny, I don't see myself favoring the F3 over the F100 or F4 for work shoots. The speed and ease in flash usage just can't be beat. But for my own personal photos? Yeah, I kind of see the F3 remaining my primary camera for a while.
What does this mean for me? Well I made a lot of decisions after this trip. It had been quite a long time since I'd used my Leica R gear. Even before going all in with Nikon F, I had long favored Pentax K for SLR shooting. So, I've sold my Leicaflex SL and all Leica R lenses except for the Elmarit 35mm and 28-70mm zoom, which can be used on the R4s I'm keeping (really just for sentimental reasons, but these were the only two lenses I found myself using in that system anymore) and obviously adapted to digital mirrorless cameras. On the digital mirrorless side, I've also sold my Leica gear for Nikon Z mount cameras. And it was a decision that was a long time coming as the moment I started editing Nikon digital files I didn't want to edit Leica files anymore.
That means that the only Leica film gear I have decided to keep aside from those two lenses is my Leica M3 and the collection of M glass I have assembled over the last couple of years. And, maybe most importantly, I no longer think of myself as a Leica photographer. Maybe I hadn't thought of myself that way for a long time. But It's certainly true now. Nikon F mount has changed how I make photos, not just personally but professionally. So, the F3 is here to stay.
More Spring Break Photos
All images © 2020-2026 David Ulloa Studio. All rights reserved.
