Perhaps one of the most successful 35mm professional SLRs (Single Lens Reflex Cameras) ever, the F3 was introduced by the Nikon Corporation in 1980. The F3 was intended as a replacement for the widely-successful but bulky F and F2. The F3, while smaller than the F and F2, is definitely bigger and bulkier than the FM and FE, which were released by Nikon in the late 1970s as what Nikon termed as compact SLRs. However, due to the designing skills of Giorgetto Giugiaro, the F3 is much more ergonomic than either of these and is generally considered more photogenic.

Features

Electronically-controlled Shutter Releases

The F3's release heralded the release of similar cameras from all four major Japanese camera manufacturers, with Canon releasing a new electronic version of the F-1, Pentax releasing the LX and Olympus releasing the OM-4. What differentiated these four cameras from the cameras immediately preceding them was a nearly complete dependence on electronically-controlled shutter releases, which hadn't been seen before. They did not totally depend on electronics, though. Both the LX and F3 had mechanical shutter modes, with the LX having a mechanical speed range, and the F3 providing manual shutter release at speeds of 1/80s. This shift to electronic shutter releases can be considered revolutionary, especially since it heralded a period where four professional cameras were released almost within a year of each other. Such a period hadn't been seen earlier, and with Pentax's and Olympus's subsequent withdrawal from the 35mm professional SLR segment, it was unlikely that such a period would be observed in the near future either. Electronic shutter control - which used a quartz crystal to time the shutter's opening and closing - gave photographers much more accurate exposure times than the traditional mechanical gears. Besides, a change to electronic control also allowed camera manufacturers to provide a wider range of shutter speeds, especially at the higher reaches (that is, faster speeds). The F3 offered shutter speeds ranging from eight seconds to 1/2000th of a second (shutter speed is usually listed as the number of seconds for which the shutter remains open).

Metering and Other Features

The F3 along with its electronic shutter also featured a stepless automatic aperture priority exposure mode labelled 'A' on the shutter speed dial. This mode in essence allowed the photographer to concentrate on merely changing the aperture while the camera took care of the shutter speed. The shutter speed selected by the camera was displayed on the top centre-left part of the viewfinder right above the image. The LCD was slightly hard to read because it was a little too small. This automatic aperture priority was appreciated by a lot of photographers, because except in the case of sports and action photography where high shutter speeds are necessary for freezing action in progress, almost every other kind of photographer relies on controlling the aperture, since the aperture is what primarily decides the 'depth of field' (the smaller your aperture, the greater is the depth of field). The F3 also featured a titanium shutter screen and centre-weighted metering, which means that while the meter measures net ambient light entering the lens, the central portion of the image contributes more to the meter's final measurement than the rest of the image. (Actually 80% of the meter's input was taken from a small circular area marked on the viewfinder, while the rest of the image contributed 20% of its input.)

Success and Popularity

The F3 later formed the basis for Nikon's first foray into auto-focus SLRs, with Nikon releasing the relatively unsuccessful F3A. Two factors finally gave the F3 its success. First was the large number of lenses Nikon made available for it, a range which would later be matched by Canon. Second is the fact that the F3 preceded all of its other competitors and was well-loved by professionals, many of whom had successfully used the F2 to cover events such as the Vietnam War, thus making Nikon a company they wanted to stick with. The F3 eventually went on to become the only professional SLR in Nikon's F series to have coexisted and survived beyond its successor the F4, and though production officially ceased sometime in late 1999, demand for the camera was so high that Nikon reintroduced a special model of the F3 sometime in 2001. The special model was primarily intended for NASA's space program, since the F3 was one of the very few camera models tested and certified for use in space. The next professional SLR from Nikon which managed to be anywhere near as successful as the F3 is the F5, the current top-end 35mm model from Nikon, and it faces competition from Canon's EOS1V, which is probably Canon's most successful model after the Canon F-1. Though the F3 is well over 20 years old it remains in demand even today, and getting hold of a second-hand F3 in good repair can be pretty hard on someone's purse.

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