**The Nikon F4: A Camera with Enduring Potential**

I can save you some money on your order if you use offer code AOP on checkout, this will save you an additional ten percent off your order. So once again, that offer code is AOP.

As I've mentioned before, price is a critical factor in camera purchasing decisions. In 1988, the Nikon F4 was released to great fanfare, but its list price of over two thousand dollars (approximately $4,000 today) was out of reach for most people at the time. Even accounting for inflation, the F4's price remained relatively high compared to other cameras on the market. The F3, a predecessor model, had been on the market for nearly 30 years and had become a staple in many photographers' collections. In contrast, the F4 only survived for about nine years before being discontinued in favor of the F5.

I personally purchased my F4 in 2004 for $250, which is an incredible deal considering its age and original list price. While it may not be as widely available or affordable today, the F4 remains a solid option for anyone looking to purchase a 35mm camera with advanced features like autofocus and matrix metering.

Despite its sleek design and weight distribution, the F4 is still quite large and heavy, making it a significant burden to carry around, especially for those who shoot street photography. As someone who has had extensive experience with this camera, I can attest that while it's comfortable to hold and use, its size and weight can be a drawback.

However, Nikon took great care in designing the F4's form factor, making sure that every aspect of the camera was optimized for usability. The placement of knobs, buttons, and other controls is intuitive and easy to navigate, even for those who are not familiar with SLR cameras. Additionally, the F4's ergonomics make it a comfortable camera to shoot with, especially when compared to some of its contemporaries.

One of the most interesting aspects of owning an F4 is seeing how well it holds up over time. I currently have a roll of film that has been in this camera for at least two years, and it will be fascinating to see what kind of images we get from it. If you're looking for a reliable 35mm camera that can adapt older lenses and still deliver great results, the F4 is an excellent option.

**The Camera's Features**

For those who are interested in learning more about the Nikon F4's features, I highly recommend checking out some of the videos on YouTube from my colleagues at The Art of Photography. Specifically, DigitalRev has done a fantastic review of the camera using expired Ektachrome film, which provides valuable insights into its performance and capabilities.

Another excellent resource is The Camera Store TV, which has a segment called "Cameras of Yesteryear" where they review older cameras to see how well they still hold up. Their review of the F4 is particularly insightful, offering a detailed analysis of its design, features, and overall performance.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, the Nikon F4 is an incredible camera that offers advanced features like autofocus and matrix metering at a price point that's hard to beat. While it may not be the most comfortable or convenient camera to carry around, its design and form factor make it a joy to use for those who value functionality and performance.

If you're in the market for a reliable 35mm camera with advanced features like autofocus and matrix metering, the F4 is an excellent option. Don't be afraid to check out some of the videos from my colleagues at The Art of Photography or The Camera Store TV to learn more about this incredible camera.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhave you guys noticed that all of a suddeneverybody's making videos about theNikon F4 - this is one of my favoriteNikon's ever madesecond only to the Nikon F3 and thiswas their flagship camera from 1988 toearly 1997 and I could not afford one ofthese when they were new I bought minein 2004 used this was my main35mm camera for a number ofyears and there's a lot to like about itand since everybody else is doing avideo I thought I would chime in andgive you five reasons why I think theNikon F4 is a camera worth owningnumber one - knobs - the F4 is a pivotalcamera from the minimalistic designqualities of the F3 which later evolvedinto the strange custom function stuffin the f5 that's accessible from the LCDscreen that you had to have the cheat sheet for whichevolved into what we have with digitalcameras today where we have menus and almostthis computer type layout that's notvery intuitive and for me the Nikon F4represents the last of a breed of camerasthat was a completely user based designin other words every function on thecamera is accessible with either a knob adial or some kind of button and when youconsider how much was added on to the F4from the F3 it's really impressive howthey were able to achieve that the F3worked as kind of native aperture-prioritycamera you would adjust the aperture onthe lens and it would adjust the shutterspeed to compensate you can also use itin manual mode there were two more modesadded a program mode and shutterpriority mode as well as three autofocus modes as well as three meteringmodes and so everything is accessible bysome kind of dial or switch on thecamera and a lot of attention was paidto the user experience and the layout inthe design and everything is really easyto get to and in many ways today we'restill struggling with coming up withsomething that's user-friendly and the F4really represented I think the height ofcamera design in that regard number twometering - the Nikon F4 features threedifferent metering modes that you canselect to shoot with you can use spotmetering which takes a spot reading fromthe center of the viewfinder you can usewhat's called center-weighted meteringwhich is an older-style metering thatwas found on cameras like the F3 andthen finally this was the first of theNikon flagship cameras to introducematrix metering which isthe system they still use today nowcenter-weighted metering worked prettywell and basically what it did is themeter in the camera took two differentreadings of the scene and put a slightemphasis on things that were in thecenter of the picture and it did thiswith a ratio - and it depends camera to camera butit's usually an 80/20 or a 75/25 buteither way assuming your subject isgoing to be in the middle of the scenethat's what's going to put the emphasisnow there was a work around if your subjectwas not in the middle of the scene whatyou could do is you could put yoursubject in the middle and then use theAE lock button to lock in the exposureand then just move over and recomposeand that worked really well and thisworked really well usually for black andwhite or even c41 film but matrixmetering enabled a whole new set offeatures on this in terms of meteringbecause it takes into account thingslike color and the way that light worksin the scene and a much more advancedway than center-weighted did so if you'reshooting e6 slide film - this is a much moreaccurate camera because E6 does nothave the kind of latitude thatblack-and-white and c41 do usually so thatthe exposure is much more crucial now matrixmetering is a big deal they haveadvanced on that over the years and ithas evolved but this was the first ofthe flagship cameras to feature that whichbrings me to my next pointreason number three lens compatibilityNikon have been extremely consistentwith their lens design over the yearsand the F4 is pretty much compatiblewith every lens Nikon has ever made youcan use pre-AI lenses you can use AI, AI-Sthere a few little technicalities forinstance if you use vibration reductionor VR lenses - vibration reduction is anewer technology and the camera does notsupport it you can still use the lenses youcan still use auto focus you just don'thave access to the VR functionalitywithin them another weird little quirk isthis lens this is a 50mm f/1.4G lens and there is no aperture collaron here now remember the way the cameraset up everything is either a knob or dialthere's no LCD screen there's noscrolling through menus so you don'thave access to actually manuallychanging the aperture which takes awayaperture priority mode and manual modenow you can still use the camera inprogram mode and shutter speed mode withthis lens but it does take away somefunctionality that is very cool and thefact that you can pretty much use anylens Nikon has ever made with thiscamera is awesome but the feature thatsold it for me in the lens departmentwascompatibility with older manual focuslenses like this one and this means likeAI-S or AI lenses it supports fullmatrix metering through manual focuslenses and that is a big deal the f5does not the f5 will only docenter-weighted metering and so if youshoot a lot of slide film and you have alot of these older manual focus lenseswhich are very well-designed there's noauto focus but they're great lenses andthey can usually be found veryaffordably and you like to use matrixmetering this is why you would want togo with the F4 now it is worth notingthat there are two other cameras that dosupport matrix metering in manual focuslenses that would be the Nikon FA andalso the Nikon F6 now both thosecameras are very different deal than theF4 and you're not going to find an f6used anywhere near in the ballpark ofaffordability as you are with the NikonF4 which brings me to my next point butfirst I want to give a quick shout-outto our sponsor this week who are theawesome folks over at squarespace.comSquarespace offers an all-in-onesolution for building beautiful websitesportfolios an online store or even aholding page for your domain you getaccess to Squarespace's amazing back endthat makes building websites a breezehead over to squarespace.com and sign upfor the free trial and see just how easyit is to get up and runningif you do decide to Squarespace is rightfor you I can save you some money onyour orderif you use offer code AOP on check outthis will save you an additional tenpercent off your order so once againthat offer code is AOP and I want togive a special shout-out and thanks tosquarespace for sponsoring anotherepisode of the art of photographyreason number 4 - price - I remember whenthe F4 came out when I was a kid and itwas an amazing camera there was all thisamazing functionality was designed forprofessionals and it was way out of mostpeople's budgets in 1988 this cost listprice over two thousand dollars us and Ithink that included a 50mmprime kit lens but if you account forinflation that's probably over 3,000almost four thousand dollars in today'sprices and so the deal with the F4 is it onlysurvived about nine years the F3 was oneof the longest-running Nikonbodies ever at almost 30 years thatit was produced this one was produced forabout nine years until the f5 came outthey dropped production on this and we hadthe f6 and we moved into the digitalcameras when I bought this in 2004 ipaid 250 dollars for it and the price ispretty much amazing on the used marketnow technically this is an F4S becausei do have the MB-21 battery grip andI'll talk about that when we get intothe design on here but I think if you'relooking for a 35mm camera and youwant a lot of functionality particularlyif you shoot slide film these can be hadfor a songreason number 5: design - as I mentionedthe F4 was a very transitional camerafor Nikon's flagship lineup not only interms of the features it offered withautofocus and matrix metering but alsoin size the F4 is massive and it's alsovery heavy it takes a motherload ofdouble-a batteries and it is a very bigcameras kind of funny when you thinkthat is a 35mm film camera butit is very big but the other cool thingabout this though is that Nikon tookinto account the usability and the formfactor of the camera and they took that veryseriously this is a very comfortablecamera to hold as are most of the Nikonsthat have adopted since this but withall the knobs being in the right placeand the form factor the contour and the waythis fits in your hands it is a verycomfortable camera to shoot on as Imentioned this was my main camera forabout two yearsthe only reason I moved away from it isthe one drawback is the weight and Ikind of was moving away from shooting35mm film particularly slide filmI always liked the look of black andwhite but I didn't necessarily needmatrix metering for that and the F3 wasa lot lighter if you walk aroundshooting street photography with thiscamera you will feel it is massive asare most of the big SLR cameras thesedays and that's kind of reason that Istopped using it as much plus we were movinginto digital around that time and I startedadapting with that too so I just wasn'tshooting as much E6 film in 35mmthe interesting thing here isthere is a roll of film in this camerathat's been in here for at least twoyears so it will be really interesting tohelp that see what has accumulated onhere in thatamount of time but anyway if you are inthe market for a serious 35mmcamera, you shoot slide film, you don'twant something that's gonna break thebank you want something is going toadapt older lenses the F4 is incredibleif you're a street photographer you probablywant to look elsewherekinda like the F3 over the F4 - anyway Iwant to point you to a few other videosthat some of my colleagues have done onthis Kai formally of DigitalRev has doneone and his is very funny I've never metKai in person but he has a veryentertaining channel and he runs someexpired ektachrome through his F4 so Iwill link these up on YouTube the otherchannel I would recommend to you guys isThe Camera Store TV I have met Jordanand we have talked a little bit onlinethey are super cool guys and they have asegment that they do on their show what theycall the cameras of yesteryear where theydo reviews on older cameras to see howthey still hold up and they look at theF4 as well so go check those guys outthey're amazing if you enjoyed this videoplease remember to like it share it andas always subscribe to the art ofphotography for more videos I will see youguys in the next one until then go tosome good see ya later\n"