Nikon F801s film SLR review
A review of the Nikon F801s film SLR for professional wedding and portrait photography.
I'm a professional portrait and wedding photographer. If you are new to this site you might like to read why I review photography equipment which I use for my business before reading on. My aim is to provide the information I would be looking for when trying to decide if something would help or hinder my photography business. You won't find specification details ad nauseam, or comparisons between the incomparable, but you will find out how this professional photographer rates the equipment for professional use.
In case you ever wondered, let me clear something up. Cats and cameras don't mix.
I loved my Nikon F801s and used it extensively for my wedding photography, although it has to be said that in a world where digital cameras have effectively replaced film cameras and used film SLRs are at rock bottom prices you are better off stumping up the extra small amount of money and getting a Nikon F100.
Still like I said I loved my F801s. Note the past tense because my F801s is broken.
I clearly remember its demise. I was at home downstairs and heard a loud THUD upstairs. I remember thinking to myself "that can't be good". You see we have cats.
So up I go into one of the bedrooms. On the floor is a cat. In the cats mouth is a camera strap. Attached to the ends of the camera strap is my F801s.
The camera hadn't originally been on the floor, it had been on the table, the table next to the cat.
Fortunately I live close to Nikon's UK HQ in Kingston upon Thames.
So I rushed the F801s to Nikon and the engineers did their best and at first appeared to make the wounded F801s well again. However it became clear that the autofocus would not focus, it would always get close but never quite get it right. Deciding not to spend good money after bad I threw in the towel and declared my much used Nikon F801s dead. I still have it in a drawer.
They say every cloud has a silver lining. The lining for this cloud came in the form of the replacement for the F801s. I had used the F801s for so long the Nikon F90X was already old hat, the replacement was a Nikon F100. Do I miss the F801s, yes I do. The F801s was, no is, a great camera but the F100 is poetry in motion.
Here is the part of the F801s specification which matters to me as a wedding and portrait photographer. All the information is taken from my instruction manual for the Nikon F801s.
- Exposure metering: Matrix (5 segment), Centre-weighted (75% in centre 12mm dia), Spot (3.5mm dia in centre).
- Exposure modes: Programmed auto, Shutter priority, Aperture priority, Manual.
- Shutter speed: 1/8000 to 30 sec plus bulb.
- Viewfinder: 92% frame coverage.
- Film advance: Single frame, Continuous high 3.3fps, Continuous low 2.0fps.
- Exposure compensation: +/- 5 EV in 1/3 EV steps.
- Auto exposure bracketing: Yes, with MF-21 multi control back.
- Depth-of-field preview: Yes.
- Flash synchronisation: 1/60 to 1/250 sec.
- Autofocus flash photography: Yes with Speedlights SB-24, SB-23, SB-22 or SB-20.
- Flash exposure modes: Matrix balanced fill flash, Centre-weighted fill flash, Spot fill flash, Standard TTL flash.
- Power source: Four AA batteries.
- Film speed range: ISO 25 to 5000 for DX coded film, ISO 6 to 6400 manually.
- Self timer: 2 to 30 sec in 1 sec increments.
- PC Cable release: Yes.
When the Nikon F801s was released it was fantastic, however if you are in the market for a used camera of this type, the Nikon F100 blows it away for only a little more money. In any event you might want to steer clear of the F801 (without the s). The F801s has the spot meter.