Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

I would say his 1969 dollar is worth about 14 cents today...

digit-up Loc: Flushing, Michigan

I bought a pentax spotmatic in Subic Bay(Philippines) for $125 and it had the 50 mm F 1.4. Before leaving Vietnam Nam I bought 5, to bring back to FAMILY. RJM

digit-up Loc: Flushing, Michigan

My wife tells me that i say that, with every new camera purchase.LoL!!! RJM

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

My mom and dad bought an F, the meter viewfinder, and a 50mm f/1.4 for a Christmas present in 1971. As I remember, the prices were similar to those shown.

Yes, I still have it and still use it.
--Bob

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

My father paid about $200 for a Minolta SRT-101, with a 50mm lens, during the early 1970s at a camera shop. I remember Vietnam Vets, said all SLR cameras were cheaper at military bases overseas. I would borrow that camera occasionally. It was my first and only experience with a SLR camera. That camera, some claimed, was as good as the Nikon. My father sold the SRT-101 around 2001. He gave me his tripod that is 40 years old now. I still have it. I now own a Nikon DSLR. Sony bought out Minolta. Since about 2006.

Carnpo Loc: North Carolina

I bought my Nikkormat FTN 50mm 1.4 in 1972.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I do. I bought my Nikon F body in Madrid, Spain in 1963 and it cost me at the time $250. It still works although I have not used it in some time.
Yes, prices are slightly higher for new cameras now.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

My girlfriend and I purchased a Nikkormat FTN with a zoom macro lens for a little under $400, in 1973. Expensive! We were married in 1974 and for our honeymoon, did a camping trip to Yellowstone (this was when his Rocky Mountain Highness ruled and it was a cool thing to do) for which we purchased the newly-created Audi Fox for about $4,800. It absolutely astonished our friends that we paid that much for a car. I don't think you could get an Audi bumper replaced for that price, now.

vpeek1947 Loc: Louisville, Ky

I purchased a Yashica Lynx14E 1.4 in Korea 1969 - less than $100 bucks - its setting on a self in my photo office and it still works. Carried that thing all over Korea and took family photos for years.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

My first Nikon camera was a 1969 Nikon FTN with the Nikon 105 2.5 mm lens.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes. That about when I bought mine. It seemed that most SLRs cost around $250 then. I sold it on eBay to someone in Dublin for $300 in 2005 .

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Just curious how those look inflation adjusted.
Thank you.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Full name was Nikon F, Photomic FTn. I own one. Yes, the difference was the viewfinder. The standard Nikon F came with just an optical pentaprism viewfinder and NO meter. The Nikon F, Photomic FTn has the center-weighted meter-equipped viewfinder.

As I recall, there were at least five viewfinders for the Nikon F.

Mine was originally the FTn with 50mm f/1.4. It sold in the USA for $443 list, but few people paid that, unless they were wealthy or uninformed. Discounts of 20% or more were common then.

$443 in 1969 equates to roughly $3,135 in 2020, according to my inflation calculator app. That's why, as a 14-year old in 1969, I bought a Nikkormat FTn with 50mm f/1.4 instead. It was $237.95 at Altman's in Chicago (which equates to roughly $1684 in 2020). I had earned it by selling prints to classmates and the yearbook staff at my school (images made with a borrowed Canon FX).

I inherited the FTn in 1972, when my step-uncle died. He had bought it in Hong Kong, a week before his death. It had half a roll of exposed Ektachrome in it.

After living with about 20 different film cameras and 10 digital cameras over the years, I have to reflect that the Nikon FTn was elegant, rugged as a tank, precise... but awkward to use, and ergonomically challenging and quirky. The Nikon F3, on the other hand, was my favorite 35mm SLR of all time. I have one of those, too. I had two of them at one time. It was all I ever needed in a 35mm film camera.

Pixelmaster Loc: New England

This may help as to what Nikon viewfinders were available.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Those were early finders for the Nikon F2 series.