Hi Buckwheat,

My original F Body has now been sold off so that I could afford my first F2, it was a 1959 model bought S/H in 1960. Sold to a friend in the early 1980s so I know my original F is still going strong. I missed it so much I ended up buying another a couple of years later which I've still got and use even though I'm well into digital now. It had a selenium meter attached as you describe (still got one, with the booster) and a 50 mm F2 lens (sold on) & a strap. It cost me one hundred pounds Australian (before decimalisation) in Melbourne's Elizabeth St CBD Australia.

The selenium clip-on has a catch and contact on the right side of it in your photo where you could attach a booster for low light capture. Laugh if you like but that combination served me for over a decade and came with me half way around the world - sold off in the UK.

Incidentally, in your last photo I think, the prism is not attached correctly, press it down firmly to put it in it's place, before you go out with it again, or you might lose it. This doesn't suggest that the "NIKON" name plate is loose but it might be worth checking too, just in case as it might be more difficult to replace than the prism. If it is, just screw it on tightly.

Digital cameras have only a few years of life until the more rapidly advancing technologies makes them redundant. The Nikon F you have pictured will last you for many a year more, despite its age, especially now that Kodak is coming out with new film, B&W & Ektachrome (my fingers are crossed for a returning Kodachrome 25, or update of same).

Keep shooting with your favourite faithful, they certainly don't make them like they used to.

Yes, there are still a lot of F users who remember those selenium meters, maybe even a few who still use them.

There are some features on that old F that I wish would be carried over to the current digital, current but inferior versions.

Ron