Thanks for your comment. As a door gunner in Vietnam with a Marine helicopter squadron, HMM-265 we often carried photographers into battle. One we carried frequently carried a Nikon F and a Leica M3 with both hanging on a strap around his neck. Looking back I am always sorry I never took the time to get to know him or even find out his name. But he sure had some well worn cameras. He seemed to put a lot of faith in those two brands even though the base PX offered Pentax Spotmatic cameras as well as Nikon and Canon. How odd that those two brands are STILL way up there in sales compared to other brands.

Dennis

I'm sorry, I just can't help myself when I read such clap trap.

During the Viet Nam Conflict (see I can be PC and call it a conflict and not a war!) there were ONLY two cameras that survived in the field, that was the Nikon camera with it's titanium shutter and Leica with it's rubberized cloth shutter. To add to that, during heavy wet conditions, the Nikons failed, while the M series Leicas worked pretty well, to pretty well, the Non M series Leicas were good to go.

I myself have had non-M Leicas go under sea water while tide pooling and these cameras are not considered water proof one went three plus feet in sea water with out taking on water (it was down there for 10 minutes).

As to Nikons, they do not fare well in dust and sand. You could have all the Nikons you wanted during Desert Storm, piles of them, the photojournalists switched to Canon DSLRs because the handled the desert conditions a lot better. This I got from Mrs. Marianna Smothers Bruni, who was there reporting on the war (oppsie, I mean conflict!), of course she sent her Nikon D's home and used her Leica M cameras, with no problems.

One other note, I used a Canon camera, but finally gave up on it because it was such a piece of junk. I had one of their 'L' zooms and the rear lens mount was such a poor excuse for engineering that the cheap metal flange bent while in it's Canon carry lens bag that it went on to the body but would not come loose, off to Canon to discover it was bent, ever so slightly. A plus thousand dollar lens so badly made that I decided I would leave the disposable digital camera body behind and use old Leica and Zeiss optics thus getting rid of half the photography problems in this digital age.

No, that back was exactly what ticked me off, every 37 exposures! I had to keep a pants pocket clean and empty, just to hold it while changing film cassettes.

The shutter release was in an awkward position, too, and the Advance — Rewind collar around it made the button difficult to press. I always used a "soft release" button or a cable release. Still, after a long day of work with the camera, my index finger felt as though it had severe arthritis (in my teens!). I had to bend it backwards just to reach the button while holding the camera.

The FTn finder meter unit was always loose, from day one out of the box, letting dust onto the focusing screen and into the mirror chamber. Zooming a lens sucked air in around it.

Of course, 1/60 second 'X' flash sync was pretty limiting, too...

My, how far things have come! The FTn WAS a reliable beast, though. It was tough as nails, and very serviceable. Lots of them are still working today.