I thought of that but I don't think that is part of the camera itself. My model 3s do have provision for using a modern cable release but they did not come with one. They were also set up for and came with a squeeze bulb, pneumatic release (long since crumbled to dust).

I know that I confused acetate film and celluloid film. Is that what is bothering you? Given that I had already completed my undergraduate work at the time should give you a clue that I am not as sharp as I used to be. Otherwise, it was the summer of 1968 at U.C. Santa Cruz with Ansel Adams, Nancy Newhall, and Beaumont Newhall. The Half Dome negative is a glass plate so did not burn though the top edge was damaged by the heat and is cropped out of his famous print. The output of the class was documented in a photographic book which I still have. We were also invited to visit his darkroom facility at his home and hear him play his grand piano. Time well spent.

I still have my own first "real" camera. It is an Agfa Silette. Unfortunately, it has not worked since I loaned it to a friend for a backpacking trip and she managed to drop it in a lake. It still looks good, though.

In 1968 I took an intense, two week class from Ansel Adams. He said that he believed that the fire in his studio that damaged the top edge of his famous Half Dome negative was caused by acetate film that was in the lab.

I have a couple of #3s in my collection and a couple of un-sanforized versions (vest pocket brownies that used 127 film). It looks to me like the entire back of that camera is removable to allow loading of the film. If memory serves, the first roll film camera from Kodak (pre-safety film) was a camera that came pre-loaded with a 100 frame roll. When you finished the roll you sent the entire camera back to Kodak to have the film developed and printed and a new roll of film loaded. In the 19teens, my uncle had a lab in the basement where he manufactured fireworks and developed film and prints. I still have a couple of the frames he used to expose contact prints in sunlight. The film used in the #3s was large enough that you did not need an enlarger. My parents continued using one of them up until the film size was discontinued.

What I found surprising and which was clearly demonstrated when I was seeing demonstrations (at least b&w) done by Ansel Adams is that ALL skin tones (white, negroid, etc.) are rendered accurately as zone VI. He was metering with a one degree spot meter on the faces in uniform lighting. Thus metering your palm should give you a reasonably accurate reading for zone VI no matter what your skin tone. He was using Polaroid Type 55 PN film for his demos. That demonstration followed one where he produced a full ten step grey scale from a blank white wall by only changing the exposure.

Being addicted to black and white and having learned metering and the zone system directly from A.A. prior to digital, I tend to either meter the palm of my had for zone VI or meter multiple parts of a scene and think in terms of desired zones for significant tones. Cut film gives much greater versatility in developing, but zones can be reasonably applied to roll film, too. If you have the luxury of interchangeable film backs you can process an entire roll for push, pull or normal souping.

At my age I don't do much rock scrambling while wearing my backpack. When I am in a situation where I would be likely to hit my camera against something, the cross body strap allows me to wear the camera in front or slide it around to my back.

As a long time backpacker I have carried my cameras in rugged conditions for many decades. I use a single strap worn cross-body and have never dropped a camera or had difficulty accessing it. Any strap that shows any signs of wear is immediately repaired or replaced.

It was the general's apple, but it was rotten to the corps.

I agree with larrypage in that I tend to shy away from resetting. However, if you determine that it is appropriate and necessary, the manual says to hold the "QUAL" (on back bottom left) and the "+/-" (to the right just behind the shutter release) buttons down at the same time for more than two seconds. Each of those buttons is marked by a green dot next to it.

Fluid drive?

I started my Nikon collection with the Nikon F Photomic in the late 60s. My uncle introduced me to Nikon with his viewfinder model in the early 60s. I have a large drawer full of Nikon bodies and lenses. Somehow I never seem to be able to get rid of old cameras or lenses -- just in case. Anybody need a Miranda D with an automatic lens?

Not until you take me out to dinner?

Mine as well. I had always assumed you needed to have square photons in order to use a square format.