Nikon Nikkormat FT2 (1975-77)

About 500,000 Nikkormat FT2 cameras were made by Nikon from 1975 to 1977. It sold with a standard f/2 50 mm lens, and an f/1.4 50 mm or f/1.2 55 mm lens was available as an extra cost option. The complete range of Nikkor F mount lenses available at the time could be used with the FT2. It came in all black or with chrome top and bottom plates.

The camera body is die cast from an aluminum alloy. The top of the camera has the rewind crank, a light meter readout, the flash shoe, the depth-of-field preview button, the exposure counter, the shutter button and the film advance lever. The front of the camera has the self-timer lever, the shutter speed dial surrounding the lens mount, the film speed index, the shutter speed lever and film speed lock, the lens release button, the mirror lock and the light meter coupling pin. The bottom of the camera has the rewind release button, the tripod socket and the battery cover. The back of the camera has the viewfinder eyepiece. The left side of the camera has the flash PC socket and the latch for the back cover.

The shutter has vertically traveling metal curtains. It runs from 1/1000 to 1 second plus B. The shutter button is threaded for a standard cable release. The self timer gives about an 8 second delay. The shutter speed is set by using the lever on the dial surrounding the lens mount. The lever gets in the way of the lens release button when the shutter is set to 1/4 or 1/8 second. The instruction booklet advises against leaving the shutter cocked overnight or longer.

The viewfinder has a split image prism surrounded by a microprism ring at the center of the ground glass. There is a circle showing the center weighted area of the light meter. The meter needle is at the right and the shutter speed is visible at the bottom. The focusing screen is not interchangeable, although I think there were factory options for different focusing screens.

One improvement from the previous Nikkormat FTn is that the light meter on the FT2 was powered by a silver oxide button cell instead of a mercury cell. This means that the light meter uses a currently available battery. The battery compartment has the typical screw cover with a slot for a coin to turn the cover. The light meter can be set for film speeds running from ASA 12 to ASA 1600 using the index on the shutter speed ring. You pull out the catch on the shutter speed lever and slide the film speed index to the correct number for the film you have loaded in the camera. You need your fingernails to slide the index. The light meter uses a cadmium sulfide cell to read light through the lens. You get a good exposure under most circumstances by centering the needle visible in the lower right of the viewfinder or the one on the top of the camera as you adjust the shutter speed and lens aperture. The light meter uses the normal Nikon 60/40 center weighted system. The film advance lever acts as the meter switch. The meter is on when the film advance lever is pulled back to uncover the red dot on the top of the camera and off when the film advance lever is pushed in to cover the red dot.

The camera back is hinged on the right and has a latch on the bottom left. Loading film is like most manual 35 mm cameras. The film winds onto the take-up spool emulsion side out. The film counter resets to "S" for start when you open the back of the camera. It takes 3 pulls of the film advance lever to get to frame 1. The exposure counter is under a little magnifying glass on the top of the camera. To rewind the film you press the release button on the bottom of the camera and rotate the rewind crank on the top left.

To remove the lens you press the lens release button and rotate the lens to the right. To replace the lens you push the light meter pin all the way to the right and set the lens to f/5.6. You need to make sure the meter ears on the lens engages the meter pin on the camera when you put on the lens, then turn the lens counterclockwise until the lens release clicks. Finally you do the “Nikon Shuffle” by turning the lens aperture ring all the way to the left and then all the way to the right. This will set the camera to the maximum aperture of the lens (f/5.6 to f/1.2, depending on the lens). You can check this by looking at the scale on the right side of the lens mount. A small red dot appears on the scale to confirm that the meter is set to the maximum aperture of the lens. If the lens does not have meter ears it is still possible to meter using the stop down method by pressing the depth of field button on the top of the camera. The meter coupling pin has to be pushed all the way to the right for this to work.

The mirror can be locked up using a slide on the lens mount above the lens release button. This allows mounting some Nikkor fisheye and wide angle lenses that protrude into the mirror box. Mirror lockup also can reduce vibration from mirror slap when you are using a telephoto lens.

This example is in decent shape despite the little dent in the back and works fine. It is a mass unit of a camera, weighing in at two and a quarter pounds. Nikkormat was the name for export models. The version for the domestic Japanese market was called Nikomat. The Nikkormat is your classic manual focus, manual exposure camera with a through the lens light meter. Nikon made the Nikkormat as a camera for photographers who wanted to use the excellent Nikon lenses but didn't want the professional F2 camera, or wanted a backup for their F2.

The Nations Silo on Centennial Blvd, Nashville, TN. Artist Guido van Helten painted a portrait of Lee Estes on an old grain elevator.

Kodak Stereo Camera (1954-1959)

The Kodak Stereo Camera was introduced in 1954 and discontinued in 1959. The original list price was $84.50. The camera was intended to produce stereo slide pairs on 35mm Kodachrome slide film. About 100,000 cameras were sold. My camera has serial number 010213, which probably would make it a 1954 product. This was not Kodak's first venture into the stereo photography market. In the first quarter of the 20th century the company made stereo Kodaks and Brownies that produced prints for parlor stereo viewers.

Front

Back

Top

Bottom

Film Chamber

The camera has a mostly plastic body with some aluminum parts. The top of the camera has the rewind knob, the flash sync ASA bayonet connector, the exposure counter, the shutter speed slide, the aperture lever, a film reminder dial, the shutter button and the film advance knob. The front of the camera has the left and right lenses, the cable release socket, the viewfinder window and a spirit level. The back of the camera has the viewfinder eyepiece. The spirit level is visible in the viewfinder to help with holding the camera level. The camera must be level to get the stereoscopic effect in the finished slide. The right side has the latch of the camera back, which is hinged on the left side. The bottom of the camera has a shutter cocking slide, the tripod socket, and the rewind release.

The lenses are matched, front cell focusing, f/3.5-f/22 35mm Kodak Anaston lenses with three elements in three groups, similar in design to the lens in the Kodak Pony 135. The right lens has a distance scale and a depth of field scale. The left lens has suggested settings for Close ups (4-7 ft.), groups (7-15 ft.) and scenes (15 ft. and beyond). The lenses are interconnected so they focus together and have the same aperture settings. The lenses are threaded for Series V drop-in filters. Useful filters would be skylight (Wratten 1a) and color correction (Wratten 85 or Wratten 80a) filters.

The shutters are two-blade leaf shutters that are cocked by advancing the film. The manual shutter slide on the bottom of the camera can be used to cock the shutters when the camera is unloaded, or for deliberate double exposures, or to retake a picture indoors if the flash bulb failed to fire. The shutters are interconnected to fire together at the same settings. Shutter speeds are 1/200, 1/100, 1/50 and 1/25 second plus bulb. The shutters are synchronized for flash. An ASA bayonet flash connector is provided.

The exposure calculator on the top of the camera is for use with ASA 10 speed Kodachrome film outdoors on sunny, hazy or cloudy bright days. Kodachrome was in many ways ideal for stereo slides because of the vivid colors and fine grain. Probably Fujifilm Velvia would be the closest modern slide film. The shutter speeds and apertures are adequate for modern ISO 50-100 color slide films outdoors. If you use the calculator you just need to remember that modern film is 5 or 10 times faster (2-1/3 or 3-1/3 stops).

The Kodak Stereo Camera uses 35 mm slide film. In the mid-fifties, Kodak sold 35 mm Kodachrome slide film in 20 exposure rolls for regular cameras, which would give 15 stereo pairs, and 36 exposure rolls, which would give 28 stereo pairs. Kodak also sold Kodachrome film in a length that gave 20 slide pairs and included developing and mounting. A currently available roll of slide film for 24 single pictures would give about 18 stereo pairs. The exposure counter has setting marks for 15, 20 or 28 exposures and counts down to zero. The centers of the 15/16 inch wide images in a stereo pair are 2-13/16 inches apart and the film advances 1-7/8 inches on each shot, with the result that stereo pairs are interleaved as follows on a 36-exposure cassette of film:

Start | 1 right | blank | 2 right | 1 left | 3 right | 2 left | 4 right | 3 left | ... | 26 right | 25 left | 27 right | 26 left | 28 right | 27 left | blank | 28 left | end.

As an aid to mounting the images, the film gates are notched to mark which images were left and right in a stereo pair. The right image had two notches while the left image had one.

Kodachrome slide film and Kodak stereo slide mounting services are long gone. E-6 process slide film is still available and slide mounts and slide mounting services are still available from internet sellers. The slide mounts are about 4 inches wide by 1-5/8 inches high and have openings, left and right, that are about 21 mm wide by 23 mm high and are spaced about 62 mm on centers. The spacing between the slides is about the same as the distance between your own two eyes, but slightly less than the distance between the lenses on the camera, which increases the stereo effect. The openings in the slide mounts are slightly smaller than the images on the film to allow a little room for adjustment. The slides fit into a stereo viewer or can be projected and viewed through special glasses. The best stereo effect is with subjects 7 to 20 feet away from the camera. Stereo macro shots would require prisms to create convergence in addition to the closeup lenses. Macro sets did exist for the Stereo Realist camera, but I don't know whether they would work on the Kodak Stereo. Distant subjects are too far away for a natural stereo effect.

The modern era of stereo photography began in 1947 when the David White Company brought out the Stereo Realist camera. The Realist set the standard for the format and was the most popular and longest selling stereo camera. The Kodak Stereo used the same format as the Realist, as did other stereo cameras that were brought out by companies such as Bell and Howell/Three Dimension Company, Graflex and Wollensak/Revere. The View-Master Personal Stereo Camera used the same format as the familiar View-Master reels. Kodak was late to the party with its stereo slide camera. At first it outsold even the Stereo Realist, but sales of all stereo cameras declined when the novelty began to wear off and the camera was discontinued in 1959. The Stereo Realist continued 12 more years, I think basically until they ran out of parts. David White Instruments is still in business.

In the digital age you could scan your film and create stereo images for a computer screen or make stereo cards for an old-fashioned parlor stereo viewer. Stereo slide mounts and viewers are still available.

Slide Viewer and Camera

Stereo Slide

LegacyPro Ascorbic Acid Powder B&W Film Developer

LegacyPro Ascorbic Acid B&W film developer is similar to Eastman Kodak Xtol developer - both use Sodium Erythorbate instead of Hydroquinone as one of the developing agents. Replacing the Hydroquinone with Sodium Erythorbate makes it possible to mix the developer with room temperature water instead of hot water. Because Erythorbic Acid is a stereoisomer of Ascorbic Acid, you see LegacyPro or Xtol described as being based on Vitamin C. That is not exactly the case because Erythorbic Acid and Ascorbic Acid don't have the same biological activity. However, both work for developing film. Vitamin C powder from the health food store is an ingredient in the home-made Caffenol developers that use instant coffee as a developing agent.

One drawback to LegacyPro (and Xtol) is that the smallest available package is enough to make 5 liters of stock developer. Five liters can develop twenty rolls of film and has a shelf life of about 6 months in unopened full bottles and 2 months in partially full bottles. Unless you are developing film at a pretty steady pace, the developer could go bad before you use it up. Unfortunately, LegacyPro doesn't give any warning that it is getting too old by changing color like most other developers. One day it works and the next day it doesn't. One method to keep the developer as fresh as possible it to divide the mix into several bottles and open only one at a time. You can avoid losing a roll of film due to old developer by doing a chip test. Put a small piece of film in some developer and stir it for a few minutes. The film should turn completely black if the developer is OK to use. One good thing about LegacyPro is that you don't need hot water to mix it. It is also much less expensive than getting your film developed at a lab.

LegacyPro is supposed to produce negatives with fine grain and good sharpness (acutance). The Massive Dev Chart (look up Eco Pro) gives recommended times for developing just about any black and white film.