Need help with a Nikon SLR

Got a Nikkormat FTn with a built in meter, only issue is the lens I'm using doesn't have the aperture prong.

Does anyone know if the metering still works without that? Do I have to clock the little aperture tang in a certain point?

is it possible to add an aperture tab? the aperture ring on the lens is in the correct Nikon way, focusing however is not.

I have one in a box somewhere, but haven't used it in decades, but I'll give it a try.

maverick75 wrote in post #18077719
Got a Nikkormat FTn with a built in meter, only issue is the lens I'm using doesn't have the aperture prong.
Does anyone know if the metering still works without that?

The metering will work, but you'll have to stop down to the aperture that you intend to meter/shoot at. BTW, I'm not sure that you can get batteries for that meter anymore.

If you just push it up once, that should do it.

You could check, but I suspect that it will cost more than the lens did.
Welcome to the world of full manual everything!

Thank you! thankfully it uses the same battery as my Canonet QL17, a weincell 1.3V mercury replacement.

I put the battery in and put the tang at 12 oh clock, metered and it gave me 1/15 with ASA400 while I had the lens at 1.8.
(in my dark living room)

Tested those same settings with my digital and the exposure looked great.


I just didn't know if I was supposed to move the tang when I stepped down the lens.

Also I've been in the Full manual ways for a long time now, my RB67 doesn't even have a meter

I started shooting film because at the time(4 years ago) I couldn't afford a full frame and film was dirt cheap. $2 a roll for kentmere, 15 cents to develop in Caffenol and free scanning with my DSLR.

Then I got bit by the medium format bug, but they got heavy quickly, so I'm going back to 35mm

I actually bought this lens to use on my Sony A7(and it's awesome on that), which is why it doesn't have the aperture tab. The lens was made for modern Nikon cameras. I don't even mind not having a working meter, I've gotten pretty good at guessing exposures and thankfully the latitude of film helps a ton. There are some situations that still baffle me though.

Awww....memories....in​dexing nikon lenses when you installed them, to set the max lens aperture. I indexed lenses for about a year after I converted to autofocus.

Nikon F2 X 2, with motor drives
Nikon F3HP X 2 with motor drives.

and fast glass....that's why I have bad posture now after shooting a few (!) weddings and a couple of portraits....

Dave L

an F2 with metered prism is my next to buy!

maverick75 wrote in post #18078459
an F2 with metered prism is my next to buy!

Excellent!
I bought mine when they first came out.
I missed out on a Nikon F.
I was in shock ordering 2 F2's with two motor drives and two fast lenses. (just me...I liked my two F3's with motor drives much more. )

I never got to live through film's heyday and I wish I could have. Born in 89, so by the time I was a teen we already had access to decent digitals.

Thankfully film cameras are cheap now. Cant even imagine how much my Polaroid 180 would have sold for new, or my Medium format Mamiyas.

I shoot left eyed. The F2 was awful without a motor drive. I had a divot above my right eye brow from the film advance lever. The F2 just didn't suit me.
F3 did.
Loved metering with the F3 Photomic Finder. I would walk away from an F2 if it were for sale. I would choose an F3 HP in a heartbeat. Or a Leica M3....

2mnycars wrote in post #18081758
I shoot left eyed. The F2 was awful without a motor drive. I had a divot above my right eye brow from the film advance lever. The F2 just didn't suit me.
F3 did.
Loved metering with the F3 Photomic Finder. I would walk away from an F2 if it were for sale. I would choose an F3 HP in a heartbeat. Or a Leica M3....

I would love a F3, but they're rather pricey at the moment. I can buy 15-20 working Canon AE1's for the price of one F3.

i put an offer on a F2 last night, hoping I'll win it.

I eventually want a M6 or a Minolta CLE someday.

Alex you have good taste. I want a Contax, an M3 and a 'blad. A Rolleiflex. I have my old F90S.. and Yashica T4


The F90S is a sleeper. It's incredible. It's worth nothing.