Nikon F100 35mm Film Camera

I bought the Nikon F100 to serve as a backup camera to my D300 digital SLR. This might sound a bit strange, but the F100, one of the best-designed film SLRs ever, is a very economical way to extend the capabilities of a digital SLR.

For one thing, you get a full-frame camera at a tiny fraction of the cost of a full-frame digital SLR. So, wide angle shots which are difficult with a cropped-frame camera such as the D300 are easy with the F100. I have an fixed-focal length 18mm lens which I picked up cheap on ebay. On the D300, this acts like a 24mm lens, but on the F100, when you use an 18mm lens you get the full coverage of an 18mm.

Although I shoot film with the F100, it's easy to have the processor return a CD with the prints, so everything winds up digital anyway.

The F100 is a solid and dependablle camera, but it also has the added benefit that the major controls (e.g., for aperture and shutter speed) work just like they do on my D300. Plus, it's great fun shooting film again.