 Today's episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Gather around losers, this camera here is the Nikon F2 and it's probably one of the greatest cameras ever made, even surpassing its successors in many areas. The F2 is a 35 millimeter SLR film camera and is the second camera in Nikon's line of cameras designated F, which actually stands for f*** yeah, or whatever the Japanese translation for that is. It was produced from around 1971 to 1980, which actually meant that there was a brief overlap between it and its predecessor, the Nikon F, which must have been super awkward, especially because what the F2 did better than the F can be summed up pretty easily, it's faster, and faster is always better, despite what your girlfriend says sometimes. The F2 can do one two thousandth of a second shutter speed, which is a step up from the one one thousandth on the Nikon F, and of course it's fully mechanical. It even uses a shutter curtain made of titanium, which is only the second cool word to start with the letter T. I recently acquired this absolute workhorse of a film camera and wanted to put it to the test in some of the harshest, most unbearable conditions known to man, a meetup of film photography nerds out in the California desert. Luckily, the darkroom joined forces with beers and cameras and was putting together a film photography summit. So me, Caleb, and a few other far more talented people all convened in Joshua Tree to deliberate on what the next film photography hype camera should be. With the F2, I started off with some Kodak gold, because ever since it came to 120, I've made Kodak gold my entire personality. The place we're staying at was pretty cool. It had a Western theme, so immediately upon arriving, I decided I would do what the cowboys did and not shower for two weeks, even though we'd only be there for three days. As an added bonus in the bar area, there was this mannequin that I swear would occasionally turn its head and track you around the room. Anyway, it was super cool to meet and talk to everyone there, except Trev. Get out of here, man. But that didn't really matter in the moment. It was time to shoot some golden hour light on the F2. Some people think that Nikon cameras and Nikore lenses are kind of lame. And to that, I respond with don't say that to my face because I'll punch you in the throat. But speaking of Nikon, let's take a closer look at this incredible machine. Okay, up on top here, we have the same basic 35 millimeter layout that most cameras have, including the film advance and the shutter button. The film advance is definitely the coolest feature on this camera or possibly the feature that you will hate the most. Besides advancing the film, the light meter in your prism here won't work if the advance lever is pushed flush against the body. Alternatively, don't leave the advance in this out position when storing the camera because the light meter will suck your battery dry, which sounds kind of kinky, but trust me, when it happens to you, it ain't. The shutter button has a ring around it that you can lift and move to the L symbol, which locks the shutter so you can't fire. Alternatively, you can lift the ring here and set it to T for turkey club sandwich. When set to T and the shutter speed is at bulb, this camera will mechanically hold the shutter open until you lift the ring again and then turn it back to its default position. That's how I took this photo on gold 200 of some sweet star trails. Yeah, I missed focus because in actuality, I'm pretty dumb and a shit photographer, but you get the idea. That night we began to worry because it was coyote mating season and they were howling up an orgy all around us. So after hiding a raw steak in Caleb's tent for some evening entertainment, I went to bed. At the Salton Sea, not only did the 1,2000th shutter speed on the F2 come in handy during the bright ass day, but the incredibly overpowering dead fish smell was masking the ungodly fumes emanating from my unshowered body. Eventually, I found this old car with a parachute hanging out the back of it, which seemed kind of over-dramatic for a Lincoln. On the underside of the camera, we have a few cool doohickeys, including the battery compartment. But wait one second, Jason, I thought this was a mechanical camera. Have you been lying your ass off the whole video? Mostly yes, but this time, no. The battery here is only for the light meter in the prism. The camera will still be fully functional without a battery. By the way, these cameras take simple SR44 batteries and yeah, you guessed it. They do taste pretty good. You got your rewind pin over here and a tripod socket. But something that's a little bit of more note is how you open the back of this camera. It isn't quite as simple as getting the rewind knob erect and popping it off. You have to lift this lever and then titty twist it until the arrow points to zero. You get the idea. When you do that, your film compartment here should pop open. Vice versa, when you close the film door, you gotta switch the arrow on the bottom here back to C to lock it in. I know it's a little bit different, but you actually kind of get used to it pretty fast. Real quick, on the front of the camera, you have the usual bulls**t like the self timer, which I've never used because I don't want photos of myself because I look like a sh***** version of Nicholas Cage. Above the self timer here is the depth of field preview button, which probably no one ever uses, except for stop-down measuring if you're using a lens that doesn't pair with the prism. Lastly, on the front of the camera, you also have a flash sync cable socket for all you folks out there that love blinding people. Eventually, I found an empty trailer, which was pretty intriguing if you're a photographer. I don't really know anyone else that would give a crap about that. I was definitely a little nervous going in alone. I thought for sure that there would be a guy in a clown costume sitting there and pointing a shotgun at me or something. I don't know, man. The Salton Sea is a weird place. I'm glad that I went in, though, because these shots on gold are awesome, especially this photo of a couch where someone clearly launched an incredibly powerful seam-splitting fart. After blowing up the facilities myself, I unloaded the gold in the F2 and swapped in some Cinestill 800T and threw on a CP2 filter to see what kind of results I would get. Turns out it's not too bad of a combo. I think in the future, I'd probably opt to use a CP1 filter, but hey, you can do whatever you want. I don't care. My hot, sweaty passion for cameras that feel good to use is no secret on this channel, with the Leica M6 being the king. But I will say that the Nikon F2 gives the M6 a run for its M mount. Firing the shutter and advancing the film just feels amazing. It has that same feeling that the M6 does where you just wanna put rolls of film or possibly something else in the camera. I shot another long exposure that night, utilizing the built-in shutter release slash a bold mode combo. And the shot is a little bit better, but I still got some work to do. That morning, we headed out into the park to meet a bunch of photographers for a photo walk. So right now, I apologize to anyone that I met that day that was put off by my stench. It's because I was sleeping in the dirt for two nights. That and I don't wipe anymore. All right, let's address the six ton elephant in the room. Yeah, these photos suck. But more importantly, why does my specific Nikon F2 say Titan on it? Is it a reference to the Mad Titan Thanos who wiped out the Avengers? Probably, but more likely it's because the body of this specific edition of this camera is made of titanium instead of the traditional brass because Nikon used to be a bunch of crazy bastards who didn't give a shit about anything except to be the tightest to ever do it. Famously in 1978, the Titanium edition of the F2 was taken by Japanese explorer Naomi Yurimura on his expedition to be the first solo trek to the North Pole. So I'm pretty sure that my copy of this camera can withstand a slightly tepid spring day. I love this photo. I'm slamming this motherf***er into my portfolio and never looking back. So probably the coolest part of this camera is that it's somewhat modular. What does modular mean? In layman's terms, it means you can swap parts out kind of like pieces on Mr. Potato Head, but also like Mr. Potato Head. Some parts can only go in certain places. It's not like you can take Mr. Potato Head's eyes and shove them up his ass. So what can you customize on this machine? Well, I suppose I'll do Google's job for you this one time. For starters, the ground glass is swappable. There are several different viewfinder prisms. The lens is, of course, and you can also attach a motor drive or use bulk film backs, which definitely gives the camera a certain pigeon with ripped biceps energy. However, probably the single most confusing thing to me about Nikon's of this era is that there are several different lens designs and only some of them are compatible with certain metered prisms. I have the Nikon DP2 prism here and it utilizes a primitive aperture linking technology by attaching itself physically to the rabbit ears on the lens. When you attach the lens to the camera and thus the meter, you need to index your lens by jerking the aperture ring all the way to both sides before you use it. If you don't like jerking things off or around, then you can get a Nikon DP12 metered prism, which I believe not only eliminates this issue, but has a more expanded range of light sensitivity. Of course, if you do, you'll have to start calling your camera the Nikon F2AS. Otherwise, people online will sh** all over your chest and waffle stomp you into oblivion. On the last night there, I finally got my long exposures somewhat right. Not this one, but this one. Both shot on Cinestill with the shutter open for about two and a half hours. What did I do during those two and a half hours while I was waiting? I got blackout drunk by the campfire and moved the cursed mannequin over next to Caleb's tent to scare the crap out of him the next morning. Jason thinks he's funny. But before we wrap up this video tighter than my burrito tent rolling skills, I'd like to take a quick moment to thank today's sponsor, Squarespace. 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Anyway, it was time to say goodbye to all the people that we had met over those few days. And as they started to go, I began reminiscing about all the good times I had with the Nikon F2 because that's what the video is about. I don't know why we keep getting sidetracked. What else is there to say about the Nikon F2 other than if you know, you know. I guess I could also say that it has 100% viewfinder coverage, which is pretty nice. It's a no frills, no sex appeal machine that is about as simple as they come. I personally feel like the Nikon F2 is a great camera for just about anyone. From the people that are just getting into film photography to the seasoned pros who hate it. Ultimately, it's a total workhorse of a camera that just feels better than hard drugs to use. And one that I hope will keep running strong for me for many years to come when all my other film cameras have died.