Why the Nikon F100 just might be the best film camera ever made

My Nikon F100 is the most modern camera I own. I also think it just might be the best film camera ever made.

Introduced in 1999, the F100 cost just over $1400 new. Nikon’s professional body at the time was the F5, priced at just over $3,000. I have owned and used both of these cameras and I will tell you that the F100 does just about everything the F5 does in a lighter, easier to manage package. The F100’s matrix metering is always spot on. It has super fast, incredibly quiet autofocus, especially with my Nikkor 50mm AF-S f/1.8 G lens out front. The viewfinder is big, bright and full of useful information. The F100 is pretty close to being the pinnacle of film SLR technology. Only the F6 is more advanced, but not by leaps and bounds. The best part…these cameras sell today for under two hundred bucks! The only complaint F100 owners talk about is the film door latch breaking, but I’ve had my F100 for years and have never had a problem.

If a digital SLR user wanted to shoot film, the F100 would be an easy transition. The F100 almost loads film itself. All you have to do is open the back, drop in the film canister, pull the film leader across to the red stripe and close the door. One light tap on the shutter release and the camera spools up the film, advances to the first frame and cocks the shutter. Set the camera in Program mode and the F100 will do all of the heavy lifting for you. Nikon’s famous matrix metering system will make sure every frame is perfectly exposed. At the end of the roll, the camera will rewind the film back into the canister.

Besides the capability of this camera, what really makes it the best ever film camera ever made is how affordable this thing is today. With careful shopping, you can probably get a body and an older AF-D Nikkor and stay well under three hundred bucks, maybe less. The F100 is an extremely reliable, well made, rugged, feature packed film camera that offers the user fully automated or fully manual shooting. And it’s a platform for a wide variety of some of the best lenses made. The F100 is a real value and an amazing camera. This end of the film era Nikon is a gem. I love mine.

A few weeks ago, I took my F100, loaded with some Kodak Color Plus to Timber Cove on California’s Sonoma Coast. Here are a few shots from that day.