Nikomat FT + Zoom-Nikkor 35-135mm F3.5-4.5

The camera that let Nikon sell the F-mount to everybody. The Nikomat FT arrived in 1965 — sold as the Nikkormat outside Japan — as a cheaper, simpler body that took exactly the same Nikkor lenses as the professional Nikon F. What Nikon did not do was cut corners on the parts that matter. It runs a mechanically timed Copal Square S vertical metal shutter from 1 second to 1/1000, needs no battery to fire, and weighs about 745g of brass and steel. The shutter speed sits on a ring around the lens mount rather than a top dial, which feels alien for about ten minutes and then makes complete sense, since your left hand is already there.

Paired with the Zoom-Nikkor 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5, a one-touch push-pull zoom with a macro setting at the 135mm end — an unusually useful single-lens range that covers wide-normal through short telephoto without a bag.

Specifications

• Type: 35mm SLR, fully mechanical, manual exposure
• Mount: Nikon F, non-AI with meter coupling prong
• Shutter: Copal Square S vertical-travel metal focal plane, 1sec to 1/1000sec plus Bulb — fires without a battery
• Metering: TTL centre-weighted CdS, match-needle in the finder and on the top plate
• Flash sync: 1/125sec, PC socket
• Extras: Mirror lock-up, depth-of-field preview, self-timer
• Power: PX13 / PX625 1.35V cell for the meter only — mercury cells are banned, so an adapter or modern equivalent is needed
• Lens: Zoom-Nikkor 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5, one-touch push-pull zoom with macro focusing at 135mm, 62mm filter thread
• Metering coupling: This lens retains its meter coupling prong, so it indexes and meters at full aperture on the FT
• Weight: Approximately 745g body only
• Released: 1965

Condition

• Cosmetic: Body excellent, with some minor signs of age and use. Lens in good condition with some signs of age and cosmetic use; the front element has a couple of very tiny scratches with no effect on image quality.
• Functional: The self-timer does not work. Everything else on the body is fully functional. 

Included

• Nikomat FT body
• Zoom-Nikkor 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 lens
• Camera strap

Worth knowing on metering: the FT is a pre-AI body that reads maximum aperture through the coupling prong on the lens, and this zoom keeps its prong — so the two are properly matched and you meter at full aperture with no stop-down workaround. Set the lens to f/5.6, run the aperture ring to both ends to index, and shoot. The self-timer is dead, which on a camera of this type is a minor loss; everything that takes a picture works, and the shutter fires with or without a battery.