Shooting with My Father's Camera

I went out with my father's Nikomat EL this summer. I didn't know how long it had been stored not in use - probably 20 years or so. However, it worked without any problem when I loaded a battery. It is relatively large and heavy, but feeling of operation was very good. The Zoom-Nikkor lens that I used has a fixed maximum aperture of F3.5 over all focal lengths from 35mm to 70mm. It should have been a high-end lens when it was first introduced, but now its specifications are pretty out of date. Its size is quite large, the minimum focusing distance of 1.0m was sometimes frustrating, and the image through the finder of Nikomat was often too dark to focus accurately and quickly. I first anticipated that such an old lens would bring faded images, but resulting photos were pleasingly clearer than I expected. Another lens, Nikkor 28mm F2, is relatively new and much faster, providing an even better image (photo 3).

Nikomat EL Ai Zoom-NIKKOR 3.5/35-70 Ai NIKKOR 2/28 RDPIII
Toyoake/Nagoya July 2007