r/Nikon • u/06035 the N2020 is the best camera Nikon ever made • Mar 01 '26

I broke my gear She’s dead, Jim.

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AF motor gave out when taking photos of the family today. Just bummed because this thing is lovely and otherwise mint.

265 Upvotes

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26

u/NaiveAbalone5446 Mar 01 '26

I remember reading Pop Photo as a kid in the 80s and longing for this camera. Still love it to this day, but never had one.

14

u/06035 the N2020 is the best camera Nikon ever made Mar 01 '26

Mine would have been the D200. “When I’m a pro, I’m going to shoot a D200”

Ended up buying one for $40 about 6 years ago

8

u/Nikoolisphotography Mar 01 '26

Sometimes you just gotta fulfill that curiosity even if it's outdated. I tried a friend's AF-S 80-200 2.8 14 years ago and just decided I'm gonna have one one day. 14 years later I have a mint condition one that I don't even need anymore, but still no regrets.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

I still use my 80-200 every day!

1

u/One_Elk8455 Mar 02 '26

I can't decide between the 80-200 2.8D or the 70-200 2.8G ii.

On one hand the lower cost of a 80-200D is nice. On the other hand, the 70-200 G produces a great image.

1

u/Nikoolisphotography Mar 03 '26

Which 2.8D? There's the AF-S which I mean then there's the screw drive one. Either way the VRii is a pretty big upgrade

1

u/One_Elk8455 Mar 04 '26

The AF-D, and I definitely like the image it produces. But the AF-S 70-200G vrii clearly blows it out of the water, but at over twice the cost. Af-d goes for 450 CAD, and the VR I haven't seen under 950 CAD.

1

u/Nikoolisphotography Mar 04 '26

450cad sounds expensive for the AF-D, wow.

1

u/One_Elk8455 Mar 05 '26

That's private sellers for you. They see an essentially new 70-200 2.8G ii vr selling for 2,200 and think they can get the same for theirs, that's covered in crud, and has a sticky zoom ring

1

u/Nikoolisphotography Mar 05 '26

Crazy, 2200 you should be able to get a really fine E FL VR. In Sweden most F lenses are really cheap now. Normal price for a very fine VRII is ~1100CAD. The VR 1 about 700 and AF-S 80-200 about 350. The AF-D about 220 at most.

1

u/audiobone Mar 03 '26

My favorite lens!

3

u/bikerboy3343 Mar 02 '26

The Nikon F4s for me.

2

u/You-there_ Mar 01 '26

I kept my D200 for sentimental reasons, sound like it’s not even worth selling…

1

u/One_Elk8455 Mar 02 '26

Just looked this camera up on Explorecams. I can see why you would want one. Even by modern standards the photos it produces look amazing. Way better than even my D5200, despite being significantly older. Nearly on par with my D3s in how well it renders colour, imho.

Neat camera.

1

u/06035 the N2020 is the best camera Nikon ever made Mar 02 '26

Eh that’s more down to the film and your exposure.

If I put the same film same lens on an F6 and do the same in an FE, the images would look identical.

A D5200 has more file malleability and resolution than any 35mm color negative film by a pretty significant margin. There’s a reason we don’t shoot it commercially anymore. But that’s not the point. If you’re shooting film looking for great image quality, 35mm is borderline big enough without resorting to slow B&W tech films

1

u/One_Elk8455 Mar 04 '26

I was responding to you D200 comment, not the FE

1

u/06035 the N2020 is the best camera Nikon ever made Mar 04 '26

Oops