Nikon N75

I'd look here for one.

I wrote most of this back in 2003. As of December, 2007, I just got one for laughs since I found a deal on it.

INTRODUCTION

The N75 was introduced in February 2003 and discontinued in January 2006.

I shot with an N75 for the first time on December 21st, 2007. I have no film back from it yet. It's a very competent film camera, sadly no one paid much attention because it was introduced in February 2003; a year after the D100 and a year before the D70. The N75 is very impressive considering it is a weightless, inexpensive plastic wonder. It has a depth-of-field preview, full VR, flash, AF and AFS compatibility and just about every feature one might want in a film backup.

It makes a great film backup, since it is weightless and has all the features that matter. The N75 focuses with both traditional AF and new AFS lenses and works great with VR lenses.

It's called the N75 in the USA, the F75 in the rest of the world and U2 in Japan. It's the same camera.

There are at least four versions: the standard silver version, and the black version with the date imprinting back. Personally I can do without date imprinting, but Black is Beautiful so I'd go for the black version. Once you choose color you have your choice of the body only or with a basic but good zoom lens. Therefore you can pay as little as $190 for the silver body only, or $300 for the date version with lens. There are often rebates available.

This is a swell cheap little plastic camera that will produce the same results as any other Nikon camera, be it a $2,300 F6 or $170 N55. Except for its slow 1/90 flash sync speed it has all the features you'd ever need for great photography. The more expensive cameras really have no benefits for you other than speed of operation, additional weight, durability and the very important flash sync speed if you use fill flash in daylight.

The N75 is built as cheaply as the N55 and offers most of the features of the more durable N80. The N80 costs more due to the added durability.

SPECIFICATIONS

See the press release here and see Nikon's specifications here and the brochure here. I never can figure out why people would read this from any source other than directly from the manufacturer.

It works great with VR and AF-S lenses.

The Depth-of-Field preview button is great.

Light weight penta mirror finder.

Illuminated viewfinder and top LCD. You used to have to pay thousands of dollars for the top F-series cameras back in the 1970s to get illuminated finders and today almost every camera offers this. This means you can see what you're doing in the dark.

IR Remote control only, you need to buy the optional remote to use this.

Only 1.5 FPS, obviously not a pro sports camera.

It winds film in reverse: It winds all the film out when you load the film and then winds it back into the canister frame by frame as you shoot. This is great for use in countries where you film might be pulled out in daylight by Religious Police or mukhabarat, but I prefer the conventional scheme. With this scheme you will usually get your slides or prints back numbered in reverse!

Nice thumb control for meter pattern and AF sensor selection.

25 zone meter, probably superb, and multi segment flash metering, also most likely superb.

5 zone AF, just like F5 and D70. AF system probably not up to shooting pro sports or moving wildlife, and does have all the controls to set it up like the bigger cameras. My reservation would be the speed of the motors and drivers that power the lens.

Built in flash.

Takes two teeny CR2 batteries.

13.4 oz (380g) without batteries.

PERFORMANCE

Nice NO FILM warning overlay ground glass.

Winds film forward when loaded, counter reads full and proceeds to count down as you shoot it.

AF is slow by motor, but fast with AFS lenses.

Program shifts with focal length.

NEW FEATURES

25 segment meter. This is more than any Nikon other than the F5, F6, D70, D1 and D2, but so what, all the meters with 5 or more segments do the same thing. I suspect this is just the usual Japanese specsmanship to keep up with Canon that looks better on paper (Canon usually has more meter segments) but works worse (Canon meters do not work as well as the Nikon meters because they require more frequent manual compensation.)

Battery level indicator in finder. No big deal, the other cameras do the same thing by crippling some of the display when the battery gets low. This simply will be more obvious to rank amateurs than the turning off arbitrary parts of the display on low battery which amateurs can confuse as a camera defect.

SUGGESTED LENSES

SUMMARY

This is a swell plastic camera originally designed for people who had never used a camera before. If you're more serious by all means go for the slightly more expensive N80 which is more durable. The N75 offers most of the N80's features in a package with the same durability of the cheapest N55.

As of 2008, the N75 makes the best film backup camera I can imagine because it weighs nothing and has every feature I might want.

The N75 has full flash, VR, AF and AFS compatibility. If you're carrying it as a backup, you don't want any extra weight and you don't expect to need to use it, but you need full system comparability if your main body dies.