Nikon N6006 35mm SLR AF Camera

Back in 1990 Nikon introduced the N6006 (F601 in Europe) and created a very solid mid-tier auto focus camera.  The problem was that Nikon, a company who has always been obsessed with backward compatibility, also created a camera that would have a limited life.  Limited in the sense that within two years after coming out with the N6006, Nikon would introduce a new AF lens type that would not work with the N6006.  You may be asking, "what does this have to do with anything?" and that's what I'll get to now.  Those original AF lenses and those cameras, like the N6006 are today something you can buy very cheaply if you are wanting to get into the film world of photography.  

OK this will take us to maybe your second question, "why would I want to get into film photography?"  Because film photography is making a comeback.  That's right as we get to the point where you can take any picture you want with your phone better than a $1,000 digital camera from 10 years ago, people no longer feel the need for fancy digital cameras unless you are really into photography.  But one thing you can never capture quite with your phone is that experience of shooting a roll of film and then seeing the results.  The problem is for many people if you want to go back to a film camera there is much to learn, unless you go back to the point and shoot cameras.  But what if you want to play around and have a real SLR camera.  

Now we get to what is so good about the N6006.  It is a real SLR, that is also a point and shoot camera.  At a time when photography was blowing up in part because cameras were becoming so much easier to use, the N6006 was Nikon's attempt to make an affordable, but well appointed camera for the mass market.  They hit the nail on the head.  The camera has aged very well.  They were made to be very robust and so they have held up well.  And today on a site like ebay, you can find them very affordable.  Anywhere from $30 to $50.  Then you can match them with an affordable lens like the Nikon AF 35-70 2.8 for around the same price.  For less than $100 you can get what would have cost a lot of money back in 1990 and still get the same quality results.  The lens alone would have cost $500 in 1990.  

I use Nikon's in part because of the compatibility component.  I like the fact that I can have old lenses that work with new cameras.  It also means that on the marketplace you can find cheap options for lenses and cameras that will play together.  Not everything works with everything, but enough goes together that you can make things work.  With the N6006 you get a camera that will work with any of the early AF lenses and also any of the manual AI lenses.  The AI lenses were introduced by Nikon in 1977.

The N6006 is a solid camera that is easy to hold and use.  For most people you can put it on the P setting and just point and shoot until it is time to change the film.  The nice thing is you don't waste a lot of film, but it has nice added features like bracketing.  Bracketing is essentially when you take a picture it takes 3 at once.  One at the settings you have, and then two others with slightly different settings to adjust for exposure so that you have a better shot of getting the exposure you wanted.  Hopefully that makes sense, but that is a feature that in 1990 was normally on higher end cameras.