Nikon F401 in Europe and N4004s in the USA. Nippon Kogaku, the parent manufacturer, have been responsible for some of the most famous and well built SLRs ever built, as a result they have tended to be priced outside the budget end of the photographic market. Introduced as an affordable Nikon in 1987, the F401 was nonetheless pretty well specified, if rather on the heavy side - and a victim of the decade of big hair, just look at all those graphics. Built in flash and auto everything including focus, wind on, exposure and film speed reading (DX coding), the camera was based around a resilient polycarbonate shell, but the rear door was a different matter altogether, characterized by a weak catch prone to breaking off. There are persistent reports of slow focussing too, but the example we have is excellent in this respect, taking into account its age. This example was donated in December 2004 by Mike Bailey, who had experienced the suicidal catch syndrome and the quote from Nikon to fix it relegated it to the bin or the donkey sanctuary. Happily for us, two hours in the workshop saw the Nikon fully serviceable and cleaned up, ready to go. The camera is conveniently powered by 4 standard AA cells and automatic functions are easily switched to manual.

Nikon have a very informative historical section on their web site.

Body No. 2291798
(very hard to see on the baseplate, faintly engraved beneath MADE IN JAPAN ,
can only be seen when light falls extremely obliquely and using an eye glass!)
Shutter, multi blind, B, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000 & 2000th sec.
Lens, AF Nikkor 35-70mm zoom 1:3.3 - 4.5, serial 3381212 (around periphery of lens mount)
Condition, 5F

View other 35mm SLR cameras in this collection.