F-801/N8008
(last update October 2002)

Nikon F-801 was first released 1988, before the already legendary F4. For a short while it was the flagship of AF Nikons. It was the first SLR-camera ever to have 1/8000 s shutter speed, and the shutter speed range - from 30s to 1/8000 - was also wider than ever before available. Many people think F-801/F-801s is still one of the best Nikon AF-bodies ever made.

How it compares to other Nikon-bodies?

Of course F5, F4 and F100 are in their own class, but many of people think that for example the F50 and F70 really aren't that much more advanced than F-801. I've noticed that many people choose between F70 or F-801, so I'll go thru the main differences of the two bodies.. For starters: F-801s has all the metering options and exposure modes that F70 has, but F70 only has shutter speeds to 1/4000 and it's motor is only 0,4 fps faster. Yes it's true that F70 has 8 program modes, but most people that are serious about photography think they're useless anyway (I never used the two program modes in my F-801!). Of course F70 has a faster AF, but that might not be important for you - depending on what kind of photography you're interested in. I personally use MF a lot even with AF-lenses. Ok, it's also true that F70 is a little bit quieter than the F-801, but if you want your camera to be silent - go EOS! They are really quiet - I have to say that it's almost embarrasing to shoot wildlife with people who use EOS. You feel your Nikon is as loud as a steam engine... F70 doesn't have DOF-preview, a thing that I can't understand. If you're paying 700 - 800 USD for a camera body, you would expect it to have DOF-preview. The F-801 has it... But if you feel F70 is the way to go, please be my guest! I'm not saying it's a bad camera, quite the contrary - I just think that besides the AF-speed, F-801(s) gives you more for your money. Actually, it seems to me that even Nikon thought so, 'cause when they were selling both bodies back in 1995, F70 was actually cheaper than the F-801s...

General information

F-801 is a very simple body. I don't mean the structure of the camera, since it is full of electronics, but it only has the basic functions and still everything you need. No fancy "push these eight buttons simultaneously and wait for the third beep to activate the program for small blue flowers"-actions... Just the basic aperture and shutterspeed automatics, manual mode, a good compensation scale +/- 5 EV in 1/3 EV steps, and a reasonably fast motor. I would have traded the two prorgam modes for a spot meter (F- 801s has one) and a light for the top LCD-panel.

Besides the controls and shooting modes there are also some other great things in F-801. First of all it uses AA-batteries. That's something I will not give up once I've found how great it is. Normally I use lithium AA's that last amazingly long! It's like having a nuclear powered body (without the radiation...) - I really don't have to be worried about batteries even in extremely cold conditions. And another great thing about AA's is that you can get them anywhere. I still haven't seen a store that isn't selling AA's... One strange thing is the adjustable self timer, it's a really great feature to have, but why it hasn't been copied to other SLR-bodies? I mean, it can't cost much to make the timer 2-30s instead of plain 10s. A short, maybe 3s, self timer setting is really great when you have left your remote cord home and want to reduce vibrations. Some people praise the HP- viewfinder (high eyepoint), saying it's the best viewfinder if you're using eyeglasses. I don't know about that since I'm not using glasses, but it sure is easy to use thanks to the big viewfinder.

F-801, like any Nikon, is a camera you can trust on. It doesn't mind occassional bumps or a little snow on top. I hate to admit this, but I dropped my F-801 couple of times - never breaking anything... My 801 did brake down once during years of use. It was just one tiny little switch inside that suddenly broke down and stopped my shooting with that body for weeks. Well, fortunatelly I did have the trusty old FG-20. People at an authorized Nikon service called "Kamera-apu OY" were really great and my camera was repaired, serviced and tested by them in Helsinki. It worked like new ever since. The brake down was propably even a good thing, though it didn't feel like that when I got the bill...:-) But the fact is that since I bought this body used and it was about ten years old, I should have had it cleaned and tested anyway. It's just that when your camera is working properly you just try to avoid sending it to service, until it's too late.


Bugs

F-801 has one well known bug (Yes, even Nikons have bugs!). Static electricity can jam the electronics of F-801. Fortunatelly there is a simple way to fix this - simply take off the batteries and put them back. Sometimes you have to keep the batteries off the body for a moment to "reset" the camera, but nevertheless - it works. Don't get the wrong impression: this really doesn't happen that often! I only had this problem once or twice and it really didn't take more time fixing it than it takes to change batteries. There was a dannish photographer on the Nikon-mailing list years ago who said that at least in Denmark the Nikon service can also fix this bug permanently. His 801 was fixed and he didn't have any problems after that.

B. Moose Peterson (if you don't know who he is - click here!) says in his amazing Nikon System Handbook : "The N8008 was so well designed and feature-packed that many said it would make an average photographer good and a good photographer great. Never before had a camera received such high acclaim as fast as the N8008, which quickly earned its reputation." (For those who do not know: N8008 is the name for F-801 in the USA-market.) This statement says it all. F-801 was - and still is! - a great and advanced body, with amazing technology and innovations.

By now you must have realized what kind of a passion I have (I had) for this body... I of course dreamed about an F5, F4 or F90x when I was shooting with 801, but I was more than happy with it.

The death of my 801

in 1998 I dropped (and broke) my 801 in 1998 when I was shooting on some cliffs on a nearby lakeshore. I had a 400/5.6 Sigma attached when I slipped and dropped my camera. It fell on the hard rock surface on the ground and rolled down a couple of meters.Result was that the Sigma was destroyed and the repair estimate for the F-801 was something like: "Some of the electronics boards have been torn apart, the body plates are bent, plastic coverings broken etc. To repair the camera it should be totally rebuilt out of spare parts. We don't see any point in this." The insurance company offered me the value of 801+Sigma in cash so I took it and moved up to an F90x. Of course, after getting the money from the insurance company, I took my swiss army knife just to take a peek inside the 801. Here you can see some photos of the inside structure of the camera. Note the thick metal bottom plate, just like the one in F90x. Also the whole battery-chamber is made out of metal-plate. Well, it still didn't survive the drop... I still have the broken body, so if you need any spare parts, feel free to ask me.