very early F2 question

Ok, the 71 may mean an early production but look at all the zeros. It is camera #75 for that year's production run. A serial number like that I could hype up to $600. at a certain auction site. By the way, the F2 supposedly was introduced in 1972.

Delete duplicate

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11336821@N00/5188997398/

On 9/20/1972, I purchased my first Nikon F2 (serial number 7144038). At the time, the F2 came only with the non-metered DE-1 viewfinder.

By the way, I am still using that F2.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11336821@N00/6307637714/

The F2 hit the market in the fall of 1971. Serial numbers began with ‘71’, thus your body appears to be the 75^th off the line, excepting prototypes, pre-release editions, etc. The DP-2 viewfinder (making for F2S) was introduced in ’73 so it is not original to that body. Could you command a premium for the early body? Probably, yet any savvy collector (vs. armchair collector) would immediately realize the mismatch between body and prism and, therefore, discount the value significantly. Furthermore, in the case of representing an F2 as a very early body even with the proper DP-1 prism, a savvy collector would want to ascertain a proper match by confirming the serial numbers of both body and prism. There's an abundance of mismatched bodies and prisms on the market that are misrepresented as 'original', e.g. early or mid-production bodies with DP-12 finders (F2AS) or late bodies with early finders. But for the average user this doesn’t matter and goes unnoticed

Many sources, including Nikon Corporation, cite the release date of the F2 Photomic (DP-1 metering prism) as 1971.

As a note of interest, early Nikon F-2 only with motor drive in use, had a "ghosting" problem(film moved ever so slightly in the gate) which may have resulted in a recall and or adjustment to the mechanism to correct this fault.

Thanks for the input. I'm not too concerned about value. I just don't want a camera with historical significance to disappear into an old camera pile somewhere. Its not in super condition but it's a good user ( I loaned it to my niece for her high school photo class). If the DP-2 makes it a non-collector I'll probably just craigslist it.

Contact Sover Wong. He is perhaps the worlds foremost authority on the Nikon F2. He may even be interested in buying your F2.

According to Stoutz ( http://www.destoutz.ch/typ_production_data_f2.html ) first F2 was 7100001, so this does truly seem to be an early body.

Ignorant question: would a viewfinder that originally came with the body have the same serial number as the body?