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Is the Nikon Zf Modeled After the Nikon F3?

Chris Gampat
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08/16/2023
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Last Updated on 08/18/2023 by Chris Gampat

There’s a theory floating around the web that the reportedly-to-be-coming Nikon Zf could be modeled after the Nikon F3. Released in 1980, the camera helped photographers tell stories across the world. It even went to space and was made to be incredibly intricate. There’s no doubt that it’s an important camera in the company’s history — and sharing an ode to it could be a great thing for the company. Here’s why we think the Nikon Zf is modeled after the Nikon F3.

Lead image by Jussi on Flickr. Used with Creative Commons Permission.

There are lots of great reasons why the Nikon Zf could be modeled after the Nikon F3 — and if you dive deep into the thoughts seen on Nikon Rumors, you’ll understand more.

The Weight and Size of the Nikon Zf

The Nikon Zf is a camera that has us constantly guessing — perhaps because there’s so much hype. Indeed, it’s been a very boring year for digital cameras. Everything that has come out this year that’s really fascinating has been based in analog photography. However, the Nikon Zf could be just the right ode to analog.

The weight is reported to be around the same weight as the Nikon F3. But more importantly, it’s a bigger camera than the Nikon F3. You’d be quite shocked — the reports state that the Nikon Zf will be around the same size as the Panasonic S5 II but even larger. The S5 II holds its weight very well, and this makes us even more curious to see how this new camera will pan out.

With it reported to be 144mm x 101mm, some Googling shows us that:

  • It’s smaller than the Nikon F2, which we loved and wish it would be built just like it.
  • Around the same size but larger in some ways than the F3
  • Smaller than the F4
  • Smaller than the F5

Beyond this, the Nikon SLR cameras become way too modern looking. And Nikon is truly not going for something that’s not retro here. So overall, the Nikon F3 might be the camera that they’re modeling it after.

Is There Too Much Hype ABout This Camera?

While I’m very excited about the possibility of a Nikon Zf to come, I’m wondering if there’s too much hype out there. When the Nikon Zfc was announced — there was also a lot of hype that turned into being let down by the camera having a smaller sensor, plasticky build, and more. I’m hoping that I’m not let down.

When the Nikon Z8 was announced, I was quite hyped, excited, and elated that the company had done it. But after using it, I realized that it was a camera that they should’ve and could’ve released several years ago. Essentially, it’s just the Z9 with the vertical grip cut off. What would’ve been incredible for the company would be the launch of the Nikon Z9, Nikon Z8, and a Z500 APS-C camera at the time in a similar way they launched the D3, D300, and D700 several years ago.

Are We Dreaming?

Overall, we could just be dreaming about all this. Nikon might only just announce lenses before the end of the year, as they’ve been very big on announcing new glass pretty consistently.

Maybe instead of a full-frame camera, Nikon is going to give us their retro version of the Sony a6700 instead. I truly hope that isn’t the case — but I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve been let down as a journalist of over 15 years in the photo industry.

nikon Nikon F2 Nikon F3 Nikon F4 Nikon F5 nikon zf Nikon ZFc Zf
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.