The Nikon F-301 is a manual focus, auto exposure, auto film loading and advancing 35 mm SLR camera that was sold by the Nikon Corporation beginning in 1985. It was the replacement for the FG.
The F-301 was identical to the Nikon F-501 in almost every way, except it lacked autofocus.
The Nikon F-301 is notable for being the first Nikon SLR sold that lacked a film advance lever. As a result the selector knob, also used to lock the shutter button, has a continuous option in addition to the single shot. It was also the first Nikon SLR to feature DX film decoding.
A standard hotshoe flash mount sits above the viewfinder, with which a flash may be attached to the camera. The Nikon F-301 does not feature a built-in pop-up flash (the F-401 was the first Nikon SLR to have this feature).
It was also the first Nikon to use polycarbonates in the building of the camera, and was considered by many people as the dawn of a new era for Nikon.
This camera is powered by four AAA batteries, loaded from below, necessitating removal of the baseplate. A MB-3 battery pack could be used instead of the standard MB-4 enabling AA batteries to be used instead of AAA. The placement of the batteries meant that the tripod bush on the baseplate was extremely offset from the centre of the camera. The AH-3 tripod adapter could be used to rectify this though it added extra bulk to the camera.
The F-301 can be manually preset for film speeds from ISO 12 to ISO 3200, or this can be left to the camera through the DX feature.
The camera can also be used with the Nikon SB-600 & SB-800 flash units.
The compatible lenses I have for the Nikon F301 are the Nikkor AF 35-70mm and Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8D.
The Nikon F301 is 35 years old, launched in 1985, so let's look at the world back in 1985:
In Football Everton won the Football League Championship and UEFA European Cup Winners' Cup, Manchester United won the FA Cup, Norwich City won the League Cup, Juventus won the European Cup Final amid the Heysel Disaster, Aberdeen were Scottish Premier Division Champions, Celtic won the Scottish Cup, Rangers won the Scottish League Cup, Real Madrid won the UEFA Cup, Hellas Verona won Serie A in Italy, Barcelona won La Liga in Spain and Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga in Germany.
In Golf Bernhard Langer won The Masters, Andy North won the US Open, Sandy Lyle won The Open and Hubert Green won the PGA Championship. Europe defeated the United States at The Belfry to win the Ryder Cup, the first time the United States had lost since 1957. Alice Miller, Nancy Lopez, Kathy Baker and Pat Bradley were the major champions in the women's game.
In Rugby Ireland won the Five Nations Championship and Bath won the John Player Cup.
In Tennis Boris Becker and Martina Navratilova won the Men's and Women's Singles titles respectively at Wimbledon.
In Rugby League Hull KR won the First Division Championship and Wigan won the Challenge Cup.
In NFL San Francisco 49ers won the Super Bowl, Kansas City Royals won the MLB World Series, LA Lakers were NBA Champions and Edmonton Oilers won the NHL Stanley Cup.
Margaret Thatcher was UK Prime Minister and Ronald Reagan was US President.
Live Aid took place at Wembley Stadium in London and RFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
The first UK cellular mobile phone network is launched by Vodafone.
The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
Neighbours debuts on Australian television.
The Bradford City Football stadium fire kills 56 people.
Discovery Channel launches in the United States.
Back to the Future premieres in the United States.
The wreck of the Titanic is located.
Super Mario Bros. is launched for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
