I just bought a mint F4s. However, there is a slight dark shadow on the bottom center when looking thought the viewfinder with 20-35 Nikkor. I think I read something about it here but can't seem to find the thread. Is this normal?

-- Andy Hsieh (AH125@aol.com), February 18, 2000

Answers

Andy, the shadow thing in the F4's viewfinder is perfectly normal, irritating though it may be. This was discussed in Diego K's "NIKON F4E" thread (go to "Older Messages", click on "Nikon", and search the thread there).

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), February 18, 2000.

Exactly, when I bought mine i had the same problem but yes......... it is normal, when I asked Nikon about painting it white so it wont show so much I was told not to do so for various reasons, so you must learn to live with it as all of us do. Nevertheless its a great camera, shame about the poor focusing capacity thou. Good luck.

-- Diego K. (Heuristica@yahoo.com), February 19, 2000.

This shadow is a normal feature of F4 bodies. You are seeing part of the bracket that holds the mirror. Relax and enjoy a great camera.

I'm confused by Diego K's remark about"poor focusing capacity," however. I focus mine wonderfully every time I use it. When I focus it manually it has the full capacity to focus accurately every time -- it even helps me out by guiding my focusing with the electronic range finder.

When I put it on AF, it has the capacity to focus quickly and accurately on its own. It may not have quite the AF speed of an F5, and I may have to help it out every once in while by tilting the body slightly to help it get a grip on the subject, but these are minor inconveniences. Me and my F4, we get along great.

Anyone who has problems with the focusing capacity of the F4 either wants to photograph fast moving objects the point-and-shoot way or is looking for an excuse to spend a lot more money on a pro-grade Nikon.

Which is fine -- keeps those Nikon engineers busy coming up with new toys.

For more info on the F4, check out the F4 FAQ at

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/j/jnweg/html

Best,

NikonJohn

-- John Wall (john_wall@ncsu.edu), February 20, 2000.

What I was comenting on the (poorfocusing(is that after using and F90 for over 5 years, to be limited to a small Af area as the F4 has, and frankly a little archaic, there are lots of thing that when I use my 180 2.8, I have to look for a nice contraty part of the subjet so I will focud on, when with te F90, it focused 98% of the times trouble free, even at very very low contrast objects, the focusing is OK, but for example, my father took it up a few days ago, the F4 with the 180 2.8, and spent like 3-4 minutes trying to focus it till he got tries and switched on to manual. so yes it works ok but you have to get acostumedto it.

D.k.

-- Diego K. (heuristitica@yahoo.com), February 21, 2000.