C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Nikon Nikkormat EL (1972) - sold as the Nikomat EL in Japan - was the first Nikon-brand camera to offer automatic exposure, using aperture-priority AE with a silicon-cell TTL meter. The photographer sets the aperture on the lens ring, and the camera selects a stepless shutter speed between 8 seconds and 1/1000s. The shutter is electronically controlled; without a working battery the shutter fires only at a fixed mechanical speed of approximately 1/90s, making the EL functionally dependent on its 6V battery for correct exposure across the full speed range. The EL uses Nikon's Non-AI coupling prong for aperture indexing, like the earlier Nikkormat FTn, and accepts the full range of Non-AI Nikkor lenses.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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About this camera
Nikon's first automatic-exposure SLR - aperture-priority AE on the dependable F mount, introduced in 1972.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Nikon F |
| Years | 1972-1977 |
| Shutter | 8s - 1/1000s + B, electronically controlled horizontal cloth focal-plane |
| Flash sync | X: 1/125s |
| Meter | Coupled silicon-cell center-weighted TTL |
| Modes | Aperture-priority AE, manual |
| Viewfinder | ~92% coverage |
| Battery | 1x 6V 4SR44 (required for AE; ~1/90s mechanical fallback only) |
| Weight | ~ |
Nikon introduced aperture-priority automation to the Nikkormat line with the EL in 1972, four years after the Nikkormat FTn established the Non-AI coupling standard. The move to AE reflected competitive pressure: Konica had shipped the Auto-Reflex with AE in 1965, and by the early 1970s automated exposure was increasingly expected even in serious-amateur bodies. The EL retained the Nikkormat's familiar form factor - fixed pentaprism, bottom-mounted film-advance lever - while adding the silicon metering cell that enabled stepless electronic shutter control. It was succeeded by the Nikkormat ELW (1976), which added a motor-drive coupling socket. Production of both models ended in 1977 when Nikon launched the consumer-focused EM and the professional Nikon F2.
The Nikkormat EL is a transitional camera in Nikon's history: the proof that Nikon could deliver automatic exposure without abandoning the professional F mount or the mechanical reliability the brand was known for. It predated the Nikon FE by five years and demonstrated to the market that AE and F-mount interchangeability were compatible goals. For collectors, it is an interesting study in how camera makers approached the first generation of electronic shutter design - the battery dependency was a real limitation, and Nikon later addressed it more gracefully in the FE (1978), which offered a 1/90s mechanical fallback as a genuine emergency speed rather than an artifact.
Nikon F mount with Non-AI coupling prong. All Non-AI (pre-AI) Nikkor lenses mount and meter correctly using the aperture-indexing procedure (rotate the lens from minimum to maximum aperture on first mount). AI and AI-S lenses can be mounted but meter in stop-down mode only. The standard pairing was the Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 or Nikkor-S 50mm f/1.4 Non-AI. The EL does not accept the MD-1/MD-2 motor drives; the ELW successor added that capability.
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →Nikon Nikkormat EL
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