Nikon's first professional autofocus body, and the last one they built around dials instead of menus.
Every setting has its own control: a shutter speed dial on the top plate, an aperture ring on the lens, a metering selector around the prism, a lever for the exposure mode. Nothing is buried two presses deep, and nothing changes meaning depending on a mode you have forgotten you are in.
It meters three ways — five-segment matrix, center-weighted and spot — runs from 30 seconds to 1/8000, and drives autofocus lenses while still metering with manual glass going back decades.
It is heavy. A little over a kilogram before a lens with the four-cell MB-20 grip, and the bigger packs add to that. The weight is most of the reason people either keep one for thirty years or put it down and never pick it up again.
Real-world takes from shooters who've used this camera. Exposure tips, dev quirks, hidden strengths.
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