PCC
Flashlight Enthusiast
In theory, the faster lenses were nicer, quality-wise because they're more expensive to manufacture and so the manufacturer would make them to a higher quality standard, or so you would think since you're paying more for it. The reality is that each lens should be taken for its own merits and not so much compared to its faster or slower peers.my old Nikkor F1.2 50mm certain didn't take better picture than my std Nikkor F1.4 50mm len. the F1.2 however would allow a crack more light. back then we pushed tri-X for more speed. now days with super sensitive sensors .. wild ISO numbers are routine.
if OP still wants an old Nikon F ... got one available. been collecting em for years. something satisfying about having Nikon F's laying around. same for old Nikkor lens .. even the older manual focus only lens. despite not having auto focus .. could be wrong, but today's optics are no better
When I used the D70 the speed of the lens mattered more because of the higher noise at higher ISOs. I regularly set the ISO to 800 because the noise would go up exponentially as you went up from there. With the D610 that's not so much an issue anymore since I can shoot at ISO 6400 with about as much noise as I did with the D70 at ISO 800. I can also get rid of noise using post processing.
The older mechanical Nikons, especially the pro cameras (F and F2), are great to fondle and to take pictures with, but, I've not shot film in a very long time. There's still a roll of film in the F4 that I've loaded two or three years ago that I still need to finish off then I'll need to figure out how to get it processed. At this rate, I may never actually finish that roll and I've got three or four rolls of unused film waiting to use.
Since the Nikon pro cameras (and a few of the non-pro cameras) have removable backs, one would think that a digital back could be made to allow these mostly obsolete cameras to have a comeback. Forget the Df with its weird ergonomics and ugly styling. Give me an F2, F3, or F4 with a digital back and I'll be happy.