Adam Trahan: Nikon F6

Nikon F6

s/n 28668

November 3, 2025: First impression is amazing. I had never seen one before mine arrived let alone hold it. It reminds me more of my D780 than anything. I paid for a mint copy and that’s what I got, not a scratch on it, it’s clean. The displays are not scratched, nothing. Just a new copy. I really like the grip, the feel, the weight. The controls are easy to understand and configure. Autofocus is fast, the display is bright and it’s easy to navigate the menus

I’m pleasantly surprised.

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No, not surprised, I took a fresh roll of Velvia out and loaded it in the camera and got the “Film Load ERR” well, this is the third expensive camera from Japanese sellers on eBay that arrived dead in the box. My FE2 came with a broken aperture ring, one F3 arrived dead, one F100 too. This is not just a one off, or even a two off. My experience has been a four off cluster eff or in this case ERR..

I followed all the best practices, the seller 100%, the pictures were exact, the description matched, when the camera arrived it was in better shape than the description. Absolutely mint. Like no wear, not even any detection of film movement on the film pressure plate.

“Adam, the camera is in mint condition because it hasn’t been used, it’s broken!” and we laughed. My wife nailed it.

So I contacted Nikon Service and chose “film camera” and put in my serial number, then selected the only camera displayed, the F6 from the drop down and then selected the “ERR” quote, $270. I want this camera so I got out the CC and paid it.

Back to eBay and indicated to the seller that there were two paths, return or have Nikon fix it and he pay the repair cost. He apologized profusely saying he would pay for the repair. I told him if it was not repairable then I would be returning the camera.

He agreed but asked me to send a quick video of the ERR which I did and also indicated that Nikon would also verify with their work order. He quickly offered a discount of $250 which I declined telling him we can wait to see what Nikon says. Off to FedEx, $40 shipping charge and now the camera arrives at Nikon today.

I had planned to send to Nikon to have the camera looked over in a year or two however, that escalated quickly and to my advantage. I’m out a couple of grand and far down a road dropping bread crumbs to find my money back if necessary.

Regarding Japanese camera sellers on eBay. They don’t like negative feedback. They are super nice and customer service oriented. But this is their modus operandai, there are big warehouses that prepackage cameras and label number them. Climate controlled and prepackaged, they sit on shelves with an available list to a seller who acts as a proxy. These cameras are not thoroughly checked with film or battery consumption (two known issues in my case) before sale. This is not conjecture but my experience. The seller then offers discounts after the sale and or quality customer service where you get your money back.

So what’s the deal?

I guess there is not much of a risk, that is if you are willing to trust eBay stepping in. And I do.

Anyway, my experience with Japanese sellers has not been good. No, I got my money back and sometimes I get a nice camera but often it’s weeks waiting to get my money back. I will continue to purchase from Japanese sellers. I buy a lot of lenses from them and part of my experience notes is from buying more about a dozen lenses from them too. I’ll continue to purchase because they are polite and pose very little risk and on the other side is good equipment once it’s in hand.

So begins my journey of my F6, much like my FE2 and F100. My F3 and FG were both local sales.

November 22, 2025 and my F6 arrived from Nikon Service! In short, they replaced the motherboard, the clock battery, updated the firmware and grip rubber. No clue why the grip rubber, it was perfect when I received it.

I mounted a lens, loaded a roll of Privia 100, set AF and boom! Time to take pics. I’m going to change lenses from G to MF AI-S for this first roll to see how it goes.

The Japanese seller more than payed for the repair. I would have sent it to Nikon after a year to have it checked out before they stop servicing them. Now it’s done. Basically I have a mint F6 by waiting a month after paying $1,800 USD. Not quick and not cheap but a badass camera that I can now share my G lens kit and take just two cameras on assignment when I want to shoot film too.

I’ve put one roll through it taking pics of the below petroglyph hike. I believe this camera is going to serve me well. I like the idea of using my G lenses with it, sharing those AF lenses with the D780. I like the idea of my MF AI-S lenses being used with both too. I have a kit that uses all lenses I own and it’s going to serve me well.

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