In 1971, two of the villains in the James Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever used a Nikon F to take photos. The question is why the Nikon F? I mean it’s not like it was a new camera. First unveiled in 1959, it was no doubt an influential camera, but a decade later was it still cutting edge?

It was not the only time Nikon cameras were used in movies. The list is actually quite long, including the likes of The French Connection, Jaws, and Apocalypse Now (here’s another list of cameras in movies and TV shows). Nor was it the only camera used in Bond films – Bond used a Rolleiflex T in From Russia with Love (1963), a in Goldfinger (1964), a Nikonos Calypso in Thunderball (1965), and a Minox subminiature in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).

The Nikon F was at the forefront of SLR technology in the 1960s, and had a wide audience of users, from photojournalists covering the Vietnam War, to NASA. In March 1968 the Nikon F was laboratory tested by Popular Photography. Reviewers found little to complain about, it was an easy camera to function with, and extremely well built, except for the fact that it was heavy, “like a military tank of a camera”. It had a presence which was hard to dispute.

Choosing a camera for any movie may be a mere factor of chance. A personal preference of the director, or somebody facilitating props. Sometimes it’s product placement, although considering the Nikon F2 was released in the same year as the movie, it’s unlikely that is the case.

further reading:

• The Legendary Cameras of James Bond, Casual Photophile (January 2018)
• Nikon Film Cameras in the Movies, A Flash of Darkness (July 2021)
• What Cameras Did the World’s Greatest Spy James Bond Use?, The Phoblographer (August 2021)
• Leica Film Cameras in Movies, A Flash of Darkness (April 2021)
• Why a Nikon F?, Stefano Pasini
• Nikon F – Camera Review, James Tocchio (Casual Photophile, August 2014)
• Nikon F – The Camera That Changed Everything, Josh Solomon (Casual Photophile, April 2018)
• What’s an ‘Apollo’ Nikon F and Why It Matters, James Tocchio (Casual Photophile, May 2018)
• An Ode To The F, Emil Von Maltitz (ORMS Connect, May 2016)