The Nikon F camera, introduced in April 1959, was Nikon's first SLR camera.

It was one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Although many concepts had already been introduced elsewhere, it was revolutionary in that it was the first to combine them all into a single camera. It was produced until October 1973 and was replaced by the Nikon F2.

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The "F" in Nikon F was chosen from the term "re-f-lex" because the pronunciation of the first letter "R" is not available in many Asian languages. This tradition carried on throughout their line of Nikon cameras until the introduction of the Nikon D1 (digital) cameras decades later.

Nikon F cameras have been selected  and used by NASA in space during the space race  between the United States and Russia . It was also used aboard the Skylab space station in the early 1970s.

This legendary model was the dream camera for everyone from the sixties . It was widely used during the Vietnam War  and had the opportunity to stop a headshot aimed at combat photographer Don Mccullin.