Nikon F90
Nikon · Nikon F mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1992
Also known as: Nikon N90 · Nikon N90s · Nikon F90X · Nikon F90x · ニコンF90
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F90 | Nikon F | 1992 | — | No figure published |
| F90X | Nikon F | 1994–2001 | — | No figure published |
- No production figure has been published for the F90 or the F90X, and no serial blocks. Nikon's product archive gives the F90X a specification table and the F90 a five-line feature list; the public database that carries Nikon serial blocks for the digital bodies still records film cameras as a section to be added.
- Six designations, two cameras. Wikipedia tabulates F90 and F90X as the bodies, with F90D and F90XD denoting a body supplied with the MF-25 back and F90S and F90XS one supplied with the MF-26. North America received the two bodies as N90 and N90s.
- Kodak built the DCS 400 series of digital SLRs on these bodies: the DCS 410 and the early DCS 420 on the N90, the later DCS 420, the DCS 460 and the NC2000 on the N90s. A DCS 460C on an N90s body was bought by NASA and flown on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.
- Wikipedia records the F90 as the first Nikon body to autofocus with AF-I and AF-S lenses, which the F-801 and F-801s cannot, and the first to support 3D TTL flash metering with D-type Nikkors. Manual AI and AI-converted lenses meter centre-weighted and spot only; AI-P lenses restore matrix metering; non-AI lenses damage the body.
- Nikon's product-archive pages for both versions are no longer served from imaging.nikon.com and were read through the Internet Archive.
- The single autofocus sensor is the limitation every reviewer lands on. Thom Hogan gives its working range as EV −1 to EV 19 at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens, and notes it will focus with lenses down to f/8. Hogan also records what the body will not do: no mirror lock-up, no exposure bracketing without the optional data back, no VR lens support at all, and G-type lenses restricted to program and shutter-priority.
- No launch price appears in Nikon's own material. Mike Eckman puts the N90s above $1,000 for the body at launch, and Thom Hogan records spending about US$5,000 moving into the Nikon autofocus system in 1994. Second-hand, CamerAgX writes about $25 for a good body in 2018 and Casual Photophile paid $40 in 2017.
- Mike Eckman writes that "the N90s included a new auto focus engine known as CAM 246", which would make the module new in 1994. The contemporary account is against him. Photography in Malaysia describes the CAM 246 as "all new Nikon designed" for the F90 of 1992 and has both bodies using it; Thom Hogan names CAM246 in his N90s review but never says it was new to that body; and nothing published anywhere names a separate module for the F90X. The entry keeps CAM246 for both bodies from 1992. What did change at the F90X is described everywhere as speed and accuracy rather than a different module, and Eckman is best read as attaching the module's name to the improvement he could feel.
- Eckman gives the North American sales run of the N90s as 1994 to 1999, against the 2001 discontinuation Wikipedia records for the F90X. The two are not in conflict: Wikipedia's dates are for manufacture — the article says the camera was "manufactured in Japan between 1992 and 2001" — while Eckman's are the years a North American buyer could walk into a shop and order one, and he adds that bodies were still being sold new as recently as 2004. A manufacturing run, a market's catalogue life and the tail of dealer stock are three different spans, and nothing here requires either source to be wrong.
How to tell them apart
- CAM246 autofocus module with a wide-area sensor — Nikon's own summary calls it Wide-Area AF
- 3D matrix metering, which needs a D-type Nikkor to supply the distance
- Ten-pin remote socket on the front, with untethered caps that are routinely missing
- Rubberised back coating that peels or turns tacky — an identification marker as much as a fault
F90:
- Shutter speeds set in whole stops
- An audible focus-confirmation beep, which the F90X does not have
- The MB-10 grip mounts but its vertical release does nothing: the contacts in the battery chamber are absent
F90X:
- Shutter speeds in 1/3 stops instead of whole ones
- No beeper
- The MB-10's vertical release works
- F90: Sold in North America as the N90. Wikipedia records F90D and F90S as the same body supplied with the MF-25 and MF-26 backs respectively, not as separate cameras. No end-of-production date is published for the F90 alone.
- F90X: 1994, discontinued in 2001, and the version Nikon documents: its product archive gives the F90X a full specification table — 154 × 106 × 69mm, 755g without batteries, 1/8,000 to 30 seconds, EV −1 to +21 — and gives the F90 five bullet points. Photography in Malaysia reports a Nikon claim of 25% faster autofocus than the earlier bodies, and Wikipedia adds better weather sealing. The XD and XS suffixes denote the MF-25 and MF-26 backs.
Specifications
- Format
- 24×36mm on 35mm film
- Finder
- Fixed eye-level pentaprism with LCD readout · 0.78× magnification · 92% coverage · no rangefinder image
- Shutter
- electromagnetically controlled vertical-travel focal plane · 30s – 1/8000 and B; whole stops on the F90, 1/3 stops on the F90X · flash sync 1/250; 1/60–1/250 in program and aperture priority, 1/30–1/250 on slow sync · self-timer
- Film advance
- integral motor; single frame, a 2 frames a second setting, and a continuous high setting whose published rate varies by source
- Back
- hinged, and interchangeable for the MF-25 and MF-26
- Meter
- TTL 3D matrix, centre-weighted and spot; EV −1 to +21 at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens, EV 3–21 on spot
- Motor drive
- Not compatible — The motor is integral. The MB-10 pack adds a vertical release and a deeper grip but no speed: it runs on the same four AA cells the body uses, and Wikipedia records that frame rate, autofocus speed and battery life are identical with and without it.
- Weight
- 755 g
- Dimensions
- 154 × 106 × 69 mm
- Country
- Japan
- Accessories
- MB-10 battery grip, four AA cells, vertical release live only on the F90X · MF-25 Data Back · MF-26 Multi-Control Back — multiple exposure, interval and delay, exposures to 12 hours, world time, flash bracketing, imprinting · MC-30 corded release, MC-20, ML-3 wireless release · AC-2E Data Link, which connects the camera to a Sharp palm-sized electronic organizer
19mm eyepoint, high enough to use with spectacles. The magnification, eyepoint and coverage are given by CamerAgX and the coverage figure is confirmed by Thom Hogan; Hogan lists the absence of a 100% finder among the camera's limitations.
Where sources disagree
- Speeds — the increment on the F90
- Whole stops on the F90, thirds on the F90X — Wikipedia and camera-wiki, and the basis of the id_markers above
- Half stops on the N90, thirds on the N90s — Thom Hogan, who names this as the difference between the two
Better supported: Unresolved
Everyone agrees the F90X moved to 1/3 stops. What the earlier body did is given two ways, and Nikon's five-line archive page for the F90 does not say. On numbers the whole stop reading has the majority — Mike Eckman gives the N90s change as "1/3 EV steps instead of full EV", which is a second voice for it against Hogan's "the N90 uses half-stop changes" — but Hogan is the only one of the three who used both bodies professionally for years and who frames the increment as the specific thing that separates them, and majority is not evidence when no source cites a factory specification. Left open. The id_marker above still reads whole stops; it should not be relied on to separate the bodies until a factory specification settles it.
- Film advance
- F90: up to 3.6 frames a second (camera-wiki)
- 4.3 frames a second, given once for the F90 and F90X together (Wikipedia)
- F90X: 4.1 frames a second with focus tracking (Nikon's own product archive)
- F90X: 4.1 fps with continuous autofocus, 4.3 fps with standard autofocus (camera-wiki)
Better supported: Nikon's 4.1 figure, which is the only one from the maker — but it is stated for the F90X, not for the F90
Wikipedia's infobox covers both bodies under one figure, and the upgrade from F90 to F90X is described everywhere as including a raised frame rate, so a single number cannot be right for both. No published figure for the F90 alone comes from Nikon.
What reviewers say
- Thom Hogan (byThom Filmbodies) (blog) — Six years of professional use behind the verdict: a workhorse with everything except state-of-the-art autofocus, and a good camera to start serious work on. The criticisms are exact — exposure compensation, AF lock and metering buttons are all badly placed, there is no mirror lock-up and the finder shows about 92%, the custom Hyperfocal Program does not actually compute a hyperfocal distance, bracketing needs the optional data back, VR lenses will not work and G-type lenses are confined to program and shutter-priority, and a camera used only intermittently costs a few days of readjustment each time. He gives the autofocus range as EV −1 to EV 19 and the body as 26.6 ounces.
- Jeb Inge (Casual Photophile) (blog) — Calls it the best overall value in Nikon SLRs and bought his for $40, while being clear about what the money does not buy: a single autofocus point in the dead centre of the frame, which he says will frustrate anyone shooting sport; plastic that is tough but unlovely next to a professional body; a grip-and-body combination heavy enough that he warns the reader about it; audible autofocus; and the gummy back coating that his commenters confirm is near-universal.
- Mike Eckman (blog) — The single best bargain of any Nikon film SLR ever made, and the ugly duckling of the line — 882 grams of plastic over a metal chassis, with a film door whose soft rubber coating peels on almost every copy, and no appeal at all to someone who wants a camera that feels vintage. He records the N90s at over $1,000 body-only at launch and sold in North America from 1994 to 1999.
- CamerAgX (blog) — Argues the camera is objectively excellent and structurally unloved: it sits uncomfortably between the manual Nikons people buy to learn on and the F100 people buy to stop thinking, too modern for one buyer and not modern enough for the other, which is why a good body sells for about $25. The peeling film-door coating is the only fault he raises, and he notes rubbing alcohol removes it. He gives the finder as 0.78x, 19mm eyepoint, 92% coverage.
History
The F90 of 1992 was built to fix a competitive problem rather than to advance a design. Canon’s EOS bodies focused faster than Nikon’s, the F4 at the top of Nikon’s range was slow at it, and photographers were changing systems over the difference. Wikipedia describes the F90 as a stop-gap held out until the F5 could arrive, which it did not do until 1996. The stop-gap stayed in the catalogue until 2001.
The mechanism is the CAM246 module and a small motor in the body turning the lens through the same blade coupling the F-501 had introduced in 1986. Nikon’s own summary of the camera lists five things, and two of them matter: Wide-Area AF, and 3D matrix metering. The second is the one that outlived the camera. A D-type Nikkor reports how far away it is focused; the meter folds that distance into a matrix calculation that until then had worked from brightness and pattern alone, and the same figure drives the flash. Every Nikon exposure system since works this way.
The F90 was also the first Nikon body that could tell a lens to focus itself. The AF-I and AF-S Nikkors carry their own motors and the F-801 cannot command them; the F90 can. That is a quiet reversal of the decision the F-501 made in 1986, and the F90 is where both arrangements — screwdriver in the throat, motor in the lens — worked on one body for the first time.
Two years in, the F90X replaced it. The published changes are shutter speeds in thirds of a stop rather than whole ones, faster and more accurate focus, better weather sealing, a raised frame rate, a working vertical release on the MB-10 grip, and — recorded by Wikipedia as an improvement — the removal of the beeper. Photography in Malaysia reports Nikon claiming 25% more autofocus speed. Nikon’s own archive documents the F90X to the millimetre, 154 × 106 × 69 and 755g without batteries, and gives the F90 a bullet list.
That asymmetry produces the one figure this entry cannot settle. The continuous frame rate is published as 3.6 for the F90, as 4.3 for the two bodies jointly, as 4.1 for the F90X with focus tracking and 4.3 with standard autofocus. Since every account of the F90X says the rate went up, a single number for both cannot be correct, and no figure for the F90 alone comes from the maker.
There is a physical marker worth recording: the rubberised coating on the back of a great many F90 and F90X bodies peels or turns tacky with age. It does not affect the camera, the rubber elsewhere on the body is unaffected, and isopropyl alcohol takes the coating off cleanly to leave the hard finish underneath. It is now one of the reliable ways to identify a body that has not been refinished.
Kodak took the rest of the story. The DCS 400 series of digital SLRs were N90 and N90s bodies with a Kodak back on them, and a DCS 460C on an N90s went to NASA for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. What remains unpublished is anything numeric: no production total, no serial blocks, no split between the two versions, and no indication of how many of the bodies that carried the first 3D matrix meter into the field are still working.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Photographs
Live listings
Asking price, USD: a median of $140 across 31 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $110–$180). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 9 days: unchanged from $140.
By day
| Date | Median | Middle half | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-19 | $140 | $110–$180 | 31 |
| 2026-10-18 | $140 | $110–$180 | 31 |
| 2026-10-17 | $140 | $110–$180 | 31 |
| 2026-10-16 | $140 | $100–$170 | 34 |
| 2026-10-15 | $140 | $110–$170 | 33 |
| 2026-09-21 | $130 | $110–$180 | 27 |
| 2026-09-18 | $130 | $89–$180 | 29 |
| 2026-09-11 | $140 | $89–$180 | 36 |
| 2026-09-06 | $140 | $89–$180 | 36 |
Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.
- Nikon N90s AF SLR Film Camera Body
- Nikon N90s AF SLR Film Camera Body
- Nikon F90
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Film Camera Body Only
- Vintage Nikon N90 (F90) 35mm SLR Film Camera Tested and Working
- Nikon Batteriehalter Typ MS-8 passend für Nikon F90/F90X/N90/N90X Kompatibel 801
- Nikon F90 35mm SLR Film Camera Body Working Condition With Box
- Nikon F90 Kamera
- Nikon F90 35mm Spiegelreflexkamera nur Gehäuse
- Nikon F90 35mm Film SLR Camera Boy plus nikon leather case and zoom lens
- Nikon F90 Rückwand Camera Accessory Fotozubehör Kamerazubehör
- "Read" Nikon F90 35mm Film Camera Black Body [Excellent+] from Japan
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Autofokus Gehäuse schwarz mit Deckel/Trageriemen
- Nikon F90 35mm AF SLR Film Camera Body w/ MB-10
- Nikon MS-8 - porte piles Nikon F 90 / F90x / N90 / N90x
- Nikon F90 35mm SLR Filmkamera Body, Autofokus, Auto-Belichtung, schwarz, Riemen
- Nikon F90 Gehäuse / Body analoge SLR gebraucht F 90 schwarz
- Nikon F90 35mm SLR Film Camera Body fully tested working well raaug
- Nikon F90 35mm Spiegelreflexkamera nur Gehäuse
- Nikon F90X Body Gehäuse Spiegelreflexkamera Analog | (6448)
Show 78 more listings
- Polaroid NPC Photo Divisio Proback by Forscher Rückteil Magazin Nikon F90 F90X
- Nikon F90 Gehäuse Nr 215546
- Nikon F90 Sigma Zoom AF-APO 4.5-5.6/75-300mm NOTTESTED
- Nikon F90 35mm SLR camera body No 2006638 - used and well loved
- Nikon F90 35mm SLR camera body No 2165964 'Fully Working'
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Film Camera Body Mint Condition
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Camera Body & Nikon 28-80 f3.5-5.6D Lens Nice Condition
- Nikon F90 35mm Film SLR Camera Body Fully Working
- Nikon F90 D - SLR Body mit Datenrückwand MF-25
- Nikon F90, testata
- Nikon F90X With 2 Lenses
- [Near MINT] Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Film Camera Black Body From JAPAN
- Nikon F90X
- Nikon F90 35mm with AF 35-70mm Lens Working Condition See Photos
- [Exc] Nikon F90 35mm SLR Film Camera MF-25 + AF Nikkor 28-70mm f3.5-4.5D JAPAN
- Nikon F90-X 35mm Spiegelreflexkamera Batteriefach+ Nikon AF Nikkor
- Nikon F90 Analog Spiegelreflex Kamera AF Nikkor 1:3.5-4.5 D28-70 Objektiv SB24
- Nikon F90 35mm Spiegelreflexkamera nur Gehäuse Guter Zustand
- 📸 Nikon F90 SLR + AF 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens Japan [Exc+5]0912s
- Nikon F90X Databack 35mm SLR Film Camera Black Body [Exc+3 / Read]
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Foto + Film Kamera Gehäuse Toppzustand L 6
- Nikon F90x + Datenrückwand MF-26 + Sigma 28-70, 1:2.8 Objektiv - mit Defekten
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Spiegelreflexkamera Gehäuse Body
- Nikon F90x, dorso datario MF-25, testata
- NIKON F90/MF-26 Film Camera
- [Near MINT w/ MF-26] Nikon F90 Film Camera AF 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 D Lens From JAPAN
- [Near MINT] Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Film Camera Body Only From JAPAN
- Kodak DCS 410 with Nikon N90S
- NIKON F90 AUTOFOKUS SPIEGELREFLEXKAMERA MIT NIKON 35-70 MM ZOOMOBJEKTIV
- Nikon F90 35mm SLR Film Camera Body Only - Boxed & Nice Condition
- Nikon F90X Databack analoge 35-mm-Spiegelreflexkamera schwarzes Gehäuse...
- [Excellent+++] Nikon F90 35mm AF SLR Film Camera w/ Body Cap READ
- Nikon F90X 35mm film SLR Camera + AF Nikkor 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 - Film Tested
- Tested [ Near MINT ] Nikon F90X 35mm Film Camera 35-80mm 4-5.6 D Lens From JAPAN
- NIKON F90 X AVEC MOTEUR MB10
- 📸 Nikon F90 SLR + AF 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens Japan [Exc+5]0912s
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Film Camera AF Auto Exposure w/ Nikkor Zoom Lens
- [ Near MINT ] Nikon F90X N90s SLR 35mm Film camera w/ AF 28-80mm Lens From JAPAN
- [Near MINT] Nikon F90 N90 Film Camera Body + MF-26 From JAPAN
- [Exc+5] Nikon F90X N90s w/ AF Nikkor 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens from Japan
- 2 Lenses! [Exc+5] No Sticky Nikon F90X N90s w/ AF 28-80mm & 70-300mm From JAPAN
- Nikon F90 35mm SLR w/AF 28-70mm f3.5-4.5D
- Nikon F90X N90s SLR 35mm Film Camera Body + MB-10 [Excellent+3] from Japan
- [Fast neuwertig] Nikon F90 N90 analoge Kamera Gehäuse + MF-26 aus JAPAN
- Nikon F90X mit Tamron 28-200mm3.8-5.6 + SB-26 - Fachhändler
- [Near MINT] Nikon F90X 35mm Film Camera AF Nikkor 35-70mm f3.3-4.5 Lens JAPAN
- Nikon F90X + TOP (289472)
- Nikon F90 + Multifunktionsrückwand MF-26, AF Zoom 25-70mm, SB-25 Speedlight
- Tested!【Exc+4】Nikon F90X Film Camera + AF Nikkor 24-120mm F/3.5-5.6 D Lens JAPAN
- Nikon F90X body + Obiettivo Nikkor 28-80 f 1:3.5-5.6
- Nikon F90 w/38-80 Nikkor Lens 35mm, Very Rare
- Nikon N90s 35mm Autofocus Film Camera w/ 35-105mm f3.3-4.5 Zoom Lens [GOOD]
- Nikon F90X with MB-10 Motordrive - new light seals September 2025
- Nikon F90X with MB-10 Motordrive
- Nikon F90X with MB-10 Motordrive
- Nikkor AF 50mm F1.8 Nikon F90
- Nikon F90X
- [NEAR MINT w/ Case] Nikon F90X SLR w/MF-25 + AF Nikkor 28-80mm f3.5-5.6D JAPAN
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Film Camera Body Black 125x152x105mm 760g
- [NEAR MINT w/ MB-10] Nikon F90X Film Camera AF 35-70mm f3.3-4.5 Lens From JAPAN
- Nikon F90X - new light seals September 2025
- Nikon F90X MB 10 SB 26 with 3 lenses interesting lens workshop single lens refle
- [N MINT w/MB-10] SLR Nikon F90X +AF lens AF Nikkor 35-70mm f3.3-4.5 JAPAN #155#
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR GEHÄUSE MB-10 Objektiv AF 28-80mm Nikkor Anleitung Film
- WORKING: Nikon f90x/24mm block lens
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR camera body with MB-10 & MF-26 No 2243000 'Fully Working'
- Nikon F90X analoge Spiegelreflexkamera SLR Gehäuse *BOXED* #2403849-28
- Beautiful NIKON F90 Camera & Nikon Ad Nikkor 35-135mm Lens +nikon SB-26...
- Verkaufe Nikon F90 mit Zubehör
- Nikon N90 s camera ith Nikon 50/1,4mm AF lens Ex+
- Nikon F90X 35mm SLR Camera Body & Nikon 28-80 f3.5-5.6D Lens Nice Condition
- Nikon F90X
- Nikon F90X & F-301 35mm SLR Camera bodies JUNK, for parts/display N75
- Nikon F90 X Camera Body No Back. Spare Parts? See Photos
- [ Exc+5 ] Nikon F90X Black 35mm SLR Body w/ SB-80DX MF-26 (Data Back JUNK) MC-31
- [中古品]フィルムカメラ Nikon F90 レンズ付き
- ジャンク フィルムカメラ まとめ ニコン Nikon F90 F-501 F50 TW2D Nuvis 75i ZOOM 700 VR 8ミリ
- 程度良好!ベトツキ除去済!ニコン Nikon フィルムカメラ F90 /管2610114
Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.
Listings updated 2026-10-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.
