Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Nikon F65

Nikon · Nikon F mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 2000

our own finding

Also known as: Nikon N65 · Nikon N65 QD · Nikon U · ニコンU · b. Nikon

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
F65 Nikon F 2000 — No figure published
F65D Nikon F 2001 — No figure published
b. Nikon !! Nikon F 2002–2002 — 2,000, stated by Nikon at announcement — the only production figure published for any version of this camera
  1. No production figure has been published for the F65 or the F65D, and no serial blocks. The single exception is the agnès b. edition, which Nikon limited to 2,000 and said so — the only number of its kind anywhere in this line. Roland Vink's serial database, which is the best public source for Nikon numbering, still covers only the lenses and the digital bodies and states outright that the film cameras are a later intention.
  2. Film speed comes off the DX code from ISO 25 to 5000 and cannot be set by hand. Film without a DX pattern is exposed at ISO 100 whatever it is, which also rules the camera out for infrared work.
  3. The camera reached the shops in the same month as the first G-type Nikkors, the AF Zoom 28–80mm f/3.3–5.6G and 70–300mm f/4–5.6G, which have no aperture ring at all. The F65 was sold with one of them.
  4. Nikon's Japanese name is explained in the company's own release: the U stands at once for playfulness, gentleness, friends, inviting everyone along, and "With You". It is the first Nikon reflex since the EM whose name carries no F.
  5. Nikon states the autofocus module is the Multi-CAM900, the same sensor as the F80 series, working down to EV −1. Where the F65 gives way to the F80 is the shutter (1/2000 against 1/4000), the metering pattern (six segments against ten) and the absence of spot metering.
  6. Where the body was assembled is not recorded by Nikon. English Wikipedia names Thailand for the F75 and the F55 and says nothing for the F65, and Nikon's own material says nothing either. Nathan Jones's review states Thailand for the F65 without giving a source, which is the only assertion of the kind traced so far and is unconfirmed.
  7. No end date has been published for the F65 by Nikon. Two reviewers give one in passing and they disagree: Nathan Jones has it sold 2001–2006, Iljitsch van Beijnum 2001 to about 2005. Neither says where the date comes from, and years.last is left unset rather than picked.
  8. Flash sync is 1/90 and slower, which Thom Hogan singles out as a real limit against the F80's 1/125, alongside an internal flash he found weak in coverage.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • An eye-level pentamirror, not a pentaprism — Nikon's own specification says ミラーペンタ, and the saving is most of why the body weighs 400g
  • A metal lens mount, which Nikon listed among the selling points because the shell around it is polycarbonate
  • Five focus brackets spread vertically as well as horizontally, so the array works the same way in portrait orientation
  • Large top-plate LCD, and a power switch around the shutter release separate from the exposure-mode dial
  • An infrared remote supplied in the box rather than sold separately

F65:

  • Plain hinged back with no imprinting window
  • About 395g against 400g for the dated body

F65D:

  • Quartz date window in the back; 68mm deep and about 400g

b. Nikon !!:

  • Black body with 'b.' on the top plate and an agnès b. design on the back
  • Nameplate engraved 'b.u !' rather than the model name
  • No date imprinting, unlike the ordinary Japanese U

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film
Finder
Fixed eye-level pentamirror, B-type clear matte screen V with focus frames, dioptre adjustment from −1.5 to +0.8 m⁻¹ · 0.68× magnification · 89% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
electronically controlled vertical-travel metal focal plane · 30s – 1/2000 in 1/2 EV steps; the long exposure setting in manual is called Time in Nikon's Japanese specification and Bulb in the English sources · flash sync X only, 1/90 and slower · self-timer
Film advance
integral motor; single frame, or continuous to about 2.5 frames a second in the sports program; motorised loading, advance and rewind, a 36-exposure roll rewinding in about 16 seconds
Back
hinged, with a film confirmation window; the F65D adds a quartz date window
Meter
TTL at full aperture — 3D six-segment matrix with D- and G-type lenses, six-segment matrix with other AF and Ai-P lenses, centre-weighted automatically in manual. EV 1–20 at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens. CPU coupling only: a non-CPU lens gives no meter reading at all
Motor drive
Not compatible — Integral. The MB-17 pack substitutes four AA cells for the two CR2 lithiums and does not change the frame rate; it is a battery holder, not a drive.
Weight
400 g
Dimensions
139.5 × 92.5 × 68 mm
Original price
¥61,000 for the body with remote and strap, ¥86,000 with the AF Zoom-Nikkor 28–80mm f/3.3–5.6G, both excluding tax (Japan, 24 March 2001) (today ¥68,000)
Accessories
MB-17 battery pack, four AA cells · ML-L3 infrared remote, supplied with the camera · Two 3V CR2 lithium cells in the body · CR2025 cell for the quartz date

Magnification runs about 0.68× to 0.60× with a 50mm lens at infinity, depending where the dioptre is set; eyepoint 17mm. The screen carries the five focus frames and the 12mm circle marking the centre-weighted area.

Where sources disagree

First
  • End of 2000 abroad — Nikon's own Japanese press release of 28 February 2001, which records the camera as exhibited at photokina 2000 in September and sold overseas ahead of Japan from late that year
  • 2001 — English Wikipedia and camera-wiki.org, both of which give the year without a month

Better supported: Nikon's release, which is the maker speaking about its own launch sequence

The two may be describing different markets rather than contradicting each other, but neither reference work mentions a 2000 launch anywhere, so the earliest date on public record for this camera exists only in the Japanese release.

Frame coverage percent
  • About 89% — Nikon's own specification, Thom Hogan's review, Nathan Jones's review and Iljitsch van Beijnum's, who puts it as the finder showing 89% of what reaches the film
  • About 98% — imagingpixel's specification page

Better supported: 89%, which is the manufacturer's figure and the ordinary value for a consumer body of this generation

What reviewers say

History

The F65 is the first Nikon reflex that was not, at bottom, a professional camera with things taken off it. The prism is gone — Nikon’s own specification says pentamirror, and that decision is most of why the body weighs 400 grams. The film speed cannot be set by hand at all. The lens mount is metal, and Nikon listed that among the selling points, which tells you what the rest of the shell is made of. What survives from above is the sensor: the Multi-CAM900 autofocus module out of the F80 and F100, five focus areas spread vertically as well as across so the array behaves the same way with the camera turned on its side, working down to EV −1.

The order of the launch is unusual and Nikon says so in writing. The camera was exhibited at photokina in Cologne in September 2000 under the name Nikon F65 and went on sale overseas from the end of that year, ahead of Japan; the Japanese release came on 24 March 2001 at ¥61,000 for the body, under the name Nikon U. Both reference works give the camera to 2001 without a month and neither mentions the year before, so the earliest date on public record exists only in the Japanese press release.

The name is worth recording because Nikon explained it. The U stands for playfulness, gentleness, friends, inviting everyone along, and “With You” — five readings, published as a footnote to the announcement. It is the first Nikon single-lens reflex since the EM whose name contains no F, and the catalogue was printed to open from the right and read vertically, like a weekly magazine rather than a camera brochure. None of that is accidental, and it was aimed at a market Nikon had been losing to the EOS Kiss for eight years.

Two things separate the versions. The F65D imprints the date; Nikon’s Japanese specification for the U carries the quartz date in the main table rather than as an option and quotes the dated body’s dimensions and weight, which places the domestic model on that side of the line. Then in September 2002 Nikon and the clothing house agnès b. put out the b. Nikon !!, a black U with “b.” on the top plate, a nameplate reading “b.u !”, no date function and a strap saying it likes taking photographs. Two thousand were made, sold in Japan only and mostly through Nikon’s own web shop.

That figure of 2,000 is the only production number published for any version of this camera, and it belongs to the one nobody bought it for. There is no total for the F65, none for the F65D, no serial blocks, and no manufacturer list to derive them from — Vink’s database, the best public source for Nikon numbering, has reached the lenses and the digital bodies and says the film cameras are still to come. Nor is it recorded where the camera was built: Thailand is documented for the F75 and the F55 that followed it, and for the F65 the only claim traced is a line in Nathan Jones’s review naming Thailand with nothing behind it.

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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

Nikon F65
Nikon F65 with the Nikkor 28–100mm, flash up — Martin Pettitt, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Nikon F65
Nikon F65 — Bertrand Labévue, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $89 across 31 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-06 (middle half $45–$100). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Listings updated 2026-09-05. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Nikon F60 · Nikon F80 · Nikon F75 · Nikon F55

Sources (13)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.