There is a funny story about my F2 Titan. Perhaps I've told it before, but it bears repetition and pondering about the concept of 'serendipity'.
Many many moons ago, back in the dark ages of "film" (you know, the storage medium containing only 36 frames), I visited my local photo store in Oslo and spotted a strange-looking Nikon F2. Turned out it was the F2 Titan version, but without the finder. It had the DP-12 ('AS') finder attached. They told me it was on commission sale and quoted an exorbitant asking price as it was considered a "collector's item". I was indeed interested in the camera, which looked pristine, but not the price. However, I pointed out they could not sell it as a mint collector's item, since it hadn't the correct finder. The DP-12 looked ugly as it had the usual satin finish and obviously wasn't produced with any titanium at all. After a prolonged haggling the shop owner personally admitted they had made a mistake by removing the finder and selling it off earlier to a customer looking for a nice DE-1 unit. Thus he agreed the asking price was way too high, and I finally got my F2 Titan for a truly bargain price.
Now, more than 15 years later, and well into the 2000's I by chance visited a flea market down town Oslo, as it was rumoured they had nice photo gear for sale. Which indeed was the case, and suddenly I spied a perfect black Nikon F2 with a prism finder attached. As this was into the early digital era, interest in analogue cameras had declined, thus I got the camera for a modest sum of money. However, once I got my hands on the camera, I noticed the DE-1 looked very strange, having a dull hammered finish. Removing the finder confirmed this was the Titan version, and then I at last had a *complete* F2 T. As Nikon Norway told me only about 3 units of Nikon F2 T had been sold in Norway, that finder simply must have been the long lost one from my own F2 T. What were the odds for this scenario?
Below, a picture of my F2T with the DP-12 and a Noct-Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 attached. It was my most used camera for more than a decade, and I loved it.
