The Nikon F, F2, F3, F4, F5 and - to a lesser degree - the F6 were designed as a camera system or as a system camera for professional photography. Each sturdy camera body can be ´dressed´ with viewfinders, screens, backs, motor drives and many more. Although Nikon introduced its own flashes in 1951 the Nikon F, F2 and F3 needed an extra flash connector to make use of the flash! The standard viewfinders of those cameras don't have a flash or accessory shoe. Only the Nikon F4 and later models do have one. The Nikon F and Nikon F2 are fully mechanical cameras; they only need batteries for the exposure meters built in the various available viewfinders. The Nikon F3 and later models do need a battery, although the Nikon F3 has one mechanical shutter speed - in case of emergency - only!
A German collector, Mr. Uli Koch, has produced an impressive trilogy - in a slip-case - of the Nikon F-system: Volume 1 describes the camera, volume 2 contemporary lenses and volume 3 accessories
See here for more details
Another collector from Switzerland, Mr. Richard de Stoutz, specialized in Nikon F equipment, has a very interesting website.
the best mechanical camera ever build?
Nikon´s first professional electronic camera
the most versatile Nikon ever made
top film model laying the foundation of Nikon´s professional digital SLR
the last and best modern film SLR
Early 1960 Nikon introduced an SLR camera for the amateur photographer. This camera - Nikkorex - was build in cooperation with an other Japanese camera manufacturer: Mamiya. 6 years later the production of that camera was stopped. The much more successful Nikkormat series were introduced in 1965. That series was extended with the first electronic camera (EL). All later cameras had a very differing success, untill the digital reflex cameras were introduced in 1999.
an unfortunate attempt to interest the amateur photographer
a successful range of amateur cameras
Nikon first compact camera series
the odd man out
series of motorized cameras for amateur and professional use
series of motorized and fast auto focus cameras for fun and sports