Nikon History

Marine combat photographer Dennis Fisher recalled preparing to leave on an operation with Delta 1/5 in Vietnam in the summer of 1968. His original post includes a photograph taken outside the ISO hootch.

Fisher served as a U.S. Marine Corps combat photographer in Vietnam in 1967–1968. The National Archives recorded his account of that work and the photographs he made.

His book, Then All Hell Broke Loose: The Odyssey of a Marine Corps Photographer in Vietnam, follows his tour through photographs and recollections. Find the book on Amazon

In his National Archives interview, Fisher describes processing his own film after operations, selecting photographs from contact sheets, and writing captions before negatives went forward to Marine headquarters. His work covered more than combat, including civic action, awards, and other Marine activities.

Fisher describes a Nikon F with a plain prism in the photograph. He recalls photographers exchanging metered finders for plain prisms and relying on a handheld meter after experiencing failures in the field. This is his account of working conditions and the choices he saw photographers make.

Introduced in 1959, the F was built as a system with interchangeable finders and focusing screens. That modular design gave photographers room to change how they worked, while keeping the same camera body. [3]

Here, the history lives in the small practical details: the camera within reach, the straps across a field vest, and the equipment carried for a day’s work. It is a photograph about readiness as much as cameras.

A note on the finder. Fisher’s caption names an FTn finder. Nikon dates its introduction to September 1968; the exact finder reference in this summer recollection remains unconfirmed. [4]

Read Fisher’s original post

Paul Temple shared a portrait of himself with his Nikons, which he dates to 1967 in Vietnam. He says a fellow service member took it with a Polaroid camera outside the 53rd Signal photo lab. The photographer’s name is not identified in the post.

Temple describes himself as an Army photojournalist. In a group discussion he says he was drafted and attended Army photography school after basic training. He has also shared photographs he describes as a Saigon day-care scene in 1967 and a scene in Vietnam in 1968, both made with a Nikon F.

See Temple’s portrait
See the Saigon photograph
See the 1968 photograph

In a reply to Temple’s post, Michael Weber recalls using a Nikon F4 and an 8008 as a combat photographer during Operation Desert Storm. He says sand was hard on the cameras. His brief account offers a starting point for exploring how military photographers adapted their equipment to another environment and era.

Read Weber’s comment

Ken Sono recalls meeting a photographer in Ho Chi Minh City in 1996 who showed him a Nikon F and an expired Vietnam War-era correspondent’s press card. Sono’s post preserves a moment connecting the camera to a working photographer after the war.

The photographer’s name and service history are not established in the post. The encounter is presented as Sono’s recollection.

See Sono’s post