The Nikon F-401 was a beginner's level, autofocus

Autofocus

An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...

, 35mm, single-lens reflex (SLR) film camera built by Nikon

Nikon

, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...

 and introduced in 1987. The camera represented one of Nikon's first endeavours into consumer-based autofocus, as a follow-up to their first autofocus SLR in 1986, the Nikon F-501 (known as the N2020 in North America). The camera lacked many of the advanced features that more seasoned amateurs and professionals required, but it was a harbinger of the future as it included a pronounced, built-in grip as well as an integrated TTL Flash

Through-the-lens metering

Through-the-lens metering is a photographic term describing a feature of cameras capable of measuring light levels in a scene through their taking lenses, as opposed to a separate metering window...

 that is now commonplace on all but the most high-end SLR cameras.

By the 1990s, the F-401 was part of a lineup of autofocus consumer SLRs that included the more expensive Nikon F-601 and Nikon F-801.

External links

• F401 instruction manual