(assisted by Ron Volmershausen and John Laughlin)

The Nikon F3 bodies were produced from March 1980 till October 2000;

the Nikon F3HP was produced since March 1982;

the Nikon F3/T (titanium-champagne) since December 1982;

the Nikon F3/T black since September 1984;

the Nikon F3AF and the Nikon F3P since April 1983;

the Nikon F3Limited since October 1993

If you take off the back door you'll see a production code (above 00AF); the first two digits may refer to the year and month. Here 0 for October and the 0 for 1980.

The first digit means: 1 = Jan.; 2 = Febr.; 3 = March; 4 = April; 5 = May; 6 = June; 7 = July; 8 = Aug.; 9 = Sept.; O = Oct.; N = Nov.; D = Dec.

the second digit means: 0 = 1980/1990/2000; 1 = 1981/1991/2001; etc. etc. The meaning of the two letters is (yet) unknown.