In praise of the FA

<p>Not much discussion of film cameras these days but I thought I would start the new years with some thoughts on one of Nikon's unappreciated achievements -- the FA.<br>

Last year I acquired a near mint FA locally for the princely sum of $60. That was when I did some research on the camera and discovered it was the most sophisticated manual focus camera Nikon ever made. I believe it is the only manual focus camera Nikon ever made with a Program exposure mode (using AIS lenses). Although it has a metal shutter, I think the FA is one of the quietest SLRs the company ever produced. Although is is considered an advanced amateur camera in most circles, it also has mirror lockup and an eyepiece blind.<br>

The FA joins an F, F2 and FM in my display case. All the models but the F represent cameras I always wanted to own but were too expensive when they first came out. (Wish I had kept my F4 but it helped finance my D300).<br>

I haven't used my FA much, only running a couple of rolls of black and white through it. But I love the feel of the camera. The only problem with mine is it is missing the accessory hand grip. I think the grip had a tendency to get lost if the owner removed it to put on a motor drive. It's unlikely that I'll ever sell the FA or any of my other film Nikons, even though I seldom use them. They bring back fond memories of a earlier era in photography.</p>

 

<p>Hello Wayne,<br>

congratulations on your "new" FA. The Nikon FG and the F-301/N2000 were two other manual focus models from Nikon with "P" mode.<br>

Christoph</p>

<p>The FA is a very nice camera, but it was actually Nikon's second Program mode model. The FG, introduced in 1982, was the first, followed by the FA a year later. Since Nikon tends to be conservative on new features, it is not surprising that other companies had Program mode first: the Canon A-1 (1978) was the very first to offer Program mode, and the Minolta X-700 (1981) also predated the FG.</p>

<p>The most significant innovation in the FA was matrix metering, or as Nikon originally called it, "Automatic Multi-Pattern" (AMP) metering. This can be seen as an extension of Minolta's earlier Contrast Light Compensation (CLC) metering (first introduced, I think, on the SR-T 101 of 1966), which calculated exposure based on two segments, with one CdS sensor above the center of the frame, and one below. The 17-year gap between the SR-T 101 and the Nikon FA leads me to wonder if Nikon had been waiting for a patent to expire. Canon introduced its own multi-segment metering, which they call "evaluative metering", with the EOS 650 in 1987.</p>

<p>I enjoyed mine (had two of them), they never failed though a rumour of unreliability can be heard on photo.net and other sites. I did not particularly like that the exposure chosen by the camera is hard to change. Remember to cover the finder eyepiece with the shutter if the camera is left on a tripod, otherwise light entering the finder will reach the meter and can lead to severe underexposure.</p>

<p>Had I known that Nikon would release the FA in 1983, I would not have asked for an F3 as my high school graduation present in 1982 and would not have shot with two FM2 cameras for more than 18 years; an FA would have been a much better fit for me. I finally traded the FM2s for two FA around 2000 - but the cameras didn't see much use once I added a couple of F4 cameras to my outfit - the best "manual focus" camera Nikon ever produced.</p>

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<p>The 17-year gap between the SR-T 101 and the Nikon FA leads me to wonder if Nikon had been waiting for a patent to expire.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I think it has a lot more to do with having enough processing power available to do it right. Not to diss what Minolta did, but there's only so much you can do with a couple of log amps.</p>

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<p>The FA joins an F, F2 and FM in my display case.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The FM is probably the most photogenic of the FSLRS. Mine comes out every now and then to be used as a prop. A lot of people, especially teens, like to hold the "retro" camera. Some try to figure how to turn the display on...<br>

I liked my FA. It was an excellent performer, and it continued Nikon's trend of musical names...</p>

<ul>

<li>Nikon - I've got a Nikon camera. I love to take a photograph. (Simon and Garfunkle)</li>

<li>FM - FM. No static at all! (Steely Dan)</li>

<li>FA - Do, a dear, a female dear. Re, a drop of golden sun. Me, a name I call myself. Fa, a long, long way to run. (Julie Andrews)</li>

</ul>

<p>I also have the FA, an almost unused backup for the F3. I think it`s something like the "misunderstood" camera, the always "ostratized"... the few times I left the F3 in favour of another camera I finally took the FM2, the F4, even the FG; don`t ask me why.<br /> I have read many times look down on comments simply because it has a plastic pentaprism housing.</p>

<p>The reason for the FA's unpopularity was that it was the first of Nikon's cameras to use an ultra-thin shutter curtain with a pressed honeycomb strengthening pattern. This shutter proved unreliable and many cameras were returned or simply abandoned when the shutter developed a fault. I've never been able to find out for sure if it was the shutter curtains or the release solenoids that were the weak link. Whatever it was, I now have a mint-looking FA that fires its shutter correctly only when held upside down!</p>

<p>Later releases of the FA were fitted with a non-honeycomb patterned shutter, which was apparently much more reliable. However many people were the victims of the unreliable shutter and when word got round the FA became about as popular as a porcupine in a waterbed.</p>

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<p>the first of Nikon's cameras to use an ultra-thin shutter curtain with a pressed honeycomb strengthening pattern</p>

</blockquote>

<p>AFAIK, the first was the Nikon FM2 in 1982 (1/200s sync speed). The FA already benefited from the upgraded version (which it shared with the FE2 and later the FM2N; 1/250s sync speed). Another change took place around 1985, when the shutter could be replaced in parts, and then again in 1989 when the titanium shutter was replaced by an aluminum alloy version (at least in the FM2, not sure about the FA and FE2 (no longer in production?)).</p>

<p>I still have an FA and still like it. Have not used it much recently, so maybe it is time to check the battery, load a roll, and shoot away. It has never had any issues, and I still like the metering.</p>

<p>I have a very nice FA (honeycomb shutter) that works perfectly and still sees a reasonable amount of use (along with an F6, F5, FM3a and an FE2) although the shutter sound is quite different from the FE2/FM3a. Don't know if that is normal - whereas the other two cameras have quite a crisp sound there is a slight jangle to the FA that also lasts a fraction of a second longer than the other two at equivalent shutter speeds.</p>

<p>Another thumbs up for the FA. It performed excellently for me until I put my finger through the shutter. Essex Camera here in N.J. fixed it up. It was subsequently sold.<br>

I admit I thought I was cool back then with my Nikon SLR with a motor drive..........</p>

<p>I have 2 of them, a silver and a black. I used to travel a lot, to Africa, N & S. America, Europe, always with the two FA. Never had any problem, and I had hundreds of film, run through it.. I still had the black version with the MD-15, and occasionally used with B&W or Velvia film beside the digital bodies. I like the camera, it is a joy holding in may hand, the most beautiful Nikon film camera for me. I have all the other bodies, like the F, F2,F3,FM-FE2s, and the F5. </p>

<p>I recently got one of these for free in compensation for a bit of work I did, and I can't say anything against it, quite enjoyable. Coupled with an MD-15 it's an easy choice for me to take around with my Ai-S lenses (I don't have many!). I really wanted an FE2 over the FA, but after using the FA, I got to appreciate it as a sort of swiss army knife of Nikon's electronic non-pro bodies.</p>