In praise of Nikon FM/FE/1/2/3

[Alex_Es]

Yeah, great cameras. I have always wanted a FE. I hear the seductive call of the used camera shop.

 

What watch is that?

[Uhooru]

<p>A Leica III? That's like driving a Model A. Try a M7! </p>

[georges_pelpel]

<p>I purchased my first SLR while a junior in high school, a Miranda SE body that gave me trouble after a year or so (needed a new exposure sensor). Getting accessories such as bellows turned out to be difficult as supplies where really limited where I was living at the time, France.<br>

The Nikon FM was released during my first year of college. I brought the brochure home and couldn't get my mind out of it. I saved money and bought it a couple of months before leaving for a trip to Greece. I only had a couple lenses but it was love at first sight. The FM size felt fantastic, it followed on the footsteps of the Olympus OM line, smaller and lighter bodies.<br>

I added lenses and accessories over the years, including the MD-12 motor drive.</p>

<p>The FM was my first Nikon, I have never looked back since. I sold the FM and replaced it with a N90 in 1993.</p>

[marklcooper]

<p>I purchased my first camera, a silver FE, new in 1978. About 25 years later I purchased my second camera, a black FE, on eBay for my black and white film. I'm sad to say that since I purchased my D300 new in 2008 I've not used either FE. I still have a bunch of film and after reading threads such as this I keep telling myself to load some film and go shoot.</p>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>I've bought three Nikon FMs. The first two were both stolen from me. One in my apartment & one on a plane. The second on in the care of my mother-in-law while I carried my infant daughter. Ah well.<br>

The third one I bought a few years ago. It's mostly for sentimental reasons I have it. But I have it & I have film for it. This one I will keep. I've always had black ones. ;-)<br>

Extremely solid & sturdy cameras. Not giving this last one up willingly...</p>

[User_2000406]

<p>The first camera I bought was a Nikon FE back in 1982 after I got my first permanent job. I had to economize so I got the 50mm Series E lens to go with it; I was aghast over the cost of Nikkor lenses. After a couple of years of frustration over the single focal length, I extravagantly (I thought at the time) sprung for a Vivitar 28/2.8 and 70-210 "macro" (<strong>not</strong> the Series 1 version, but the crummy f/4.5-5.6 version) and used those for another couple of decades before bothering to upgrade.</p>

<p>Well, the camera was great and served me well for over 20 years before finally being put out to pasture. After having used an old Petri rangefinder with a dead meter for over ten years, the new SLR with a functioning and accurate meter was a definite step up. I loved the "match needle" display in the viewfinder, and due in part to its greater precision picked it over competing makes and models using LEDs. It was great being able to make exposure calls based on just how far the needle had gone towards the next shutter speed.</p>

<p>My FE was old 'reliable' and went on many backpacking, camping, and four-wheeling expeditions without complaint. My only regret (other than not getting better lenses) is that I found out the hard way towards the end that the prism housing can be bent inwards by the application of excessive pressure. I'm still unhappy with myself over having carelessly damaged 'my baby' even though it has not been used for several years now. When it was my only camera it did get a lot of use, the cumulative effect of which is shown by the visible wear on the shutter blades.</p>

<p>In retrospect this camera is a real classic.</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

Ironic that Leica came up, given the shared chassis of the Voigtlander Bessa R Leica clone and the FM10. (I notice Nikon USA *still* list the

FM10, though the F6 is truly scary money these days... though I guess not since the M7 came up.

 

Michael - sorry to veer off topic, but what's that Sony?

 

Good to hear the favourable reviews. I'm from the DSLR era, but still get tempted to pick line of these up. That said, lightness is debatable -

my Bessa is heavier (though smaller) than my Eos 500 because the latter is plastic and has a mirror finder, and for lightness an F75 is hard to

beat in the F mount. I still wish someone would make a camera the weight of the F75 but with the F5's feature set.

[MichaelChang]

<p>Andrew, that Sony is an early Mavica video still SLR camera used extensively during the first Gulf War. Pictured is the model MVC-5000 which has 2-CCDs for luminance and chrominance. There was also a 3-CCD model (MVC-7000).<br>

<a href="http://www.nikonweb.com/mvc5000/">http://www.nikonweb.com/mvc5000/</a></p>

<p>The lens is impressive. I've always wanted to hack one (I have two) to fit a modern digital SLR but haven't gotten around to it - yet.</p>

[Andrew Garrard]

Thanks, Michael. My photographic education continues!