Who did Nikon make the FM3A for?

[Rick Helmke]

<p>When it gets that cold around here I just stay inside. 8 degrees in Alabama Tuesday morning! As for the FM3A, I never got into that series of cameras much but don't doubt they are excellent. My preference has always been for the F2 and F4s. Lately I find myself getting incredibly bored with the entire digital process and have put batteries back into some of the film bodies. If it ever quits raining I'll put them to work.</p>

<p>Rick H.</p>

[Andy Murphy]

<p>When I bought the FM3A it was being promoted with Nikon's small lens, the 45 f2.8, as a carry around camera analogous to the Leica rangefinders which are small. I also liked the shutter. I have both the black and the silver copies and, curiously, the shutter dial on the black copy has shifted to one speed slower than on the read-out; that is, selecting 1/500 gets you 1/250, .... . I have not sent it in for repair as it still works fine for me but with the indicated constraint. My silver copy has survived in better shape than the black copy. And, the simple 45 mm lens works just fine on my D800.</p>

[Palouse]

<p>I started reading this and it rekindled the lust I had for the FM3A when it first came out. As a proud owner of a FM (which I still have, but rarely use) this was the camera I wanted. I was enjoying the post and how it brought back memories about those good old days, and then . . . .BAM, out of left field, in fact from out of the park, came this . . . .</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Another Daniel Bayer, I'm such hardcore photog post...I hate digital, but I loved hipstermatic and iphone, and shoot with the d800, but film is where it's at, look at my well worn fm3a blah blah blah. I carried my 4x5 with 15 lbs of film up the Himalayas. Oh, now, we learned that he bought his first camera mowing lawns and washing cars, at the tender age of 13...What are you trying to prove, Daniel? It's tiring, enough about your contradictory film/digital yaps, or how photography hardcore you are. Yes, the fm3a is a great film camera...</p>

</blockquote>

<p>WOW<br>

I'm stunned and saddened at the tone it carried and the innuendo that it contained. Sad day here. I think I'll go and curl up with my FM.</p>

[leslie_cheung]

<blockquote>

<p>Another Daniel Bayer, I'm such hardcore photog post...I hate digital, but I loved hipstermatic and iphone, and shoot with the d800, but film is where it's at, look at my well worn fm3a blah blah blah. I carried my 4x5 with 15 lbs of film up the Himalayas. Oh, now, we learned that he bought his first camera mowing lawns and washing cars, at the tender age of 13...What are you trying to prove, Daniel? It's tiring, enough about your contradictory film/digital yaps, or how photography hardcore you are. Yes, the fm3a is a great film camera...</p>

</blockquote>

<p> <br>

<a href="/photodb/user?user_id=413363">Nick Sanyal</a> , Jan 11, 2014; 11:59 a.m. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>I'm stunned and saddened at the tone it carried and the innuendo that it (above quote) contained. </p>

</blockquote>

<p>Nick, or anyone else unfamiliar with Daniel Bayer's repeatedly snarky digital isn't real photography remarks...Just check/seek out his posting history. Oh, yes...he also boast repeatedly, as stated earlier by Wouter, how professional he is and how much $$$ he makes off his photography, or, say, how he's opening his retail space above...Yeah, Daniel, you are so much better off than us lowly photo hobbyists... </p>

<p>BTW this is my last post here on PN, EVER!</p>

[john_r._fulton_jr.]

<p>I'm stunned and saddened that you rarely pick up a digital camera and see f-stops and shutter speeds the way of film cameras. It's one of the many things I like about my old Leica M8 digital camera. I can pick it up and set the shutterspeed and f-stop without menu drama. My D3200 provides a few more steps in manual mode.<br>

I don't "contribute" much in this forum but I always enjoy the discussions. They're lively and go off track at times but good discussions tend to do that.</p>

[john_r._fulton_jr.]

<p>Leslie - hey - you're an old-timer around here. I'd hate to see you go!! I've always enjoyed you conversations.</p>

[StuartMoxham]

<p>Reading this post it kind of makes me think I should have bought a FM3a last week instead of an M3. I did pickup a plain prism black F a couple of weeks ago though. Still if the M3 doesn't work out I can always sell it and get the FM3a. </p>

<p> Personally I'm happy that Daniel reminds the world that film still exists and is still a viable alternative to digital. Are digital only shooters really so thin skinned and insecure that they can't take a bit of ribbing, really they are only cameras, I mean come on there is a whole industry based on making digital look like old film. Me, I'm happy with both mediums I often try to make my digital shots look like B&W film and I've got no problem if somebody would say I m faking it.</p>

[donbright]

<p>It's clear that there are people here that want us to want the camera's they want. If you don't have, or want the camera they like or have, how could you? Camera snobs! Big time! Nothing to do with Photography. So much so to bring racist overtones to the forum? Who's running this place? Who's business is it what camera I use, or like? If the guy likes, and takes time out to celebrate his FM3a so be it. So What? Now you got to be asian to contribute here? What started out as an innocent commentary on a great effort, the FM3a, from an icon camera manufacturer has turned into a real sick scene. I'll have to do some soul searching myself regarding this Nikon forum, and its the Nikon forum, not P.Net., thats the problem.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>Are digital only shooters really so thin skinned and insecure that they can't take a bit of ribbing,</p>

</blockquote>

<p><br /> The problem with these "real photography" posts is not with "digital shooters," it's that those types of comments are incredibly off-putting to new users who come looking for help. A first time camera shooter with a new camera they got for Christmas is going to read this and quickly think they are in the wrong place. Eventually that mentality makes the forums becomes a bunch of old guys and a few hipsters and people who want to argue. If a poster was really trying to be helpful, the "real photography" comments wouldn't show up.<br /> <br /> It's pretty clear that the "real photography" comments are intended to be divisive rather than helpful.</p>

[Gup]

<blockquote>

<p>I always see something I want to make a real photograph of when I am making the digital ones.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I read this with nostalgia in my heart. No animosity at all. <br>

Unlike Daniel, I don't have the resolve to develop my own work, never have, and the lab I used professionally for over 25 years no longer does either. I was dragged kicking and screaming into this digital era and gave up my F5 and Hasselblad system for a new D2x almost 10 years ago now. I still enjoy the process of shooting the image but often resent the time spent finishing the NEF in PS afterward (jpegs are not an option). My daughters prefer my old film bodies to the digital SLRs I purchased for them when they required them for school and I admire them for it. <br>

I don't have an Fm3a but I can fully appreciate the joy Daniel and the rest of you share for a machine that nears perfection. Living where winter is a 5 month reality I always miss the mechanical stability of a manual SLR or Hasselblad body while working in sub-zero temps to the point where I just don't take my rig with me anymore when it's cold, opting instead for a tiny Canon P&S in an inside pocket in case I 'see' something and hope it's not moving ;)<br>

I also take exception to members carrying grudges from thread to thread and wish some could learn to resist the urge to vent. I can go into the real world for that. </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Sorry to see another thread dragging down into the mud.</p>

[sky_ryder]

You are a very sad person. I'm glad to see you gone. Just show some integrity and keep your promise.

[sky_ryder]

<p>Sorry to see another thread dragging down into the mud.</p>

 

I think I've got this reply thing worked out. My previous got mis-located under a totally innocent contributor who, to add to the confusion, uses a somewhat similar member name <smile> No offence.

[jose_angel]

Does it makes sense this new system that refloat "vintage" posts like this?

Sincerely, the old one seem way more pedagogical to me.

[Andrew Garrard]

I thought this thread looked familiar. And I was about to comment on how I quite liked the idea of getting an FM3a (as well as, absolutely not instead of, my D810)... You can sort threads by start time instead of latest post, but it does seem to go back to latest update whenever you jump back to the forum menu. That should probably be fixed, by storing the sort order preference in a cookie.

[dan_brown4]

It's like deja vu all over again.

[rossb]

I bouhgt a Nikon FM3A one time and was excited to get it. The door was kind of floppy and I thought I would return it and then buy it again. So I sent it back and while waiting for the refund Nikon announced that they would discontinue the camera and BHPhoto immediately sold out. Anyway I never bought one. Currently I shoot a Nikon FM2n and plan to keep using it.

[Richard Williams]

Thread necromancy is a thing here now? To add to the controversy, I considered buying the FM3a when it came out, but was completely put off by the most irritating feature of the FM/FE series, retained in this model. Switching on the meter involves pulling out the film advance lever which, as a left-eyed photographer, neatly pokes me in the eye. Was everyone on the development team right-eyed? I don't see the advantage of this design, except perhaps to prevent battery drain (for which there are other solutions). The F3 doesn't work this way!

[Dieter Schaefer]

Switching on the meter involves pulling out the film advance lever which, as a left-eyed photographer, neatly pokes me in the eye.

I started my photographic journey with an FM, later added two FM2 bodies. All needed to be fitted with a motor drive to eliminate the need to have the film advance lever pulled out (there was no way to actually advance the film when the camera was up at the eye for a left-eyed shooter). Another was the fact that with the grip the camera handled a lot better.<br><br>When my wife purchased the F100 in 1999, I realized how annoyingly loud the FM/FM2 actually was (even without the motor drive (which must have been capable of waking the dead)); at that moment, their days with me were definitely numbered. To their credit, none of them ever failed on me. Neither did any of those that came later though.

[JDMvW]

Too bad. I speak as a still-Nikonista-but-only-in-film.

 

 

 

 

On a matter of form, in the old interface there were places where if you wanted more than one line in between, you had to hit the return more than once.

 

 

 

That seems to have been doubled down,

so if you want things spaced out vertically, keep hammering away on the CR.

 

 

 

 

Now I find that only seems to work, before it makes it to the page, it gets squashed again... This needs to be fixed

[iris_indigo]

Certainly not for me!

[denny_rane]

Thread necromancy is a thing here now? To add to the controversy, I considered buying the FM3a when it came out, but was completely put off by the most irritating feature of the FM/FE series, retained in this model. Switching on the meter involves pulling out the film advance lever which, as a left-eyed photographer, neatly pokes me in the eye. Was everyone on the development team right-eyed? I don't see the advantage of this design, except perhaps to prevent battery drain (for which there are other solutions). The F3 doesn't work this way!

The F2 works the same way.

What is Bad/Different about the FM is it will not fire unless the lever is pulled out.

I do not need my meter to stay on, so the lever can close....... but needing it out, to shoot, has always baffled me. Why did Nikon think THAT Was a good idea.?

[rossb]

I can see that being left eye dominate would probably motivate a person to purchase a different camera. I am right eye dominate and I like the lever the way it is. When I have the camera up to my eye my thumb is placed between the lever and camera body and when I fire I am in an excellent position to wind and fire again if I should wish to do that. I have the Nikon FM2n but the film wind lever is the same method as being discussed.

[Richard Williams]

I can understand why right-eyed shooters like a standoff position for the lever. My Leica also has this, but rather sensibly it isn't connected to the meter or the shutter, so I don't have to use it. As Dieter notes, autowind solves the problem, though there are still some design features that aren't ideal for lefties on more recent bodies, like the positioning of the AF point selector on some of the smaller cameras, encouraging you to stick your thumb in your eye. This was one reason/excuse for me buying the F100 rather than the F80.

[donbright]

Wow I had forgot about this thread and just went through it 3 years later to be reminded over the emotion in it, including mine. Anyway, the FM3a is a great camera. To those that don't know, although the FM3a wasn't Nikons last film camera it was the last camera that evoked emotion within the Nikon Company among its engineers with the knowledge that the digital revolution was a writing on the wall, they devoted themselves in the creation of the FM3a with a purpose to develop a precision devise of engineering for the ages. It was at the time of the FM3a's development, the personnel in charge of molding the Brass top and bottom covers, had to step aside and bring in the old timers to get it right. Apparently, bending brass at the thickness required for the top cover required a certain technique to avoid tearing and cracking the Brass. These men were in and out of retirement for that purpose.

Love the FM3a for its no nonsense function and appeal, size, weight and feel, unobtrusive and ease of use. Also the knowing the effort that went into the design and making of this camera. Creating a mechanical shutter that could also be used fully automatic took some doing according to the engineers. Its all good stuff.