<p>The FA was, and is magic, even by today's standards. Its 'S' mode is unsurpassed. <br /> I believe very few people, even back then, understood the beautiful simplicity of operating this camera. (One must understand, though, that the P mode really is nothing special. Just an ordinary P mode, with two different automatic priorities depending on whether your lens was shorter than 135mm, or 135 and up)<br /> Matrix metering was a breakthrough though. And what the S mode does on the FA, no modern camera even today manages to accomplish:<br>
<br /> Set the aperture you wish to use, to get the shallow depth of field you want - say f/2,8. Set the shutter speed you wish to use if there is enough light - say 1/125 s. The camera will respect these settings, if possible.<br /> Now, if the light is much brighter, it will automatically and gradually close down the aperture, just like any modern camera would do in S mode. But there is a big difference: The FA allows you to start by selecting the largest aperture you want to use. For example, with a lens like an 50mm f/1,2, you may wish to avoid the veiling flare and use it from f/2. Or you may want a smaller aperture to get a deep field of view. With the FA you can do just that, even in S mode. Brilliant! As far as I know, no other camera offers this flexibility.<br>
<br /> Suppose there is now not enough light. The aperture cannot open more than to the f/stop you have chosen. In fact, you may have entered a dark surrounding and been clever enough to set it to wide open, but whatever the maximum aperture set, because you are in S mode, you would normally get an underexposed picture. Again, the FA helps you out; it automatically disregards your chosen 1/125 s and gradually selects a longer shutter speed for you.<br /> Both settings are displayed in the viewfinder, by the way.<br>
<br /> Today, with the clever latest versions of auto-ISO in my D600 and later bodies, the camera again takes care of the settings for me but in fact, the FA did almost that already in 1983. Long before you could even dream of adjusting ISO in-camera.<br /> By the way, I have owned 3 different FA and never experienced any problem with any of them, in any single way. Also, I have never heard rumours of any quality problems. Two minuscule SR44 batteries last a couple of years. It is robust, beautiful, light, silent and unobtrusive - I still love this camera! Get one if you can!<br /> Cheers, Gabriel</p>
