Flash for Nikon FM2n?

James-EG · Jul 26, 2014

It's been a long time since I last posted in this forum due to school work but now the summer's come around I have some more time to put towards photography, in particular film. For the last year or so I used a Pentax K1000 given to me by my grandfather, it got me through my Photography AS however I had always wanted a Nikon FM2n and this week after a couple of weeks of looking I finally found one on eBay and bought it, it really is amazing, not a mark on it, barely used and pretty much like new!

I haven't been able to get any lenses for it yet but that shouldn't take long, for now I just have a questions about flashes, I know the FM2 doesn't have TTL metering so which flash would be best for it? I don't want anything too big or costly so for now I've been looking at the SB-22s, does anyone have experience with that flash? Would it be a good one to use with the FM2?

Thanks,
James

Ricardo Miranda · Jul 26, 2014

Any flash that isn't exclusively TTL will work.
The SB-22 will do, provided you never use the TTL setting.

Kawaiithulhu · Jul 26, 2014

I have a follow-up question, while I'm decent at figuring out manual flash settings are there any flashes that also meter their own exposures if given a film rating to work with?

John_Nikon_F · Jul 26, 2014

^Most any flash unit with a metering cell will meter its own exposure. More modern cameras can do through-the-lens flash metering (aka TTL flash).

To the OP, the SB-22 works fine. That said, for about $40, you can pick up a decent SB-24, which can use diffusers, such as the Gary Fong Lightspheres and Westcott Micro Apollo softbox, etc. The SB-22/22s is much like the SB-15, where the flash tube assembly bounces inside the flash unit, instead of being on top of the flash unit and bounceable as a unit. It was mainly meant for the N4004 and was introduced with that camera. The SB-24, however, was introduced with the N8008 and was also used as a primary flash unit for the F4.

Here's an SB-24 on one of my previous FM2n's. Ignore my ugly mug...

-J

Chan Tran · Jul 26, 2014

You have plenty of choices. The SB-24 is very good. The Sb-22 is OK. Many others like Vivitar 283, 285 are also fine. Just about any old flashes are good. They will give you a couple or more auto aperture using the built in sensor. In fact it's the new flash for example SB-700 for example only gives you manual exposure.

j-dogg · Jul 27, 2014

Vivitar 285HV

Ricardo Miranda · Jul 27, 2014

Kawaiithulhu said:
I have a follow-up question, while I'm decent at figuring out manual flash settings are there any flashes that also meter their own exposures if given a film rating to work with?

Yes, it is called auto flash. Go and study how a Vivitar 283 works or any other auto flash. Don't confuse Auto flash with TTL auto as Nikon calls it.
The flash has a sensor that measures the reflected light and cuts the power when it senses enough light was given for a certain aperture.
You will see in many flash they have a slider with colour dots. These dots appear in the calculator on the back and tells you what aperture to use for a given ASA.
See: http://silverbased.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/3-Position-Auto-Flash.jpg
You can see this flash has 2 auto apertures and a Manual setting. The Manual will give you the full power of the flash. You can also see the sensor above the slider.

Ap507b · Jul 27, 2014

I use either a Nikon SB-15 or a SB-16 (depending on now much I want to carry) with my FM2. You said not too big which probably rules the SB-16 out, but it is a nice flash gun (bounce, swivel, decent GN & a secondary flash on the front that takes the shadows out when bouncing) & not that expensive these days. The good thing about both is that they have a dial on the back that tells you the range with a specific aperture for a particular film speed. Not sure if the SB-22 has this, but it is handy information to know.

James-EG · Jul 27, 2014

Thanks everyone who posted, lots of information so it is much appreciated. I'll do some research into the various flashes mentioned and hopefullymake a choice from there.

Kawaiithulhu · Jul 27, 2014

Ditto. I've almost never used a flash and really appreciate the extra answers.

Kirks518 · Jul 28, 2014

j-dogg said:
Vivitar 285HV

This. One of the best classic flashes out there. I think they still make it, or just (relatively recently stopped). It had about a 35-40 yr run IIRC.

Flash for Nikon FM2n?

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