Nikon F2... A and AS

__Brian · Jul 4, 2019

I've used that ring on the FM before! The knurled ring on the FM was "intended" to make it easier to turn on the meter when using with the motor drive. I remember many FM owners running the MS-76 batteries dry because they forgot to turn the meter off when using the knurled ring. Probably why Nikon dropped it. The FM also has the distinction of using Gallium Arsenide Photocells. These cells have a better response to Visible light, do not have the IR response of SPD's. The Silicon cells required the IR blocking filter to be used for accurate metering, GaAS did not. Not many cameras used them.

CMoore · Jul 4, 2019

__Brian said:
I've used that ring on the FM before! The knurled ring on the FM was "intended" to make it easier to turn on the meter when using with the motor drive. I remember many FM owners running the MS-76 batteries dry because they forgot to turn the meter off when using the knurled ring. Probably why Nikon dropped it. The FM also has the distinction of using Gallium Arsenide Photocells. These cells have a better response to Visible light, do not have the IR response of SPD's. The Silicon cells required the IR blocking filter to be used for accurate metering, GaAS did not. Not many cameras used them.

With the FM... FM2... FM2n....... are there any big advantages that one of these has over the other two.?
I am not sure shutter sync speed is such a huge thing for me.
Thank You

Pieter12 · Jul 4, 2019

The FM3a is the hot one, followed by the FM2n...https://www.cameraquest.com/nikonslr.htm

__Brian · Jul 4, 2019

The FM has a top shutter speed of 1/1000th; the FM2 and FM2n have 1/4000th.
The FM has a flip-up Ai coupling so that it can be used with Non-Ai lenses in stop-down metering mode.
The FM tends to cost much less these days- I picked up a nice one for $50, black paint.

Chan Tran · Jul 4, 2019

__Brian said:
The DP-3 finder, non-Ai, used SPD's and LEDs. The older DP-2 used CDS cells. Nikon discontinued the DP-2 once the DP-3 was announced, and filled F2S orders with the F2SB.
The DP-3 came out before the DP-12.

Ai lenses were introduced with Ai cameras. This was a system switch-over. The Non-Ai versions of lenses were discontinued when the Ai system was introduces, but a large inventory of some lenses remained. It was cheaper to buy a non-Ai version of some lenses and have it converted by Nikon to Ai, rather than buy the Ai version of the lens.

Nikon had to keep up with the Canon FD mount, which has auto-indexing. Canon moved from the FL mount, which required stop-down metering. Manually-indexed Nikon lenses were easier to use than Canon FL mount lenses. The FD mount was a one-up on manually indexed lenses.

Also the DP-11 introduced at the same time as the DP-12 has CdS cell. I think more people bought the DP-11 than DP-12 although I bought the F2AS which as the DP-12 back then.

__Brian · Jul 4, 2019

The F2AS was ~$100 more than the F2A. I bought the F2A new, in 1978. Picked up a used F2AS and F2SB a few years later.

Dennis-B · Jul 4, 2019

CMoore said:
With the FM... FM2... FM2n....... are there any big advantages that one of these has over the other two.?
I am not sure shutter sync speed is such a huge thing for me.
Thank You

The FM2 has titanium shutter blades, and the FM2n starting out with the same shutter blades, was later switched to ones of aluminum (same as the N8008). I don't know if the serial number area is known, though for the changeover. The FM2n can also use the same bright screens as the FE and FA.

__Brian · Jul 4, 2019

The FM2, FM2n, and FE2 use different screens from the FE. The newer screens are brighter, and the exposure meter is calibrated for them. I used FE2 screens in my FE, but used the exposure compensation dial to correct the difference.

swchris · Jul 4, 2019

Theo Sulphate said:
For simplicity, my manual focus Nikons are placed into two camps: the bodies with which I use only pre-AI (F, F2, FT2, EM) .....

The EM doesn't really fit in here. I guess you meant the (Nikkormat) EL?

regards,
chris

Theo Sulphate · Jul 4, 2019

swchris said:
The EM doesn't really fit in here. I guess you meant the (Nikkormat) EL?
...

Oops. Yes, Nikkormat EL.

I'm very fond of the EL's finder and display - which evolved into that used by the FE2 and FM3a. The weak point of the EL (and FT2) is the ring resistor for metering , which wears ever so slightly as the aperture is changed.

Nikon F2... A and AS

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