I've been thinking about this lately. I own an F2 with DE-1 non-metered eyelevel prism. I've owned it for twenty years, and it's never missed a lick. I used to own an F3HP and have used FEs and FE2s before.
So anyway, I got to thinking that it would be nice to own once again a Nikon with a decent exposure meter, and maybe even an auto exposure mode. I can recall when I first bought my F3HP, I was somewhat leary about using it in aperture-priority mode, especially when shooting slides. But I was pleasantly surprised -- it always did a good job, exposure wise. And the FEs and FE2s I've used worked well in that regard as well.
But as I continued to think about this, I found that I've gotten stuck as to which would be the better camera for my purposes. I'm just an amateur, so I don't require the F3's ruggedness, and I don't really need its finder interchangeability either -- I already have that with my F2.
Both the F3 and the FE2 have TTL flash metering, motor options, and interchangeable focusing screens. The FE2, while perhaps not as robust as the F3, has a 1/250 flash sync and a top speed of 1/4000. The F3's is 1/80 and 1/2000 respectively, but it has an 80/20 metering pattern as opposed to the FE2's more traditional 60/40. And I prefer a tight metering pattern.
One big difference: the F3 can handle non-AI lenses, while the FE2 can't. But I have only one lens -- an old 55mm f/3.5 Micro -- that isn't AI or AI'd. So even that's not such a big deal.
Plus, just to make things more difficult, they both seem to sell for roughly the same price, when checking out places like fleabay and KEH.
Right now, I'm leaning toward the F3, mostly because of its 80/20 metering pattern, but I gotta admit that I really like the FE2's match-needle metering method.
So, I thought I'd toss this question out to members here because I'm thinking that you may have preferences and/or insights that haven't occurred to me yet, that could end up factoring into my purchasing decision.
So anyway, I got to thinking that it would be nice to own once again a Nikon with a decent exposure meter, and maybe even an auto exposure mode. I can recall when I first bought my F3HP, I was somewhat leary about using it in aperture-priority mode, especially when shooting slides. But I was pleasantly surprised -- it always did a good job, exposure wise. And the FEs and FE2s I've used worked well in that regard as well.
But as I continued to think about this, I found that I've gotten stuck as to which would be the better camera for my purposes. I'm just an amateur, so I don't require the F3's ruggedness, and I don't really need its finder interchangeability either -- I already have that with my F2.
Both the F3 and the FE2 have TTL flash metering, motor options, and interchangeable focusing screens. The FE2, while perhaps not as robust as the F3, has a 1/250 flash sync and a top speed of 1/4000. The F3's is 1/80 and 1/2000 respectively, but it has an 80/20 metering pattern as opposed to the FE2's more traditional 60/40. And I prefer a tight metering pattern.
One big difference: the F3 can handle non-AI lenses, while the FE2 can't. But I have only one lens -- an old 55mm f/3.5 Micro -- that isn't AI or AI'd. So even that's not such a big deal.
Plus, just to make things more difficult, they both seem to sell for roughly the same price, when checking out places like fleabay and KEH.
Right now, I'm leaning toward the F3, mostly because of its 80/20 metering pattern, but I gotta admit that I really like the FE2's match-needle metering method.
So, I thought I'd toss this question out to members here because I'm thinking that you may have preferences and/or insights that haven't occurred to me yet, that could end up factoring into my purchasing decision.