Replacement for a nikon fm2n

[bob100684]

My old Fm2 took a plunge into some water and according to the repair shop is FUBAR. So I'm thinking of either another FM2 or theres a local shop with an Fe2 for a decent price. Which one do you recomend?

 

[Glenn Mathison]

I've owned an FM (Stolen) and now have an FE2. Not much difference in my mind except you get the option of auto exposure with the fE2. I also find I prefer the needle metering over leds. More analogue maybe

Also I think the FE2 is better for those rare cases when my wife wants to use the camera as she knows nothing about exposure so the auto mode is helpful in that regard.

ymmv.

Glenn

 

[HerrBremerhaven]

The FM and FE, or FE-2 and FM-2 are sort of interchangeable in usage. The FM3A is a more modern version, though could almost be called and FE-3. I think any of these are good choices. The red LEDs are good under low light conditions in which the match needle might be tough to see, though the aperture priority works quite well in low light.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat

 

[Peter Black]

I was looking for either of these cameras a short while ago and bought the FE2 at a fair price. I had wanted the FM2n purely on the basis that there wouldn't be any future problem with electronics and I could always use a handheld meter if the internal one gave up, but you can waste a lot of time and effort waiting for the "right" one. If it is your only camera, buy the FE2 and carry on shooting with confidence, but don't give up control to its tiny electronic brain!

 

[Dan Fromm]

Not to be contrary or anything, but for years I got by with an FM2n and an FG. When the time came to replace the FG, I got a used N8008S. Not as small or quite as light as the FM2n, but so far no less good and -- important for me -- at the time I bought it less expensive from KEH than a used FM2n. If I'd been willing to spend the money I'd have got a used FM3A. I normally use the N8008S on manual.

 

[PhotoJim]

The FE2 is easier to use (due to aperture priority metering, which makes photographing in rapidly changing light a lot easier), but is electronic so it depends on batteries. The shutter is exceptionally accurate.

The FM2n will work without batteries, but has a less accurate shutter because it is mechanically timed. It will work in almost any weather. However, it is a little slower to use in changing light.

The FE2 uses a needle for metering and shutter speed indication. The FM2n uses an LED display for metering although it still has a shutter speed display in the viewfinder (it's mechanical but works fine).

I like both, but although I would have told you even recently that I like the FM2n a lot better, I use my FE bodies a lot more than my FM2n even though they are older and have a narrower shutter speed range. (The FE2 has the same shutter speed range, even a little longer due to the multi-second speeds that it has.)

 

[Paul Sorensen]

I am a huge FE2 fan. I like the FM series, but I really like the aperture priority automatic. The camera is well built and I believe it is as rugged as the FM. Of course, if your batteries die, you are only able to shoot at 1/125, I think, but at least you have that one speed. Of course, the appropriate batteries are almost free on eBay anymore, so you can always have a card of ten in your bag and never have to worry about batteries.

 

[k_jupiter]

I can't bad mouth the FE2, it's a great camera. But I am working on year 20 of use and abuse of my FM2. Once I figured out to superglue the threads on the rewind knob, nothing has ever happened to that camera. It works. Never goes through batteries, never fails. Shutter is accurate enough for me, and the film advance is still as consitant as when new.

Best camera I have ever owned.

tim in san jose

 

[DKT]

same here. I bought my FM2 new when it came out, and I'm on a second shutter. I also have an FM that I've used for over 20 years. I had an MD11 drive, that has long given up the ghost though. When I started working as a photographer, that's what I used. FMs, and then FM2s and then occasionally a FE/FE2, but I always prefered the FMs. Some ten years ago, an FE2 we use at work, died and it was a PIA to get fixed because of a lack of parts.

I still have a soft spot for the FMs, even though professionally, I had to move on to more elaborate Nikon bodies. The only thing that happened to my FM2, besides me wearing out the shutter from some heavy use, was that early on the double exposure lever/spring malfunctioned--the wind knob loosened up and the whole thing fell out as I was covering an event for a paper I worked for. I went into a nearby drugstore and bought a tube of krazy glue and glued the double exposure lever back in place....never found the spring though. doesn't matter...I shoot editorial, not fine art (joke).

btw---I killed an FE2 on the job once. loading film--brushed the leader the wrong way across the shutter and bent a leaf. the whole thing packed up. nikon USA fixed it for free at a short course though....

 

[bob100684]

I thought the fm2 and fe2 shared a shutter?

 

[DKT]

they do have the same shutter. These are two separate cameras--one I punched a hole in the shutter by accident, the other developed a hairline crack in the lens mount that you couldn't really see. a lens wouldn't seat properly--it could move if you handheld the camera, so it resulted in a lot of out of focus images and was particulary hard to track down, since on a tripod the images were tack sharp. The camera had been out production by the time this happened, with those parts not available anymore, so that was the problem.