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The beauty of swinging needle will be appreciated when you shoot slide films.
I'll take the slightly contrarian position and suggest the FA. Why? Because while aperture priority is useful, so is shutter priority when shooting moving subjects, or dimly lit scenes. I bought mine years ago and it works beautifully.
The other reason, my brain is more numerate than spacial. I hate cameras like the FE2 that have a swinging needle that arcs through a list of shutter speeds, because my brain can't process the value indicated by a long needle nearly as fast or well as my brain can process a numeric readout of shutter or aperture values. But then that is the same as the FM3a, so you may like that setup.
Hello everybody
I recently dropped my FM3A and received wonderful help in this thread. It will cost quite a bit to repair it and as I'm therefore looking for a replacement Nikon, I thought I'd ask for your thoughts.
Truth be told I've pretty much only used the FM3A in Aperture priority, and it has always worked wonderfully well during the years I've had it. Before I bought it I eyed the FA but always liked the idea of a manual and electronic body. When a reasonably-priced FM3A appeared I therefore bought it.
But as now find myself in a situation to consider the issue with an open mind I'm not sure what I would choose. I'm not per se bothered by an electronic camera and actually have several. I know it might be difficult to impossible to have them repaired these days, but that is also true with respect to non-electronic film bodies in many cases.
So if the only "guiding principle" is that the replacement should have aperture priority, which would you choose and why? Unless I'm mistaken the options are pretty much the FE, FE2, FA and FM3A so I'd be very curious to know how you would approach this.
Thank you kindly in advance
Philip
Correct. According to Wikipedia, "The EM has no full manual exposure mode capability, but instead was intended to be used by inexperienced photographers who could not easily master the intricacies of shutter speeds and f-stops."You missed the EM which only has aperture priority.
I suggest trying a plain Nikon FE in good condition. Mine always gives perfect exposure, and all I'm missing is AF. probablt cheaper than repairing yours
The beauty of swinging needle will be appreciated when you shoot slide films.
how is that suppoed to work? I've shot plenty of slide film, and never wanted a swinging needle.
@Cholentpot me2. I picked up a FE as a F3 backup and I end up using it about 3x more than the F3 for some reason. It’s a really comfortable and productive camera.
You get the MD with the handgrip and it's even better. The MDs are a bit glitchy though, sometimes it needs a firm rap to get it going again.
I've used the F3 for about 10 years, I find it to be oddly balanced sometimes. It likes to tilt forward.
Totally agree. Both of mine have MDs… worth their weight even if never using for continuous shooting. The MD 11/12 are a bit finicky to synchronize when attaching yet reliable in general. Glitches in the FE body wind mechanism is the only MD-related failure I’ve experienced. The real glitchy situation is with MD-11 as it will drain all batteries if left in the ON state. Apparently that was corrected in MD-12.
The MD-4 definitely powers the F3 meter, by design. The MD-11/12 should not. But I don't recall ever trying the FE without a battery that so if that's what you mean I will be pleasantly surprised.Adding a full metal grip and handle and 8 AA batteries does make it heavy but it's nicely balanced. For some reason my MD will power the meter, I don't think it's supposed to do that.
how is that suppoed to work? I've shot plenty of slide film, and never wanted a swinging needle.
The MD-4 definitely powers the F3 meter, by design. The MD-11/12 should not. But I don't recall ever trying the FE without a battery that so if that's what you mean I will be pleasantly surprised.
That is why there is a camera for every shooter and you don't have to follow anyone. As for me I like the swinging needle when I shoot slides.
Here is the VF display of Nikon FA and FE2 side by side. With the swinging needle I already know exactly how many stops I am over/under when I aim the lens to the subject (i.e. half stop, third stop or even smaller than that because swinging needle is stepless). I can already tell which shutter speed I should use right at that moment VS where I have to scroll up/down the buttons to get that +and- together on FA display. And I would knot know how much I am over/under with that +/- sign. Using needle is even easier for me when I have to measure aggregate values in a high contrast situation.
Also the Nikon FA meter only works when film counter reaches '1' so you can't get more than 38 exposures. I prefer to shoot 39 exposures with slide film.
View attachment 377105
Yes, the F-3P fired at set speeds from 0 count.
The OP question is one I've well considered. When I was about to switch systems I gave everything a try. I had a photo editor that preferred the FE2, she was smaller in frame and preferred the smaller size and lighter overall weight. This was in the era where many news shooters hadn't switched to AF. I ended up getting an FM-2n for the 1/250 flash as a 2nd body to the F3 HP I mostly used. The FM2 size was the same as the FE2 and although I personally wasn't of the 'needle' persuasion I understood the older generations that liked the use of that type of exposure determination. For me, I was coming off the OM-3 and OM-4 and wanted a more 'digital' (HA) exposure consistency to go with the F3HP.
As a travel camera without the motor the FM2/FE2 models are an ideal size, On paper it doesn't seem like much difference to an F3 or F4 but in hand it does, and some will prefer that size. The original FM and FE are marginally smaller but a tiny amount. I've had better luck with the FM's rather than the FE's (original), I've had 5-7 FE's that were bricked for no apparent reason, I think and it's been my experience that the FE2 was much more durable.
To the OP, eventually getting another FM3a might be the only solution, and so maybe trying a few others in the same size range as a back up and 'opinion forming', there are some deals to be had and there are already some great suggestions. I know I recently very much appreciated traveling with an AF F100 with lightweight fast AF lenses.
If you have AIS lens then why not a F4, many quip that it is the best manual focus camera Nikon made. If not the F3 which seem to holding. BTW I have a F4 which I use with AI and non AI lens, the focus confirmation features works well.
Hello everybody
I recently dropped my FM3A and received wonderful help in this thread. It will cost quite a bit to repair it and as I'm therefore looking for a replacement Nikon, I thought I'd ask for your thoughts.
Truth be told I've pretty much only used the FM3A in Aperture priority, and it has always worked wonderfully well during the years I've had it. Before I bought it I eyed the FA but always liked the idea of a manual and electronic body. When a reasonably-priced FM3A appeared I therefore bought it.
But as now find myself in a situation to consider the issue with an open mind I'm not sure what I would choose. I'm not per se bothered by an electronic camera and actually have several. I know it might be difficult to impossible to have them repaired these days, but that is also true with respect to non-electronic film bodies in many cases.
So if the only "guiding principle" is that the replacement should have aperture priority, which would you choose and why? Unless I'm mistaken the options are pretty much the FE, FE2, FA and FM3A so I'd be very curious to know how you would approach this.
Thank you kindly in advance
Philip
Hello everybody
I recently dropped my FM3A and received wonderful help in this thread. It will cost quite a bit to repair it and as I'm therefore looking for a replacement Nikon, I thought I'd ask for your thoughts.
As I noted in an earlier reply, the 3 Nikon EL variations and the FE don't have this feature - partly why I prefer these over my FE2.All Nikons with aperture priority capability are afflicted by this. I understand this is possibly corrected in the F3P?
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