Nikon FM2 as good as they say?

[sniper x]

I may be getting lucky on a deal on an FM2 tomorrow. I have been buying some Canon stuff from a friend, and he has offered me a super nice FM2 chrome body with a 28mm 2.8 lens for $40.00. I am thinking I should jump on this even though I am not a Nikon shooter.....YET! I have been looking for an F3, but feel I better jump on this if it is that good a deal from what I have seen on the net. Well all you Nikon guys! ?

 

[jcdeboever]

I may be getting lucky on a deal on an FM2 tomorrow. I have been buying some Canon stuff from a friend, and he has offered me a super nice FM2 chrome body with a 28mm 2.8 lens for $40.00. I am thinking I should jump on this even though I am not a Nikon shooter.....YET! I have been looking for an F3, but feel I better jump on this if it is that good a deal from what I have seen on the net. Well all you Nikon guys! ?

I have a FM and it is a nice, solid camera. The 28mm is worth more than what your paying for the package. Good deal. Hopefully the shutter speeds are pretty accurate, and mirror bumper and seals in good shape. I'd rather have a F3 for the viewfinder but I also have a F photomic. I would trade them in for an F3 if I could find one at a reasonable price. I have been using my Pentax P30T and SP1000 more lately. I go back and forth, the FM /50 1.8 AIS picture quality is slightly better than the P30T / 50 f2. Hard to beat to image quality on the SP1000 with Takumar 200 F3.5.

 

[480sparky]

As long as it doesn't have any issues. Most older film cameras have issues with accurate shutter speeds, especially with faster ones.

 

[Designer]

For that kind of money, get it and check it out. If the shutter speed is inaccurate, sometimes simply exercising it will help. It might not ever be completely accurate again, so some testing will inform you how to compensate for a slow shutter, for instance.

Another possible issue could be light leakage around the back seal. Those can generally be replaced yourself if you can find the correct seal.

 

[sniper x]

I found a light seal kit for ti and will do that as well as a CLA so we shall see! It looks brand new. I should pick it up today. Shoot, for 40 dollars, the lens is worth more than that.

 

[Gary A.]

Yep, a fair deal for the lens alone. I had an original FM, it was a solid little camera. I've been looking for a straight 'F' ... but a F3 would be nice.

 

[Derrel]

FM-2 is a good, solid-performing Nikon film cam. I own one, have had it since '89. For $40, sure, why not. It's a nice size and weight, has MD-11 or MD-12 compatibility, high flash speed synch (1/200 X-synch speed on first versions, 1/250 X-synch speed on the FM-2(n) iteration).

I am old enough that I grew up seeing it written as X-synch....with an h!

The FM-2 was the camera that introduced the 1/4000 second shutter speed to the consumer camera world. Previously, 1/2000 was a pro-camera-only speed, and rare. MOST 35mm SLR shutters topped out at 1/1000 in those days. Nikon ran ads that showed 1/4000 could "stop a bullet in mid-air". Of course, it was a slow-speed .38 handgun bullet, moving at only 385 fps. Yet still...a bullet!

I never have woprried about shutter speed issues on these cameras...just fine-tune the ASA dial...if the top speeds are slow, use a 1/3 or 2/3EV higher ASA dial setting. Problem solved. On color negative film...a slow shutter is NOT a problem; some over-exposure of a 60/40 CW Nikon metering suggested exposure will ensure good shadow detail. In practical terms, shutter speed errors are usually not a big deal, but for speed-tester-equipped folks, it is interesting to see what they get time-wise.

Expect that the highest speeds will be slower than marked.

 

[fmw]

The FM2 was the last of the mechanical shutter cameras. It was the last Nikon body I sold when I moved to digital. The F2 was last one of the "pro" series cameras to have one. I loved the F3 despite the electronic shutter. I think it may have been the best of the 35mm Nikons. F4 started the autofocus models and it was a clunker.

 

[Derrel]

Yes, the F3 was one of the best 35mm Nikons ever made. It was ****the**** longest continuosly-sold Nikon camera of all time. I beleive it was in the lineup for 26 years. I LOVED the F3Hp, the body that had the High Eyepoint viewfinder; the HP finder had loooong eye relief, like 26mm, so the entire viewfinder image area was easily seen while wearing eyeglasses; for that one, single reason, I shot the F3HP from the mid-1980's until 2001, when I bought a Nikon D1.

The FM-2's shutter is a honeycomb-pattern reinforced titanium-curtained shutter. it was a solid performer.

The one,minor nit against the FE-2 and FM-2: both lack the flip-up Ai-coupling tab feature that allows pre-AI and or "fat aperture ring" lenses to be used for stopped-down light metering. Mounting old, fat-ring Nikkors (these existed for a short time span) can,potentially, damage the Ai-follower tab thing-a-ma-jig on the FM-2.Stilkl, with AI-converted lenses that have been properly converted, or Ai- or Ai-S or AF-Nikkor lenses, the FM-2 ought to meter just dandy!

 

[Gary A.]

I agree that the F3 was the best Nikon film camera ... but the all mechanical F2 was one helluva work horse.

 

[Derrel]

I agree that the F3 was the best Nikon film camera ... but the all mechanical F2 was one helluva work horse.

Yes, the F2 was nice...owned three, but clunky, and the thing is: 90% of F2 prism viewfinders have NON-working light meters in them...and the large, clunky motor drive technology Nikon pioneered in the early 1950's....whereas 95% of F3 cameras have working light meters, built into the body...and accurate, electronically-timed shutter speeds, and a a fantastic, simple, compact MD-4 motor drive option, with power rewind...

The LAST of the F2 prisms had Ai indexing....yet still...a lotta dead meters in the majority of F2 prisms which used the needle and pointer, mechanical metering systems..the diode-metering F2 prisms seem to be more rugged, but were made for only a short time. At one time, I owned the ne plus ultra of F2 cameras, the Nikon F2A-Sb...A meaning Automatic indexing, and Sb meaning the silicon blue-powered, red LED meter readouts....I sold that to a great shooter, Paul Carter, of the Eugene Register-Guard, in 1986 for $375.

According to legendary camera repairman to the pros, Marty Forsher, the original F had 974 parts vs ,approximately as I recall, 1,574 parts in the F2.... According to an article I read about Forscher, he said the original Nikon F was more-reliable than the Nikon F2, just due to the much, much lower parts count of the original F. I have an F with the last FTN prism (working meter!!!!) and an F2A still...I love the F...merely like the F2...love the F3HP...never liked the FM-2, just due to the fact that I used to own a lot of pre-Ai glass, and it was un-usable on the FM-2 and FE-2...my FIRST Nikon was a 1977 FM....LOVED that little camera, still have it!

I suspect that, in actuality, the FM-2 is likely to be as-rugged as one person will ever need, for a lifetime of film shooting. I beleive the FM and FM-2 were selected for a large numbner of arctic and high-altitude climbing "offical camera" roles, due to the mewchanically-timed shutter system, no need for batteries except for metering.

 

[jcdeboever]

All this camera talk is getting me excited...

 

[fmw]

I agree that the F3 was the best Nikon film camera ... but the all mechanical F2 was one helluva work horse.

Yes, the F2 was nice...owned three, but clunky, and the thing is: 90% of F2 prism viewfinders have NON-working light meters in them...and the large, clunky motor drive technology Nikon pioneered in the early 1950's....whereas 95% of F3 cameras have working light meters, built into the body...and accurate, electronically-timed shutter speeds, and a a fantastic, simple, compact MD-4 motor drive option, with power rewind...

The LAST of the F2 prisms had Ai indexing....yet still...a lotta dead meters in the majority of F2 prisms which used the needle and pointer, mechanical metering systems..the diode-metering F2 prisms seem to be more rugged, but were made for only a short time. At one time, I owned the ne plus ultra of F2 cameras, the Nikon F2A-Sb...A meaning Automatic indexing, and Sb meaning the silicon blue-powered, red LED meter readouts....I sold that to a great shooter, Paul Carter, of the Eugene Register-Guard, in 1986 for $375.

According to legendary camera repairman to the pros, Marty Forsher, the original F had 974 parts vs ,approximately as I recall, 1,574 parts in the F2.... According to an article I read about Forscher, he said the original Nikon F was more-reliable than the Nikon F2, just due to the much, much lower parts count of the original F. I have an F with the last FTN prism (working meter!!!!) and an F2A still...I love the F...merely like the F2...love the F3HP...never liked the FM-2, just due to the fact that I used to own a lot of pre-Ai glass, and it was un-usable on the FM-2 and FE-2...my FIRST Nikon was a 1977 FM....LOVED that little camera, still have it!

I suspect that, in actuality, the FM-2 is likely to be as-rugged as one person will ever need, for a lifetime of film shooting. I beleive the FM and FM-2 were selected for a large numbner of arctic and high-altitude climbing "offical camera" roles, due to the mewchanically-timed shutter system, no need for batteries except for metering.

The FM2 was my backup body for any F model I was using that day. I always figured that a last resort camera body should have a mechanical shutter. Then even dead batteries couldn't stop me. I guess that isn't possible today.

The F2 was my second favorite Nikon. As Gary said, it was a tank. I dropped mine several times. The only issue was a crack in the little exposure counter window. Never had a problem with the meter but I was a little slow picking up on in-camera meters. I really preferred incident readings. No thinking required. I use them now because they are really quite good compared to the ones in the cameras we are talking about. I think the F5 was the first model with an in-camera meter that I trusted. Even then it was not nearly as good as what we have today.

But the F3 was fairly light, very reliable and had the interchangeable things like focus screens, motor drives and so on. Really good camera.

 

[fmw]

All this camera talk is getting me excited...

Perhaps we need to post up some camera porn.

 

[Peeb]

I absolutely love the old mechanical Nikons. Sold an FG-20 years ago and I regret it now.

Getting back into film thanks to a gentle push from @pixmedic and if the film bug takes hold I might add a (partly) mechanical Nikon FE to the collection. It has an electronic shutter but it's still pretty old-school.

I THOUGHT I would like to find a newer film camera that could use my newer "G" lenses but as I get back into it- I think the 'retro' aspect of the old school cameras/lenses is drawing me in. You can pick up older lenses cheap enough, so... we shall see.

Oh yeah- almost forgot to mention- 40.00 is a steal- grab it!!