Nikon FM2 as good as they say?

[fmw]

JC, I found some old mechanical Nikon porn in my slide collection. On the left is my FM (Not FM2) and on the right is my trusty F2 surrounded by metal Nikkors with aperture rings. This image is decades old. I'm not sure how many decades. My memory isn't what it used to be.

 

[Gary A.]

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.

The F2 in my right hand, the FM hanging off my shoulder.

I felt the same way about electronic shutters. I was always wondering if this was the day the shutter would quit. I always hand metered, either a Sekonic Studio Deluxe or a Pentax Spotmeter.

 

[fmw]

I like the image as well as the metal Nikkors with aperture rings.

 

[jcdeboever]

JC, I found some old mechanical Nikon porn in my slide collection. On the left is my FM (Not FM2) and on the right is my trusty F2 surrounded by metal Nikkors with aperture rings. This image is decades old. I'm not sure how many decades. My memory isn't what it used to be.

View attachment 144267

Your had me at old mechanical, then the beauty shot. I've got both those. Both work perfectly to. Not a lot of glass. 50 pre AI 1.4, 50mm 1.8 AIs, 80-200 4.5 AI, 30-70mm f3.5 AIS with big thread, and a 50-140 AIs. I'd like to get a wide but not found one yet. I wish I could find a reasonable F eye level view finder.

 

[jcdeboever]

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.

The F2 in my right hand, the FM hanging off my shoulder.

I felt the same way about electronic shutters. I was always wondering if this was the day the shutter would quit. I always hand metered, either a Sekonic Studio Deluxe or a Pentax Spotmeter.

I love that shot.