The FA’s Automatic Multi-Pattern metering is what we call Matrix metering today. In May 1984, Popular Photography performed a comprehensive test on the Nikon FA and posted their findings in this massive 10 page article.Ī lineup of Nikon’s SLRs from the early 80s. Despite this, it remained in production until early 1988, and continued to be sold from new dealer stock for another year and a half. So when the FA was released, it was one of a very small number of very well built, high spec, all manual cameras. Even the pro market was starting to notice conveniences like motorized film advance and auto focus. Plastic was becoming the preferred material in the construction of cameras and lenses. Consumers were flocking to cheaper and easier to use cameras with more automatic control. Minolta would release the world’s first auto focus SLR, the Maxxum 7000 less than 2 years after the FA’s release, and Canon’s EOS system was not far behind that. ![]() Auto focus was already starting to become common with point and shoot cameras, and it was on the verge of penetrating the SLR market. The FA was introduced at a very tumultuous time in the photography industry. It shared the same honeycomb pattern titanium shutter from the Nikon FM2/FE2, and a mostly metal body with composite external coverings. This is the story of the Nikon FA, Nikon’s first camera with full Program exposure mode and a CPU controlled matrix metering exposure system. So although Nikon would typically take their time to release a new feature, when they did, they would usually hit the nail right on the head and do it right the first time. The honeycomb pattern on the FA’s shutter is shared with the FE2 and FM2. Even the original Nikon F from 1959 was released several years after other Japanese camera makers had debuted their new SLR models. They were not the first with features like automatic exposure, program mode, auto focus, or TTL metering. They weren’t usually in a rush to be the first to introduce new features to the marketplace. Nikon simply didn’t know how to make a cheap camera.Īnother thing that Nikon was known for was taking their time to incorporate advanced new features into their cameras. Even their “consumer” lines of cameras were built with a quality standard that was second to none. Their professional line of cameras known as the F-series was the preferred choice of photographers everywhere. +1 for the complete package, my favorite Nikonīy the early 1980s, Nikon’s (technically they were still known as Nippon Kōgaku until 1988 when the company officially became known as the Nikon Corporation) reputation as a maker of extremely well built cameras was well known throughout the world. Offering a perfect balance of fully manual control along with state of the art modern conveniences like full Program Auto Exposure, a titanium blade shutter with a top speed of 1/4000, and automatic multi-pattern metering, the Nikon FA is an extreme value on the collector’s market today for it’s complex feature set, and compact and ergonomic body. The Nikon FA is not the first, second, fifth, or even tenth Nikon SLR listed at the top of most people’s favorite Nikon SLRs but perhaps it should be. Shutter: Focal Plane Vertically Traveling Titanium BladeĮxposure Meter: CPU Controlled Multi Pattern TTL Matrix Meteringīattery: 2 x S76 Silver-Oxide or Alkaline Batteryįlash Mount: Flash TTL Hot Shoe with 1/250 second flash sync and PC sync port Viewfinder: Fixed SLR Pentaprism with full information LCD display As a result, the Nikon FA remains Nikon’s most advanced manual focus camera they have ever made. By the time the F4’s release however, manual focus cameras had fallen out of favor with the public. It would be another 5 years when Nikon released the F4 that Nikon would have a more advanced model. Many of the features of the FA were not available on Nikon’s professional level camera of the time, the F3. ![]() Several of the FA’s features are still considered relevant today like it’s CPU controlled matrix metering (called Automatic Multi-Pattern metering), titanium shutter capable of speeds as high as 1/4000 sec, LCD display in the viewfinder, and full Program auto exposure. Upon it’s release in 1983, Nikon advertised it as the “Technocamera” due to it’s many innovative electronic features. This is a Nikon FA 35mm SLR camera which was one of the most technologically advanced cameras of it’s day.
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